GROWING BYHELPING OTHER PEOPLE GROW.
Business. Community. Relationships. Leadership.
The Story Starts at Home.
When Melanie Unger talks about business, the story is tied closely to the community where she was born, raised a family and built a life.
Abilene is more than the market where Pop Drinks operates. It is home.
That connection surfaced throughout our conversation on Behind the X's & O's — through business, theatre, relationships, customers and the people Melanie has met while building alongside her husband, Scott.
What began as a conversation about bringing a drink concept to Abilene became something broader: a story about recognizing opportunity, learning as you go and eventually realizing that growth can include helping other people discover what they are capable of too.
“We Could Do This.”
A stop at Pop Drinks while Melanie and Scott were traveling through Utah introduced them to a business model that was already familiar there but new to them.
They began looking beyond the drinks themselves. They asked how the operation worked, what staffing looked like and whether the concept could make sense in Abilene.
The thought was simple: we could do this.
They purchased a franchise in 2023. The original location they hoped for never materialized, so they kept looking. When Melanie saw that Pure Water was preparing to close, she moved before the property officially reached the market.
Pop Drinks Abilene eventually opened there on March 7, 2025.
The Stage Taught Her More Than Theatre.
Long before Pop Drinks, Melanie studied musical theatre and spent years involved in Abilene's performing-arts community. The path eventually took her somewhere different, but some of what she learned there came with her.
Directing taught her something that followed her into business: somebody has to see the whole production.
Someone has to understand how the pieces fit together. Someone has to assemble the right people, communicate clearly and trust them to perform their roles.
On paper, theatre and business may look like different worlds.
In practice, some of the same skills kept showing up.
“I will continue to grow by allowing other people to grow.”Melanie Unger • Behind the X's & O's
Business Is Built Around People.
Another idea kept returning during the conversation: relationships matter.
Melanie talked about pouring into the community, caring for employees and customers, and creating an experience that gives people a reason to come back.
She also talked about the network of business owners around her — people she learns from, supports and can call when she needs perspective.
Near the end of our conversation, she was already thinking about other women in business whose stories we should hear next.
One relationship creates another. One conversation opens the door to the next.
Building Something Together Takes Grace.
Melanie and Scott have spent a significant part of their marriage building businesses together.
Melanie jokingly described Scott as a serial entrepreneur whose ideas have sometimes pulled her outside her comfort zone.
Working with a spouse adds another layer to business. Decisions, problems, opportunities and responsibilities do not always stay neatly separated from home.
During the conversation, Melanie connected that experience to something larger: extending grace to people and trying to give the same grace she hopes to receive herself.
“Marriage is just learning to forgive the same person over and over and over again.”Melanie Unger
LET PEOPLE GROW.
At some point, growth stops being measured only by what you can accomplish yourself. It can also be measured by what becomes possible for the people around you.
Success Can Change.
There was a time when growth could be measured largely by what Melanie herself could accomplish. Her definition of success is becoming wider than that.
She has stepped into situations she once felt unprepared for and gained confidence through experience. She has helped build businesses. Pop Drinks is growing. And she talked proudly about the people around her and the opportunities that growth can create for them.
That is where one line from the conversation seemed to pull several parts of Melanie's story together:
“I will continue to grow by allowing other people to grow.”
Your experience can create an opportunity for somebody else. Your confidence can help another person find theirs. A business can become a place where people discover what they are capable of.
Still Growing.
Melanie Unger's story doesn't fit neatly into one title.
Theatre. Marketing. Entrepreneurship. Marriage. Community. Pop Drinks. Leadership.
They are all part of it.
Behind the X's & O's exists because the public version of someone's story rarely tells you everything happening behind it.
With Melanie, one of those things is growth — not simply another location, another accomplishment or another number on a spreadsheet, but a changing understanding of her role in what she is building.
Melanie is still growing.
Increasingly, some of that growth can be seen in what becomes possible for the people around her.
“I will continue to grow
by allowing other people to grow.”
“We Could Do This.” — A Conversation with Melanie Unger
Melanie Unger of Pop Drinks Abilene joins Ruben Escalona on Behind the X's & O's for a conversation about business, theatre, marriage, community, relationships, leadership and how her definition of growth continues to change.
Pop Drinks Abilene
Learn more about Pop Drinks and the Abilene team.
The conversation ends. The story keeps going.
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