Today on the podcast, I talk to my old pal Sheena Moore, founder of Sheena’s Pickles, an artisan brand of fermented goodies making waves all over Austin right now. Sheena and I have known each other for years since working together back in the old world as tour guides for Austin Eats Food Tours. Sheena is one of those smart, humble, incredibly funny people who makes you feel comfortable in your own skin when you’re around her.

The idea of Sheena’s Pickles has been around for years — a fact I didn’t realize when we talked — but only since the pandemic has the brand reached its current heights. Hers is a study in how to make a side-hustle really thrive. When she first conceived of the business, she decided to get her MBA from the prestigious Macomb School of Business at the University of Texas to see if she could learn enough to make the idea feasible. Not only is she a lovely human, one of my very favorites, but she’s a great example of how uncanny and powerful acting in your life toward the manifestation of your dreams can be.

When she’s not pickling to keep up with her sold-out product-line at Antonelli’s Cheese Shop, she works with rockstar academic Dr. Daina Ramey Berry, chair of UT’s History Department, and professor of African American Diaspora Studies. Sheena and I talk about what it’s like to grow up as an identical twin, how the corporate world nearly crushed her soul, and then we taste a bunch of pickles and cheese.