Featured Member: Lucy Rieger
By: Maggie Laubscher
Lucy Rieger
Nelle member Lucy Rieger is a force of nature. Part owner and head of marketing at J. Rieger & Co. distillery, Rieger also gave birth to her second son a few months ago, in the thick of the pandemic. In speaking with her, you get the sense she will find a way through anything she takes on. Between juggling work and family life, she is excited for the sense of community and respite that The Nelle offers. Rieger is honest and sincere, as well as inspiring. Originally from Cuba, Missouri, she is a graduate of Mizzou and a transplant to Kansas City as of 2014.
Rieger’s openness shines through in chatting with her, and we are proud to have her as a Nellie. Get to know Lucy below.
How did you learn about The Nelle?
The first time I heard about it was in the Kansas City Business Journal, reading an article about Lauren (Merriman, The Nelle founder) and her idea. I just thought it was so cool. We got connected and I chatted with her early on. I really liked the concept. And because we own the distillery, I wanted to see if we could do anything to help - get cocktails in there or anything else.
What are you most looking forward to about The Nelle?
Having a place to get together with people who are in a similar part of life as me. We don’t always get the opportunity to do that, outside of a work meeting or playdate or kids’ birthday party. Having a space to get together and take a minute for ourselves will be so nice.
I think there’s a lot of good that comes when you get women in the same room. I love the idea of collaboration -- of people meeting and talking and coming up with new things. When you get together like that, you can see what you can do to help each other. Especially right now, I think we can use all the help and support we can get.
Let’s talk about the J. Rieger & Co. distillery. What is your role at the company?
I’m head of marketing. I started off at the distillery four years ago as a kind of one-woman marketing show. Up until two weeks ago, I still ran our social media. We are currently growing the marketing department and I’m building a bigger team, where I’ll do fewer specifics and oversee more. I also handle all of our charitable giving and made design decisions for the distillery space - our furniture, paint colors, light fixtures, tile, you name it.
How did you develop your career?
We moved from Dallas to Kansas City in 2014. In Dallas, I worked for a luxury automotive group, where I did their event planning and charitable giving. When we moved here, I worked at AMC Theatres in marketing. I was there for two years. The distillery had launched by that point and was growing really fast. Everything Andy needed help with was stuff I had direct experience doing. So in 2016, I came on full-time.
Fast forward to July 2019, and we opened the new distillery. That was a huge leap forward. It was our 10-year goal and we got there in four years. And then Covid happened, which is, you know. We’re making the best of it. We didn’t even get a full year in before having to close.
How has that experience been?
At first, obviously, it was horrible and scary having to shut down completely. But then, at the start of the shutdown in March, we launched hand sanitizer. It was bananas. It started with a nursing home asking us to make hand sanitizer; they said they were desperate. I told her I would see what we could do.
The first day, traffic was shut down in all directions coming to the distillery. We had to get the police down here to direct traffic. It was chaos. We ended up doing a quarter of a million bottles of hand sanitizer.
What projects are you working on now?
We’ve reopened our bar and restaurants, in a limited capacity. And then planning for 2021. We basically put 2020 in the books and we’re on to 2021 planning. We have so much in the pipeline. Unfortunately it’s not stuff that I can share quite yet, but we have so much big stuff happening next year.
What do you like about Kansas City as your home base?
My husband and I had always talked about one day living in Kansas City. I’m not from here originally, but he is. We bought a little house in Brookside. Living here is honestly so comfortable and easy. People are so excited to support anything that’s homegrown Kansas City. We see so much support from people, it’s really cool to see people take ownership of the distillery in a way. They’re so proud to bring people here. That’s so uniquely Kansas City, that people love this town so much.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
Oh gosh. Probably figuring out how to work full-time and run a company with two kids. All the unspoken work we do as women and moms on the side, it’s a lot. I don’t want to act like I have it all figured out. I’m getting better at admitting that some days, I can’t do it all. And that it’s okay.
I saw this sped up video of a mom working on her computer and pumping and feeding her baby. The caption was something like, ‘Look at this badass mom doing it all.’ And my reaction was, ‘Let’s not normalize this.’ Because that isn’t normal. It shouldn’t be expected. You shouldn’t have to go back to work when your kid is six weeks old.
Can you think of a woman who inspires you?
Honestly, the person I am obsessed with the most is Michelle Obama. I’m sure a lot of people say that. She’s just such an example of being her own person. She is equally as much of a badass (as Barack). She has her own brand and her own influence.
I want our boys to grow up seeing a strong work ethic like that. The fact that her two daughters seem perfectly grounded and normal, I think that’s amazing and a testament to her as a mom. I think she’s a gem and such a force.
thank you, lucy
We are so proud to call you a member of The Nelle!