Amanda Peyton is the co-founder of Grand St., a marketplace for creative technology that was recently acquired by Etsy. Peyton is a technologist at heart and has worked at the intersection of technology and design for her entire career. She is an alum of MIT Sloan, Northwestern & Y Combinator and currently lives in New York City. But that’s just scratching the surface.

Amanda “classed it up” with Bulleit Rye on the rocks and shared her beginnings as the “5th grader with the side hustle,” living in China, becoming the “queen of the geeks” in Texas, and ultimately her three-startup-strong experience. All the while maintaining a DIY, entrepreneurial spirit and embracing the mess of the startup world by seizing the opportunities it has to offer. Her story is certainly as bold and strong as her drink of choice - cheers!

You can check out more of her musings on the internet via @amandapey.