Award-winning bartender/marketing consultant Alex Leap can be an business advocate championing well being and wellness within the beverage business. She is the founding father of the consulting company Dim Lights Hospitality and cofounder of Give attention to Well being, a for revenue group devoted to enriching the lives of hospitality professionals by way of wellness, training and group assist.
Leap, our a BevX 2024 Elevating the Bar winner, began out in hospitality at age 16, internet hosting at a small restaurant in her hometown of Chattanooga, TN. “By way of school, I saved working in bars and eating places, and as quickly as I turned 21, I fell in love with bartending,” she says.
Not lengthy after transferring to Denver, Leap grew to become the opening bar supervisor for Demise & Co. Denver in 2018. “I spent 4.5 years there, studying and rising, till I made a decision to take a leap into freelancing.”
Along with working Dim Lights Hospitality, Leap serves as director of operations at Give attention to Well being, alongside companions, Lauren Paylor O’Brien and Josh Gandee. “I’m at the moment pursuing a grasp’s diploma in Public Well being, with a objective of creating well being and wellbeing training extra accessible to the meals and beverage business.”
Leap this winter will even open her first bar, together with her husband, Stuart Jensen, in Denver referred to as The Peach Crease Membership. Among the bar and beverage tendencies Leap is seeing at this time embody the rise of low- and no-ABV choices, ingredient transparency and bringing again Previous Faculty bartending methods. “There’s additionally a much bigger give attention to wellness within the business, from versatile hours to psychological well being assist for employees, which is nice to see,” she notes.
Leap and LP O’Brien began Give attention to Well being as a result of the each struggled to look after themselves whereas working in such a demanding area, she says. The group’s initiatives embody the No/Low Tour, the Skilled Growth Scholarship, coaching applications masking hurt discount and suicide prevention, and the No Proof podcast hosted by Gandee.
“We noticed how so many hospitality of us put their very own wants final, giving a lot to others however hardly ever taking time for themselves,” Leap says. “Too typically, individuals on this business really feel alone or like there’s no strategy to get assist. Give attention to Well being is right here to interrupt that stigma—by sharing our personal experiences and providing coaching and occasions, we’re working to make hospitality a greater place to work.”
Leap additionally serves as a mentor to employees within the beverage business. “Once I started managing bars, I assumed mentorship was merely about sharing information, correcting errors, and celebrating successes, passing down what helped me alongside the best way,” she says.
“I later realized, by way of mentoring my bar workers and Give attention to Well being students, that true mentorship goes a lot deeper: It’s about being a supportive sounding board, championing others even once they doubt themselves, and actively creating house for these typically neglected.”
