Karen Dillon Congratulations on Your Company's Big Success. So Now, Let Me Ask- Are You Happy? - Happiness is actually contagious. The Framingham Heart Study-the longest ongoing study of heart health in the world, which has tracked aspects of participants' lives for more than 75 years-found that being in the presence of someone who is happy is likely to spur happiness in yourself.

For Jeremy Kasler, founder and CEO of CaskX, the pandemic offered an unexpected opportunity to reset his life. Having sold his previous company, Hong Kong-based Art Futures Group, which paired midcareer artists with investors, the native Brit planned to spend some time reconnecting with family in Australia as he got his new startup off the ground. The new business, which helps individual investors purchase barrels (or casks) of bourbon and Scotch from distilleries in the U.S. and Scotland, was still in its early days when Kasler arrived in Sydney just a day before the country went into lockdown. I kind of got stuck there, he recalls. But in hindsight, it was one of the best things that could have happened to him-and his new company.

- By Karen Dillon -Photos by Tony Loung

For Jeremy Kasler, founder and CEO of CaskX, the pandemic offered an unexpected opportunity to reset his life. Having sold his previous company, Hong Kong-based Art Futures Group, which paired midcareer artists with investors, the native Brit planned to spend some time reconnecting with family in Australia as he got his new startup off the ground. The new business, which helps individual investors purchase barrels (or casks) of bourbon and Scotch from distilleries in the U.S. and Scotland, was still in its early days when Kasler arrived in Sydney just a day before the country went into lockdown. I kind of got stuck there, he recalls. But in hindsight, it was one of the best things that could have happened to him-and his new company.

While riding out the lockdown in Australia, Kasler took some time to think about what he wanted for his own life in the years ahead. As he did, he found himself leaving behind the breakneck pace to which he had become accustomed. In Sydney, he was surrounded by a community focused more on personal health than the visible trappings of success. Most days, Kasler made his way to Sydney's famed Bondi beach. On a personal level, I felt like things were a bit more in my control, he says. Until that time, it felt like life was one big competition.

Kasler approached the growth of the company, which he had founded in 2019, from a completely new perspective. He had long enjoyed the challenge of working from different countries--he did a stint in Russia before spending more than a decade in Hong Kong-and had been considering New York City as the U.S. base for CaskX. He opted for Los Angeles instead, in part because of the potential he saw to maintain the right work-life balance not just for himself, but also for his 25-person team.