Maura Hardman Balances Compassion and Chaos
The Seattle-based cider professional is enthusiastic about life, and how to make cider welcoming to everyone.
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As Seattle Cider Company’s marketing and PR manager and committee chair for the American Cider Association’s Antiracism, Equity & Inclusion Committee, Maura Hardman is all in for cider. But she didn’t always see her path taking her there. Originally from Arizona, she studied to become an art therapist before joining the Peace Corps, where she spent a little over two years in Ukraine and ended up in Seattle, Washington. But once she did arrive to cider, it felt like home. Here’s how she got there, and what she plans to do next.
Every word Maura says vibrates with enthusiasm. We’re talking on the phone for Prohibitchin’, but I first encountered her glittery charisma in person at this year’s CiderCon in Portland, Oregon. She’s brash. She has what seems to be unlimited energy. And she’s unapologetically herself. I have a feeling if she had an aura photograph taken of her, it would include orange for creativity, purple for unconventionality, and red for passion.
All this translates perfectly into her role at Seattle Cider Company, where she gets to sift through “a million tiny details” to creatively problem solve in order to bring an idea onto a store shelf. “Going from everything that exists in your brain to having a physical, tangible result is really cool,” Maura explains. “ I love art, and I think that's what really draws me to marketing. I get to work with some of the most creative people… that won’t get old for me.”
But for as much creativity as working in cider allows her, she says she’s also able to draw similar elements of service and community building that drew her to her previous roles, working first in nonprofits and then corporate marketing at Whole Foods.
In the nonprofit world, she worked as the events coordinator for Lifelong AIDS Alliance, helping to set up community events like Gay Bingo, the Seattle AIDS Walk, and “lots of things that involve drag queens,” she laughs. Maura had plenty of friends and wasn’t looking to make a change, until one of her colleagues who had previously joined Whole Foods’ marketing team called her with an opportunity.
“She called me and was like ‘Okay, so this job is really weird. I think you’d love it.’” Although initially hesitant to enter such a corporate space (this was still before Amazon bought Whole Foods, she’s quick to point out), she decided to see what a move would mean. When she found out the marketing position would allow her to help connect Whole Foods with different community partners—something she was uniquely poised to do—and exercise her marketing muscles, she went for it.
It was during her time there she first found out about Seattle Cider Company, via their partnership with the local nonprofit City Fruit. “They’d take their ugly apples, crab apples, things that can’t be used for their CSA program or food bank program and put them into cider,” she explains. Whole Foods then sold the City Fruit ciders and sponsored the Seattle Cider Summit, so she began to learn about and appreciate the beverage as a fan. But appreciating cider was one thing. Working in the industry? It hadn’t even occurred to her.
After six years at Whole Foods, the same person (who Maura lovingly and only semi-jokingly now calls her life coach) who recommended she look at Whole Foods told her about yet another new opportunity at Seattle Cider. “She said, ‘I know you're not looking for anything right now, but I came across this job and I feel like you'd regret it if you didn't apply.’ I looked at it and I'm like, ‘Wow, I never thought about working in craft beer or craft cider, but I love these things. Okay, I'm gonna go for it!’” she recalls. “Seven years later, here I am.”
That fearless “why not?” mentality is something she says she wishes she could tell her younger self. “I think for the most part I’ve tried to do that, but it’s always the things you don’t do that you regret,” she says. “I don’t like that feeling of regret… but I think younger me would be pretty stoked to see where I’m at in life.”
The other thing she’s still working on is completely eradicating imposter syndrome. “At the end of the day, I do know what I’m talking about, and I’m actually really fucking good at my job!” Maura exclaims. “But the self-doubt thing, definitely it gets in there.” Part of the way she combats that feeling is by throwing herself into making cider a better, more equitable, more inclusive space in any way she can, especially through the ACA’s Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion Committee.
“Striving to create space and make CiderCon and the industry more accessible for BIPOC folks—it really can't be underscored how important that is,” she says, adding women and nonbinary people as well. “There’s still, for sure, room for improvement with what the ACA is doing, but I think that they're doing a lot right. And I love that I get to be part of helping move that forward.”
In the meantime, Maura hopes that more people begin to discover cider’s potential for themselves. “Cider is having a moment right now,” she says. “There's gonna be so much creativity coming out of this industry. There already has been, but I’m really excited to see the direction that it's going.”
Keep up with Maura on Instagram at @mauracawley or her work at @seattleciderco.
What I’m Reading
I just finished Again and Again by Jonathan Evison, a strange jaunt through time with an unreliable narrator, which is the most fun kind of narrator, or so I think. Check it out as well as what else I’ve been flipping through on my “Prohibitchin’ Recommendations” list on Bookshop.org.
What I’m Enjoying
At my request, my husband threw a tri-tip (my absolute favorite) in the smoker this weekend and I cracked open a bottle of Orchard Orange, Benny Boy Brewing’s wine/cider collaboration with Pali Wine Company. When I say it was delightful… an understatement. I loved the wild fermented, skin contact orange cider with Gravenstein apples and Pinot Gris grapes. I’m a little hit-or-miss with grape hybrid beverages (just a personal preference), but this one knocked it out of the park.
Fun Fact!
Prohibitchin’ is just shy of 1,000 subscribers! I know it’s just a number, but it would be cool if you could share the newsletter on your socials or recommend on your Substack, if you have one.
What I’m Working On
Longtime subscribers will recall I hit the road hard between September and January to promote my book. I was pretty wiped out after CiderCon, but am thinking about trying to set up some more local events, or at least events that don’t require a lot of travel time or money. Anyone in or around SoCal down? HMU!
What’s Going On
My mother-in-law gave me this lovely little vase for my birthday and I’m obsessed. Trader Joe’s has tiny bouquets for $3 or $4, so I’ve been having fun refreshing the flower crown head every week. It’s an inexpensive little splurge that’s bringing me a lot of joy.
Do you know of a woman or non-binary person working in beverage alcohol who hasn’t seen the spotlight—and should? Nominate them for a future feature!
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