The future of wine is accessible, inclusive, and colorful.

Black-owned wineries account for less than 1 percent of all U.S. wineries. That’s why The Roots Fund is on a mission to support BIPOC communities and provide tools to help them thrive in the wine industry. The trailblazing organization is pivotal in changing the landscape of the wine and beverage world. To help diversify the industry, Ikimi Dubose-Woodson of The Roots Fund is sharing a few key steps any brand — or individual — can take. 

Finding Your Own Career in Wine

The wine industry isn’t just about the tasting room sales. It’s comprised of many different roles, from grape growers, winemakers, and sommeliers all the way to marketers, journalists, and business owners. 

Oftentimes, people have great ideas, but they don’t have the support needed to execute them. For every layer of the wine industry, The Roots Fund offers support to help people gain knowledge and feel confident in these spaces. By educating people on these different career paths, the organization helps everyone find their place in the industry. 

One of their key lessons is essential: you don’t have to grow up near a Napa vineyard to enter the wine industry. One of The Roots Fund’s scholars was a culinary chef who lost his job due to the pandemic. Now, after working with The Roots Fund team, he’s a fully-fledged winemaker. They’ve seen waitresses lose their jobs who are now providing education for distributors or even have their own wine podcast. 

According to Ikimi, the wine industry is all about transferable skills. Most of the people that come to The Roots Fund have a background in hospitality but have been displaced during the pandemic. But that doesn’t mean they won’t thrive in the wine industry; they just need the support. Ikimi says, “You can come into this [industry] with great skills from another sector and transform them into the wine industry and be successful.”