The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Fawn Weaver On Building A Black-Owned Liquor Empire, The Story Of Nearest Green + More

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

The Breakfast Club Sits Down With Fawn Weaver To Discuss Building A Black-Owned Liquor Empire, And The Story Of Nearest Green. Listen For More!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey y'all, Niminy here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, The Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop. Flash, slam, another one gone. Bash, bam, another one gone. The crack of the bat and another one gone. The tip of the cap, there's another one gone. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history. Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, my undeadly darlings.

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Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha Guy. We are The Breakfast Club. Laura La Rosa is filling in for Jess. And we got a special guest in the building. That's right. We have Fawn Weaver.

Hello, hello. Welcome. Where is the book? There you go. Somebody took my book, too. Let me hold it. There you go. Passed out the show. I'm looking for Love and Whiskey.

Okay, here we go. There you go. Fawn Weaver, ladies and gentlemen. New book out now called Love and Whiskey. The Remarkable Story of Jack Daniel, His Master Distiller, Nearest Green, and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest. Yes.

How are you feeling this morning? I'm feeling great. Like a billion dollars? I'm feeling good. Listen, I'm feeling good. Who is this? This has to be her. Why did you call the rise of Uncle Nearest improbable?

Because when you was up here, what, maybe six years ago? Seven years ago. It's improbable because no black person, no person of color, and no woman has ever succeeded in this industry. Ever. Not as a founder. And so it's improbable because I shouldn't be here this in this uncle nearest should not be where it is when you look at it most come into an industry

and even if you come into an industry like the whiskey industry where it's 95 100 dominated by white men you come in and you already know that you're going to have to play offense and everybody's going to ignore you. Well, I had to come in playing defense. I was telling a story in the middle of what was then a 24 billion dollar company. And I was going right in the middle of it and saying, I'm going to add nearest green to your story. That that put a lot of arrows at me. Well, really, it put a lot of grenades on me. But it felt like when y'all was here telling the story seven years ago,

it was almost like, no, Uncle Nearest is actually the beginning of the story. So it was like, now you're just bringing everybody back home. That's what it felt like to me. Well, let's go back because people might not know what you're talking about because it was seven years when you came up here before. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So break down what Uncle Nearest is and explain what Charlemagne is talking about. Alright. Lauren's got the bottle. Pass me the bottle. So this is

the bottle. So this is Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey. It is the most awarded bourbon of the last five years in a row worldwide. It's about to be sixth. That also is improbable because we're coming into an industry that's been dominated by the same people for hundreds of years

and it became the fastest growing still is bourbon or American whiskey in U.S. history. And Uncle Nearest is the first known African-American master distiller. His name is Nearest Green. His legal name was Nathan. But we don't use Nathan because he didn't use Nathan. Any document on him that he was involved in post-slavery, he didn't use Nathan, which it was very common if you were given a name that after you were free if you didn't like the name you changed the name so he went by nearest his kids called him nearest his grandkids called him nearest so

we we call him nearest green but now when nearest when this came out it was the first time an african-american was ever commemorated on a spirit bottle. And when we opened Nearest Green Distillery, it was the first time ever that a distillery had been named after an African-American. Now, seven years ago, you explained it a lot. What got you into doing this for people that don't remember the interview when you got up here seven years ago? It really was cementing the legacy of Nearest Green. So my mother's a teetotaler, So she said she really wished he made lemonade. And quite frankly, if he had made jeans or like Lucille's down in Houston, I don't know

if you all have been down there, but Lucille's down in Houston, her family argues, her descendants argue that Pillsbury is using her recipe, that they reverse engineered it because she refused to sell it to them. And so you have those types of stories that have been in American history forever. Now we actually had a company that was willing to admit that their founding, that there was an African-American, an enslaved man that was at least the teacher of Jack Daniel. And then after that became, after he was free, became the first master distiller.

Can you break down the whole Jack Daniels of it all? Absolutely. Everybody knows Jack Daniels. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Can you break down why he's so intricate to this story? Because Nearest Green was the teacher of Jack Daniel. He was the teacher. He was the mentor.

Before this story came out, before I did the research and brought the researchers together. Jack Daniels, the company, didn't realize that distillery number seven ever existed. Their records only went back so far. And so they're looking at and looking at their distillery number. I said, no, no, no. You got to take that back. Old number seven was the actual distillery. And Nearest Green is the only known master distiller for distillery number seven. So when I came to this story, the very first thing that I did was buy that original property where distillery number seven was, where Jack grew up, the 313 acres above Lynchburg, Tennessee, because that allowed me to start piecing the story together and to be able to. I mean, coming into a story that is so iconic, Jack Daniels is a ubiquitous brand around the world.

And I was coming in and saying, not only was an African-American there at the beginning of it, but Jack treated him fairly. And you're talking about the South, Lynchburg, Tennessee. And for a person to be treated as an equal, that was a black person. That was unheard of. What year was this?

So this is in the 19th century. So everywhere from about 56, 1856 until Jack died in 1910. Because I know with Prohibition too, because a lot of people will hear this story and say, well, if he treated them nicely, why did you have to go back and say, check out distillery number seven? But with Prohibition, there were so many different things that happened where they made it where like after like with when harlem renaissance came along and like just the political powers that black people couldn't say oh i did that well in this instance it was a little different so in this

instance during prohibition prohibition was 20 years in our country 1920 years but in tennessee it was 30 wow they started 10 years before. So most people don't know that Jack Daniels moved to the Lou. Jack Daniels was in St. Louis for 10 years. Got you. And leading up to Prohibition. So on the other side of Prohibition, it reopens, but it's in so much trouble.

Jack's nephew is in trouble. So they eventually had to sell it to another company. It's under that company's watch. Got you. story disappeared but under jack and his descendants they made sure so when you look at this photo the reason why i started this book with this photo is jack daniel didn't just put a black man to his right in 1904 he seeded the entire center position of the photo to the black man so that was jack's way of saying America is going to try to write you out. I'm not going to allow him to. Wow.

And then his biography written in 1967, height of the civil rights era. And you have Nearson, his boys mentioned more times than Jack and Jack's own family. Wow. And so you knew that Jack wanted us to know, not only was he here at the beginning, don't ever forget it and so that's the

reason why the story mattered to me if this was another one of the stories where african-americans were done wrong and we were like pushed to the side this story would have had no interest to me we have enough of those stories yeah what interested me about this story is i felt as though it was a story that we may have been treated right. And I wanted to prove it if it was true. Because if we don't have any hope, like if every story we hear, we don't have anything to go toward, if every single story lacks hope, then we just walk around here thinking, well, it's always been terrible. It's always going to be terrible.

But if every generation we can find those glimmers of hope that move us forward, then we know where we're going. What got you into spirits? Nears Green. So cementing, cementing his legacy. Originally book, movie, right? Super simple. But if I were to, well, you all in this room, you might know.

But if I go in and I have a room and I have a thousand people in that room I'm talking to them, and I say, how many people saw Hidden Figures? 99% of the room, hands up, right? Absolutely. If I said, name for me the three women who were the Hidden Figures played by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae. I could do Mae, Mae Jamison. You were the first person to ever, so why? Because my daughter wants to be an astronaut okay that's so much

stuff around that's why charlamagne can never be counted in these stories because he always has this wealth of information that's but in a room like that nobody can ever name so we all walk into a movie theater and we walk out remembering the same people we knew before we went in and so if we wanted to make sure that this story, a hundred years from now, someone wasn't having to uncover it again, then we had to do what Johnny Walker, Jim Beam and Jack Daniel.

Why, why do we all know who those people are? Because we're watching them. Every time we go into a bar, we see their name. I mean, that's how I feel about Uncle Neera's now. Cause I'm walking through the airport and I see big Uncle near a sign and i'm just like oh wow i wanted to

ask you like the fastest growing whiskey in history u.s history right you've been named on the forbes list as the richest self-made woman in america for 2024 absolutely uncle nearest has a 1.1 billion dollar valuation yeah what do you contribute to success because you know we live in this era of everybody want to be an entrepreneur everybody want to be a boss you actually did it you know very successful way yeah what do you contribute to success i i contribute it to one real real simple thing god that's right so a lot of people they want to write god out of the story of alcohol because during prohibition the temperance movement movement decided to tell people that

the Bible said that alcohol was wrong. The Bible never says it. I would love to go toe to toe with any pastor that claims it. There is not a single scripture that ever says it. What it talks about is drunkenness, right? So everything in moderation, including alcohol. But the foundation of this company, the foundation of Uncle Nearest, it's God. It is doing what we believe we were purposed to do, which is cement the legacy of Nearest Green, but also to show how you can come, how our group, women and people of color, can come into an industry that has always locked us out and not only open the door, but open the door for everyone to come right behind us. When we came into the industry in 2017,

the entire industry, about 90% of the alcohol, six spirit conglomerates, they run everything. Diageo, LVMH, Bacardi, every time y'all have an alcohol in it, it's mostly one of those. Well, there were no women. It was all every single one of them founded by, owned by, led by white men. When we came in, then Uncle Nearest began to have such a level of success that we weren't supposed to, that all their boardrooms, the conversations were about us as much as it was about their own company. And they started trying to reverse engineer their success. And they realized, wait a minute, this country is 50% women. If there are no women in these rooms where the decisions are being made,

we're missing a huge part of the buying population. So all of a sudden, three of the women of the six-spirit conglomerate, I mean, three of the six-spirit conglomerate all had women CEOs. What was your fight like? Because I used to work with a Cicada brand and we worked a lot with the distributors and having that relationship with the people who take it to those bars where we see it is important. What was your fight like in the beginning

just trying to make distributors make it where they think it's important because you were kind of like a unicorn in the space. Yeah, so going back to your question, that's probably the smartest thing that we did coming out the gate. Number one, I didn't go with one distributor. The largest distributor in this country

asked to take us national. I said, absolutely not. I'll give you 11 states. And they're like, it's either all or nothing. And I said, well, that's the easiest decision I've ever made. It's nothing because nobody puts baby in a corner. And I've seen every black brand that come before me sit in a corner and I have to believe it's catch and kill.

It doesn't make sense. We can't keep saying that there's not a market for us. And so then we have to ask the question of if the buyers want it, if the consumers want it, then why don't they get it? Right. And so I determined it was the distributor tier. So I told the team, number one, I want to be in all 50 states within the first two years, which we did, unheard of. But the other thing was I built a distributor network of 17 distributors. That's so smart.

So I could say, hey, California, why are you being outsold by Georgia? New York, why are you being outsold by Georgia? New York, why are you being outsold by Tennessee? D.C., why in the world are you being outsold by Alabama? And that gets them going. It gets them going. But also, and this goes back to your question, is I think the smartest thing that we did, beside having 17 distributors where we could do it that way is I told the team if we do not hit our goals distributors cannot be the reason because everyone complained about

distributors 50 is going through right now puff through his lawsuit Jay did it with his everyone complains about the distributors I said they will not be the reason we don't succeed so I went to every distributor and I said I have no expectation from from you except that you will be a high price FedEx. My team will build it. I will be on the ground every single day, but there will come a day where I will let you know when I do expect you to work. But we did all the work for like the first four and a half years.

And the fifth year I said, now's the time I need you I need you and and so by then we had proved ourselves nobody had us in a corner nobody could put us in a corner and we had proved ourselves to be valuable enough to them that they would then invest in us wow I saw for the book that you interviewed some people that were 106 years old Nearest's granddaughter was still alive. Wow. When Nearest's granddaughter was alive and Jack's great niece was alive, she died at 104 and Nearest's granddaughter died at 108. Did they drink whiskey?

I got to start drinking whiskey. So here's the deal is you will find in that book a lot of the African-American elders that I interviewed were 90, 95. And so, yeah. Whiskey might be the key, man. You know, when you're down south, it's crazy, right? Because they eat everything they say you're not supposed to eat. Because I'm from South Carolina.

You eat everything you're not supposed to eat. That's me. And they drink cognac every day or whiskey every day. That's me. You know what I'm saying? You do whiskey every day? Every day. But it's in moderation. That's me. You know what I'm saying? You do whiskey every day? Every day. But it's in moderation.

It's in moderation. Listen, if you had poured a glass, I'd be drinking and it's like 10 o'clock in the morning. Do you want me to pour you one? No, I'm good. I'm good. But the thing is,

is that I don't ever drink to a point of being tipsy. Got you. I love to, I love it. I love how it brings inhibitions down. I love how you're able to have great conversations.

But the moment I even feel my head buzz, I will put it down until it doesn't anymore. So I don't like tipsy. I don't like drunk. But I do love I have Uncle Neris every night. How were their memories? How was his granddaughter's memory? His granddaughter's memory was not great.

But everyone else's memory was great. And the thing that I love about being able to capture their interviews, both I had a crew with me. So on video and tape, tape recording and that kind of thing was that so many people between the time I started the research and the time that Uncle Nearest came out or at least the distillery opened. So many of them passed away. And it's almost like they were just holding on to tell their piece of this story and then they're like okay I'm done and it got to a place where almost every couple weeks there was another funeral and so people held on and and so I got to capture all of their all of their words in this book wow you know this story amazing, but your story is even more amazing.

Where you came from and the fact that you left home at 15, the fact that you live in homeless shelters, the fact that you decided to start your own is a real testament to who you are because your dad was a writer and producer from Old Town, and you could have stayed there. But what made you leave home at 15, and what said, this is what I want to do? I know you said it you leave home at 15 and what said this is what I want to do? I know you said it was a book project and you said, you know, this is what it was. But you didn't get a 400 million dollar loan or a million dollar loan like Donald Trump. Like you did this from the dirt and the grind. So break down your story a little bit, because that's the story I don't think people understand. Because you didn't get a loan. You didn't say, Dad, let me borrow a couple million.

Like you grinded for this. And that's what's really impressive. Well, people look at my confidence and they assume that it's because I went to some Ivy League. And this is sort of the assumption, right? And so when people open up this book and they learn, I left home at 15, it was an ultimatum. That wasn't necessarily. It was my choice, but my parents, it was an ultimatum. And why did you have to leave? Why did they want you? What was an ultimatum that wasn't necessarily it was my choice but my parents it was an ultimate why did you have to leave why did they want you what was the ultimate strict Christian household and I just wasn't a child where you could say do it my way and I wouldn't

question it I questioned everything I got kicked out of the ninth grade because my teacher told my parents my English teacher told my parents that she didn't know what kind of day she was going to have in her classroom till I walked through the door. Now, mind you, I was not a popular kid ever. I was never a popular kid growing up, but somehow I wielded some level of influence, even with people who I wasn't in the popular crowd, never was. But according to my teacher, if I had questions, and I think what it was is if the topic we were talking about, I was challenging it and she didn't have an answer,

it made her uncomfortable. So then she felt like she lost control of the room. That's really what that was about. But my parents felt the same way. So they would say they're authoritarian. That's normal for African-American, especially at our parents, our parents.

And, and so they would just say, this is what it is. And I'd go, but why is it what it is? And now you're talking back. Well, yeah,

to them. But to me, it was, it was a, it was a, it was a question, right? Legitimate question.

It was a legitimate question. And if I hadn't been asking that, those questions about the Bible then, I don't think I would know it kind of front to backwards now. Because I dove in myself because they couldn't answer the questions for me. But they were the Christian leaders. And so it was our way or the highway. And I chose the highway. So that was 15. I moved to Jordan Downs.

I moved to Watts, home of the Grape Street Crips. And I was dating a guy from Nickerson Gardens. And I think when I think back of my me growing up, I remember and that was a bloody war. I mean, we're talking about this was the 90s, the Bloods and the Crips. It wasn't you know, it was great seeing what Kendrick did and Piru and all the rest of that. I was like, that's amazing because all of them. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia Keys opens up about conquering doubt,

learning to trust herself and leaning into her dreams. I think a lot of times we are built to doubt the possibilities for ourselves. For self-preservation and protection, it was literally that step by step. And so I discovered that that is how we get where we're going. This increment of small, determined moments. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself.

It's okay. Like, grace. Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best. And you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before.

Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, y'all, this is Questlove, and I'm here to tell you about a new podcast I've been working on with the Story Pirates and John Glickman called Historical Records.

It's a family-friendly podcast. Yeah, you heard that right. A podcast for all ages. One you can listen to and enjoy with your kids starting on September 27th. I'm going to toss it over to the host of Historical Records, Nimany, to tell you all about it. Make sure you check it out. Hey y'all, Nimany here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called

Historical Records. Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history, like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. And it began with me. Did you know, did you know? I wouldn't give up my seat.

Nine months before Rosa, it was called a moment. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, James Brown, B.B. King, Miriam Akiba. I shook up the world.

James Brown said, say it loud. And the kids said, I'm black and I'm proud. Black boxing stars and black music royalty together in the heart of Zaire, Africa. Three days of music and then the boxing event. What was going on in the world at the time made this fight as important that anything else is going on on the planet. My grandfather laid on the ropes and let George Foreman basically just punch himself out. Welcome to Rumble, the story of a world in transformation. The 60s and prior to that, you couldn't call a person black.

And how we arrived at this peak moment. I don't have to be what you want me to be. We all came from the continent of Africa. Listen to Rumble, Ali, Foreman, and the Soul of 74 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, guys. I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show,

where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout? Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real, inspiring stories from the people you know, follow, and admire, join me every week for Post Run High.

It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy, and very fun. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hola, mi gente. It's Honey German, and I'm bringing you Gracias, Come Again, the podcast where we dive deep into the world of Latin culture, musica, peliculas, and entertainment with some of the biggest names in the game. If you love hearing real conversations with your favorite Latin celebrities, artists, and culture shifters, this is the podcast for you.

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or wherever you get your podcasts. But it shot that place up when I was coming up and Watts. And so I would go back and forth between Jordan Downs and Nickerson Gardens, no issues. Like I never once felt like I was unsafe. I was very comfortable in those environments, which helps me in the liquor industry, by the way. And, and so I go there is super cutthroat, but also the current liquor industry was essentially founded by the mob. So there's a lot of mob elements that are still a part of the industry to this day.

And so that was, you know, being in Watts. And then I was there. I was super comfortable at Jordan Downs. And then I went to a hip hop concert. They called it rap then. But I went to a rap concert and there was a DJ and there was a guy who's rapping, just local Watts rapper. And

I'm in the crowd right in the kind of front middle and I will never forget it to this day is he literally tells the DJ stop the music, stop the music. DJ cuss the music. And he looks at me and he points at me and he says we have a half breed in the house.

Solomon says that's me every morning, but go ahead. Yeah. I've seen all the light skin jokes. There's so many of them. It's half breed. I might bring that back to that. No,

no, no. Don't bring back the half breed. Do not bring back the half breed on my account. But for the first time, when all those eyes turned to me, I felt unsafe. So I left home because I didn't fit in there. I felt like I fit in in Jordan Downs and that happened. And I was

like, oh, I'm not safe here. So I spent the next pretty almost three years living in homeless shelters. I spent my 18th birthday at Covenant House. I think y'all have one here in New York. Amazing organization. But that was my kind of my upbringing. The thing that's great about Covenant House is you go out, you work. I had four jobs. And you give them your paychecks. And it goes into an escrow account. And when you had a certain amount of money, you use that money, you go and get your own place.

So Covenant House allowed me to build the foundation of being able to live on my own. And once I was able to do that, it was kind of off to the races. But I also still didn't know what I was doing. I mean, I was still a kid, so I didn't feel like a kid, but I was still a kid. And I got to 20 years old and I was like, this life is hard. And do I really want to do this for the next 20 years? And I decided no. And I tried to commit suicide, not once, but twice.

And I remember. Thank God you survived. Yeah, absolutely. I'm grateful I survived. But the second time I was laying in the bed and the doctors were around me. And at that time they would put a tube down your nose and they would pump charcoal into your stomach to absorb the impurities. It's the same thing we do to filter that exact same thing. And so they would put charcoal in to absorb the pure impurities. But I remember laying there and thinking, okay, I've tried to take myself out twice and I wasn't able to do it. So I came to two

conclusions. Number one, I was here for a purpose. I didn't know what it was, but I was going to figure it out and I was going to live my life that way. The second thing was if I couldn't take me out, nobody could take me out. So when you see me walk into rooms, especially in this industry where historically we have done two things, either we shrink or we complain. And I walked into every single room and had every conversation with people in this industry. And they're looking at me like, you have not earned your stripes

to be able to have a toe-to-toe conversation with me. And I'm like, I earned my stripes when I didn't die. Beyonce talked about that in GQ when she shouted you out. First of all, how did you feel about that when she shouted you out in GQ? Yeah, people have been tagging me. When her whiskey came out last week, I think I was in London and doing literally because loving whiskey dropped in London and I was doing nonstop interviews. And so people are tagging me with, with Beyonce situation. And, and from what I understand from my husband,

I have a really beautiful gift at home with her whiskey in it when I get back home so I'm super excited yeah about that she gave you guys a really good shout out and talked about how good it was yeah all that but she also like literally the next question after they asked her about like just navigating business and industry yeah and she talks about how like when it comes to brands women have always had to kind of be forced into like the face of the brand but you never like the strategy the planner and the like the boss of the CEO yeah so it's a to hear you say that is in line with like she really identifies with your story oh no absolutely and and she's the queen so you know we kind of all bow down there there's a

few things i gotta go back to yeah please why did he call you happy just because your skin complexion just i the crazy part is is at that time it sounds funny now but at that time is when black people we thought we had sp enough natural spf where we didn't have to wear it so i was dang near your complexion at that time but it was the eyes because because i would literally sit in the sun to get my skin darker because i love that my eyes were so bright the darker my skin was and so my skin was actually much darker complexion but my eyes were bright green gotcha when my when my skin was. And so my skin was actually much darker complexion, but my eyes were bright green when my skin was darker. And the second question, you mentioned Nickerson Gardens, right? Yeah.

And, you know, salute to the Nickerson Gardens. When you were launching Uncle Nears, did you reach out to anybody there, like a Top Dog or a J-Rock? Because, you know, those people had capital. No. So when I began, first of of all I was there but like I like in high school I wasn't popular so nobody would know nobody would know who I am and and but when I began she's probably out of it but she was out of

there before you're talking I mean we're talking about 94 90 so I would have been there around the guy it's got to be 92. Top Dog was there in 92 definitely. But they didn't have the label successful like they did. She was probably around when Tyrese was popping. You're talking about the connection right? Let me tell you. I had no I'm talking about 7 years ago when she first launched.

No but I wouldn't have known. Like I literally but I can tell you this. For my seed series every black person I pitched turned it down. For series A, every black person except for, I only have one, Devin Johnson, which is Mav and LeBron's COO. Only person, only black person. Series B, I think maybe I picked up maybe one or two.

But. Unfortunately for us, we tend not to believe in us. And so we won't invest in us until we've already succeeded. And one of the most frustrating things for me is the only reason I even have African-American investors in Uncle Nearest is in one of the series I gave us a two-month head start. Get through all the paperwork, look at before I opened it up to everybody else. It's the only, and I'm so grateful I have incredible investors that I was able to go to them and say, listen, y'all are white. And I actually want my community to also make money off of this. So do you mind standing down on this next investor round and allowing them?

So they had such a head start. Still didn't take the majority of the round. I wish you thought we had money back then. I know, right? Came up here seven years ago. Seven years ago. Yeah, we had a little bit i know right came up here seven years seven years ago do you think that people didn't invest because they didn't believe or at the time quote unquote whiskey wasn't as popular oh no whiskey was at its height when this came out so it wasn't it wasn't whiskey it was that you have a woman in an industry in which never succeeded, a black person, an industry in which never succeeded,

not as founder and CEO. And then you have a person who knew nothing about this industry that was about to go toe to toe with a $24 billion heavyweight in the industry. And so it was such a huge risk. But also, I think that a lot of times we just don't believe in us. So if I had been if I had had this exact same story, had this exact same brand, my business plan was 50 pages deep. The SWOT analysis was no joke. I think if that had landed on desks and it wasn't a black woman, there's a really good shot that black people would have invested. And that's the crazy part. But because we're so new to business, we're so new to succeeding in business. And because we're first generation money. And so we feel more comfortable in the things we can see in our garage than we do in a portfolio that is completely on paper. I always say a lot of times we look at I don't want to say low low hanging fruit, but a lot of times we we invest in a portfolio that is completely on paper. I always say a lot of times we look at, I don't want to say low-hanging fruit, but a lot of times we invest in what we can see, right?

You always see people invest in- But you see whiskey everywhere. Yeah, but- Crown Royal is whiskey. But you don't understand it. Crown Royal ain't really whiskey. Let's talk about that. That is vodka that is colored and flavored.

Ask me, has it sat in a barrel? Is it because it's so saturated now? Like it's everywhere? Did it start out as a whiskey? Are you talking about Crown Royal? I don't know. I can tell you what it is now. We drinking flavored and colored vodkas is what we having right now. Those in that purple

bag. Have any of these celebrities, especially the ones that you named earlier, reached out to you for advice because you've conquered. you're working, you put your foot in these people's asses where they're having a bunch of problems, whether it's a Diddy back then or a Jay or a 50 or a Kevin Hart or everybody else that has their own lick of Snoop. Has anybody ever reached out to you for advice or help? So none of those.

The people who have reached in to me are generally those who want to start a brand. And their response is always, when I say why, it's always Clooney. And I'm like, okay, so what do you know about the Clooney deal? He sold it for a billion dollars. That's it. They don't know why that one worked. Why that was one out of, like, easily 99% plus celebrity brands fail. Easily in this industry and everyone keeps pointing to that one and i'm like if you're going to point to you have to know why he succeeded it

wasn't just his celebrity and just kind of so i usually spend the whole conversation breaking down for them why that costumigos actually succeeded and by the time we get to the end of the call I usually don't see them come out with a brand because they don't want to do the work it's a lot of work it's a lot of foot like when I used to be in the market I used to always see you in all of my accounts and I always wondered like how did you get

because it's hard to get in accounts I was in those accounts yeah you were and you were people don't understand there's a business when you sit at the bar you front and center at the bar. People can see you. That means your people are out there doing the work. Absolutely. It's a lot of work.

It's a lot of work. Yeah. This is not posted on social media. And hold up your bottle. Hold up your glass. And you think that. I mean, if you're a big celebrity, a really big celebrity, that will allow you to have a great launch.

But the work is not in the launch the work is how you grow it after the launch and that's where almost all of them fail well did beyonce reach out no well years years years not beyonce let me say that not beyonce yeah i couldn't tell because the way i mean the way she shouted y Beyonce. I couldn't tell because the way she shouted y'all out, I couldn't tell if she had spoke to y'all prior to launching her brand or not. I can say this, and it's because the person who reached into me had me sign an NDA. That's why I paused. Got you, got you, got you.

But it was quite a few years ago, and I gave my advice on it. I said, these are the things that will need to happen if it's going to succeed and and I said and by the way I'm around so any person in this industry who is a woman or person of color will tell you if they reach out to me I give them all the keys everything that I know I share freely because it's not mine to keep it's not mine to hold if the information came to me and it's gonna help you succeed, I'm going to give it to you,

but you better still do the work, right? And so I told them, this was probably about four years ago, I told them, as you're working on this project, feel free to reach out to me at any time and I will share with you whatever I know. And I didn't hear anything, so.

Wow. Wow. Man, you got a story. That's why you got a book so happy for you man congratulations on everything uncle nera's is 1.1 billion i got i i need to i want to taste whiskey i'm not gonna lie all right and i've never thought about drinking it before because whenever i think whiskey i think cowboys yeah right yeah you know but then when y'all got uncle nera's i was definitely appreciative of it and supportive of it,

but I just never tasted it. Like, really tasted it. Like, took your time. How do you drink it? What's the best way to drink it? So I personally, I love to drink a neat, but it just depends. That's with no ice, no.

But a lot of people put it on a single cube. A lot of people put it in a cocktail. It tastes amazing with. And old-fashioned is. I was going to say with meat, but it does. Old-fashioned tastes amazing with. With everything. With a den of meat.

Because there are certain liquors you drink when you're eating. So look at him. He just goes to say with meat, but it does. Old fashioned tastes amazing. With everything. With denim meat. But let me. Because there are certain liquors you drink when you're eating. So look at him. He just goes to the. So here's the thing. So here's the thing. When I did research and I learned how oysters gave us freedom, being able to. I determined I was going to find oysters that I like.

Now, I still don't like most oysters, but I found like two varieties that I like because it was so important to pulling us out of poverty so was whiskey so unlike cotton unlike tobacco this was such a highly skilled job that you're talking about nearest green immediately following the civil war had more money than his white neighbors. It's because he was a distiller. And when you're looking at Uncle Nearest, Nearest Green, so I should say this, and then I know y'all have to wrap.

The only difference between Kentucky bourbon, in which every single person on a bottle, I don't care who it is, white male, founded, or led, owned, all of that. But the only difference between Kentucky bourbon and Tennessee whiskey, number one, this takes longer to make. It's more expensive to make. But it's the process that Nearest Green taught Jack. It's the process of taking a traditional bourbon distillate, running it through sugar maple charcoal before it goes into the barrel

to purify it. Same thing that was pumped into my stomach, except that wasn't sugar maple, but, you know charcoal and so that happens beforehand it goes into the barrel that process was brought here by the africans wow that came with us and so when we're talking about spirit brands in america if african americans are going to drink anything our roots are in whiskey and not crown royal canadian vodka but like legit whiskey old-fashioned wine for me some people drink a lot of wine i drink old-fashioned when i have tennessee whiskey is bourbon it's legally it is bourbon the only thing is is we have to do an extra step so since we have to pay for that extra step, we like to make sure people know

it's also legally Tennessee whiskey. But this is bourbon. Wow. Well, thank you for... Man, support Fawn Weaver and everything she does. Congratulations again. Buy the book, get the whiskey, Uncle Nearest, everything. That's right.

You are very, very inspiring in so many different ways. Absolutely. And to me, it's not because of the $1.1 billion valuation. It's just because you had a dream and you did not give up on your dream. And it's a dream connected to the ancestors because of you. Uncle Neera's story will continue to be told. Yes. That's incredible. I feel like that's what we're here to do. Yes, because it is. We're not here to be reservoirs. We're here to be rivers.

That's right. And my life is a river. Fawn Weaver, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, DJ. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Hey, y'all. Niminy here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast

for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, The Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history. Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. And it began with me.

Did you know, did you know? I wouldn't give up my seat. Nine months before Rosa, it was Claudette Colvin. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, my undeadly darlings. It's Teresa, your resident ghost host. And do I have a treat for you. Haunting is crawling out from the shadows, and it's going to be devilishly good.

We've got chills, thrills, and stories that'll make you wish the lights stayed on. So join me, won't you? Let's dive into the eerie unknown together. Sleep tight, if you can. Listen to Haunting on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th, 2017 was assassinated.

Crooks Everywhere unnerves the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. Listen to Crooks Everywhere

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Hey, everyone. This is Courtney Thorne-Smith, Laura Layton, and Daphne Zuniga. On July 8th, 1992, apartment buildings with pools were never quite the same as Melrose Place was introduced to the world. We are going to be reliving every hookup, every scandal, and every single wig removal together. So listen to Still the Place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.