Wednesday Women - Fawn Weaver
It's International Whiskey Day, so today we are honouring Fawn Weaver, who is the powerful founder behind Uncle Nearest Whiskey.
Behind CEO Fawn Weaver's whiskey brand is the story of Nearest Green, a formerly enslaved Black man fondly known as Uncle Nearest. Uncle Nearest was a pioneer of distilling Tennessee whiskey, and also taught Jack Daniel the process in the 1850s. However, his work as a master distiller and whiskey trailblazer long went uncredited. That is, until the last decade.
Weaver first learned about the man who inspired her brand in 2016, thanks to an article in The New York Times. The headline of the article read, "Jack Daniel's Embraces a Secret Ingredient: Help from a Slave." After reading the story, Weaver realized that she couldn't think of any ubiquitous American brand that could trace its roots back to an African American.
The entrepreneur took it upon herself to learn more about Uncle Nearest by bringing together 20 historians, archeologists, genealogists, and conservators, and pulling documents and artifacts from six states. "I brought them all back to the 313-acre property where Jack Daniel and Nearest Green both lived, where Nearest Green was the only known master distiller for Distillery No. 7, where Nearest taught Jack to make whiskey in that very distillery, and where Jack later created Jack Daniel Distillery," says Weaver.
By the time she and her team launched Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey in July 2017, they had gathered thousands of original documents and artifacts and knew they had to have the most researched brand story of all time.
Honoring Uncle Nearest
Before launching Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, Weaver interviewed nearly 100 descendants of Nearest Green and Jack Daniel. She ultimately found that the best way to honor Uncle Nearest was by making whiskey. "We built this company much faster than what would have been ideal, as I wasn't sure how Jack Daniel's (the company Jack's family sold in the late 1950s) would handle learning of the intention of our brand," says Weaver.
Uplifting Others
As part of Weaver's mission to honor Uncle Nearest, she and her team established the Nearest Green Legacy Scholarship Fund, before selling their first bottle of whiskey. They pay for every college-age descendant of Nearest Green to go to the university of their choosing.
As she continues her work, Weaver will always continue to uplift underrepresented communities and be a guiding light in her industry. "When you are an African American or woman who has figured out a pathway to success within an industry that has historically been reserved for white males, it becomes your responsibility to turn around and pull as you climb," she says.
Source and Credit: MarthaStewart.com
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