For #BLIB number 3 we got together with Lily Cua. Lily is currently COO of Aspire. Originally from Boston, Lily made her way to D.C. to earn her degree at Georgetown. This is where Lily first met her Aspire co-founder Neil Shah. After graduating from Georgetown with a degree in Finance and Chinese, Lily got a job consulting for PWC. She and Neil then went on to co-found Aspire in 2013. Aspire is a platform that helps companies manage their workplace perks and benefits. They assist companies with the ideation of perks, the vetting of partners who oversee the perks, the administration of the perks, and the analytics that take place around those perks. Aspire works with companies who have 20+ employees that are looking to offer unique perks and benefits as part of their culture. Aspire currently operates in D.C. and Boston and has five full-time employees. Aspire has changed their model; at one point they offered companies employee discounts, similar to Y Combinator grad AnyPerk. Aspire now focuses on setting up perks and events for other companies so that those companies can have great cultures. Examples include Wine/Beer tastings, St. Patrick's Day Parties, Team Lunches, and Lunchtime Yoga.
The Bar:
It was a beautiful day and our goal was to find a place in Dupont Circle where we could sit outside and have a drink. Apparently everyone else had the same goal. We moved our meeting location from Kramer Afterwords Cafe to Bar Dupont to Ping Pong, and then finally settled on Pizzeria Paradiso. I had been to Pizzeria Paradiso before and remembered that in addition to killer pizza, they also have a great beer list. Lily had been to Pizzeria Paradiso before as well, but usually frequented their original location which is in Georgetown. Pizzeria Paradiso was pretty crowded, but their beer selection did not disappoint. They have a good mix of draft beers, bottles/cans, ciders, spirits, and wines. One cool feature about Pizzeria Paradiso is that they post their beer menu online. They clearly take beer seriously. During our chat, Lily mentioned that she lives in the Chinatown neighborhood of D.C. and appreciates bars that have bar games and entertainment. She called out Penn Social and Buffalo Billiards as being places that she frequents. She also loves the speakeasy-style and laid back atmosphere of 2Birds, 1Stone and mentioned that Copycat on H Street has amazing cocktails. Copycat is an awesome spot, and if you have never been there before, I suggest you drop whatever you're doing and take an Uber there right now.
The Beer:
Right as we saddled up to the bar Lily made a confession to me: She's not that into beer. I told her there wasn't any problem with that, and that I just needed her to be a connoisseur of something. Lily told me that she likes wines, ciders and cocktails much better than beer. She called out Barrel Oak's winery and mentioned that they have some delicious wines. When it came time to drink, Lily decided to give Urban Farm Fermentory's Dry Hopped Cidah a try. The Fermentory is located in Maine and Lily gave the drink a shot because she likes cider and wanted to represent her New England roots. The cidah came in a "stubbie" bottle similar what Red Stripe comes in, it had a cool looking label on it, and someone at the Fermentory should get paid big bucks for calling it Cidah instead of Cider. But based on Lily's facial expressions, I don't think she was crazy about the hoppiness of the Dry Hopped cider. However, she was a good sport and managed to finish the bottle. I went with Union Craft Brewing's Altbier with Figs (85). It was a cask beer, which I'm occasionally in the mood for. I usually like my beer strong and cold, and this altbier was neither. It did have a fig-like taste to it - not too sweet and the color was perfect. I'm not sure I'd order the beer again, but it was a good one to try. Union Craft Brewing is just one of the breweries in Baltimore's burgeoning beer scene. I'm a big fan of a Baltimore brewery called The Brewers Art.
The Business Leader:
Next, Lily and I talked about her role as an entrepreneur and business leader. Aspire has five full time employees and they are looking to raise a round of financing in the near future. They would like to use that money to double the number of full-time employees they have on staff. When we spoke about her challenges as a business leader, Lily told me that staying focused is one of her biggest challenges. She has so much energy and wants to do so much, that sometimes it can be hard for her to focus on just one thing. Her advice to other entrepreneurs: Stay focused! Figure out what your limitations and boundaries are and then stick to them. We also talked a little bit about trends in the workplace at which point Lily mentioned something that I completely agree with. She said that companies with the best cultures are the ones where the leadership is engaged with their employees and willing to listen to them. She also encouraged leadership to care genuinely about their employees and take the time to figure out the best way to act upon their needs while balancing that with business needs. Lily did say that "there's no shortcut to creating a great culture."
A huge thanks to Lily for drinking beers (and Cidah) with us and for being a part of BLIB.
#BLIB is part of an ongoing series. For more information about Business Leaders in Bars Drinking Beers you can click here.
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