My experience with INOBAL and Worth Minds has been one of my favorites. The people, and the experience’s I have had working with them, has been wonderful. I have been building my brand day in and day out for the last ten years.
I receive thousand’s of offers a year to participate in visibility experience’s but I only work with those in which I connect with on a heart and Soul level. I have been incredibly particular with who I team up with and those in which I say yes to.
They have to be professionals that get me, see me and have the ability to transform me on a foundational level, through their curiosity. When their questions push me to think, it changes the scope in which I see myself and what I bring to the world; that type of experience is priceless and one I can’t say no to.
Some careers get built after the industry has already taken too much from those around you.
Introducing 𝗧𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲 𝗦𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗵, Dr. h.c., 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 of 𝙀𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙘 𝙂𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧®, hospitality keynote speaker and Spirit Advisor whose two decades behind the bar have produced a thesis the industry rarely writes about: that mindful consumption is a management responsibility, not a customer wellness slogan.
Torie built her career the practical way, from bartending in the mountains after college through a 𝗧𝗜𝗣𝗦 𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 that reframed responsible service as a consumption science rather than a compliance checkbox. Twenty years in hospitality also produced a harder education. Several of the friends she grew up with died of overdoses. That grief did not exit the room when she came to work. It shaped what she now teaches the industry that lost them.
Today Torie divides her work between 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 and one-to-one Spirit Advisor engagements under the 𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘤 𝘎𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳® brand. Her operator thesis targets the rehire cycle most managers describe as their real job: constant firefighting and babysitting. Her operating conviction is exact. “𝘔𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺-𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.”
We are proud to feature her in 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝟭𝟬𝟬, celebrating leaders who use every year an industry spent breaking people to teach it how to stop.
BEHIND THE SCENES: A finished article rarely captures the entirety of the conversation, so here is the full questionnaire, for you reading pleasure.
1. Can you please describe your early journey and how it has shaped you as a person?
The environment in which I grew up in, truly set the stage for how I navigate this reality.
My Dad is someone who turns every moment into an opportunity to learn. He would teach me something and then trust in my ability to execute it.
My mom is someone who prioritizes self-care, self discovery and has an unbreakable faith in a higher power. Growing up she prioritized community connection, empowering others and making memories.
Both my parents brought impressive ways of operating to the table, incredibly different ones, but for my sister and I that provided a well rounded example.
I had allot of freedom as a teenager, maybe too much. I attended AA and therapy before I even graduated High School. My parents never judged, they simply did whatever they could to help, and support.
2. Was there a pivotal moment that redefined your sense of purpose or direction?
When I was sent to therapy, I realized that who I am as an artist is something that needs to be honored. It is a form of self expression, that is necessary for me to stay true to myself.
Therapy was also the experience, that planted the seed of wanting to become a professional speaker; potentially working in the realms of psychology.
3. What’s the most transformative idea or project you’ve championed, and what impact did it create?
I started partying at 10 years old. By the time I went to college, I felt like I had lived an entire lifetime.
After I graduated, I moved to the mountains and became a bartender.
What I learned via TIPS certification illuminated a consumption science, I found invaluable and profound. For me, knowing how to consume properly was personally rooted.
A lot of the friends I grew up with have passed away from over dose or are still struggling to find the balance.
When I started channeling in 2018, I discovered how divine cosmic consciousness and quantum encoding works. This unlocked an unforeseen level, of how I can contribute to the world.
My Channeling journey shifted my purpose. I became a Spirit Advisor but not just any Spirit Advisor, a Spirit Advisor who pours spirits.
I’m passionate about bringing mindfulness and quantum science to consumption. An idea that has the potential to transform how we all see and interact with an inevitable aspect of our daily lives.
4. What does “worthiness” mean to you when it comes to leadership, innovation, and human impact?
If you’re here, you’re worthy. Everyone, is born worthy.
Knowing this effects how one leads, innovates and ensures humanity and sustainability in all that they do.
5. What principles guide your decision-making when faced with complex or high-stakes challenges?
Is it a win-win? How can we make it a win-win? Does it honor mother nature, humanity and sustainability? Is it soul reflective, soul resonate?
I specialize in Galactic Law. When it comes to facing complexity, Galactic Law provides a foundation of simplicity.
6. How do you envision your industry evolving in the next decade, and how do you wish to participate in shaping that evolution?
I’ve been in hospitality for 20 years, and I’m at the forefront of reshaping everything I have found appalling about it.
I recently shifted gears, adding Hospitality Keynote Speaker (with Spirit Advisor knowing running in the background) to my repertoire.
I wanted to be able to take everything I know (always being the person bridging the communication gap between the frontline and management) and speak to, and train management myself.
I noticed that most managers feel like their job is mostly babysitting and putting out fires; constantly in a cycle of rehiring — I know how to break that cycle.
My positioning focuses on dissolving energetic hierarchy, and instilling humanity-centric ways of operating. Showing leadership how to hire intentionally, set their people up for success, and empower them; in order for them to create collaborative, high-performing teams.
7. Who has been your greatest influence, and how have they shaped your worldview?
That’s a toughie. There have been so many individuals whose reflections have transformed how I move and see this world.
I would have to say my dad, because his influence is foundational in how I process information, how I navigate fearlessly, how I prioritize, mentally organize and treat people.
My dad is someone who can build you a house from scratch, sail you across the ocean in the middle of the night, captain the sketchiest adventure with confidence, competence and humor.
He never spoke to me or treated me like a kid, even when I was one.
He doesn’t change who he is for anyone. He walks this earth with a stride of pride and a profound confidence in his capabilities, and I deeply respect that.
8. What’s the most valuable lesson that failure has taught you?
That it’s not real.
I don’t believe in failure.
We attempt, we learn, we pivot, we attempt again.
In my opinion, “failure” is just one judging themselves; it’s unnecessary and unhelpful.
9. How do you measure true impact, beyond metrics, recognition, or financial outcomes?
How we make people feel. The version of Self, people feel comfortable being in our presence.
People have commented that the version of themselves they feel free to be in my presence is not even a version they have accessed on their own.
People often admit things to me, they have never admitted to themselves. Something about my reflection’s openness, gives their being permission to
let it all hang out and I am truly honored by that.
10. How do you ensure that your vision continues to inspire beyond your own lifetime?
I’ve built my brand (Empathic Gangster®) to encompass everything that I am.
I’ve been told that my Spirit, essence and organic ways of operating are something that can never be forgotten.
My relationships, friendships and personal engagements are incredibly electric; to the point that many people I’ve connected with, have expressed that their lives wouldn’t be the same without knowing me.
Talk about incredibly humbling.
11. What qualities do you believe the next generation of leaders must embody to create lasting change?
All great leaders come with dynamic life experience, humility, insight, perspective and compassion.
Generations before, came with a deep level of innerstanding, for the grit and guts that it entails to endure, to rise above, to create without the assistance of AI. Building things from scratch, knowing the value of hand crafted…
There is a soul reflective journey that unfolds within the hands-on process.
I encourage the next generation of leaders, to live in the real world as much as they possibly can. Staying engaged in the physical experience, so that they remain connected to the life source of this reality.
Those who prioritize Mother Nature, community, self expression and physicality, will be the ones that lead humanity to sustainability.
12. Looking back, what are you most proud of and what do you still aspire to achieve?
I never thought that my current life would be my life. At one point, I wasn’t sure that I was even going to live to see 21.
I’m proud to have two sweet girls that care about people, animals and the planet. I’m proud to have a husband, with a one of a kind heart.
The only thing I have left, that I want to achieve is a boutique hospitality establishment for my community; a place that inspires and supports artists of the world.
EMPATHiC GANGSTER 