Latiesha Cook took the lead at Beer Kulture as CEO and president this past year, at a critical moment of growth and evolution for the organization.
Beer Kulture started a few years ago as a new voice in beer, and planted its stake in the ground by collaborating with breweries, writing op-eds on its blog, and doing a lot of personal work behind the scenes (you can hear Dominic Cook, one of the original founders, speaking on that subject here). Since then, it’s continued to evolve into a racial-equity organization focused on making very visible and tangible changes to the beer industry, from jobs and opportunities to resources for communities. That meant becoming a 401(c)(3), and in turn expanding operations, organizing people and board members, and repositioning the brand and the team’s efforts for a big push.
Those efforts have helped keep the door open on an urgent conversation happening in beer that so many would like to ignore. And the impact has been almost immediate.
This year alone, Cook and the Beer Kulture team have worked with breweries to raise funds and school supplies through the #Kulture4DaKids initiative. They also started a Cicerone scholarship program to give up-and-comers a professional edge, and collaborated with breweries like Green Bench Brewing Company in St. Petersburg, Florida and Cloudwater Brew Co. in Manchester, England to raise money for programs like Building Beds, which supports kids in Florida.
What does the future hold for Cook and Beer Kulture? If the success of their recently launched job board is any indication, a significant portion of the industry may soon look different than it does now, thanks to their direct efforts. By connecting breweries looking to hire with a more diverse and inclusive pool of potential “Kandidates,” they’re doing crucial work in toppling barriers.
This is game-changing, legacy-building, generational-influencing kind of stuff.
Words,Michael Kiser