In this episode of Not Alone, Valeria sits down with Megan Klein, founder of Little Saints, a non-alcoholic cocktails and spirits brand, for a candid conversation about sober curiosity, reinvention, and building a business that challenges the way we socialize.
This episode is brought to you by Little Saints, a zero-sugar, non-alcoholic cocktail and spirits brand created for people who love the ritual of drinking but not the aftermath. Use code VALERIA for 15% off at https://littlesaints.com
In this episode of Not Alone, Valeria sits down with Megan Klein, founder of Little Saints, a non-alcoholic cocktails and spirits brand, for a candid conversation about sober curiosity, reinvention, and building a business that challenges the way we socialize. Megan shares her unconventional career path and what she discovered after testing nearly every non-alcoholic drink on the market. They dive into betting on yourself, her Shark Tank experience (and why she walked away from the offers), and her complicated relationship with the word “sober.” The conversation goes deeper into the physical and emotional effects of alcohol, why so many of us drink to numb, and what dating without alcohol can look like. Megan also opens up about how her personal experiences, including extensive work with ayahuasca, shaped her outlook on wellness, presence, and connection. It’s a thoughtful, honest episode about choosing clarity, building something meaningful, and redefining what it means to feel good.
Follow Little Saints on Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlesaintsco/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@littlesaintsco
Shop Little Saints drinks here: https://littlesaints.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoruaDMYXrtdiYTR7lCR2iMKX2fpyV74KyHXDhxcv7bg1zQ7Omza
Megan’s Book Recs:
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron - https://amzn.to/498dvYq
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas - https://amzn.to/44QVHys
Shop my looks from this episode:
https://shopmy.us/collections/3446096?tab=collections
Follow me: https://www.instagram.com/valerialipovetsky/
What we talked about:
0:20 - Dry January & Sober Curiosity
2:35 - Introducing Megan Klein
4:19 - Start of interview
6:55 - Her common thread through careers
9:55 - Pivot from farming to a food brand
12:04 - Birth of Little Saints during Covid
13:18 - Testing all the non-alcoholic drinks
15:03 - Explaining Little Saints
16:50 - Decision to invest her own money
17:28 - Selling Little Saints out of a trailer
19:18 - Megan’s Shark Tank experience
21:57 - Why she didn't take the deal
22:40 - After the tank
23:40 - Why she dislikes the word ‘sober’
27:30 - The side effects of drinking alcohol
31:30 - Drinking to numb ourselves
33:00 - Personal benefits from not drinking
35:54 - Doing Ayahuasca 60 times
38:16 - Lessons learned from Ayahuasca
39:42 - Data about the impact of alcohol
41:14 - Dating without alcohol
43:50 - What’s next for Little Saints
48:10 - Megan’s book recommendations
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Megan Klein is the founder of Little Saints, a zero-sugar, non-alcoholic cocktail and spirits brand created for people who love the ritual of drinking but not the aftermath. She launched the first batch in the summer of 2021, selling cans out of her mint-green vending trailer—affectionately named Baby Mint—in Detroit. What began as a personal solution to a pandemic-era dilemma (“love cocktails, hate hangovers”) quickly became a mission. Before Little Saints, Megan lived the classic work-hard, play-hard lifestyle: clean eating, intense workouts, big career by day - then cocktails as a reward at night. Drinking was embedded in her social life, until the pandemic made the impact of alcohol on her mental and physical well being impossible to ignore. She didn’t want to quit drinking; she wanted something better than alcohol. In 2021, after fifteen failed attempts at Dry January, Megan finally committed—and stocked her fridge with every NA option she could find. Everything tasted sugary, flat, or uninspired. Nothing captured the sensory magic of a real cocktail: the aroma, the mouthfeel, the emotional shift. So she partnered with an expert food scientist and created Little Saints: sugar-free, non-alcoholic cocktails and spirits powered by functional mushrooms—crafted to deliver the ritual, the flavor, and the feeling without the crash. Since then, Megan has served Little Saints to thousands of people who share her journey: they know alcohol isn’t helping them feel their best, but they’re not looking to give up the joy of drinking. Little Saints exists so no one has to choose between fun and wellbeing. With Little Saints, you really can have it all.
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