Smashing boundaries: Meet the South Asian female duo behind A Fresh Sip

Payal Thaker and Aishwarya Balaji, co-founders of alcohol-free marketplace A Fresh Sip

If anyone wants a true sign of the times, it’s hearing that the newest alcohol-free marketplace A Fresh Sip launched a mere two weeks ago and is already sold out of many products. It was a fortuitous time for founders Aishwarya Balaji and Payal Thaker to launch, despite having to develop the crucial stages of the business in the middle of a debilitating pandemic. But although North America is thirsty for alcohol-free drinks, the seeds were planted for this idea almost ten years ago. 

A Fresh Sip has been a long time coming, and now that it’s finally here, the endeavour is paving the way not only for South Asian communities, but also for young people everywhere buckling under the societal pressure to drink. Balaji and Thaker are doing this by redefining what it means to be social.

A Fresh Sip’s raison d’être is to supply consumers with alcohol-free products (what they call ‘sips’) for any occasion, but they also aspire to co-create a communal, virtual space that is inclusive of people regardless of their reason for not drinking. 

Balaji and Thaker met on a dance team at Boston University, whose participants would often joke, “we're a drinking team with a dance problem,” Balaji says. “It was a funny phrase that people would say literally because we would always be dancing, [for example] for four hours preparing for a competition, or we would be out drinking and partying. That was just the norm.”

No one paused to wonder whether the joke might be setting a dangerous precedent, rather, drinking in college was part and parcel of a normal academic experience, Thaker says. “It was the way of meeting people or being involved in social gatherings,” she says. Drinking was a part of the social, cultural, and physical landscape, in other words, and it was impossible to question its place until the pair graduated. 

A few years after college, both Balaji and Thaker experienced health issues at different times that impelled them to rethink drinking. 

Balaji and Thaker met on a dance team at Boston University. The best friends started rethinking drinking a few years later, when they realized it was more normal to drink than not to drink.

“I personally was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition,” Thaker says. “In order for me to navigate that, I had to make some lifestyle changes.” Thaker started researching the ingredients in many of the goods she used topically, such as items she used on her skin.

“I was being so careful about that, that I almost forgot to look inwards,” she says. “Then I started looking into the food I'm eating and then the most obvious thing to cut out was alcohol.” 

She had a rude awakening. “I just realized, wow, it's just so hard to cut this out of my life. Because every party I go to, or even when I try to meet new people, you always want to catch up over a drink.” When Balaji began to experience health-related issues, Thaker was happy to be able to support her through her journey. 

The commonplace-ness of grabbing a drink, the frequency of social prompts and the friction they would experience by going dry gave the pair pause. 

“We felt that a lot of our friends and other people could view [us not drinking] and they were like, what?” Balaji says. Those around them thought it was interesting that they were cutting back because the pair are so social and love to host events; being social and imbibing go so hand-in-hand in our culture that people found it strange. But it was strange enough, Balaji says, that it gave others pause, too. “[Others said,] that gives me permission to maybe think about my choices around alcohol,” Balaji explains.

In other words, the pair had already started on their journey toward representation/setting an example, even if they weren’t aware of it yet. 

The concrete idea for A Fresh Sip came from a very vulnerable place for the co-founders. It wasn’t as easy to forge their own path and serve as role models as they make it seem. A lot of self-interrogation had to take place. 

“It was really hard to not feel like I was missing out or not [be sensitive to] other people feeling bad for me,” Thaker says. It was tough and frustrating to field questions about their drinking habits, in other words. 

But as the two became more accustomed to not drinking because of health issues, they saw the potential for more from life. 

“I've learned that I can have fun without drinking and I'm still dancing,” Balaji says. “I'm still celebrating. I'm still 100% myself. I don't really feel like [alcohol] needs to be front and centre in my life anymore.”

Balaji and Thaker now support each other as they work toward their dream of creating a counter-culture: an inclusive community where it is possible to still have a nice drink without it being boozy, to still be social and fun, to still dance, and to still have a fresh sip without the unhealthy element.

“This is something that we really felt so strongly about, something we really wanted to do so we just wanted to make it work,” Thaker says. 

And according to consumer response, they are making it work. “I wasn't expecting college students to be DM-ing us saying, ‘Hey, I'm a sophomore in college and I don't really like drinking, but I feel like that's the norm, so thank you so much for creating a space that has tips and guidance, [it helps] to know that you’re not alone’,” Thaker says.

The founders are aware of the space they’re taking up as two women of colour helming an alcohol-free marketplace in a predominantly-white industry. “We don't see people like us who are spearheading this [alcohol-free] mission or this cause,” Thaker says. “One of the reasons why we did start this [is because] I want people like me to be inspired by seeing themselves.”

“I wasn’t expecting college students to be DM-ing us saying, ‘Hey, I’m a sophomore in college and I don’t really like drinking, but I feel like that’s the norm, so thank you so much for creating a space that has tips and guidance, [it helps] to know that you’re not alone’.”

What the majority of the alcohol-free industry isn’t able to see, by the simple fact that it can’t, that it’s white, is just the wealth of meaning alcohol has in South Asian communities. 

“Alcohol is a very polarizing topic within the South Asian community,” Balaji says. “There are communities that are heavily influenced by alcohol and it is a very big part of this societal fabric that they have. And then there are communities that are the complete opposite, that have never tried alcohol, where alcohol is taboo.” 

Representation in the case of A Fresh Sip matters because Balaji and Thaker are able to tap into or appeal to a consumer base that has never before been catered to.

“We are seeing people on both sides [from a culture where alcohol is a big component, and from cultures where it is taboo] coming to us: the folks that are surrounded by people that are heavy drinkers and don't even understand the concept of not drinking when they themselves don't want to,” Balaji says. “And then on the opposite side, people that don’t drink just because of their cultural or societal or family upbringing.” 

For a person who feels that not drinking at family events ostracizes them, then A Fresh Sip is almost a godsend. “[It’s an] interesting way for them to realize they can celebrate the same way as everybody else, but in a way that kind of adheres to their values,” Balaji says. 

“Representation in the case of A Fresh Sip matters because Balaji and Thaker are able to tap into or appeal to a consumer base that has never before been catered to.”

Balaji and Thaker also have found that they are able to appeal to those who are more spiritual. “A lot of people who are more spiritual say that alcohol blocks your third eye,” Balaji explains. “So they feel that [alcohol-free] is allowing them to still do the things that they're used to doing, but without losing out on the effects of them opening up their spirituality to a next level.”

These are communities that Balaji and Thaker are able to speak to because of their own Indian heritage, because they are providing people who are similar to themselves with the resources they wish they had when they were younger. In other words, Balaji and Thaker are already succeeding, even though A Fresh Sip is so young. 

As they work to showcase brands creating amazing alcohol-free products through their marketplace, the founding pair are also forging a safe space for a community for whom socializing in a culture that gives alcohol such an esteemed stage can be easier, less constrained, and more comfortable. 

“When people think about how they can navigate the non-alcoholic space, I want us to be their best friends that they can reach out to,” Balaji says. “I want us to be that automatic resource or shop that people feel comfortable going to when they're making this shift [to non-alcoholic]. [...] If we could be the first thing that people think of when that happens, then I think it would be a huge success.”