JANUARY 2018 24 | {leadership} OFFICE DOORS Jamie Killin | CONTRIBUTING WRITER COURTNEY ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO AREA MANAGER OF TITO’S HANDMADE VODKA “If you’re going to do something, you do it right. You do it hard and you go long.” That’s the mantra Courtney Bennett lives her life by, and it’s the mantra that’s catapulted her career from a bartender to Tito’s Handmade Vodka’s Arizona and New Mexico area manager. After graduating from the University of Arizona with a degree in business marketing and finding herself unfulfilled with a retail position at Neiman Marcus, a friend encouraged her to try bartending while deciding her next steps. One night while she was training a fellow bartender at Scottsdale bar, Cien Agaves Tacos & Tequila, fate intervened and she discovered her career when she began upselling a group of customers a high-end tequila — Clase Azul. “I’m basically giving my sales pitch on it and they’re all kind of looking at me like I’m an alien, but in a good way and it was very surreal, so I’m going on and on and they’re like ‘We’ll take four, sure,’” she said. Turns out, she was pitching Clase Azul’s CEO and master distiller Arturo Lomeli himself, and the sales pitch impressed him so much, he hired her as a sales representative the next week. “I figured out what I wanted to be when I BENNETT Courtney Bennett wearing a custom Tito’s Handmade Vodka suit with a Kendra Scott necklace.

JANUARY 2018 | 25 grew up that night,” she said. She became increasingly successful — selling different alcohols over the years, from Pinnacle Vodka to Karlsson’s Gold Vodka before being hired on by Tito’s Handmade Vodka in 2013. “I found my home, finally, and I love what I do,” Bennett said. “Before Tito’s Handmade Vodka the brands that I worked for, it was just sales.” “With Tito’s the bigger part of my job is yes, making the sales goals and managing the wholesaler and making sure we look good on the shelves and the pricing is there and the structures are in place but it’s also events and giving.” Giving has been a part of Bennett’s life for years — from being a part of National Charity League with her mother in Los Angeles to her time as a member of Alpha Phi sorority at the University of Arizona. Now, she is able to incorporate her spirit of giving into her career by donating time, resources, product and making monetary gives to nonprofits in the areas she oversees. Her passion for this kind of giving is clear — especially to Tito's joyologist Amy Lukken, who awarded her the inaugural Tito’s Spreading the Love Award. “This brand and this job are extremely fulfilling,” she said. “I have purpose and meaning because every day I wake up and I know the more Tito’s I sell the more Tito will enable me give to my community.” Her favorite causes include the Colleen’s Dream Foundation, which funds ovarian cancer research, and anything dog related — which pairs perfectly with Tito’s “Vodka for Dog People” program, which is committed to rescuing and protecting dogs in need. She also loves working with Kendra Scott, another Austin, TX based company whose focus on philanthropy parallels Tito's. For Bennett, who jokingly says that Tito's is her life, all these aspects blend together seamlessly — with her own two dogs, Larry Fitzgerald and Pumpkin, just as incorporated into the brand as she is by enjoying their own "Vodka for Dog People" dog toys. “I’ve always just been very driven and motivated and when I find something that I love it gets all my attention and my heart,” she said. It’s that motivation that’s caused her to continue to grow in the company, and to set her sights set on more territories, more employees to manage and more responsibility. “The way to move up in my world is very clear and defined, where in some industries it’s not really,” she said. “It’s the more territory you have the more business you have to manage the more sales goals and then more people.” Her most significant goal is to continue growing with the brand she’s come to love so much. “Tito knows I will retire working for him, 100 percent,” she said. And while she may have committed her work to Tito’s Handmade Vodka, she still enjoys a great tequila — the alcohol that brought her into the industry. “Agave is my first love,” Bennett said. “I drink Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Clase Azul or another good tequila and good wine and that’s it.” OFFICE DOORS CONTINUED