We had the good fortune of connecting with Julia Herz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Julia, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I love this question because everyone has their story. I started my own business due to a COVID caused layoff from the Brewers Association after 13 1/2 years. So in July of 2020, HerzMuses Enterprises was born to bring energy, momentum and awareness to causes, companies, and brands that move me. This allows me to use my learnings from cause marketing and growing craft beer demand in the U.S. to now consult, be a professional speaker. and also work on other business enterprises. One example is the just-launched Gray for Good – For All Womanhood, which is a global 2021 campaign devoted to celebrating women-identified individuals who allow their hair to go naturally gray, and encourage women to take the savings from what they would have spent on coloring their hair, and donating it to any of the 50K+ women and girls causes in the U.S. These causes are severely underfunded. According to the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, they only received. 1.6% of all giving in 2017. You can learn more at GrayForGood.com

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My passion is cause marketing and creating cultural moments that create top of mind awareness. I helped an accountant from Boulder, Tom Shellenberger, who wrote a book on balancing the U.S. budget to run for president, I shipped beer to “The Sheriff,” sir Peyton, to disrupt the conversation on the beer he planned to have after winning Super Bowl 50. I worked on taking big money out of politics on behalf of a Colorado state ballot amendment supported by League of Women Voters, Colorado Common Cause and COPIRG. In my hometown of Lyons, Colorado I helped organize a rally of 100 moms to march against CEMEX who wanted to burn tires for fuel. I self launched the Gray For Good – For All Womanhood campaign dedicated to eternalizing gender equity within our lifetime

I am proud to be an innovator and try to think around things. I am also not scared of pushing the ball up the hill to get new ideas in motion. Without risk there is no reward, right?

My upbringing was very supportive in that I had the advantages of getting paid to go to college, meaning my tuition was taken care of, so I don’t have any student debt, and I am grateful to my parents for that. Getting a broadcast journalism degree lead to my interest in communications, being a spokesperson, being an activist, and an advocate, and all of that stems back to my college education. Interestingly enough, I have learning challenges including dyslexia. I graduated high school with a 1.9 GPA and never understood why school was so hard for me but seemed easy for so many others. The University of South Florida in Tampa was a great gift where dug in, and made grades that allowed me to get a bachelor’s in mass communication.

I am grateful to feel that I’m successful, even though I’ve had setbacks. I think the most critical factor to success is perseverance. If you hit a wall, find a way around it, under it, over it or through it. But if you want something, don’t let initial roadblocks or roadblocks down the line detur you. Where there’s a will, there is a way.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
When friends come to visit I invite them on a golf cart tour of my hometown of Lyons, Colorado. We start at my house and I tour them around town and along the river pointing out the changes Lyons went through after the 2013 flood. Then we go grab a drink at Spirit Hound Distillers, then we zip over to Mojos for amazing Mexican food. If it’s sunny out and summer we will float the river on inner tubes too. There is also the original Oskar Blues to go to for fresh local craft beer. Lyons is such a gem and so worth visiting. We have amazing parks and open space and I’m proud to sit on the Parks & Recreation Commission. Then I would send them up the hill to Estes Park to go backcountry camping in one of the most beautiful National Parks in the country.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Jasmine Lok of Defined Motion Dance Studio https://www.definedmotiondance.com/

Website: https://www.herzmuses.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HerzMuses

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIjhWfY9TT3fHweSJPScbLg

Other: https://grayforgood.com/

Image Credits
Photo with microphone: Great American Beer Festival. Photo credit @ Brewers Association

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