Fawn Weaver founded Uncle Nearest to honor the formerly enslaved master distiller who taught Jack Daniel the secret to making great whiskey. Seven years later, she owns the most successful Black-owned liquor empire, worth $1.1 billion, with ambitious plans for the future. Including real estate, Weaver’s 40% stake makes her worth $480 million, landing her at No. 68 on Forbes’ Richest Self-Made Women list.
Weaver wasn’t a Jack Daniel’s drinker, but she knew there were countless former slaves whose stories, like Green’s, had been erased from history. As Green was no longer part of parent company Brown-Forman’s official history of Jack Daniel’s, Weaver sought to rectify that.
The first Uncle Nearest whiskey—named 1856 for the year it is believed Nearest Green perfected charcoal filtration—debuted in 2017 and went on to win the first of more than 1,000 awards for the brand. Today, there are seven Uncle Nearest releases—bourbons and ryes all produced under the direction of Victoria Eady Butler, Green’s great-great-granddaughter.
Read the full story on Forbes:
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0:00 Intro
1:21 From Rebellious Kid to Entrepreneur
2:40 Leaving Home at 15
3:32 Finding Purpose
4:52 The Story of Uncle Nearest Green
7:25 Fitting the Pieces Together
9:31 The Power of Charcoal Filtration
10:04 “I Should Have Failed”
12:49 Setting Up the Next Generation
14:03 Beating the Odds
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