Moa Gürbüzer on changing drinking culture without alcohol

For more than two decades, Moa Gürbüzer worked as a family therapist and social worker in Sweden, watching how alcohol quietly shaped families and relationships. That experience led her to create Oddbird, a dealcoholized wine brand meant to challenge long-held norms around drinking. With no background in business or winemaking, she built the company from scratch into a globally recognized brand.

From therapy to prevention

Gürbüzer spent years witnessing what she calls the ripple effects of alcohol. “I often saw the same silent patterns, children tiptoeing, partners covering up, families pretending everything was fine, while alcohol quietly shaped everything around them,” she said. She realized she could spend her career helping people rebuild after damage, or try to stop it before it happened. Oddbird became her attempt at prevention.

The turning point came when she began teaching social work at a Swedish university. She noticed that her first day on the job looked the same as her last — the same stories, the same dead ends, the same problems that never changed. “Nothing was happening on a structural level,” she said. The entire system of social services, she believed, placed blame on the individual instead of working preventatively before addiction developed. That’s when the seed was planted: she wanted to contribute to change on a larger scale.

The hairdresser who believed

The early days of building Oddbird were difficult. Most people dismissed the idea of high-quality wine without alcohol as impossible. Banks turned her down. Investors showed no interest. Just when opportunities seemed to slip away, her hairdresser stepped in and lent her the money she needed.

“She believed in me at a time when very few others did,” Gürbüzer said. The support gave her both financial footing and a sense of confidence she desperately needed. It reminded her that belief can come from the most unexpected places, and that sometimes all it takes is one person who truly sees what you’re trying to build.

Her background as a therapist shaped everything about how she leads the company. “As a therapist, you learn to really listen, to understand what’s not being said, and to meet people where they