Kortney Chase shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Good morning Kortney , it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
Recently, I was at my condo’s pool chatting with another resident about health trends we’re into lately. He told me, “I just discovered this new nut milk, Pecana Milk at Whole Foods, and I love it in my smoothies. It’s a game changer.” I honestly thought someone had paid him to say that to me! When he reaffirmed he had no idea I was the founder, it became one of those moments I’ll never forget.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Kortney Chase, a third-generation pecan farmer. My family grows pecans in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, and I help oversee part of that business, Chase Pecan. From there, I launched Pecana, a pecan milk made from the organic pecans we grow, which is now on shelves in grocery stores across the country. Pecana is my startup, and my hope is that one day it will become a household name in the food and beverage world.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My grandmother, my mother’s mother, always told me I had a sparkle in my eye. She also never hesitated to point out when that sparkle wasn’t there. I remember one moment vividly: I was doing something I didn’t love, and she looked at me and said she could tell, because the sparkle was gone. That was the moment I realized I wanted to always lead with passion. A grandmother’s love is incredibly strong, and I truly believe her prayers over me as a child still protect me today.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There have been so many times on this Pecana journey when I wanted to give up, especially early on, when I was determined to keep Pecana refrigerated but couldn’t figure out how to achieve the shelf life needed for grocery stores. It’s incredibly difficult to find an aseptic packaging plant in the U.S., and once I finally found my co-packer, the production requirements were daunting. Securing enough sales to meet those runs truly rocked me to my core. In the early days, it felt like a complete gamble that required a lot of upfront investment. Thankfully, we’ve since ramped up sales across the U.S., but that stage of the journey was one of the toughest tests of my perseverance.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
The public version of me isn’t always the whole picture. I grew up in a pecan orchard in a very rural part of the United States, and since I was 18, I’ve lived in cities to oversee our production facility outside of Austin. It can feel funny sometimes, having such deep rural roots (which I love) while living in places like Dallas, where the lifestyle is the polar opposite. If I could wear camo every day and spend more time around agricultural communities, I’d probably feel even more at home.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
That’s an easy one for me: drinking alcohol. Alcohol was a big part of my life, not just when I was young and wild in a small country town, but well into my early 30s. At 31, I made a major life change and stopped drinking, and I wish I had done it sooner. Today, I live such a fuller life and accomplish so much more than when I used to party. I feel like I can run laps around those still chasing quick dopamine hits. Looking back, I see how much time I truly wasted, literally.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://pecanamilk.com
- Instagram: pecanamilk
Image Credits
Chase Hall Photography
