Behind the Boards: The Story and Purpose Driving Ozark Charcuterie and Wine Bar

Welcome back to another episode of I am Northwest Arkansas. I'm your host

Randy Wilburn and today we have an incredible story to share.

Joining me is none other than Mallory Files, the

creative force and entrepreneurial spirit behind Ozark

Charcuterie and Wine Bar. And I always mess up charcuterie.

So that's it. And anyway, Mallory's journey is a

testament to resilience, creativity, and the power of saying

yes to new opportunities. From pivoting away from a corporate

marketing career that drained her spirit to building a thriving

business that's gone viral and captured the hearts and appetites

of so many in Northwest Arkansas, Mallory has done it

all. But her story doesn't stop there. Mallory has also turned her

personal pain into purpose, advocating for domestic violence

awareness and working closely with the Northwest Arkansas Woman's

Shelter to make a real difference in our community. Today,

we're diving deep into her inspiring journey, her passion

for storytelling, and her vision for the future of her

brand. So whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a food

lover like me, or someone who believes in the power of

using business for good, you're going to love this

conversation. Let's get started.

It's time for another episode of I am Northwest

Arkansas, the podcast covering the intersection of

business, culture, entrepreneurship, and life in

general here in the Ozarks. Whether you are considering a

move to this area or trying to learn more about the place you call

home, we've got something special for you. Here's our

host, Randy Wilburn.

Hey, Mallory. Thank you so much for joining us on the I am Northwest

Arkansas podcast. How are you doing? I'm doing good. How are you? Good. Good. Good.

It's so good to finally sit down and connect with you and and shout out

to Mary Mickle and Andrea Ritchie for putting you on my radar, even

though I had heard about you. And I'd I'd spied out a few of your

reels from time to time on Instagram because you do a really

great job with that, and we'll be sure to share that information in the show

notes. I'm so glad just to kinda sit down with a young up and

coming entrepreneur here in Northwest Arkansas that doesn't take no for an answer

and really kinda sets out to forge her own path. Is that about

sum it up? Yeah. Yeah. I really don't take no for an answer.

And, yes, major shout out to Mary and Andrea. Love them so

much. Yeah. But, yeah, no, I never take no for an answer.

And I definitely learned to advocate for myself. That's for

sure. Well, I mean, I think it's important to be able to do that. And

I would love for you to just kinda share your superhero origin

story with our audience and tell them a little bit about you and and then

we can we can start talking about Ozark charcuterie. Yeah. Okay.

So I grew up in Texas. I played all the

sports you can possibly play. I grew

up on this beautiful nursery

farm. So I was surrounded by like 70 acres

of greenhouses full of beautiful flowers. And we lived at the

dead center of it on a one acre plot. And This was your family's

farm? Yes. Okay. There you go. My step family's farm. Okay. Okay. But like during

all that time, I really I used

sports and competitiveness as like an escape to just kind of

get out of that space. And I left

Fayetteville very or I'm excuse me. I left Texas.

Texas. It's all good. I left Texas.

I left Texas very shortly after my dad passed away.

Okay. And I was really just trying to escape all of that. And I

ran away to Fayetteville and I started my collegiate

career here. I didn't play any sports in college. I

started with a, you know, political aspirations. Like

I wanted to be a politician. I wanted to be the president. You know, I

wanted to do, you know, these big things. And then Were you a poli sci

major? Mhmm. Oh, you are? Okay. Did you finish as a poli sci major?

No. No. But

shortly after I got here Yeah. My mom,

she and I are really close. And I told her that I was going out

for the first time because I was severely depressed when I got here. Just kind

of trying to, you know, find my footing after my dad passed away.

And I told her, I was like, I'm going out tonight. We're gonna go hit

frat houses and with my girls. And, she was like, Oh my gosh,

like, I'm so excited for you. Although, like what mom says that, but I was

she was just thrilled, you know, that I was getting out and doing something and

midnight hits and I feel this like visceral, aggressive,

like punch to my gut. And I am like, I need to go

home. And so I just walk out, don't tell anybody. And I just

walk and I go home. And I call my then boyfriend, now husband,

Chris. And I tell him I'm like crying to him. He's six hours away. I'm

like, there's something wrong. I don't know what's wrong. He's like, I think maybe like

you're really tired and like, you know, you're kinda going through a lot right now

and maybe just, like, go to bed. And so I just went to bed. I

didn't tell my mom that I got home. And I wake up in the morning

I'm like, who is calling me at this end goal at the hour? And she

was like, Mallory, wake up. I need you to wake up right now. And I'm

like, I'm sorry. I didn't call you when I got home. She's like, no, no,

no, no, no, no. Sit up. Wake up. And I was like, okay. And so

she's like, I have to tell you something and I don't know how to tell

you. So I'm just going to just rip it off like a band aid. And

I said, oh, okay. She goes, your sister, Kaylee, has

died. And I said, what do you what do you mean? What do you

my Kaylee? My Kaylee? She was like, yes. Yes. And I

said, what happened? What happened? She goes, I don't really know. The only thing I

know is that her husband killed her, and that's all I know.

And I'm on my way to get you. I said, okay.

So then that started like the two year legal

battle of trying to get her killer behind bars and that wrapped up.

And then I ended up graduating college

and I just kind of fell into this

marketing job that I had. And I loved at first a lot. And then I

became drained and burnt out and I had a mental health

crisis. And Wait. You know, let's let's back up for a second

because you you ran right into the marketing position. But I and while

I know that, you know, the whole situation with your sister

probably kind of reorganized your whole life.

Oh, sure. And I know when we spoke about

this before we we actually sat down for this interview, you

talked about it sounded like just dealing with the loss of

your sister and the way you lost her was kind of an all consuming

fire for you for a short period of time. My only question to you was

how were you able to navigate that and school at the same

time? It was so hard. It was so hard.

I finished with a really great GPA, like 3.7 or

something like that. But I just knew that

if I didn't like show up for myself, like

nobody else was. I kind of had the realization that nobody is going to save

me. Like, I will be the only one to save me. And so I knew

that if I didn't finish college, if I didn't show up for myself,

that I was doing myself a disservice.

Yeah. Well, I mean, listen, when you told me that my

heart sank originally and I was just like, man, you know, because we've all seen

those stories on Dateline of of, you know, women that are killed by

their husbands and and crazy things like that. And any and husbands that are

killed by their wives. So it goes both ways. But I mean, this was had

to have been as deeply personal as it could be for you in

in a time of your life when, you know, you're you're really maturing and

growing up. Right? So Right. I feel like you were just kinda

thrown into the fire with this. Right. And I'm it's like I was

thrown into the fire. And also, it's like I look to my left and I

look to my right, and my peers aren't dealing with the same,

like, level of stress. I'm like, you're worried trauma. In trauma. I'm like,

you're worried about going to a party. I'm worried if he's gonna get out on

bail. You know, like my sister's killer. And so it was really

hard for me to find friends in college. Once I found my group, I found

my group and we were solid, but it took me a minute. And yeah, I

just, I learned to advocate for myself and advocate

for my sister. That was a big, a big part

of my freshman, sophomore and junior years of

college. I worked really closely with the prosecuting

team. Mhmm. I did not leave them alone. I said, I want

every, you know, step of the way. I showed up to every hearing. I would

drive the five hours home for you know, on a Thursday for a

Friday hearing and drive back Sunday, sometimes Saturday if I

had something going on on Sunday. I also worked three jobs in college.

So Not to be undone. Right? Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. But I

also kinda used all this stuff to kind of keep it at, you know, bay,

keep myself distracted. Well and I think, you know, you kinda have to

do that. Right? I mean, that's that's the only way sometimes that we can cope

as human beings when we're going through a very stressful event Yeah.

Is to stay busy and to keep ourselves engaged. Otherwise,

if you don't, like, you know, as they say, like, the boogeyman definitely will come

and get you as far as you just allowing so many things to

pervade your thought and cause you to think negatively

about stuff when in reality, you always have to be looking at the

positive aspects of life in in spite of everything else that's going on

around us. Right. Right? Yeah. I could say the same thing about

well, never mind. I'm not I won't get into that. But but yes, I mean,

it is kind of the way that you have to look at things and I

certainly applaud you for that. And I do want to come back

and talk a little bit about your dedication and

desire to advocate for other victims of

domestic violence. But I wanted to talk with you a little

bit about how you got here. I mean, this beautiful

facility that we're in, we're kind of like nestled here in the corner off of

Mountain Street in Fayetteville. You're kind of

back around the corner in a little speakeasy spot underneath.

But when you walk in here, there's just something about the

ambiance and the calmness that came over me when I literally walked in

here. Now, there's nobody in here, but you have it set up so nicely. And

I I would have to imagine that what we're seeing in this

spot is really an extension of who Mallory is. Yes.

That was my my goal. And I love hearing when people say

that they feel some like, something very obvious when

they walk in here, like calming, they feel at home, they feel peaceful,

they feel safe. Yeah. That has been something that I hear

at least twice a week, you know, somebody that I'm interacting with my

customers. So that means a lot to me that you say that. Yeah.

But how I got here. So kind of

picking back up. So after I graduate from college,

I have that marketing job and I learn a lot in that marketing

job. Like I would not be here without that job,

without the like vital marketing

strategy that I learned, but I was very drained. And

so I quit that job very abruptly. I had a mental

health crisis and I, it was just because of

everything that kind of led up to that. I didn't really let myself

process my dad's death or my sister's death and the trauma

that came with both of those deaths. So I

had a therapist and she said, I just want you to try to

be creative with something. You're obviously a very creative person. Just

find something that inspires you. Find somebody that inspires you and

give it a shot. And I was like, that's very ambiguous.

Okay. Or ambiguous. Okay. And so I was like,

well, I can make a charcuterie board, I guess. And so I just like made

one and then I took it to my church friends and took it to,

like, my girlfriends. And they all were like, this is like, phenomenal. You

should start a business. And I'm like, you guys are really just blowing

smoke up my skirt because you know that I'm struggling right now, but thank

you so much. And then somebody one of them actually

ordered from me, like, wanted to pay me for it. Yeah. And I was

like, really? You wanna pay me money? And she was like, yeah, I do.

You're super talented. I said, okay. And so I did that and that's kind

of where it all started. And then I thought about what I wanted

the business to be named and all during this, I was stocking shelves at

Target. Just putting that out there. Wow. Because we needed a little

bit of income. My husband had a steady job, but it wasn't enough to really

like pay all of our bills. And do what you gotta do. You gotta do

what you gotta do. And so I would put my headphones in. I would work

the 6AM shifts and just stock shelves. And it was so peaceful

and nice. I, like, sped through the Twilight series.

I'd never read them before. Oh, so Audible was your friend? Audible was my friend.

What about podcasts? I don't know if I listened to podcast. I would no. I

no. I didn't listen to podcasts. I listened to the Twilight series. That's

very cool. That's very cool. Yeah. I've talked to a lot of people that have

the ability when they work certain jobs to listen to things. And some

people listen to music. Some people listen to books. Yeah. Some people listen to podcasts.

Right. So yeah. So I mean, it does make the time go a little faster

Mhmm. And it kinda keeps you engaged. Yes. And also just,

like, I was at a such a low. I was like, I can't believe I'm

here stocking shelves at Target. I was like, I have a college

degree. I've gone through all of this, and I'm here at Target Yeah. Stocking

shelves. It was a real humbling moment for me. Well, and sometimes you gotta

do what you gotta do. So Yeah. Exactly. It's totally fine. I

do wanna mention in in terms of the start of Ozark Charcuterie, there

was one individual that really had a profound impact on you in terms

of pulling this together. And I say, I always tell people that

more is caught than taught, but talk to us just a little bit about your

grandmother. Oh. Who really impacted a lot of the things

that you have who you have now infused into what people experience

when they actually come to Ozarks Refinery. Yes. Okay. So

my wonderful and sweet Mimi, her name

is Mary Carolyn. She goes by Carolyn and

she actually well, we named our daughter after her. Okay. Lucy's

middle name is Carolyn And she just

exudes creativity and

passion in the kitchen. Like beyond just like cooking,

like for your family. Like it goes so far beyond that. Her

impact on me when I was little, she would make these one like

these pancakes, and she would draw out our favorite

characters in pancake batter, or like our names, like in this

beautiful cursive. She would make these extravagant Easter

cakes. And not only did they look good, but they tasted wonderful.

Yeah. And so when I was sitting kind of in that

horrible spot, I thought about a place that brought me so much peace. And

that was my Mimi and my granddaddy's house. And they have a ranch

in East Texas and it always just brought me

so much joy. I never wanted to leave. I always wanted to be there.

I felt so safe. Yeah. Cause I grew up in a really unsafe

household. And so just being there was just so wonderful.

And so she just still to this day, like

very much impacts everything that I do for this business,

really. When I'm able to create food, like

food art pieces, I'm like thinking of my Mimi all the time. And

so she means so much to me and

my family and Lucy, because she's still alive. She was recently diagnosed

with Alzheimer's. So I'm so sorry to hear that. It has been

really challenging for our family and for my

mom and for just for everybody involved and especially my

Mimi because she's still, like, there. Mhmm. But she knows she's, like,

losing some things. And so it's hard to watch somebody that you love so deeply

and that has impacted your life so, so much kind of lose

themselves. And so Lucy, she goes, I had to go

to my Mimi and granddaddy's house. Where's my Mimi? Where's my

Mimi? And my Mimi never forgets Lucy. Like, that is like one thing

that she never forgets is Lucy. So it just is

so wonderful. And yeah. So my Mimi means a lot to me. Alright. That's

I love that. I love hearing stories like that because I think we all need

inspiration. Yeah. And certainly, it's it's a blessing that you actually

had the ability to call on that inspiration from your grandmother, which

has, you know, slowly seeped into what you're doing here at

Ozark Charcuterie. Yes. And I will say this that, I always tell

people half of the good aspect of eating good

food is the presentation. And I watched a lot of your

videos. I've watched a lot of your charcuterie

boards. I've looked at a lot of pictures and I'm just like, man, they just

they do look like many works of art, right? Where you've put time

into I mean, how do you flower a salon? But I mean, you do.

And it's like, so you have skills that, I mean, are just, like,

really kinda set you apart from a lot of other people. And

you've kinda tapped into, like, this thing because growing up, I've got

you by a few years, but charcuterie boards weren't a thing back in the

day. And they have become a really big deal.

Yeah. I mean, like, meat and cheese platters, boards, whatever, I think

have always been on the fields. Yeah. But they've just been thrown together. It

was just, like, let's cube up some cheese. Let's just cut some meat slices,

throw it out there with some ranch dressing and and

some toothpicks and call it a day. Right. And now we've taken it from

that to, like, this luxury item. Yeah. And so

I just kinda took something that was already done

in a way and just made it luxury. Yeah. I mean,

I'm definitely not the first person to come up with the idea

of a charcuterie business, but I am I was one of the, like, one of

the first that have that has, like, come to this

level. Yeah. Well and that's I think that's one of the things I don't want

it to be lost on our listeners. You you talked about just, you

know, how it slowly turned into an actual business.

Mhmm. How did likely I know you did some pop up events

early on and then kind of just this whole concept. And I really

loved it when you said it because you said it with such an innocence of

you just said, I got to a place where I just said yes to everything.

Any opportunity that came for me to share what I was

passionate about, which in this case was charcuterie and just how you put

these things together, you said yes to. Can you talk a little bit

about that? Yes. I would love to. So, I

sat about three months postpartum on my couch

with my newborn daughter in my arms, and I looked at her and I looked

around me and I said, nobody needs me beyond this house.

And that to me was so unsettling. Like, I

don't know why. I just felt like this was not it for me.

Yeah. Lucy, at that time, I was like, she means the world to me. I

would do anything for her. I would do anything for my husband. But I was

like, would I do anything for me? Yeah. And so I had

this full time job still, and I was coming back into it.

Like, I was about to run out of my maternity leave, and I

still had Ozark Charcuterie. I was still, you know, not taking orders from

that maternity leave. And I just told

Chris as I was sobbing on the couch. And, you know, postpartum

hormones are a real thing, and I'm sure that was elevating it. But the feelings

and the, like, thought behind it was very real to me. And

I said, okay, I'm going to say yes to every single thing

that I possibly can. Even if that means that I'm not home for

dinner, that I might not see Lucy as much as I want to. I might

not be around Chris as much as I want to. I just need to give

myself a chance. And so I said yes to every

single pop up, everything that I possibly could. I would reach out to

people if they were like, we're trying out this new event.

Would you please like come be a vendor? I would have to pay to

go. So I'd have to pay $30 to go. Right. And guess how many sales

I made? None. Correct. So I was out

$30 that I paid, and then all of my product is

perishable. Yeah. So it's out all of the product costs. So I lost, like,

probably a hundred and $50 that day. But people would

eat what you brought for the most part. Yeah. But I mean, like, if I'm

trying to sell it Yeah. At the table. You know what I mean? And so

by the end of it, I'm like, here, just take it. Just take it so

I don't have to throw it away. Right. And so, you know, I think I

had like six or seven of those kind of events that I would go to.

And then I got to a point where I

started I just like changed my marketing strategy.

And that's when I saw like the biggest difference. But it was because

I said yes to all these things. I learned so much from saying

yes. And I had this like mind shift change of like, okay,

well, yeah, I made zero sales today, but what did I learn today? Yeah.

I learned, okay, don't bring this much product maybe. You need another ice

chest. Oh, let's get this sign instead. Like, let's try to get

email addresses. You know? So I just really tried to reframe all

of these failures into learnings. And when I made that shift too,

it also helped kinda change my perspective and made people look at me

a little bit differently. And I would do these, like, little self vlogs

every day, like, things that I learned. Yeah. And so then I could go back

and I still go back and I look at them and I kinda Google at

myself. I'm like, oh, girl. But yeah. And so I just documented

everything. I love that. Well and, yeah, and that's a big thing. Gary Vaynerchuk always

says document, don't create. Just document. Mhmm. Because it makes all. Well, first of all,

it makes it easier. Right? Mhmm. And I personally wish I could just have a

vlogger walk with me throughout my day. And I'm I've thought about getting somebody

actually, I have somebody that has agreed to do it for me. I just have

to make the time, you know, and follow me around even like doing stuff like

this. But I think it's important. I want to go back to just that

whole concept of saying yes, because I don't want that to be lost on people.

Did you happen to read the book that Shonda Rhimes wrote about The Year of

Saying Yes? No. Okay. So, it's an amazing book. Do you know who Shonda Rhimes

is? Yes. Of course. Well, one of the things that got her

over the top in terms of her directing and producing so

many top dramas on TV is that she

just learned to say yes. And a lot of times it's kind of

counterintuitive, right? Because a lot of people say, oh, well, you say yes to too

many things and sometimes you need to say no to things. But there are seasons

of our lives when we go through, when we're trying to do something and you

really do need to put yourself out there. And part of the way of putting

yourself out there is saying yes to things and putting yourself into sometimes

unfamiliar environments, places where maybe you're not as comfortable as you think

you should be. Right. And it helps you to grow. Absolutely.

I mean, it's just part of it. And I wouldn't say if you're a diamond,

you can only become a diamond under pressure. Exactly. Yes.

That is exactly, like, was my mindset of, like, I've

gotta make myself uncomfortable. And every time that I would be

uncomfortable, I kinda loved it, low key, because I was like, I am

learning something today. And even if I like literally fall

straight on my face, I don't care. We'll figure it out. I'll figure it out.

Yeah. Like, I don't care. And I will say like one of the biggest pieces

of advice that I have for any business owner is get so scrappy.

Be so scrappy. Be lean and be scrappy. Like, don't be afraid

to, you know, like, do whatever you need to do within reason. Like, be ethical

people. But like, you know, just get so scrappy. Well, and so

and you mentioned something about what you did in terms of documenting what you

did every day. And my wife is actually going through that right now because she's

going through some challenges in her midlife. And she's

trying to document it because she's like, there's not enough people out here talking about

it. And and so and actually, I I'll just share it's menopause. Right? It's

no secret. Every woman goes through it. So and half of the world are women.

So it's like it's a real issue that people have to deal with. So And

it can make you feel so alone. It does. It really does. And, you

know, the crazy thing is, and my wife said that, you know, as she's gotten

more into studying the whole issue of menopause, and not that that's not what this

episode is about, but it's funny how all you know, it

clearly shows you that not enough women are at the helms of the controls

to be able to guide and direct the conversation because half of the

world, again, struggles and has to go through this at some point in time in

their lives. But yet, there is not enough that's been

studied of on it. If you talk to scientists, if you talk to doctors that

work in that field, they will tell you we don't have enough data

to help us to help alleviate what is a very

serious issue for a lot of women midlife. And so,

you know, I mean, it can really, you know, it can put you in a

funk for years. I believe it. Until you come out of it. Until you come

out of it. Yes. I believe it. It's a really Now, my wife's doing great.

But I mean, again, she is purposely taking the bull by the horns, the

pun intended and just doing her thing. A dang queen. Yeah, exactly.

So, she's doing that. Yes, she is. So I wanna ask you

because, again, part of you're saying about the whole documentation

piece, and I know people see folks on Instagram and a lot of folks or

just TikTok, whatever, it doesn't matter. You pick your social media platform of

choice. It is a lot of times, it seems daunting. How do I

go about and even when I look at your stuff, I'm just like, man, you

know, your your social media game is next level. How did

you develop that skill set? Because I would imagine that it wasn't like you

didn't take a class at at the Sam Walton College of Business for social media

one zero one. Right. And it's kinda one of those things where you there's enough

data points and information out there to get ideas

to be encouraged by, to say, yeah, if they can do it, I can do

it. But how did you step out of your comfort zone to document

everything that you're doing? Because it it has made played a major role

in getting you to the point that you're at right now. So That's a

long winded question. No. That's okay. But I think

I just thought, okay. Like, social

media, I think, is a way to totally elevate

your business and get you farther, maybe a little faster.

Not that there isn't a ton of work behind it because I am constantly

thinking about videos and takes and angles and

whatever and lighting and all that stuff. But where it

started was from a simple strategy shift,

and that was from, you know, on Instagram, whatever your

wherever is, this is what I'm selling. Please buy from

Ozark Charcuterie. We need your money. Please buy from us

to, hey, guys. This is Mallory. Like, please buy from me. This is how

I do it. This is how much it costs me. This is why I'm pricing

it this way. Like, would love to have you purchase from me. From me.

Yeah. Not from us. Right. Not we. Yeah. I, me. Yeah. And

that is when people really bought in because people do not buy

from brands. They buy from people. They buy from people. Absolutely. And so

when I made that shift, that is when I saw

everything change for me. So, like, it was in April of last

year, I I started posting, like, tips and tricks on, like,

catering stuff and like how to make a meat roast, how

to, you know, make this little bento box. And then

I posted this hack that I found because I accidentally double booked

myself one day. That was before I had people working for me and I was

like, oh crap, what am I gonna do? And so I did what I

call the box method. Okay. And I built charcuterie in the box,

and I would take it to the venue. And then I, you know, put it

in several boxes. So it's now this massive grace table, and I was

in and out in twenty minutes instead of an hour and a half.

Wow. And so I was able to bounce from one venue to the next

and be done in, you know, forty no. Like, I don't know,

an hour Yeah. Or so. But I mean, I still built everything at my,

you know, kit in my kitchen, but I was able to go boom, boom, and

it'd be done. Yeah. And so when I posted that, and I was like, here's

how I do it. No gatekeeping. I mean, that video has

10,000,000 views alone on Instagram. Oh my gosh. And so my

following went from 3,005

to, like, 30,000 in two weeks.

Yeah. And then from there, it just has slowly

increased and has gotten crazy

cool. Yeah. And I think, you know, and the key thing is that you

do have your own personal brand. Yes. And you have

the brand for Ozark Charcuterie. Right. But I like what you said earlier though,

because I think people, it has to be you have to and I

tell people this all the time that are starting and running businesses. You can hide

behind the brand of that business all you want. But

in reality, most people are interacting with it because it's

you, Right? And that's why those people come on in my podcast. And it's like,

oh, I know Randy or, you know, I like what Randy's doing. It's like, yeah,

the podcast is great, but people wanna be on this podcast or

have been on the podcast because they wanna either have a relationship with me or

they have a relationship with me and want to help whatever I'm

doing. Yeah. No. You hit it right spot on. It's they

want a relationship with you. And I do have a personal

brand. And so that has been also, like, part of the long

game here. And I I really am playing this long game because

here shortly, I'm I'm gonna transition the Ozark Charcuterie account

over to Mallory Files. Okay. And it

be kinda still what it is. It's just I've slowly

transitioned my audience into expecting different content.

Yep. I'll still do, you know, some great catering hacks, the you know,

here's how to create this food item like a charcuterie

rose, business finance tips, all the things I'm still doing

now, but just making it at Mallory Files instead of at Ozark Charcuterie.

And when I opened this brick and mortar, I also started another

account at Ozark Charcuterie and Wine Bar. And like that has

all of the business stuff on it that like people wanna see, the events,

all of that stuff. And it does great. The vision for that is

going great. So, yeah, it's just understanding that,

like the strategy behind it's really like science, I feel like,

in statistics and understanding, like, what drives people to do

certain things. Yeah. Well and I think it's you know, even unpacking that,

because I watch a lot of YouTube videos when people talk about the whole

purpose of creating your own personal brand and the power of that personal brand. I

follow a guy named Chris Do and a few others that really talk about the

whole concept of the personal brand and, you know, why sometimes

it's like even trying to separate it from maybe a business that you're on.

Again, it gets back to that whole issue of people wanna work people wanna do

things with people that they like. Mhmm. And it's it just kind of invariably

always works out that way. And so what strategically

had you decided that made you decide you wanted to kinda merge

Ozark Charcuterie with your Mallory Files brand?

So unintentionally, I started, you know, putting my face out

there more. Mhmm. So it was this really cool moment where

somebody came up to me and was like, oh my gosh, you're Ozark Charcuterie. I'm

like, yes, I am. Like, oh my God, it's so great to meet you. Like,

tell me all about you. This is so great. I can't believe you recognize me.

Oh my God. I feel famous. But it was that moment that stuck with

me that they're that they said you're Ozark Charcuterie. Yeah. And not,

oh, you're Mallory Files. And I just kept that in the back of my head.

And then over time, like this occurrence happens often

enough for me to say, okay, maybe it's time to think

this through a little bit more. And I had this thought probably six months

ago, and I knew that as I opened this

brick and mortar, I couldn't transition my my page over because that was

too much change happening for my audience. Mhmm. And a really important thing about marketing

is the confused mind says no. Yeah. And so I didn't want to

confuse my audience and turn them off. And so I thought,

okay, you know, when I can get settled, I can transition it over.

And also, you know, with the amount of followers

that I have, there is a great opportunity for brand

deals and stuff like that. And I've had a really

hard time getting those because people look at my account and they say, what,

you're a business? Like, why should this, our company partner

with a business? Yeah. Like, who are we paying? And

so that has made it really difficult. I've definitely found

companies that understand my content, but if you look at,

you know, other content creators out there that are doing similar things like

this, getting those dollars for these brand

partnerships, it's because they're branded. They're a personal

brand. Sure. So that's kind of been, like, the vision

for the soon to be at Mallory Files account. It's

like, I would love to open up because I've done all this work. I've

served my audience, you know, I and that is the top priority for

me is serving my audience, giving them all the like, taking

down all the walls because they interact with my content, they engage.

But now I'm like, okay, I need to, like, actually monetize this. Sure. And

so that was the biggest driver behind this, to be honest.

No. I I get that. And I mean, that makes total sense. I mean, I

I'm I thank you for unpacking that because I I think some of the listeners

that are listening are are kind of like at the early stages of what do

I do. I mean, we have a wide variety of people that listen to this

podcast. And even I struggle with the whole concept of do I focus on I

am Northwest Arkansas or who who I am at Randy Wilburn. And when I

saw your Instagram for you and I was like, wow. Because she's got a she's

got a large following for her. And so and I've kinda

I've kinda gone on the other side of just diving deep into I am

Northwest Arkansas thinking, yeah, it is the brand. Because I have had people come to

me and say, you're I Am Northwest Arkansas, aren't you? Or like crazy,

I was in line and somebody heard me talking. They were like, hey, are you

that guy from the podcast? And I'm like, yes. I have I've actually had that

happen several times and it's quite unnerving because you're just like, yeah. You know, you

don't think I don't think of my voice as being distinctive. Other people are like,

oh, it's me. I totally recognize that. So I'm like, alright. Cool. And now that

we've been on KUAF for a couple of years now on New Starts at

Large, yeah. You get that. And so, like, my wife likes to say, oh, yeah.

Well, you know, you're like you know, she's telling my sons, You know, your dad's

like a local celebrity around here. And I'm like, I don't feel that way, but

I get what she's saying. But it's like, how do you, like, navigate those

waters to let people know that, well, you know, we're one in the same.

Right? I am Northwest Arkansas is me. I mean, theoretically, somebody else could take

over the podcast. I don't know if it would have the same je ne sais

quoi as it has right now. You know what I'm saying? So that that's the

thing. And I mean, I I do feel like I make this what it is.

And again, I'm I'm not trying to be boastful. I'm just calling it the

way I see it. So yeah. So and I guess

I just did it until it didn't make

sense anymore, you know, because and I almost was like, let's not

think too hard about it. Because at the same time, you look at brands

like Nike and Google, like, they're run by actual humans

behind the scenes. And you're like, I wonder, like, who's running that?

And then if you look at Moserai or Mosery or whatever,

the the creative behind, like, Instagram right now Sure.

He's doing, like, all these, like, Instagram hacks, like how to do this, how to

do that. And people look at him like he is Instagram. And so I

think just really going back to, like, you don't

necessarily have to separate it out. You can keep it together until it makes

sense Sure. Or doesn't make sense Right. To keep it together. And

also, I think, you know, like I said earlier, like, it's part of a long

game strategy of, like, the confused mind says no. Your

audience will absolutely say unfollow,

unengage if they feel betrayed, if they feel like

I don't know. Whatever. Because they are giving you a piece of their time, and

you have to hold that to, like, what it is, which is kind of it's

extremely valuable. Yeah. And so remembering that piece of, like, how can

I, within reason, like, make my audience happy, serve

them, and then combine or uncombine

your brand versus your personal brand? And once they ultimately

become one, then there's really maybe even no

separating really needed. You know what I mean? Yeah. No. No. I I totally get

it. Because, I mean, I think one of the things as as I went down

and watched several of your videos is that, you know, yeah, you

you talk a lot about charcuterie boards and just this whole concept,

but you also talk a lot about yourself and about some of the things that

you're going through and stuff that you're dealing with, which actually makes it

super relatable. Right? When people are like, oh, actually like her. Yeah. You

know, my so and so is going through the same thing that she's going through.

Or, yeah. I know somebody else that has a two year kid that's going through

this, this or that. Yeah. I mean, you know, I know somebody else that started

that started their business a couple years ago during the pandemic and they're just kind

of just grinding every day to make things work. It's like once you start to

see that it you realize that, you know, you're not the only one, but

people resonate with it because you are transparent and you share your

story. Yes. Exactly. I think storytelling has

definitely been how I've been able to be

here is because I have a true love

for storytelling. Yeah. Well and so, obviously,

because of that and because of, you know, making the commitment to move into this

beautiful space, you know, you've obviously amped up the

storytelling on social media, and that has then got more

eyeballs Mhmm. More engagement. How has that engagement

really made the difference for you and your business over the period the short

period of time? So yeah. Just for example,

we did a grand opening here, and I ticketed

it because I was hopeful that there would be enough people to, you know,

fill the space. And we had a very strict capacity of of 50 and

it sold out in like an hour. Wow.

And I That must have felt really good. Oh my gosh. It felt

so good. I I even like get choked up thinking about it now because

I was thinking like all of this work that I had done, this might

actually work. And so because it sold out so

quickly, I was like, okay, I'm gonna, you know, put this into two two hour

periods. So six to eight and eight to ten. And so then I opened up

sell out, but it sold out. And then I added a couple more tickets to

each one because I was like, we can do this outside too. Like, we can

make this work. It's no big deal. It's one night. And

yeah, it just so has impacted me deeply in

that way. And then also just like being able to

I get messages often saying like, you are the reason I

took the leap to start my charcuterie business. Feels good, doesn't

it? It is an incredible feeling. Like sometimes I don't even know how

to respond to these people because I'm like, this is

incredible. Like, this feels so amazing.

And I am taking all of these things that

I've like documented over the last like few years. And like, I will make a

course and like, you know, sell the course, but it's so cool that these

people are able to take the information that I have learned and

apply it and actually, like, start their own

business. And 99% of the time, it's women. Yeah. And that is, like,

the coolest thing to me is that I can inspire a woman

to do something, like, for themselves. Yeah. You know? Like, it's just an incredible

feeling. Yeah. And and I love those kind of stories. And I I feel the

same way. I'm I'm constantly encouraging people to start a podcast. I'm like, I I

don't you know? And and and you said a word earlier, which I is a

word I use all the time. And it's kinda funny, like, the cool kids use

it, but it's like, oh, no, my sons will be like, oh, yeah, you're gatekeeping.

It's like, why are you keeping this to yourself? And it's like, you know, and

some people do that as if nobody else in their mother is ever gonna be

able to pull out a cutting board and put some beautiful

you know, accoutrements on on that cutting board with meat and cheese and

other things. I mean, other people are gonna do it. You might as well serve

as the inspiration for it. Right. You know, and and just be like, hey, you

know, that's it. Where you get those atta boys or atta girls that thank you

so much for being that guide that I use to get whatever I

was doing off the ground. Yeah. Heck, yeah. I I love that

that mentality, though. Like, just to get it up off like, you had that original,

like, itch for it, and then you're getting it The

inspiration gets it up off the ground. I think that's lovely. But yeah,

I, I do have so much fun, like creating

that content and thinking like, what would

somebody like me, like three years ago need? Like,

to get me through the next spot. And I would go back to my little

doc my little logs that I would have and think of and look at the

problem that I had. And now I know the solve for it. So then I

make a video about it and post it. And I know that just about everybody

who is trying to get somewhere in this industry has probably gone through the same

thing. Yeah. Well, I mean, yeah. Listen, I I applaud

everything that you've done and it's just it is exciting kind of hearing this story.

And I'm I'm just I don't know about you guys that are listening to this,

but I was pumped up and am pumped up listening to Mallory's story.

You gotta follow her on Instagram and just watch some of her

reels and I'm gonna have to offline get some additional advice from her

as I continue to try to take my stories to another level because I like

telling stories and I think all of us have a story to tell. Yes. You

know, that's kind of the thing that I tell people all the time. We all

have a story. We all have a platform. We just some of us just haven't

found it yet. Right. And just a matter of you finding that inner voice to

be able to put it out there because I always say the world is waiting

in eager expectation for what you have to share. Yes. And

most of the time, like, the things that you're going through, somebody

else has gone through or is going through. And, like, with

what your wife is dealing with now, like, it would have just be nice to

see that somebody else is dealing with it too. Yeah. And that is what

I continuously go back to is, like, there is community

over everything. You know? Absolutely. Yeah. It it takes a village. It

does. That's for sure. It does. So, well, I mean, I I do wanna ask

you these couple other questions. Sure. In terms of, you know,

obviously you shared openly about your personal losses and challenges

that you've gone through. I'm just curious to know

how those experiences, like specifically with your sister, how has

that kinda shaped the way that you now approach life and

business? You know, because, like, again, I think sometimes we try to separate

different aspects of our lives, but it's hard to do. I have the

saying that you know the saying like, it's nothing personal, it's just

business? Right. Nah. It's personal because

it's business. Right. Right. Like, that is my go to

thing here. And because of what I've gone through with my

sister and my dad, I think about people

as people. Like this is not you're not just a number. Like my employees are

not just numbers. They're not just, you know, a cog in this wheel. Like they

genuinely matter to me. Yep. And every person that

walks in here, I'm like, I literally can't believe you're here right now. Like, this

is so cool. Thank you so much for being here. It means so much to

me that you would take time out of your day to be here. And all

of that is because of these massive losses in

my life. Yeah. And, you know, I definitely

have a different lens on when I look at people, look at

couples because of my sister and what

she experienced. So that is certainly something

that, you know, I don't take lightly, but I try to advocate

for domestic violence survivors and victims and

also the tertiary victims of domestic violence, which is what I

am. I was not directly impacted Which were. But I was,

right, in a tertiary way, which is like an avenue,

like a perspective that isn't really spoken about a lot. But

I think at least in my head, I'm like, we can reach more people this

way because everybody has a sister or a colleague or a mom or

a daughter or a brother or whatever that has, you know, that

could be dealing with this. And so, like, let's try to reach

people this way instead of speaking directly to the

victims. Because I feel like as a tertiary victim of domestic

violence, I can't sit and look at a survivor and say, this is what you

should do. Like, that is so tone deaf, you know? Like, I have no business

speaking to somebody who is dealing with that. Right. But I think I do have

business speaking to a sister of a victim. I mean, like, this

is how I've gone about it. Sure. You know? Sure. Yeah. And I think sometimes

because, again, whenever we're going through a very life altering

situation, we think we're the only ones. Mhmm. And sometimes that's

just, you know, you you need to understand that other people have have been there

and some have even written the playbook for how you deal with it. Right. So

I think it's important. So your work with the Northwest

Arkansas Woman's Shelter, what have you been able to do with that? I mean, I

know what your inspiration is to support organizations like

that, but what have you been able to do with the Northwest Arkansas Women's

Shelter? So in December, we did

our like, we have a few events and we ticket the events.

And so part of, like, their pay to play or just

really come in, like, paint their portrait or whatever, was a stocking

stuffer for the gals at the women's shelter. So they brought their favorite

under $10 self care item, and, like, that was the way they could come in

Mhmm. And do the activity for the night. And we

stocked all of their stockings in the women's

shelter for Christmas. And so that was so amazing. And they even,

like, had so much extra. So it was really cool to see, like, all these

women show up for these women and children in the shelter. And

then in February, we did something kind of different that

has never been done before, but I don't know why I had this idea. I

was just sitting at my computer, like, kind of messing around on Canva. And

I was like, let's make a, like, card making station for the

women in the shelter. Yeah. Because love month is so hard for

them. And so I put up a little station,

and I just was like, okay, let's make some cards

for these wonderful women. So, yeah, it was so great. And

we had people pick them up and, like, the executive director pick them up and

distribute them. And she was like, this is so great. Like, this we've never done

it before, and this was awesome. So we'll do it every year. Yeah. I love

that. Well, that's good. I mean and and certainly, I know they all appreciate that.

And and as actually, as at the time of us recording this, it's almost time

for NWA Gives, which Yeah. Is a big time of year for giving.

So is. But regardless of when you're listening to this podcast, anytime there

there's always a good time to give. Yes. You know? And Yeah. And especially if

you have a skill set or ability or something that you can share with the

rest of the community, I mean, please, I wanna encourage you to get

out there and share it because you you don't realize the difference that you can

make in the life of somebody else. Yes. And impacting

somebody's life is like such an honor. You know, it is like

the coolest thing in the whole wide world. I was able to kind

of share my story as a whole at the masquerade

ball in February. Okay. And so I got up on

stage. I told it, you know, my story from my perspective. I didn't try to

tell Kaylee, my sister's story at all. And I raised

$20,000 on stage. And it was one of the

coolest it was the coolest moment of my life, honestly. It had to have been

very rewarding. Yes. Extremely, extremely

rewarding. I love that. I love that. Well, listen, as we try to land

this plane, because I could talk to you for days about the stuff that you're

doing and what you obviously, what you've gone through. Let's talk just

real quickly about this space. When are you open? I know

we're actually here recording this on a Monday. Today is a day that you typically

closed. Right? Okay. So what are your hours? How when

can people come and check you guys out? And if they want to just reach

out because they wanna order something for an upcoming graduation party

or something along those lines, what's the easiest way for

people to learn more about the particulars here at Ozark

Charcuterie? Yeah. So all of that info is on our website at

www.ozarkcharcuterie.com. Okay. And our

hours were open Tuesday through Sunday. Yeah. And

hours kinda vary, but mostly, we are open from three to

00 most days. Yeah. And then, you know, Tuesdays and Sundays are a bit

different and Saturdays as well. So go on Google. Look at the hours. Check it

out. Yeah. Yeah. And we'll have to get you on our new hyperlocal business

directory, find it in WA, because I think it's important. You know, we've gotten

a lot of restaurants on there, and and, I think it's important for people to

know locally what's available to you. Yeah. Yeah. I would love that.

I would love that. And then catering, people can order for any

time, anywhere, and, like, we'll be there. That's our bread and butter. Like, that's

what we are the very, very best at. We're, you know, nailing down the

restaurant aspect. It's pretty good, but we're still nailing it down. But the catering, we've

got it down. And and for folks that are that are listening to this, I

mean, we we did shoot a video for this, but the restaurant has a really

cool little bar. They've got kombucha back there. You've got some other

items. I guess you're you're working on your alcohol license or is that

something that you'll you'll have soon? So we have our, you

know, on premise license. So we can sell by the

bottle or by the glass, like, on premise. Okay. But what I'm working on right

now is our retail permit. Oh, okay. So we're gonna

retail wine. We'll have 12 to 15 bottles that you can come

in, purchase, and take away without having to open the bottle. Right. Right. So, like,

so if I'm getting a charcuterie board from you, I could come in and grab

a bottle of wine as well. Exactly. We'll have or something like

that. Exactly. We'll have wine of the month. We'll have a wine club. We'll

do, like, a charcuterie board and a bottle, like, every we're we

have so many ideas. Yeah. Well, listen. I think anybody listening to you, you

gotta come down here and please support what Mallory's doing here

at Ozark Charcuterie. It is such a very cool

spot. But more importantly, I'm telling you, when you start to look at those Instagram

photos and you see some of those charcuterie boards that she has made, your

mouth will water. So not only will she give you some advice and guidance and

encouragement as you're getting your business off the ground, but she can also keep you

satisfied in your stomach as well with some really good food

and just something that, you know, it's the kind of comfort food that I know

we all aspire to be able to partake of. And so whether you're having

a party, a get together, a celebration, retirement, birthday,

doesn't matter what it is, reach out and give Mallory a

call and just say, hey, I heard about you from the I Am Northwest Arkansas

podcast. We'd love to order a charcuterie board for fill in the blank

event. And, she'll take good care of you. How far in advance do people need

to doesn't I mean, I can turn around something pretty

quickly. I say, like, give me twenty four hours. Right. If it's a

small box under 25 people, I can turn around in

an hour. Okay. But if it's anything bigger than that, give me twenty four hours.

I love it. Yeah. And I watched some of those videos where you were preparing

those boxes. It's really cool. I mean, there's a whole method to your madness as

you put all that together. There is a method to my madness. And that's what

I try to tell people. I'm like, y'all just listen to me. There's a method

here. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I love that. I love that. So no. Well, this

has really, really been great. I I want I really appreciate it. Again, shout out

to Mary Mickle and Andre Ritchie for resplendent and

what those guys are doing and certainly, I really

appreciate the fact that they connected me with you and I get

a chance to see it. I think that's what it's all about. It's one of

the reasons why I do this podcast is for the connections that are

created because as I tell my friends, your network is your net

worth. And if you have a good network, then your net worth is off the

charts. And so that makes it, all worthwhile. So, Mallory,

thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. If they wanna connect with

you on Instagram, it's malloryfiles. Yes. So

m a l l o r y f I l e

s. And then if they wanna follow Ozark Charcuterie, it's

at Ozark Charcuterie. And wine bar. And wine bar. Okay. I got

you. So it's at Ozark Charcuterie and Wine bar. All of that will be in

the show notes. But listen, we we really appreciate you taking time

out of your busy schedule to sit with us. You've got a two year

old. You've got a dog at home and a husband and an amazing

charcuterie wine bar. So you've got a lot going on. No. This

is my honor. Happen. This is my honor to be here and talk to you,

and I love I'm a professional yapper, as they say. So I can talk all

day. No. You're doing a good job of it. So well, listen. I I appreciate

you. And thank you so much again for joining us on the podcast. I

don't think that this will be the last time. So we really appreciate it. Oh,

my gosh. Yes. Of course. Thank you. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, there you have it, folks.

Another episode of the I Am Northwest Arkansas podcast. To

learn more about us and find out ways that you can connect with us, please

visit us at iamnorthwestarkansas.com.

Remember, our podcast comes out every Monday, rain or

shine. You can also catch us on a weekly episode

of KUAF's Ozarks at Large. And I certainly want to

encourage you, if you're listening to us on any podcasting platform, whether it's

YouTube, Spotify, but especially if it's Apple, we would love for you

to rate and review our podcast. Remember, rating is sharing

and sharing is caring. So we really appreciate you doing that. I'm Randy

Wilburn, the host of the I Am Northwest Arkansas podcast and we'll see you back

here next week for another new episode. Peace.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of I am Northwest

Arkansas. Check us out each and every week available

anywhere that great podcasts can be found. For show

notes or more information on becoming a guest, visit

IamnorthwestArkansas.com. We'll

see you next week on I am Northwest

Arkansas.