It’s a SOCIAL Thing

If you saw Leah Caplanis at your local bar, you’d never know she runs a business that’s on the brink of going international. She’s soft spoken and kind, and underneath her smile and never-out-of-place hair is the mind of a businesswoman determined to make the world a better, happier place. She seems perpetually calm, cool and collected—and that’s because she is.

Leah is the founder and CEO of SOCIAL Sparkling Wine, a line of alcohol beverages for the health-conscious. Organic and just 88 calories, SOCIAL is made for the consumer who enjoys alcohol but loves staying energized.

The idea that sparked SOCIAL came from Leah’s own journey but also her own life philosophy.

“It’s very much about enjoying life,” Leah said.

Organic

At just 26 years old, Leah was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Instead of placing her life in the hands of conventional Western medicine, Leah turned to a more holistic approach — a move influenced by her father and sister.

“My family is very routed in the belief that nature can heal us,” Leah said. “I have always healed everything else in my body naturally.”

Guided by a holistic healer, Leah met with acupuncturists, Chinese medical doctors, chiropractors and ayurvedic practitioners. A vegetarian since she was 18, Leah transitioned into a vegan diet and began juicing, buying every dark green vegetable she could find.

If Leah was going to put anything into her body, it was going to be healthy and whole. She knew she didn’t want chemicals coursing inside her.

“When you have a cut on your hand, it heals,” Leah said. “I know if I’m not feeling well, I should get more rest or get more exercise and I end up feeling better. I just didn’t think there would be anything different about this.”

“I realized that alcohol really helps to bring people together”

Today's the Day

Leah was so focused on curing her cancer that she didn’t have much time for anything else. She was exercising and juicing two to three times a day. Her diet restricted her to raw vegan foods, which meant she rarely ever went out to eat or drink with friends. Instead, she carried a cooler of vegetables to every place she visited — even in the middle of a Chicago winter.

Leah’s the type of person who thrives when she’s around people. She loves the idea of making connections, so even though she put her social life on hold to take care of herself, Leah still missed it.

“I realized that alcohol really helps to bring people together,” she said. “It helps them to just relax, be in the moment, chill out, connect and just focus on being with each other.”

The first time Leah drank after her intensive self-treatment, she remembers it being a “beautiful’ day.” She was with friends in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood when she thought to herself, “I’m going to drink again today.”

Leah found a bottle in a local store that advertised itself as a healthier option, but she woke up the next morning knowing she needed something better.

“The next day I was like, ‘This isn’t healthy enough’,” Leah said. “This isn’t what I want it to be.”

SOCIAL-izing into the Industry

Leah’s determination to find an alcohol option for health-conscious women mirrored the determination she had to beat cancer. But she realized if she wanted a better option, she’d have to create it herself.

“I called a friend from grad school and said, ‘I want to create healthy alcohol’,” Leah said. “I didn’t know what that meant, but we were ready.”

After getting a team together, they began forming an early concept of SOCIAL through research questions they asked women. They asked approximately 3,000 questions online and 250 in person. Leah and her team ventured to festivals around Chicago and asked questions that fell along the lines of, “What are you drinking? Why do you like it? Why don’t you like it?”

“We found that no matter what it is, there are all these cons to every type of alcohol,” Leah said.

If women didn’t like liquor, it was because they got too drunk. If they didn’t like beer, it was because they got too full or bloated. But Leah and her team found the happy medium in wine.

Within six months, Leah had quit her job to focus her attention on developing SOCIAL and within a year and a half, SOCIAL was ready to be canned and launched.

But it took six more months for Leah and her team to find a brewery to produce SOCIAL Sparkling Wine.

“They don’t want to deal with small people because they’re not going to produce 1,000 cases of one brand when they’re making 15,000 cases in just one flavor of another,” she said.

Despite the scope of the alcohol beverage industry, there are only two canning companies in the entire U.S.

Leah remembers driving seven hours to Coldspring, Minnesota to sit in the lobby and wait three more hours for them to just shake her hand.

But again, Leah’s resolve is unmatched. She has a quiet tenacity that sneaks in when it wants and lingers when it must.

“They would say, ‘We really can’t see you today’,” Leah said. “So I said, ‘That’s okay. I’ll just sit here’.”

The company knew she wouldn’t budge and eventually decided to can the sparkling wine. Leah had sat there long enough.

“SOCIAL is about reminding us to come together person to person”

Building Something Together

Fast forward four years later and SOCIAL can be seen in grocery stores, restaurants, baseball stadiums and even the same festivals where the team first did research. It’s even been featured on the show Million Dollar Buyer.

Next year, SOCIAL is going international, launching in countries such as Australia, New Zealand and England.

But for Leah and her team, building a booming business isn’t the only the goal they’re after. SOCIAL was born from the need for a healthful alcohol beverage and the hope of bringing people together. SOCIAL is about being social — a part of life Leah missed while treating her cancer.

“SOCIAL is about reminding us to come together person to person,” she said. “I think for us to truly enjoy life, we have to be healthy and we have to be around people we feel good around. We have to feel like we’re safe and part of a tribe.”

Leah’s effervescent personality translates directly to how she lives her life, and how she influences others to live theirs.

The mood at SOCIAL’s office reflects this philosophy. It’s relaxed and carefree, a testament to the environment Leah wants to frame for not only her business partners but for anyone who works for her. She speaks to her full-time employees and her interns the same way — with respect and care.

And that’s how she’s approaching the business world.

“We’re connecting and building something together,” Leah said. “We want to help make the alcohol industry healthier and to raise its consciousness.”