This is Asilex Rodriguez!
Asilex was born in Miami. She spent the first 2 years of her life in Panama with her grandmother and moved to Quebec after. She speaks French, English and Spanish fluently. Asilex doesn’t have children but her partner does so she is the stepmother of one.
When Asilex was little, she dreamed to be a criminologist because she was watching too much CSI. Later on, she remembers watching Coyote Ugly and thinking “wow! This looks like so much fun and I want to do this!”. As funny as it sounds, with time maybe she didn’t hit the coyote girls' dance moves on a bar but she sure as hell learned how to manipulate bottles and put on a show!
Asilex has been working in the hospitality industry since she turned 18 years old. Her first job at a bar was at the Drugstore, Montreal’s gay village only lesbian bar that has closed its doors a couple of years ago now. She went there for the first time at her graduation party when she was still 17. She liked the place and started to chat with the shooter boy, telling him that she would like to work there. He told her to come back with her resume and she told him straight up that she was underage! Of course, she was not hired on the spot. She waited until she turned 18, went back, and was hired.
If the Drugstore was her first bartender job, it wasn’t until she started working at Le Lab that she really fell in love with cocktails. Le Lab was for her the best school and this is where she learned most about cocktails of course, but also about hospitality and the art of giving a good show. Today, Asilex is the bar manager for Datcha and Kabinet and is a person of reference for flair bartending in Montreal.
Asilex is also quite involved in the community. If she is not directly giving her time to a specific organization as she used to in the past, she for sure plays an active role in bringing attention to social injustices in her everyday life. She is not the silent type and is not afraid to call out inappropriate behaviors when she sees them. Overall, she hit us as a very passionate and authentic person that knows for sure how to entertain people and make them feel welcomed.
For her cocktail creation, click here!
A little bit more about Asilex...
The three words that describe her best: bold – fresh – spirit-forward (yes, she is the only one so far that described herself in terms of flavor profile)
Fun fact about Asilex: She took part in a beauty pageant when she was little.
Her life motto: Live now, think later.
What she loves most about bartending: The people. She loves having a stranger sitting in front of her that leaves 2 hours later feeling like they are now best friends.
An advice she offers to younger bartenders: When you are a beginner at something you don’t know anything. Stay humble and accept that even if you think you know everything, realistically you don’t know shit.