Nothing is better than advice from your best friend and in Ivey Childers’ case, her best friend of 15 years happens to be Carrie Underwood!
Ivey, cofounder of Southbound Tequila, was destined to become besties with Carrie. Prior to starting her tequila company, she was the founder of cupcake brand Ivey Cakes, based in Nashville, Tennessee, and was asked to make Carrie’s wedding cake. But she met Carrie later.
“So literally, I just dropped [the cake] off. But I remember thinking, ‘Oh, my goodness. I watched her on American Idol.’ I was so stoked to do her birthday cake,” the former baker recalled.
It wasn’t until a few years later that Ivey started dating her now husband, Mark Childers, who happens to be the American Idol alum’s band leader and bass player.
“He’s been with her since day one,” Ivey shared. “And so, I met her through him. We became friends.”
Talk about a full circle moment. But how did this former cupcake entrepreneur go from cupcakes to tequila?
As a baker, Ivey was known for her flavor combinations, creating 40 or more flavors. Once Ivey Cakes grew, it became less about creativity and more about staffing and administrative work. After deciding to sell the business, she wanted to go back to her roots of creating flavors.
“I would often come home and create cocktail recipes because it was what I wanted to drink,” the entrepreneur explained. “I always loved tequila and I always loved creating. And that kind of put me back in my creative zone. And so, as a recipe developer, I got really interested in that whole sort of subject. I really was interested in tequila and what makes a perfect profile. So that’s really how that connection happened for me.”
When Ivey made the leap into tequila, Carrie was right by her side to support her dreams.
The “She Don’t Know” singer made a cameo in a limited miniseries on Southbound Tequila’s YouTube called From Garden to Glass, which showcased how to make drinks with the all-occasion premium tequila while the besties talked about their life together.
Ivey shared, “She offered her time for us to have fun in the kitchen because we both love gardening. So, we just kind of looked at that as like a fun way to share both of our creative passions in the kitchen that day.”
Carrie reminded Ivey that she needed to be selective on what opportunities to say yes to and what to say no to when chasing her dreams.
“‘You just have to think about it like if you imagine the scenario and you really find yourself, you know, having that deep feeling of fear of missing out or, like, am I going to regret it? Can you picture yourself really regretting not doing that?’” Ivey recalled Carrie telling her. “And so that’s been some advice I’ve really carried along with me.”
Southbound Tequila is an all-occasion premium tequila made from 100% Blue Agave by cofounders Ivey Childers, Ryan Santi and Austin Sherman.
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