Your name: Luann Lennox

Business name: TequilaSnobs LLC

Town/neighborhood: Gold Canyon

Slogan: Become Enamored Not Hammered with TequilaSnobs

Highlights: As most of the people in Gold Canyon, I am a 20-year transplant from the Midwest – Michigander that is, which is not in the middle or actually west. I never drank alcohol much at all and certainly not tequila. Frankly you rarely saw tequila in Michigan and if you did, it was only the cheap stuff to do a shot at the end of the night to really send you into a spin. However, once I moved to beautiful Arizona that all changed. At first I was intrigued by the beautiful bottles. Each one was so unique and fun to collect. As my collection grew I would have the guests to our home taste two or four, insisting that they compared the different flavors and ages. I found myself wrapped around the stories, history and the beautiful culture of this great Mexican spirit. It wasn’t long and this fun hobby became a viable business for me. With a strong business plan, I am now doing in-home tasting events for six-20 people, corporate employee or client appreciation events and very large, 200-people-plus, tasting quick educations. The beauty of my events is they are a very controlled amount of alcohol --- you are only tasting --- and a controlled cost. Plus I do not represent any one brand so you get a very unbiased opinion and get to taste many different brands.

What I like most about doing business here: I truly can do events at any location in the valley. The events I have done here in my home town, Gold Canyon, have been super, and the commute is beautiful, but not very plentiful. People tell me the population here in Gold Canyon is older and they are “cheap or have no money”; I have to disagree. We all have beautiful homes and many have another house in the east so lack of money is not the issue. Cheap? Maybe not frivolous but if they like the finer things in life --- like living in Gold Canyon or getting to taste some of the $100-$200 tequilas I bring --- they will spend money on a unique party idea unlike anything their friends or neighbors have ever attended. Gold Canyon living is unlike any other place and so their events should be as well. I would love to do more events locally. The people who live here I have to believe are much like me and settled here for the same reasons we did…. The beauty of the Superstitions and love of this great area which includes appreciation for the great southwest. What better way to love your Arizona than to have a better understanding of a drink that is such an icon of the southwest only made in Mexico and so readily exported to our great state. TequilaSnobs events teach all about those details of tequila.

My interests and hobbies: As far as hobbies, I used to do a lot of landscape photography before the TequilaSnobs business completely absorbed all of my time. I do still get out to hike and take my Jeep off-road to get to some beautiful places in this great valley.

My advice to today’s youth would be: To follow your dreams and passions. I would have never known that something I loved as a hobby could become a business. It has not been simple as there are no other businesses to follow or model but where there is passion there is a way. I made calculated decisions and followed my business plan to a tee.

More information: facebook.com/groups/1530343490537123, facebook.com/Tequila-Snobs-197299017432668.