Samara Davis’ background in planning and marketing led to her seeing that the Black community needs to have a seat at the table when it comes to spirit brands. That’s what Davis is doing as the CEO and founder of the Black Bourbon Society, as she’s a constant advocate for diversity and inclusion in the spirits industry.
Davis spoke with rolling out about Black Bourbon Society, why she started the brand, what she considers her superpowers, and what success looks like to her.
When did you think about starting Black Bourbon Society?
I started Black Bourbon Society back in 2016. I was living in Oakland, California, and I was planning events and working with different brands, helping them to reach their target audience. It was then when I realized I was planning all these fabulous events, these cocktail pairings and these tastings and these dinners and all these great things and I said, “Who are these for?” Having conversations with the brands that I was working with, I realized that not a lot of the events that I was creating was targeted towards African Americans. That’s when I created Black Bourbon Society and it was sort of a way to prove to the brands that there was a Black demographic that was really interested in whiskey that were clearly bourbon drinkers, but there was also a need for them to spend time marketing directly to this demographic.
What did the process look like to get the brand started?
When I came into this field in 2016, there wasn’t anyone who looked like me, which is why there was such a need for Black Bourbon Society. There wasn’t anyone representing the Black community in the spirit space, regardless if it was bourbon or not. Every day was very different for me and in the beginning, I spent a lot of my time just advocating, connecting, and meeting people. Meeting sales reps, bartenders, master distillers, and anyone who would listen to my story, I was just constantly advocating for why this was important, and why the brands especially in the bourbon industry needed to adopt this and needed to include us in their marketing strategies and into the way they sold whiskey.
What would you consider your superpower and why?
My superpower is in observance, and being able to just look observe, find the holes, and then being able to create a solution for where the holes are. I think that’s a superpower. Another superpower is just a little touch of intuition, which means understanding marketing trends, and understanding what consumers really want. My last superpower that’s probably the most powerful one is my truth. It’s just being honest. Yeah. There are a lot of people in this industry that will say things that they think their clients or the brands want to hear, and you don’t make change just saying yes to everything. You make change by showing what’s wrong, showing what the problem is, being honest, and expressing exactly what we need to be seen in this space. My truth I think is what my superpower really is because it wakes people up from whatever fantasy they’re living in, and we get action and then we get solutions from there.
