By Natalie Rodgers
At 15 years old, Fawn Weaver left home and moved in with some of her high school friends. She would spend the next several years living at homeless shelters across the Los Angeles area, not knowing that soon, she would carve out her entrepreneurial journey to success.
After finishing high school and on the brink of her 19th birthday, Weaver formed her company, FEW Entertainment, a PR and event company that supported her natural knack for communication and promotion. She quickly gained a few clients, establishing her reputation enough to get the attention of Beverly Hills chef Gerry Gavin, who hired Weaver to aid in opening his restaurant.
Weaver spent the following year at the helm of Gavin’s restaurant, creating the entire business plan, coordinating the opening and earning a small percentage of the ownership. She worked at the restaurant for four years, dabbled in the hospitality industry for another six and took an interest in writing that would lead her to her most revolutionary business idea yet: a whiskey company.
In 2016, Weaver studied the history of the Jack Daniels Distillery for an upcoming book project. Through her research, she discovered that Jack Daniel’s career wouldn’t be possible without the help of his mentor, Nathan “Nearest” Green, an enslaved man who mentored Daniel in the art of distillery. This history and her accumulated knowledge were the foundation for creating Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey a year later, making Weaver the first Black woman to head a major spirits brand.
In the less than 10 years since the company’s opening, Weaver has experienced increasing success. Her whiskey brand has expanded and is now sold in multiple countries and at 450,000 locations, including stores, bars, hotels, restaurants and the 458-acre Nearest Green Distillery in Shelbyville, Tennessee. Uncle Nearest is the best-selling African-American-owned spirit company and the fastest-growing whiskey brand overall in American history, achieving over 1,200 bourbon and American whiskey titles and accolades.
The tremendous success of her business, in combination with Weaver’s accomplishments as an author, has amounted to an estimated fiscal worth of $480 million. According to Forbes, this net worth makes her one of the wealthiest self-made women in America, ranking at 68th on the list.
However, Weaver’s whiskey does much more than support her economic success; it also gives back to Black students looking to advance their education and create their own businesses.
Before the distillery was built, Weaver established the Nearest Green Foundation, which honored the late distiller’s life with a scholarship program, park, museum and a book written by Weaver. The foundation has provided full scholarships to Nearest Green’s descendants and helped to create the Nearest Green School of Distilling certification program at Motlow State Community College in Tennessee. This leadership program offers apprenticeships to Black students and a business incubation program for Black micro distillers.
As the foundation and the distillery enjoyed even more success, Weaver decided she wanted to do more to give back to the Black community. In 2021, Weaver created the Uncle Nearest Venture, which invests $50 million into minority-owned spirit companies, helping them get off the ground.
“I am known for being completely transparent, perfectly comfortable with saying no, and marching to the beat of my own ‘business’ drum,” Weaver told VoyageLA. “I’m probably most known for sharing my business growth in real-time with the world and holding nothing back. I do what I say, and I say what I do.”
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