Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandi Neloms, Demetra and Julian Harris.
Hi Brandi, Demetra and Julian, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Each of us have always supported Black-owned businesses – on purpose – for as long as we’ve been making our own purchasing decisions. From our service providers to the restaurants we frequent, it’s important to us that we invest in Black business owners.
Alcohol consumption rose among adults 30 and older by 14% during the pandemic. It seems that whether happy or sad, whether in groups or on the couch solo – many of life’s moments involve alcoholic beverages. For us, that certainly held true in the early days of the pandemic as we each drank independently and held wine nights with friends to cope.
One night, with a glass of wine in hand, Demetra wondered out loud about whether there were any Black-owned wines we could try. The answer to their question was a resounding “yes” as we learned that there are hundreds of Black-owned wine brands. With a bit more research, we’ve learned that that holds true across most categories of beverages. Brandi swapped the coffee she drank daily with a Black-owned brand, and Julian did the same with his nightly glass of whiskey.
Almost immediately, we combined our passion for all things Black entrepreneurship with our newfound love of Black-owned beverages. We began compiling a list of brands to try and share new favorite brands with friends and family.
We (Julian and Demetra [husband and wife] and their friend Brandi who was living across the country in Seattle at the time) felt our newly acquired motivation to purchase Black-owned beverage brands quickly evolve into a responsibility – a charge even — to do what we could to let the world know about these wonderful brands.
So we got to work and in under two years have cultivated a community of more than 7,000 Black-owned beverage enthusiasts who discover, promote, celebrate, and intentionally purchase Black beverage brands.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Nothing worth doing comes easily, right?
COVID caused issues for a lot of small businesses. Events are a key way that we get these beverages in people’s hands, but navigating peaks and waves of infections was difficult. The brand owners we partner with often had issues with maintaining inventory, shipping delays, and supply chain clogs – all exacerbated by COVID. And as with most businesses and initiatives geared toward uplifting underrepresented and underinvested communities, we got some pushback from non-Black people who felt excluded from our mission. We quickly educated them that “by and buy Black” doesn’t mean “only for Black.” These brands need and deserve their support, too!
But while there have been bumps, the community; the brand owners; and the impact we’re making is worth it. The conversations we have with the beverage brand owners are inspiring, and they are always very supportive of the work we’re doing to increase visibility for them.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Sipping Black Only?
We are a community of Black-owned beverage enthusiasts who are committed to intentionally elevating Blackness, one cork, one pour, and one sip at a time. We recognize that there is a huge disparity for Black founders and business owners in the beverage industry.
The food and beverage industry is a $506B market and is expected to hit $857B by 2025. However, the number of Black-owned brands tapping into a significant amount of the revenue flowing through this industry is nominal. Not because they don’t exist but because many consumers don’t know about them. Our community can change that.
We host events that we call the #SipBlack Experience to increase awareness of these brands and allow people to taste and enjoy them. The vibes are second to none, and attendees always leave excited to go purchase what they tried.
Sipping Black Only was formed to celebrate, promote, and unite a community around Black-owned beverages and their founders. That includes beverages across all categories, including: water, tea, coffee, juice, soda, beer, wine, spirits, and more. Our community is for everyone no matter your race – it takes broad support to accomplish our goals – we are an inclusive community that is exclusively supporting Black-owned beverages.
Over the last 18 months, we’ve seen significant growth in our community, our reach, and our presence. We’re proud of that. We are happy to be a resource for people seeking to support Black-owned businesses. We feel great joy when our community members send us photos of the beverages they’ve purchased and brag about how they’ve stocked up on Black-owned beverages.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
The food and beverage industry is a $506B market and is expected to hit $857B by 2025. That’s 70% growth over the next 3 years. Beverages that fall into the consumer packaged goods sector are a huge part of that. It is important that Black entrepreneurs have equitable access to that growth.
We’ve seen a lot of mainstream industry leaders launch initiatives to invest in and promote Black-owned brands, especially in the wine and spirits business. That’s great. However, it’s going to take both a top-down and a bottom-up approach. So Sipping Black Only is here to push from the bottom up and organize at a grassroots level. When we meet in the middle, we expect Black-owned beverage brands will be more profitable, own more shelf space, and obtain the commercial success they deserve.
And Sipping Black Only will be a big part of that. From the community, we organize and engage through initiatives like the #SipBlack Challenge to the funding we provide through our #SipBlack Emerging Entrepreneurs Grant and the capital we plan to invest in the future.
Contact Info:
- Website: sipblackonly.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/sippingblackonly
- Facebook: facebook.com/sippingblackonly
- Twitter: twitter.com/sippinblackonly
