🍸 The Pour: Our first guest broke the signature-cocktail rule on day one, and we’re letting it slide. Sarah poured an Everyday Dose Mushroom Matcha with a splash of creamer, unsweetened, because she’s a grown woman who doesn’t need her drink to taste like a birthday cake. Erin had coffee, because your girl doesn’t drink sweetgrass. 🌱☕ We still love her.

The Story:
For 27 years, Sarah’s Costco time card had more clock-ins than bedtimes with her daughters. Twenty of those years were in management: 2 a.m. openers, 11 p.m. closers, holding the keys to the whole damn building through COVID while her girls slept at Grandma’s. Then, in January 2025, she was diagnosed with cancer, took a leave of absence, and found out what she’d been missing at home.

Sarah, host of the Creating Sunshine podcast, pulls up a chair to talk about:

• What it’s like going from hyper-independent “I’ll do it myself” manager to actually letting people help (spoiler: DoorDash gift cards hit different)
• Making the good chemo weeks count with sunset walks, park days, and game nights so her girls saw her okay, not just sick
• The dad who stayed sober so he could show up, sat through every four-hour chemo session, and started a GoFundMe she never would have started herself
• Telling the breasts that betrayed her to get the f*ck out (double mastectomy, zero regrets)
• Recording podcast episodes in her car on her lunch break, and how her throat chakra went from a lump to fully open
• Quitting Costco on the one-year anniversary of her first chemo, because she was taking that day back
• Why she doesn’t want you to wait for the burnout, the divorce, or the diagnosis to decide you deserve a life you’re obsessed with

And the unhinged part: eight people crammed into the back of a ‘96 Chevy Blazer with an 18-pack of Bud Light, 300 people at a backyard party nobody remembers organizing, and going straight from the club to a Costco shift in full club makeup. No phones, no proof, just vibes. Gen X, we see you.

⏱️ Chapters

• 00:00 Cold open
• 01:17 What’s in your cup: mushroom matcha and the coffee breakup
• 03:12 27 years at Costco and the bedtimes she missed
• 06:00 Navigating fear and chemo with two little girls
• 08:00 How Creating Sunshine started (and a business coach who wouldn’t let her off the hook)
• 14:30 Going public with her diagnosis and learning to receive
• 19:19 Her dad, his sobriety, and the GoFundMe
• 23:55 The parts of the story she skips on stage
• 26:24 Leaving corporate: “Fan-fucking-tastic”
• 31:25 Who Sarah works with as a mentor
• 35:45 The unhinged story
• 41:10 Where to find Sarah, plus a little 2027 drip drop 👀

☀️ Connect with Sarah

• Instagram: [@https://www.instagram.com/itssarahbeaver]
• The Sunshine Era: https://cold-twilight-c82.notion.site/The-Sunshine-Era-c6f0998171f04c9faf7a72e1efce9942?pvs=143
• Book a free 30-minute connection call: https://cal.com/hello-creatingsunshine.net/30min
• Shop her pour, Everyday Dose Matcha: https://go.shopmy.us/p-79860459
• Listen to Creating Sunshine wherever you get your podcasts

🥃 Connect with Erin

• Instagram: @behind_EMC
• Recipes and pours: @EMCBartending. Tell us which cocktail or mocktail you want next, and it might show up in a future episode.

Leave us a review, but skip the “I loved it.” Tell us your most unhinged question, the conversation everyone’s too scared to have, or the story you want brought to the table.

Keep your drinks full and your stories unfiltered. Cheers. 🥂

1. THE HOOK

What happens when the life you worked so hard to build becomes the very thing keeping you from living?

2. THE EPISODE DESCRIPTION

In our very first episode, we're pouring a Paloma and unpacking the last eight months of my life.

From walking away from corporate America to redefining success, rebuilding my health, and realizing that sometimes the benefits of staying are the very things keeping you stuck.

This isn't just a career-change story. It's about what happens when you finally choose yourself.

3. IN THIS EPISODE, WE'RE POURING INTO:

• The moment I realized something needed to change
• Why corporate benefits almost convinced me to stay
• Rebuilding my health, identity, and capacity
• What getting my spark back actually cost me
• Choosing alignment over perceived security

4. THIS WEEK'S FIRST POUR

The Paloma 🍹

- 1.5 oz. Blanco Tequila ( I used @grancentarioteuila plata )

- 1 oz fresh lime juice

- 1.5 oz grapefruit juice

- 0.5 oz lemon lime soda ( I used @drinkolipop lemon lime )

5. LET'S KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING

What is one thing you've outgrown that you're still holding onto?

Come tell me on Instagram. I want to hear your story.

6. JOIN THE POUR SQUAD

Loved this episode? Join the Pour Squad, share your favorite moment, and help us bring more unfiltered conversations to the table.

[Pour Squad link]

7. CONNECT WITH ME

Behind EMC: [Instagram link]

EMC Bartending: [Instagram link]

8. SUPPORT THE SHOW

Follow the podcast, share this episode with someone who needs it, and leave a review on your favorite listening platform.

Until the next pour… 🥂

The bar is officially OPEN… well, almost. 😉

Welcome to Pour Me A Story with Erin Mikayla, where every pour has a story, conversations go beyond surface level, and nothing is off the table.

In this official trailer, I'm giving you a little taste of what's to come. From entrepreneurship and building a legacy to wellness, regenerative collaborations, client transformations, and the beautifully unhinged stories that make us human.

Expect raw conversations, real experiences, guest features, water testimonies, cocktails (and mocktails), and plenty of moments that'll have you questioning whether we really just said that out loud.

We're pouring into more than just a glass over here.

🥂 SAVE THE DATE: OCTOBER 24!

Our first official episode drops October 24, and we're celebrating my BIRTHDAY together!

Consider this your personal invitation to pull up a barstool, grab your favorite beverage, and celebrate launch day with me.

Until then, let's connect!

Follow along for behind-the-scenes content, launch announcements, cocktail recipes, and everything happening before our first official pour.

📲 Instagram:

• Behind EMC | @behind_emc
• EMC Bartending | @emcbartending

LOVE WHAT YOU'RE HEARING?

Subscribe or follow Pour Me A Story so you don't miss our first official episode.

Leave a rating and review, share this trailer with someone who belongs at our bar, and come find me on Instagram.

Have a cocktail you want me to craft? A story you want to hear? An absolutely unhinged question you need answered?

Send it my way. Nothing is too random for this bar.

Here's to conversations worth having, stories worth sharing, and a life worth pouring into.

Cheers, baddies! 🥂

— Erin Mikayla