Patricia Wilcox is the co-founder of Awestruck Ciders in upstate New York. Since founding her craft cidery in 2013, her journey has led her through the ups and downs of small business in the beverage industry, with brief forays into academia and fine wine. She earned a master’s degree in wine tourism innovation and was a harvest worker at Smith Haut Lafitte. She was also a story producer for WineMasters.tv. In her 11 years of industry experience as a craft beverage producer, the topics that most interest her include are the severe penalties of burn out, the advantages of entrepreneurship and whether or not revival is possible after a downturn.