Work For Your Beer
MEET ALICIA VALENSKI AND MEL FOX, CO-FOUNDERS OF WORK FOR YOUR BEER BASED IN CHARLOTTE, NC, A COMPANY THAT PROVIDES RESOURCES AND A DIRECTORY FOR INTERACTIVE BOOZY FITNESS EVENTS SUCH AS YOGA CLASSES AND BOOTCAMPS AT BREWERIES, WINERIES AND MORE.
THEY HOPE TO REDUCE THE STIGMA ABOUT FITNESS AND BEER, AND ENCOURAGE WOMEN TO JOIN WORK FOR YOUR BEER AND HAVE FUN WHILE REACHING THEIR FITNESS GOALS.
While working out and beer aren’t necessarily BFFs, they aren’t as exclusive as they once were.
And stereotypes around women drinking beer or working out (not enough, too much) or their appearance (don’t have the body type to wear that kind of outfit) or how they are perceived (women should drink other types of alcohol, and not know as much about beer as men), are gradually being changed.
Alicia Valenski and Mel Fox, co-founders of Work For Your Beer, established the directory in December 2016 in Charlotte, NC as a way to provide information about when interactive, boozy events like brewery fitness classes including yoga, run clubs and other events were happening. “We wanted to gather all this information in one digital location to make it easier than ever to get out and support local breweries, wineries and more while getting active, drinking craft beverages and making friends,” Valenski and Fox said.
Mel Fox and Alicia Valenski created Work For Your Beer in 2016 in Charlotte, NC as a resource for brewery fitness classes.
Both women work in digital marketing, which served them well when they started in 2016 and as they continue to build the company. “We were quickly able to demonstrate how our services would help to support both local breweries (getting more people out to their events and into their taprooms) and local fitness instructors (getting the word out about their gyms/studios and introducing their workouts to a new audience in a less intimidating environment),” they said.
“We are pleased to say that many of our partners in both the beer and fitness industries look to us to help get the word out about their events and promotions, and that our audience is excited to learn about what they’re up to!”
Work For Your Beer’s mission is built on four pillars: Community Focused. Content Driven. Connection Obsessed. Committed to Growth.
Community Focused: Fox and Valenski are continuing to grow their community through events and their online presence via social media.
Content Driven: Alicia (a professional travel writer) and Mel (a professional photographer) have the background and know what makes great content stand out and how to create various types of content like blog posts, social media posts, videos, email newsletters and more to engage their community.
Connection Obsessed: Alicia and Mel want to help people connect with their mind and body to live a healthier, more balanced lifestyle by supporting local breweries, and want to connect working out, drinking beer and making friends in an easy way by using their website.
Committed to Growing: The co-founders want to continue to grow Work For Your Beer to include brewery workouts happening nationwide, maintaining and growing their social media presence and keeping community members informed through their Weekly Brewsletter.
Although beer and fitness are not usually thought of together, with beer not typically thought of as part of a ‘healthy lifestyle,’ Valenski and Fox hope Work For Your Beer can help start a conversation about balance and how beer and fitness can coexist in a healthy way.
“For us, Work For Your Beer represents living a healthy, balanced lifestyle without sacrificing the things you love. If you're going to drink craft beer anyway, you may as well add a workout in to minimize the impact that beer might have on your health! And if you're going to work out regularly, you may as well add in a social component to find a sense of community with other beer lovers. We strive to help people find that sort of healthy balance.”
Finding that balance can be challenging, it also depends on each person’s fitness goals and beer preferences. Valenski and Fox said that balance means drinking in moderation. “We are not encouraging anyone to guzzle multiple beers in one sitting after dehydrating their bodies with a workout,” they said. “We encourage folks to hydrate, casually enjoy a beer or two and call it a day. And we have a blog post about some of the health benefits of beer (in moderation) that is worth checking out too.”
“We want women to know you’re welcome at a Work For Your Beer event! There's this idea that the beer industry is a boy's club, and we're here to combat that stigma.
“We love learning about the newest trends in the field, and we are so grateful to have the chance to welcome other women into this niche community with open arms (and cold beers)!”
Their blog includes fitness and health tips, a gift guide for craft beer lovers (perfect for the holidays!), community, lifestyle, food and drink pairings and beer tastings at local breweries (with videos of Mel and Alicia sharing their impressions and recommendations.)
In addition, they have organically grown their social media presence through consistently engaging and informative content to 25K on Instagram and nearly 4K on Facebook. The content includes beer tastings from local breweries in North Carolina, low calorie craft beer guides, hosting virtual workout/happy hours to stay connected to their community as events are on hold due to the pandemic, to supporting causes through promotions, giveaways and donations.
“We take great pride in our social media strategy and in providing content that's entertaining and educational while also being authentic and genuine. We want to make craft beer and fitness both very approachable for people who may just be weaning into those interests and not know where to begin. Through thoughtfully crafted content, high quality imagery and video, and serious hashtag research, we've been able to grow our audience organically over the past four years to where we are today — around 25,000 active beer-lovers across the world!”
Although Work For Your Beer is currently based in North Carolina, Valenski and Fox hope they can expand to other states and beer-centric cities such as Denver, Austin and San Diego and areas including the Pacific Northwest as they continue to grow their digital offerings.
“In our dream scenario, you'd be able to visit our website from any city in the world and find the interactive, boozy events going on near you. Right now, our company is just the two of us, and we're focused on the region of the country where we live (the Southeast). But in 2021, we hope to expand into more beer-centric markets throughout the country, and from there, throughout the world!”
If women are hesitant to try a beer fitness class, Valenski and Fox said not to worry.
“You’re welcome here! There's this idea that the beer industry is a boy's club, and we're here to combat that stigma. Alicia loves IPAs, Mel loves sours, and we're constantly trying new things to see how our palates evolve over time. We love learning about the newest trends in the field, and we are so grateful to have the chance to welcome other women into this niche community with open arms (and cold beers)!”
When it comes to running the business, Valenski and Fox cite event attendance, feedback from event attendees and taproom sales at breweries as the most rewarding aspects of the business.
“There are so many rewarding components of what we do! On one hand, seeing the measurable impact we’re able to make on event attendance and taproom sales at breweries as we get the word out about their events is incredibly rewarding. On the other hand, hearing stories from folks who attended these events who have made groups of close friends through regularly attending them, or who have discovered a new passion for a particular workout by approaching it in a less intimidating setting, or who have lost weight from attending exercise events more consistently...those stories from our community members warm our hearts.”
To learn more about Work For Your Beer, their events or subscribe to their newsletter, visit WorkForYourBeer.com.
