[00:00:00] Karlee: Welcome to leave room for the magic, a podcast that invites you to embrace the wonder, beauty, and messiness woven into the fabric of everyday life. In this show, we'll bridge the gap between the practical and the spiritual providing inspiration, tips, and tools from our featured guests. So without further ado, let's go make some magic.

Hi, my loves. I'm so excited to introduce you our guests to today - Kristen Knapp. Kristen is the founder and CEO of a newly launched Heartbeat Rosé, which we've got here today. And yes, I will be drinking some.

Kristen, welcome to the show. I'm so excited to have you here. I'm going to be opening mine. I'm so excited to do this.

[00:00:42] Kristen: I know me too. Pop that off. Get a little loose. I love it.

[00:00:45] Karlee: Okay. So I'm going to finish your intro here. Passionate about mixology, Heartbeat Hot Rosé was created in quarantine when you were infusing tequilas and popped a pepper in a bottle of rosé. This brand fuses your love of the alcohol industry and your entrepreneurial spirit.

And before I let you dive in, Kristen, I'm also going to give people a little preface as to how you came on this show. So Kristen and I go way back to my LA days. So it has been like eight years since we've really hung out and we got to see each other recently on my visit, which was so refreshing.

[00:01:19] Kristen: It was so fun.

[00:01:20] Karlee: Yeah, it was. It was so good to see you. I have followed along on your entrepreneurial journey since I left, and I always follow along on Instagram. And so I've admired from afar, you launched a side hustle right after I left an embroidery business called Stitch Bitch.

[00:01:35] Kristen: Yeah.

[00:01:36] Karlee: And once again, I'm following you on Instagram and I see this hot rosé.

Here we go.

I just, like, I was so fascinated by the origin story.

Wait, the sound's picking up my wine pouring.

[00:01:51] Kristen: Don't you think that "glug", is the best sound in the world?

[00:01:54] Karlee: It's the best, I know, and I just had to have you on the podcast, for you to share it with the community here. So... Kristen, thank you for being on the show.

[00:02:03] Kristen: Thank you so much for having me.

[00:02:06] Karlee: Oh, my pleasure. It is truly my pleasure to have you here. I get everybody to start off with an intention. So what's your intention for being here today?

[00:02:14] Kristen: I think my intention is confidence. I'm in that weird part of the journey right now where I'm a month after launch. So I think like, you know, talking about the progress I've made over the last three years, kind of give me some confidence.

You know, pushing forward to the next step of this.

[00:02:35] Karlee: I love that. Well, thank you for the vulnerability. I think to admit, you know, entrepreneurs, I think a lot of times are just like got to put on a face like everything's good. So to actually sit here and say, Hey, like there's this in between phase after the launch that I'm in.

So thank you for that. I love that.

[00:02:52] Kristen: Yeah, I feel like there's a fine line or there's a balance. Like to some people, you have to be overly confident and you have to be like, everything's great. Like everything's very easy. It's all coming naturally, all this stuff. And then like, I think it is really important, though, to know the times where you do have to be vulnerable.

Because I think it's gonna get you a lot more support. It's gonna get you a lot more help. If you're in front of someone who can really help you, but you're like, Oh, everything's fine. They're not gonna help you. So, I think that I've kind of learned that balance. When to really put it on, and when to be like, You know what? Things are hard, but I've got a handle on it, but it's a little weird, you know?

[00:03:30] Karlee: I love that. I love that honesty. Thank you for bringing that today. My intention for this podcast episode to showcase you, your brand, what you're building, but also highlight what happens when you are in the face of "no's" or those challenges and those obstacles.

And so I'm really looking forward to showing people the reality behind entrepreneurship and not just all the, the fun glitz and glam part of it, because you're also really great at marketing. It's a huge part of your background, and so I love your branding, I love your advertising on Instagram, it's super fun. So it can look all seamless on Instagram - from the highlight reel of social media, but let's really raise that curtain and look behind the scenes. I appreciate you doing that with me.

[00:04:22] Kristen: Yeah, thank you so much. I really appreciate that.

[00:04:24] Karlee: Wonderful. So Spicy Rosé. Talk to me a little bit about how you came up with this concept.

[00:04:31] Kristen: During the pandemic, I was drinking a lot. I was with my parents, and I was infusing tequilas at the time. I love mixology. I love making cocktails. And I was actually, at the time, kind of thinking about infused tequila is like a really good idea. And this was like right at the beginning of ‘21 Seeds’ when they came out with theirs. It was right at the beginning. I was like, this is such a great idea. And then I kind of just made my way to infusing my rosé, and it was instant for me, where I loved the way it tasted. I remember I popped a pepper in the rosé, and I turned to my dad, I was like, if this works, I'm doing this. And the next day I saw how it infused or whatever, and I was so happy with it.

I went online. This is pre-TikTok trend for everyone out there. There's since been a big TikTok trend where everyone is putting jalapenos in their rosé. Drove me insane because I was still a year from launch, but it was so cool to see people doing that. But this is before that were you would Google jalapeno rosé, pepper rosé, whatever. Nothing came up.

No one was doing it where I was like, this is such a white space in the market. I know I can market the hell out of this. I know that there's a place for this. I'm in LA and I immediately saw it as like a lifestyle drink. So, literally from that moment forward, I just never looked back and I never really even second guessed it.

I was like this, I was just so sure. I was like, this is what I'm supposed to build. I was so sure of it.

[00:06:00] Karlee: I love that. And talk a little bit about, for those who are hearing of this for the first time, which most of my audience probably will have heard of this for the first time, unless they've seen me post about it.

But if they're hearing about this for the first time, talk about the development of it. Because it's not just an infusion. You've created this whole other category and actually this whole other product and thing that never existed before. So talk about how it developed from the infusion to what it actually is.

[00:06:32] Kristen: Totally. It's a really unique and special product, and I'm just really happy with the quality of what we've done because you see a lot of, flavored wines in the marketplace. They use natural flavoring. They use a lot of sugar. They're like 15 grams of sugar. This product is totally dry, there's no sugar and we only use fresh peppers.

So basically how it started is I was infusing, I just popped a pepper in there and I was like infusing and I was like, I know that this can't be scaled up. So then I was working with home infusions where I was grinding up peppers and I was creating a tincture and I remember spending like a few months getting this formula right.

I don't know. I was doing all these different tests with it. And kind of laterally, I was like, well, I do think natural flavoring would be easier because what I was experiencing with the pepper. I was like, peppers are really hard to work with. You never know how spicy the pepper is that you're working with.

It's just, it's hard. So I was like, natural flavoring would really kind of make that consistent. We can make the key consistent. So I went down that route. It was awful. It was so, so bad where I was like, I cannot put out a product like this. So then I kind of continued with this home tincture. I was working with different scenarios all of that.

And then just very serendipitously, I was going through all my product things that I needed. So I was consulting with someone on glass for bottles. Her name was Gianna, who is now my winemaker. And at the time I was like, I wanted to put a strike on the bottle or something like a match strike.

And I was like, oh, I should explain to you what this concept is. And she was like, well, I'm a wine maker, I would love to meet with you. And I was like, oh, how interesting. Before I met her, I do not know what the hell my plan was. Like the fact that I didn't have a wine maker lined up. I don't know what I thought I was gonna do.

I was looking into like co-packing. It would've been really bad. But I met with Gianna and it was just kind of instant from there. She didn't even taste my home infusion. She was just instantly like, I get how this would work. Like, I get how the flavors would work. I want to do this with you.

And she was like, we're not infusing it. There's too many microbial inconsistencies going on. It just wouldn't be good. She's like, we have to ferment these peppers. So that takes us to what we're actually doing now, where in the same way you ferment grapes to make wine, you can ferment anything. Well, not anything, but you can ferment a lot of things.

And we ferment the peppers and we create 100 percent pepper wine that we then blend back into our rosé. So it's this really smooth, sexy feeling and when you taste it, it tastes fresh. It tastes like it's all supposed to be together. It starts very rosé forward and the spice slowly builds at the end, which was really important to me.

Because with a lot of other ways, if you were just infusing it, it would be spicy all the way through, kind of like a salsa, but it was really important to me to have this really sexy build to it and what she's really created with this, because it's taken two years working with her to really get this right blend and what makes the peppers pop and all that.

I'm just so proud of it. I think it's perfect.

[00:09:54] Karlee: Yes. Well, my reaction to it, and I've shared this wine now with a handful of friends as well. It's a good rosé period, right? It's actually one of the better, if not best rosés I've had, period. Let alone with this lovely spicy kick and it's really, you know, I texted you.

It's not overly spicy. Like if you're not a spice person. You'll still love this rosé like I have, I have a hard time with some rosés that are too sweet, some rosés that are too dry, and this one is just so, you call it smooth. It really is smooth, almost like a, it's not oaky like a chardonnay, but it's smooth is a very good description of it.

[00:10:35] Kristen: Yeah, it basically, if you've had a really acidic rosé that's kind of sour at the end or tart, it's taking that idea and just replacing that feeling with spice. So your brain isn't doing extra work. And I hear that a lot where people who don't like spice like it, people who don't like rosé like it.

And it's really interesting that I've accidentally created this product that really speaks to a lot of different people. And yeah, it's a really approachable level of spice.

[00:11:06] Karlee: Yeah. I love it. So what have you, if we go back to the entrepreneurship journey, what would you say you've learned over the last three years launching this company?

What are some of the biggest learnings for you?

[00:11:18] Kristen: I mean, so much. I've learned literally so much. I think about at the beginning of this three years, I'm just like, God, I didn't know anything. But I think some really valuable things I've learned is, like, kind of how to be a leader and how to actually build something effectively.

Cause you know, I don't have a co founder, I do it by myself and it's really easy to get isolated. And I think the magic is really in collaboration. And I think a big thing that I've really learned along the way is that I listen to everything. Cause a lot of people will give me a lot of feedback on what this brand is, what it should be, what I should be doing.

80 percent of the people don't know anything about the alcohol industry. And most of those people have not, like, they don't really know my brand that well. That being said, I've learned along the way, I really listen to everything, and I give it a fair shot, and I think about it, because even if someone says something that's totally off, there might be a nugget there that you can actually use, where you're like, oh, not that going off of that, maybe this. And I think I've become a lot more flexible through this journey, where it's not my way or the highway, and that flexibility, I think, has allowed me to create a really great product and collaborate with great people who I think are going to be with me through this whole journey.

[00:12:41] Karlee: Love that. I love that. And if you, if you go back to, you know, I mentioned in the intro that you did a side hustle. Way back in the days, right as was I leaving LA, so probably eight years ago now.

What kind of lessons did you take from doing a side hustle with that entrepreneurial spirit to then, you know, going at this full time?

[00:13:01] Kristen: I think having a side hustle for anyone who's aspiring to one day have a company, even if you're kind of just aspiring to be at the head of someone else's company.

I think having a side hustle is so important. It taught me, it taught me the basic stuff, like setting up an LLC. The difference between a sole proprietorship and an LLC is. Why I would need one or the other, trademarking, branding, website development, I kind of learned all that myself, and I got these really tangible skills.

But beyond that, it helped me develop my skillset of working for myself and holding myself to a certain schedule and holding myself to certain goals and putting myself out there and growing it. Yeah, cause people aren't going to tell you what to do every day. You have to just do it yourself. And it was a really good, like dipping my toes into that and kind of flexing those muscles.

[00:13:59] Karlee: You've talked about this bridge from the launch to where you're at today and where you're thinking about the company moving forward. Describe to me what that kind of where that juicy middle is for you right now. How would you describe that spot?

[00:14:14] Kristen: Yeah, it's a really exciting place to be because the possibilities are endless, but it's also a scary place to be because possibilities are endless.

Building is something I'm really comfortable at or comfortable with. I love building. It's my thing. I'm such a generalist where I can kind of figure things out. Yeah. So building the product, it took us a long time, but for me it was the most fulfilling journey and I loved doing it. And now I'm in this scaling phase after you launch where this specialty things kind of pop up where it's like, Oh God, I'm not a specialist in sales or marketing. So I have to figure these things out while I'm doing them.

it's also, again, it's about collaboration. I'm not going to be able to figure things out myself. So it's about knowing how to work with the right people. Seeing what the vision is and kind of like taking it forward. Cause it is, it scaling and building are just different. It's different muscles and like also different timelines.

So now I'm in the scaling part of it and it's really fun to figure out, but it's different, it's like you reach, you climb this hill for like three years and you finally launch the product. That's the climax of where you're going.

And then you just look up and you're like, Oh fuck. Like it's another mountain I have to climb now. So it's starting back at the beginning. And it's kind of that feeling again, where I felt three years ago where I'm like, okay, yeah, I have a lot to keep learning.

[00:15:41] Karlee: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You described when, when we were having our catch up, you described moving from founder to CEO, you know, how do you describe that transition, and how are you currently thinking about those two different roles?

[00:15:55] Kristen: It's an important, like, it's important for me to make that switch in my mind. And I just kind of realized that. Founder is kind of chaotic. It's like, you're on the floor, you're packing boxes. You're like, you know, working.

It's just , to me, founder is a very chaotic position to be in. CEO to me is very refined. You're a business woman. You got your shit together. Like, and it's important to see myself as a CEO because I realized in this first month of launching, seeing myself as a founder where I'm like, well, I don't know how to figure it out.

And I'm like, no, you're a CEO. Like you're managing the business. You're figuring it out. You know what you're doing. You just have to manage it. So it kind of just, it's psychological for me, but it is, it's two different things. Like CEO is again in kind of like the management position and I'm learning all of that.

So it's, I mean, it's fun. It's a fun role to step into and I really like it. And I, you know, hopefully I will keep thriving in it.

[00:17:03] Karlee: It reminds me of, there's a really great book. Actually, if you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend it. It's called the E Myth, the Entrepreneur Myth. And it talks about how all CEOs or founders have to wear three roles. Business owners have to wear kind of three hats in their jobs.

The visionary, the operator and the technician.

And so oftentimes the technician is the person who's doing the thing of the business. So whether that's, like financial planning, or I give an example of like at a dance teacher who then became a dance studio owner, but between that and the, you know, visionary are very different roles.

Right. And so a lot of times people are like, Oh, I love this thing that I do. Let's go run a business doing that thing. But sometimes that doesn't always translate. And what I'm hearing you say is that you're really good with the visionary, the building role, but that operator piece is, is where you're finding your way and kind of finding your groove in right now.

[00:18:05] Kristen: Totally. And it's all about learning as a first time founders, like you're not supposed to know exactly what you're, you're not supposed to know, like the path that's also kind of your superpower because you're going to take more risks. You're going to do things a little bit differently.

And I firmly believe that me not really having a clear understanding of the wine industry when I started this is the only reason why I kept going with it. If I knew how hard it was, I probably wouldn't have started that first day, but I was like, Oh my God, I can just launch a rose brand. It's easy. And like you're on this path and kind of like you learn as you go and that actually helps you get more motivated.

[00:18:48] Karlee: Well, you told me about that, about embroidery as well. You had never embroidered before you started that side hustle. What made you choose embroidery?

[00:18:56] Kristen: I don't know. It's like

[00:18:58] Karlee: Like most people have like a side hobby they love and they're like, Oh, let's make this a side hustle. But you're like, Hey, let's do a side hustle of something I've never done before.

I think it's fascinating.

[00:19:07] Kristen: It's just like, I don't know, it's the way I operate. It's very exhausting being me, but it was the same thing as this wine thing where I was like embroidering something for a gift. And just out of nowhere, I was like, Oh, I can make a business out of this. I was like, I could do event embroidery.

I know so many people I could do this, that. I could do this partnership. I was like, I could definitely make this business. So I was like, I'm doing it. And I just never looked back with that. I set up the business and the website and everything. And then I learned how to embroider, which was (laughter) how I did it.

And it was super fun. I did that for probably like, I don't know, three years and I did events. I did actual e-commerce for a while, but then I kind of just transitioned into events and it was super fun. I mean, I got a lot out of that. I learned like a physical skill, which I think are just.

It's important to kind of learn those things. And yeah, it was super fun, but it was random as hell.

[00:20:11] Karlee: Well, good on you. I do find there are some business owners. There's one in Canada, Michelle Romanow and she is a dragon on Dragon's Den, which is like Shark Tank.

And she started a caviar business. So, it's like entrepreneurship can take one or two routes. It's like, you're a really good technician and you want to make a business out of it. Or you just like have that entrepreneurial mindset and you find gaps in a market and try and fill those gaps, whether it's a passion of yours or not.

And so anyways, I'm just reflecting on that you seem to be the latter where it's just like, you're like, I could do this. Let's, let's do it. Why not me? Right. And I love that about you.

[00:20:52] Kristen: Exactly. Yeah. It's. It's yeah, it's exhausting.

[00:20:57] Karlee: Yeah, I hear you. What would you say? Some of the kind of internal realizations have been, you know, there's external learnings.

What is some of your internal learnings on either of your entrepreneurial journeys so far?

[00:21:14] Kristen: I think I have learned a lot about my own resilience and my discipline as well. So I've learned a lot about those two things because, you know, this is a journey where there's a lot of curves and like you are going on the wrong path without knowing you're on the wrong path.

You got to switch and you know, there's a lot of fear involved once you get money involved and once you kind of get the product out there. But I've just learned how resilient I am. Like there's really nothing that's going to like break me in this business. I'm just going to keep going with it. And my discipline is something that I'm proud of, you know, just keeping on this and holding myself accountable to a schedule kind of like what we were talking about before.

[00:21:59] Karlee: Yeah. When you look at, you had described at least online and in our conversations, like coming up against a lot of "nos" in the wine business. You can't do this. That's not how it's done. Right? You're creating this new category.

And speaking of that resilience, what tools do you fall back to, on your personal practices, to really reinforce that resilience within yourself? Like, you know, sometimes if you get knocked down, how do you spring back from that? What kind of practices do you put in place on the personal side?

[00:22:34] Kristen: I just like, I think it, first and foremost, it comes from just, I believe in this so much, I believe in this product, I believe in this brand, I believe in what it can do in the marketplace, and I do really believe in myself. And I think my belief in myself comes from just my entire career, education, my parents have always been so supportive of me, which is really huge, and I'm really fortunate with that, but also, therapy. Having a weekly check in and going to my therapist and being like, I'm a piece of shit, and she's like, well, are you?

And I'm like, no, I'm not, you're right. It's kind of like talking that stuff out is really important and you realize a lot of the fear that you have in your head is totally irrational and when you follow that thought, it usually leads nowhere. Where it's like, Oh, okay. So, I think just kind of like, yeah, like formally checking myself and formally kind of looking at what I'm fearful of and formally looking at why I'm fearful of those things and what would happen if everything crumbled, like, what's the worst that can happen?

Will you, you know, totally destroy your life? Like, no, you're doing something really cool! So in that way, I think that I've kind of just built just some internal practices to keep moving forward.

[00:24:03] Karlee: If you were to fast forward five years or ten years, you can choose the timeline. Where do you hope this goes? Where do you see it going?

[00:24:13] Kristen: I really see this fitting into the marketplace, kind of like a 21 seeds for tequila, a fireball with whiskey, screwball with whiskey.

I really do see this redefining the wine category and bringing a new set of people into it. You know, we're just a month old in the marketplace, but I do see this catching fire. In five years, I think we'll be acquired and I'm going to work my ass off to make that a reality. You know, but I also, I just kind of want to make something I'm really proud of.

And right now I'm just so fucking proud of it. And I just want to continue on that journey. And when we're looking at like my personal growth, I hear so many stories of entrepreneurs who are like, this had like a devastating emotional impact on me. Like, I got the exit, but it destroyed, you know, it just ruined me.

I never want to be like that. I always want to be really conscious of why I'm doing this. And I want to be very conscious of like, you know, my work is not my life. There are so many other things that are going on in my life. And I want to live like that where I live a really whole life. Cause I do think that'll make me be a better business owner to not have this be like my number one total end all, be all, only thing going on in my life. So kind of just like keeping my core values as this goes on and as this scales, which is it from what I hear It's a very difficult thing to do, but I'm very committed to that.

[00:25:50] Karlee: I love that. Well, you should be proud of this product I really enjoy it.

[00:25:56] Kristen: Thank you.

[00:25:57] Karlee: I am trying to actively figure out how we can get you to Canada a little bit easier. .

[00:26:01] Kristen: I know, I know. Like just this morning I was like, oh, we'll have to send her a bottle. And I was like, oh, she's in Canada. And I was like, oh, well she can buy online. I was like, no, she's in Canada.

[00:26:11] Karlee: When I come down to Florida, I'll have to get my fix down in Florida for sure.

But no, I actually, you'll laugh at this. This is just a funny story, but I grabbed a

bottle from you when I was down in california and I threw it in my bag. And I've only ever flown with wine one other time and it had this big bubble wrap and stuff like that. I kind of threw it in my bag and I was rushing to the airport.

I just all the whole flight I was like, what happens if the whole thing just explodes in my bag? And the whole time I was just preparing myself. I'm like, Karlee, it's just. things. It's fine. If it ruins all your clothes, I'll be devastated. But I was like, what's going to happen?

And I was picturing my bag, just like it leaking into my bag, like the whole flight. I was like, this is the worst. And then I get to Toronto. I'm waiting for my bag for like 45 minutes at the carousel. I get through customs. I'm like, what is taking this bag so long? And as soon as I get it, I open it and it was fully intact.

And I was like, amazing. And now I get to enjoy this bottle of wine.

[00:27:11] Kristen: That's happened to me twice though. I was going to, yeah, I was going to this like this founder's dinner or whatever, and I was speaking at it and I was going to New York and I bubble wrapped. I did everything I could do. And when I opened my bag, it just spilled all over and all of my, and this is when I was kind of in the sample phase, so it was like really potent pepper wine and everything smelled like this pepper wine. And it was really, it only ruined what I was going to wear that night. Like, okay, great. Not like my night was depending on it.

[00:27:48] Karlee: That is too funny. That's too funny. Well, I like to wrap up with stories of synchronicity.

And so, I know you already talked about your synchronicity of meeting your winemaker. Yeah. Are there any other synchronicities along your journey you feel like you've come into contact with? Or serendipity?

[00:28:05] Kristen: Yeah, totally. I mean... My creative advisor, Matt, who just like, he's so good at what he does. He gets the brand.

He meets me where I'm at. He's been a really integral part of just creating the world of this. We just met at a party, on the beach and I randomly brought up my company. He's like, Oh, let's talk about it. And we just sat in the corner and I was just telling him all about it. And then like, we just started working together after that.

So that just happened exactly how it should and I'm kind of realizing that's how I'm meeting the most important people on this journey. It's happened a couple of times. So yeah, just being open to talking to people about the business and seeing their reaction and stuff like that. It's actually been very helpful for me to partner with people.

[00:28:57] Karlee: One of the things I'm going to reflect that I love about that story of synchronicity is like, that's the leave room for the magic, right? You couldn't have predicted meeting Matt or meeting your wine maker when you were sitting there infusing your wines and trying to figure out how to make it happen.

But by taking the steps and having the courage to talk about it with people, right. You see these beautiful moments of clicks that happen and lead to something even better than you could have ever imagined. Actually, one of the other things I really enjoyed was I realized the bottle didn't have a foil over the cork.

And then I realized that the cork has writing on it and you can see it and it's so sleek and fantastic. I really liked the branding of it too. So kudos to you and Matt for, and whomever worked on the branding.

[00:29:49] Kristen: Yeah. We had to do that ourselves. I went to like multiple agencies and it just didn't work and we ended up just doing it ourselves, which I love it.

I'm obsessed with the packaging.

[00:29:59] Karlee: Yeah, you did a great job . And the synchronicity for me today was I wanted to wear a spicy shirt and you came with a spicy shirt and it so happens that. We're really on brand of the rosé. And so the rosé can act as our deeper red, but we are on brand. So that's a fun synchronicity.

Cause your shirt, also super fun and spicy. I love it.

Wonderful. Well, Kristen, how can people, you know, our Canadians, I hope that you will be in Canada someday soon, but for our Americans listening to the show, how can people get in touch with you and find out more about Heartbeat and what you do?

[00:30:39] Kristen: Yeah. So you can buy it online at www.moreheartbeat.com. We ship to all the states that receive alcohol and you get free shipping on your first order. So go there on social media we are @moreheartbeat. I'm @KristenKnapp

[00:30:58] Karlee: Wonderful. And we'll link all those items in the show notes for people so you can go back to the show notes and find them.

Well, Kristen, thank you so much for being on the show today. It was a pleasure having you.

[00:31:10] Kristen: Thank you so much for having me! This was so fun.

[00:31:12] Karlee: Wonderful. Thank you everybody for listening and tuning in today. We hope you got something out of this conversation. Please do give us feedback, let us know, and feel free as always to share your stories of synchronicity as they happen.

Until next time I hope you remember your magic and we'll see you next time!

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