We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joseph Quilio. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joseph below.

Joseph, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?

I spent 18+ years in hospitality, specifically hotels starting as a front desk agent in 2004 and finishing as a General Manager of an upscale brand in 2022. One of the most important lessons I learned, regardless of position or location, was how important core values and genuine respect are in building relationships and in turn a successful team. As a Front Desk Supervisor at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, I was a member of the ERT (Emergency Response Team). This team was designed to stay during emergencies to keep the hotel operational and safe. As the situation escalated and Starwood activated their corporate response, I remember meeting Kevin Regan who at the time was the most senior person in our region. Embarrassingly, I did not know who he was when he arrived. And as he introduced himself, he asked my opinions and made me feel valued. Fast forward to when I understood his role, I was not only shocked, but also proud that he would value me enough to listen to me even though I was one of the least senior positions on property at the time. As I moved into more executive levels, I ensured that I would listen to everyone and have those same core values as I put every effort into being the best leader for those associates I worked with every day.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

After almost two decades in hotels, I had the opportunity to join a hospitality peer accepting the job as Vice President of Pelican New Orleans and Partner of Seven Three Distilling Co. Jeff Rogers, with whom hotels have partnered with to provide a variety of tourism services, is a leader in the industry and someone who I greatly respect. How he built his businesses through hard work, focus on associate satisfaction/reward, and core values of doing things the right way matched who I was and how I wanted to continue my career. Seven Three Distilling Co. provided an avenue for me to partner with him as well as support the building of a brand we are all passionate about – upscale spirits with strong ties to New Orleans and what makes our region and state great.

Any advice for managing a team?

My best advice to both new leaders and those who have been in leadership for some time is be genuine and never settle for anything but the best. We often find ourselves settling or sacrificing who we are believing it will get us where we want to go faster. In my experience, being who you truly are (as long as your core values are solid) garners more respect than pretending to be someone you aren’t. I found that people will follow up and work hard as a team as long as that trust in you is there. Any semblance of fabrication erodes that trust. Secondly, never accept less than what you believe is possible. Far too often we hear of what we can’t do as opposed to what we can. Belief and confidence are strong motivators. Teams will follow those who are confident that success is achievable.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Seven Three Distilling Co. is passionate about creating experiences. We have 8 spirits with a 9th coming within weeks. But there are so many great vodkas, bourbons, whiskeys, gins, etc. in the market. We truly believe that our reputation of being genuinely New Orleans, the birthplace of the cocktails and where our most famous street is named after bourbon, means that people and experiences come first. When our team goes into the market, we want people to feel our passion for not only great spirits, but of our brands and culture. I challenge anyone to spend five minutes with our Head Distiller, Luka Cutura, and not feel like you have a new best friend. He and the whole team epitomize what we want to be known for.

Contact Info:

• Website: seventhreedistilling.com
• Instagram: @seventhreedistilling
• Facebook: @seventhreedistillingco
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/seven-three-distilling-company
• Twitter: @73_distilling
• Youtube: @seventhreedistilling
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/seven-three-distilling-new-orleans