Leann Darland is a Naval Academy alum who served five years as a signals intelligence officer. When she was stationed in San Diego, she made a life-changing discovery — her love for beer. LeAnn began homebrewing for a while, but it wasn’t until she met her co-founder Tara Hankinson that she was motivated to finally go all in and start their company, Talea Beer Co. 

Talea Beer Co. fulfilled a need in the market that LeAnn stumbled upon: a beer marketed toward men and women that is defined by flavorful, and fruit-forward drinks for any occasion.

“The product itself is not the concern; logistics aren’t the concern,” LeAnn says. “For us, it’s making sure that we are clearly articulating our vision and that our brand will resonate with men and women alike, beer nerves, and beer novices alike.”

On this episode, we spoke with Leann about how she took her strengths from the military and working in tech and applied those toward her passion for beer in order to create a beer company that speaks to women. 

Learn more about LeAnn and Talea Beer Co. here.

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Find Your Mission is presented by WeWork in partnership with Dell. 

Thank you again to WeWork! Veterans in Residence, a partnership of WeWork and Bunker Labs, is a six-month startup incubator and leadership program that provides veteran and military family members the community, business support, and workspace to help launch and grow their businesses. 

To learn more about WeWork and the Veterans in Residence program, visit we.co/veterans. 

Also, thank you to our friends at Dell. Dell offers small business advisors to help any small business owner manage and understand all the ins and outs of technology in their small business. To speak with an Advisor today, Call 877-BUY-DELL or click here. 

This podcast was created by the team at Mission. If you want to hear more from Mission, be sure to check out Mission.org.