We recently connected with Mulani Davis and have shared our conversation below.

Mulani, appreciate you joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I can definitely say I am happy as a business owner. There are so many benefits that come with being in charge of your own life but it’s a task you have to have the right mindset for! It comes with much responsibility. As a person who thrives off leadership & freedom, I enjoy tackling those difficult obstacles & seeing how my creative thinking & structure allows me to conquer things that some don’t see doable. I also take pride in being able to provide a different experience to my employees they may not get with a traditional employer. I absolutely love leading & being dependable to others. But my greatest gift is to my children. Showing them that even as a woman you can handle anything if you put your mind to it!

I remember taking a step back from being a business owner & going to corporate. I had a strict schedule, my tasks never changed & I received the same pay every two weeks! Needless to say I HATED IT!!!! However, I did it to gain the perspective as the employee, I did it to learn a different structure & I did it to observe the environment. That experience allowed me to make the necessary adjustments to foster an inclusive environment in my own business & produce a workspace where people enjoy being there without feeling controlled by the dollar.

Every decision we make as a business owner is 90% about the customer & the employee, without them YOU ARE NOT A BUSINESS OWNER.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am Mulani Davis, owner of Mulani Drinks which is a Bar, Kitchen & Mobile Bartending Service in Orlando FL. We specialize in providing an elite cocktail experience to individuals who enjoy a more relaxed setting where they can unwind & tap into their intellect one drink at a time.

Our kitchen offers amazing authentic latin food by “Lynn’s Kitchen” which is owned by my amazing friend & business partner Jenny.

Our mobile bartending services offer the most exquisite private bar for events such as weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, charity & corporate events with some of Orlando’s hottest licensed & certified babetenders (bartenders).

I am most proud of my team, their hard work, their dedication, their influence, their dependability, their efforts & their support of one another & the Mulani Drinks brand!

Any advice for managing a team?

The best advice I have when it comes to managing a team and maintaining high morale is first understanding yourself & your leadership style. This is vital to the success of leading an effective team. Not every takes direction well because of how they’re being directed. My success in this area comes from developing personal business relationships with each of my team members so that I can personalize their management experience. No puzzle piece is the same but that doesn’t mean those pieces can’t fit together to paint one big picture.

My morale comes from my honesty, my transparency, my self respect, my integrity, my morals & my principles. I never deviate from these things, so when people meet me & work with me they have a clear understanding of who I am & respect me due to me being a woman of my word. That’s what makes me trustworthy & dependable.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I honestly met my business partner Jenny owner of Lynn’s Kitchen via social media & word of mouth. I was marketing online for bartenders & created a group chat. She was the star that shined bright. She was creative with her ideas, she had amazing communication & skills. Her food was amazing & she was very supportive of my ideas & goals.

From then I planned a meet & greet mixer & she catered the entire event on her own accord. The initiative spoke volumes. From there, it was like “how can we help each other?” and we decided to combine the bar & kitchen.

So each time we’d get booked for a private event for bartending we’d cater food as well & the rest was history.

She introduced me to a good friend of hers Alondra (Lolo) who is now my Bar Manager & a huge blessing to my business.

Now we are the dynamic trio!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mulanidrinks.com
• Instagram: instragram.com/mulanidrinks