Photos: Chris Emeott
A local woman’s medical crisis kickstarted her business venture.
Alexa Fitzpatrick was happily living the American dream when a sudden medical crisis flipped her world upside down. But when life gave her lemons, the Minnetonka resident says she made a Martini, and she means it quite literally.
Fitzpatrick is the founder of Jayded AF, ready-to-drink Martini cocktails. The idea for her company was born shortly after she had a series of strokes at just 36 years old. “It was sobering,” she says. Today, the married mother of twins is fully recovered, and not only does she have a new lease on life, but she runs a new business and has a partnership with the American Health Association to share her story.
Born and raised in London, Fitzpatrick moved to the United States when she was 18 to attend college in Texas and later became a radiation therapist once in Minnesota. She went on to get her master’s degree from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and was working as a clinic manager in vascular surgery, successfully managing a team of 60 during COVID-19.
Alexa Fitzpatrick
In October 2020, Fitzpatrick started experiencing fatigue and other symptoms. She chalked it up to living a busy life. “I thought I was a tired mom,” she says, recalling standing in her bedroom closet when she got a headache, and the right side of her body went numb. According to the American Stroke Association, arm numbness, facial drooping and slurred speech are all signs of a stroke. “You would think working in vascular surgery, I would know, but I still wasn’t able to identify it,” she says.
Fitzpatrick went to bed early that night, but the next day when she mentioned the experience to one of the vascular surgeons, he urged her to go to the ER and get a CT scan. While the scan was unremarkable, an MRI revealed that she had experienced five strokes the night before. Fitzpatrick would later become unresponsive and experience four more strokes due to a blood clot in her carotid artery. She spent the next 10 days in a St. Paul hospital on heavy blood thinners. “It was a scary time,” she says. “It seemed like such a blur.”
When Fitzpatrick was released, her neurology team estimated she would be out of work for six months as she recovered. After only three months of occupational, physical and speech therapies, she returned to work, but Fitzpatrick soon realized that she was not ready. “I had a mental breakdown,” she says. “It’s not uncommon for people who have had a stroke.” She began an intense 9 a.m.–5 p.m. weekday therapy program. “It was a really sad and dark period,” she says.
As Fitzpatrick began to rebuild her mental health, she made the decision not to return to her career. “I felt more and more empowered by that,” she says. That spring, she had an epiphany. She wanted a Martini but didn’t have the ingredients and couldn’t find a premade Martini on the market. That’s when her business switch flipped on. She liquidated her 401(K) (“I do not recommend doing that,” she says.) and jumped. “There’s a risk aversion that dissipates after a stroke,” she says. Bit by bit, Fitzpatrick built her company, locating a beverage development company, a bottle manufacturer and a distributor. “I Googled my way through this business,” she says. “One step at a time.”
In June 2023, Jayded AF launched, and yes, the double entendre is intentional. “It’s controversial but also really, really fun,” she says. The name is not only a reference to its founder, whose middle name is Jayde, but also a commentary on the market. “It’s a brand for people who are bored of the options out there,” Fitzpatrick says.
Jayded AF debuted with three flavors: Lemon Drop (Fitzpatrick’s favorite), Lavender (best-seller) and Laxly Cucumber, which is a hit among Minneapolis’ North Loop crowd. “When we speak of flavor, we speak of the consumer as well,” Fitzpatrick says.
The cocktails, which come in a striking bottle, containing roughly five servings, feature a 12.5 percent proof for “an adult drink, that is subtle,” Fitzpatrick says. “People are pleasantly surprised.”
Next up, Fitzpatrick is looking at adding Cosmopolitan and Espresso Martinis to the lineup as she continues to expand her presence on regional liquor shelves. Jayded AF can be found locally at Kowalski’s Markets in Excelsior and Total Wine at Minnetonka’s Ridgedale Center. It also appears in mini bars at the W Minneapolis–The Foshay, Aloft Minneapolis and Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis as well as Grand Casino Hinkley.
“I’d like to find stability in the market, find more distribution channels and go nationwide,” Fitzpatrick says. “I’d love to be a household name.” She knows it’s all a huge risk, but she’s OK with that, thanks to the perspective she gained as a stoke survivor. “I’ve already survived the worst,” she says.
Jayded AF Flavors: Lavender, Lemon Drop and Laxly Cucumber
Act FAST
May is National Stroke Awareness Month. A stroke is a cardiovascular event that occurs when a blood vessel to the brain is blocked by a clot or ruptures, starving the brain of oxygen and nutrients and causing brain cells to die. According to the American Stroke Association (ASA), a division of the American Heart Association, strokes are the fifth highest cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of disability.
ASA says to remember FAST if you suspect someone is having a stroke. According to the association:
Face Drooping: Does one side of the face droop, or is it numb? Ask the person to smile to see if it is uneven.
Arm Weakness: Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms to see if one arm drifts downward.
Speech: Is speech slurred? Is the person unable to speak or difficult to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, like: “The sky is blue.”
Time to Call 9-1-1: Check the time, so you’ll know when the first symptoms appeared.
Jayded AF
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Instagram: @jayded.af
