We were lucky to catch up with Kate Mclamb recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kate, appreciate you joining us today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

My parents were both teachers and incredibly supportive. Anytime I shared a dream job or career idea, they’d ask, “What can you do to learn more about that?” It seems so simple now, but as a kid, that kind of encouragement was empowering.

At eight years old, I declared I would be a zoologist—I loved animals and wanted to be surrounded by them. This was the ‘90s, our internet was still dial-up, and in a house of six with one computer, access wasn’t exactly instant. So, I turned to the yellow pages and looked up the local zoo. I called and asked if they had any volunteer opportunities, and to my amazement, they did—a summer program for young volunteers.

For the next few summers, my dad would drop me off at the zoo on his way to work, and I worked my way up from the reptile house to the elephant enclosure. By the time I was 12, I had experienced enough to realize that while I still loved animals, I didn’t truly want to be a zoologist. But the experience was invaluable and by the time I entered college, I had already worked through multiple careers.

That early encouragement to take action instilled two lifelong lessons:
1. Follow your curiosities—explore, ask questions, and chase what excites you.
2. Take the opportunity to try—because sometimes, experience is the only way to know what truly fits.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I recently listened to a podcast about values and was struck by one concept in particular: scope—how big of a life you want to lead. I realized I’ve always prioritized scope, saying yes to experiences, jobs, and the unknown, trusting that I’d figure it out along the way.

I grew up on the east coast and went to college with plans to work in government, but after an internship at British Parliament, I pivoted. Instead of staying the course, I accepted a job with a startup in food purveying in Las Vegas, a city I had never visited. For a myriad of reasons Vegas wasn’t for me, but it lead me out west. Then, a dear friend in LA convinced me to move to LA, and soon I found myself in production, bouncing between studios and agencies, checking the boxes I was told were necessary to succeed in the industry.

By 28, I was burnt out. I switched gears and joined a budding family office to help build their foundation. Then COVID hit, and for the first time in years, I had a moment to pause. Looking back at all the jobs I’d held, I realized the common thread— I loved bringing ideas to life.

So naturally when Lauren came to me with the idea to start a spritz brand, I didn’t hesitate. It was a full-body ‘yes’. Neither of us had experience in the spirits world, but a close friend in the industry gave me a piece of advice that stuck with me: ‘Your inexperience is a superpower. Use it to bring a fresh perspective to the alcohol industry.’

And that’s exactly what we’re doing with Sistine.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Lauren and I met through mutual friends, and she’s one of those rare people who defy definition. She has this effortless magnetism—whenever we went to a bar and order spritzes, within 20 minutes, everyone around us would be drinking spritz. Even total strangers who’d never normally order a spritz couldn’t resist. It was honestly wild.

When she approached me about starting a spritz company together, she already had the name, and everything else fell into place. Funny enough, we share the same incredible astrologer, Rosie, who gave us her blessing for the partnership. If you’re outside of LA, I get this might sound a little absurd, but for us, astrology and numerology come into play in many of our decisions at Sistine. We even named our first spritz “111”— a number tied to new beginnings —and launched our website and socials on 8.8.24, because in numerology, 8 represents abundance, balance, and success.

Beyond our shared values, what makes our partnership so special is how we balance each other. Lauren is a visionary—she sees the big picture before anyone else does and moves through the world with this quiet confidence that makes things happen. I tend to be the one who refines, organizes, and brings structure to those big ideas. It’s that blend of creative intuition and strategic execution that has made building Sistine feel like such a natural process. From day one, everything has been in a flow state, and sometimes I still can’t believe how aligned we are. It’s rare to find someone who complements you so well, both in friendship and in business, and I couldn’t be more grateful for this journey.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

When we were in the early stages of building Sistine, we met with friends and industry connections, and they all told us the same thing: formulating and manufacturing would be the hardest part. They weren’t wrong—it was challenging at times—but we were lucky to find the right partners early on. More importantly, we had a crystal-clear strategy from the beginning, which saved us a ton of time and money. We also made a conscious decision to start small, giving us the flexibility to refine and revise as we went.

I also realized through this process that hard is just an opinion. If you look at something as an impossible obstacle, it feels overwhelming. But if you see it as a problem to solve, it shifts the way you process it. Instead of feeling stuck, you start thinking strategically—Who can help? What’s the next step? That mindset has made all the difference.

A few key lessons from ideation to launch:

1. You have to start somewhere—it’s easy in today’s culture to get caught up in the idea of instant success—being everywhere at once and creating a massive hit. But for us, starting small and staying intentional has been invaluable.

2. Collaboration is everything—I feel like a teacher reminding kids to share, but the truth is, we wouldn’t have a product without our partners.

3. Flexibility is essential—ask questions, learn from missteps, and continuously refine every step of the process.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sistinespritz.com/
• Instagram: @sistinespritz
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kmclamb

Image Credits

Luke Wooden
Pia Riverola
Casey Zhang
Ren Pidgeon
Ashley Glasson