We were lucky to catch up with Emilyn Wilkinson, Cecilia Lokhorst recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Emilyn Wilkinson, Cecilia Lokhorst, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

While I, Cecilia was studying in Granada, Spain, Emilyn came to join me for the summer. I had been there for 7 months already and exclusively drinking a local wine beverage called tinto de verano, or “wine of the summer”. This sangria-like cocktail had become a staple of my experience living in Spain. When Emilyn joined me, we ordered the drink every day, lunch and dinner. Our obsession led to us making the drink ourselves while in the bathroom of a club because they did not carry it at the bar.

Since moving back to Los Angeles, our passion for the Spanish cocktail had only grown. We started making it for our friends and family who quickly developed the same craving for the summery beverage. We thought, how amazing would it be to share this drink with our LA community. Since then, we’ve been slowly building Korazon as well as a following of fellow Angelenos who love the drink just as much as we do.

Emilyn Wilkinson, Cecilia Lokhorst, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We both studied business in school and have always had an inkling for starting our own businesses. Both Cecilia and I, have grown up around entrepreneurial parents, so starting Korazon with a product and meaning we feel passionate for just felt right.

Korazon is a wine-based beverage, that infuses carbonated Spanish wine with our own lemon mix. The company was founded on two friends spending a summer in a foreign country, living life to the absolute fullest. The drink is a reminder of that beautiful time in our lives. We want to expand this love and passion to other friends; known and unknown. We believe that life is best enjoyed when shared with loved ones. Our sparkling wine spritz serves as a catalyst for those meaningful connections. Korazon is enjoyed by all, including those who are not wine lovers but enjoy a crisp, cold and fruity drink. Due to the drink’s natural ingredients and its simplicity, this alcoholic beverage has a low chance of hangover the next day.

We dare you to test that theory.

As young entrepreneurs, we’re most proud of overcoming the problems thrown at us in the daunting and highly competitive world of beverages, unnavigated and unguided. There’s been many times where we’ve contemplated throwing the towel in. Having funded this company ourselves and spent many hours throughout the 2 years we spent building the structure of this business, we believed in those moments, that we had done our best in a time where it felt like the odds were against us. But, we persevered and learned that sometimes thinking about the problem backwards is how you find the solution.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

There’s one experience all alcohol businesses dread but must go through. That is attaining a license. When we first applied for our state liquor license the process seemed straight-forward, we were assigned a caseworker, filled out the paperwork, and paid the fees. However, we soon realized that the process had many hidden complications. We would call almost daily only to receive incorrect/unmatched information which led us no closer to legalizing a fundamental step of our business.

After many months of back and forth with ABC, rejection of our initial application and discouraging responses from our representative, we thought it may be time to call it quits. We were told conflicting instructions by different ABC employees and could not get a straight answer on whether we were applying for the correct license. There seemed to be no resolution in sight and the constant misleading communication became discouraging. We even considered giving up at one point because it felt like the world was against us.

After careful consideration and nearly $2,000, we decided to hire an outside representative to communicate with ABC and assure our application would be correct. Alongside all the other expenses that come with starting a business, the license fee, product inventory, machinery, etc. This was a solution we were trying to avoid; however, we eventually decided the stress and hopelessness we felt trying to apply ourselves was not worth it.

Looking back, we should have hired a consultant when we first started the application, but as the saying goes, “Hindsight is 20-20”.

We’ve since encountered many other challenges, much more than we expected and I’m sure there will be lots in our future. However, each challenge we overcome has made us more prepared for that future and excited for the victories to come.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Not every opportunity is suited for you, no matter how good it sounds.

Everyone knows the saying “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”, well, we’ve had to learn and re-learn this one. Many people have come to us with different “opportunities”, false promises and business advice that has later proven to be unreliable. When we first started, these promises would quickly get our hopes up and then let us down. We’ve learned that nothing is guaranteed and the harder we work, the more chances of success we will have.

Over the summer another small business asked us to be a part of their event. The event was meant to have over 100 people, it would have been a great chance to get our name out there and sell a few drinks. We had already made the product and were informed less than a week before the party that we had gotten cut from the event. This was upsetting because we poured a lot of time and money into getting our product and presentation ready for a huge event.

There was another time when someone promised to mentor us. We were expecting them to have a lot of experience and knowledge to guide us, but when we started working with them, we realized they didn’t know as much as we had hoped. Instead of helping us, they acted like they were in charge of us, almost like a boss. However, despite this, we were still left to figure out things on our own, coming up with solutions and ideas without much support or guidance from them.

In other words, this person gave the impression they would be a helpful mentor, but in reality, they didn’t have the expertise to support us, and they didn’t really provide the help we needed. Instead, we had to manage everything ourselves.

We’ve always had big aspirations and goals for our company, Korazon. From the very beginning, we’ve envisioned it growing into something impactful and successful. As we move forward, we remain hopeful and excited about the future, but we’re also careful and realistic. We don’t let ourselves get too carried away with every new opportunity or challenge that comes our way. Instead, we approach each new development or change with a balanced attitude—staying optimistic but also being mindful of potential risks and making sure we’re prepared for whatever comes next.

In short, while we’re passionate and have big plans for Korazon, we’re taking a thoughtful, step-by-step approach, being excited but also cautious about how we move forward.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drinkkorazon/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/korazon-bev?trk=blended-typeahead