Dec 31

Dec 31 BABE #334: FAWN WEAVER - CEO, Uncle Nearest + Nearest Green Distillery

Around the same time BWH began, Fawn was headed to Lynchburg, Tennessee to learn the story of legendary master distiller Nearest Green, with plans of writing a book about him. What started as a genuine curiosity quickly turned into a successful business model led by the babe herself. Fawn is the CEO of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey and Nearest Green Distillery as well as the founder of the Nearest Green Foundation. She’s a fierce, passionate leader and an accomplished author, investor, historian and blogger. Fawn isn’t taking a seat at the table—she’s building her own.

The Basics:

Hometown: Pasadena, California
Alma Mater: N/A
Current city: Lynchburg, Tennessee
Hustle: CEO, Uncle Nearest; Bestselling Author

The Interests:

Babe you admire and why?
Kate Jerkens. She's my SVP of global sales and she is just a phenomenal gal. I've never seen anybody be able to manage building a global brand, while simultaneously raising three young kids, while simultaneously building and nurturing an incredible marriage. She's pretty incredible. She's got all dudes that work for her and everybody respects her to no end.

How do you spend your free time?
I am in a different city, different state, different country, damn near every day. But the one thing my team always does for me is block out 24 hours a week. I observe the Sabbath, and when I say it shuts down, I mean my phone shuts down, too. Usually it's Saturday night to Sunday night. I will do the last tasting at our distillery, then I’ll go have drinks with everyone. We'll watch the sunset and have our copper skies moment, and then my Sabbath will begin after that. For 24 hours, I literally do not see anything and I'm not anxious about it either. I've done it for 23 years, without fail.

If you could have coffee with anyone in the world, who would it be?
Michelle Obama. I love Barack, but it's Michelle I want to know.

The Hustle:

Tell us about your hustle.
I am the CEO of Uncle Nearest and Nearest Green Distillery. Our entire executive team is made up of women, which has never happened before. The hustle is grinding it out and doing the impossible. Every day we do the impossible. Every day we do what no one expects us to be able to do.

What does your typical workday look like?
There is never a typical day, but I wake up at about 4:30 to have my quiet time. Right now that includes the book “Living Buddha, Living Christ,” but that can change. Then I'll have a coffee and then go into the distillery, where I’m not just paying for a build-out, but I'm also the foreman. So, I check in with all the crews, all the teams, see who's doing what and problem-solve anything that's needed. Women, I think, are much better at problem-solving. We're far more creative in our problem-solving abilities. And if we are not people who get caught up in emotion (which I am not) then we have the ability to really solve the issues that keep others running their head into a wall. So, every morning, I see what problems I can solve. If I'm not at home in Tennessee, I am anywhere in the world sharing the story of Nearest Green.

Tell us a little bit about your background in whiskey.
I landed in Lynchburg, Tennessee on September 1, 2016. I was there to really focus on learning the story of Nearest Green—the first known African-American master distiller—so that I could tell it. I knew by then he was the first African-American master distiller on record in the United States, but I didn't, at that point, know he was the first master distiller for Jack Daniels. There were a number of things I didn’t know, but I went to Lynchburg to find out. I very quickly discovered the only way to really seal in the legacy of Nearest Green was to honor him with a bottle. The original intention was to do just kind of a commemorative bottle, at Nearest's and the Jack family’s request. But once we dove into it, we realized there's never been a master distiller of a major brand that is African-American since Nearest Green (so he's not only the first, he's the only). So then, all of a sudden, it became bigger than the story itself. It became even bigger than the legacy itself. There were two important things: one is honoring the legacy of this man from the mid 1800s to the late 1800s, and the other is actually creating a new legacy for women and African-Americans.

Tell us about the Nearest Green Foundation.
We have about 12 different projects that are meant to weave in the legacy of Nearest Green. I guess the one that's most reported is all of Nearest's descendants—whether they're in college getting their undergraduate degree, their graduate degree, or their PhD, they have a full ride scholarship from us—we pay for it. They only have one responsibility, other than maintaining a 3.0 GPA: once they have become successful in life, they then pay it forward, give someone else a college education. They do it in the name of Nearest Green, so that way we're continuing his legacy through educating other people.

What’s been your biggest career milestone?
We have built some of the fastest growing independent American whiskey brands in United Sates history. I'd say that's a pretty big one, but the one I'm most proud of is that in this process, as quickly as we're moving and as fast as we're building, we have zero turnover. Our company has not had one person leave since 2016. To be able to build something like this at this pace and still have people as excited every single morning to wake up and do their job with me is incredible.

How has being a woman of color affected your professional experience?
I think it's been incredible, because while most people are trying to get a seat at somebody else's table, I decided I would build my own table. Instead of trying to kick the door open, I decided I'd build a new house, with its own door, and just walk through it. What's been fantastic is everyone underestimates us. Nobody thought we could do exactly what we're doing, and that's been a huge blessing for us because as quickly as we were growing, we still flew under the radar. They stayed out of our way, because they didn't think we could do it. I had the leader of one of the top bourbon companies recently tell me, “I didn't think you could pull this off.” That was literally his first thing he said to me and I said, “Nobody did.” What people failed to understand is, you don't have to know everything if you know how to hire people who know everything. If you know how to hire people who are experts at what they do, then all you have to do is figure out what you need experts in and hire the right person—and then not to lose them. That's all you have to do.

What would you say is your biggest strength in your role? What’s the skill you most need to improve?
My biggest strength is that I don't listen to anybody, so you can't tell me I can't do it. My biggest weakness is I don't listen to anybody, so it takes me a little longer if I'm headed in the wrong direction to pivot and make sure I get it right. But the only way you can do something like this is to ignore the naysayers. The problem when you're ignoring the naysayers, is sometimes you have to ignore some of the people who may be right. You've got to be humble enough to come back to that and say: “Hey, I was ignoring you just because that's my default because I'm ignoring naysayers. But I actually want to hear what you have to say.” I think folks’ greatest gifts are usually their biggest weaknesses, too.

Career and/or life advice for other babes?
Do what you want to do. Stay consistent, stay passionate, and if you're doing it for the money, get the hell out of it. If you're doing it for the money, you will never, ever be happy.