Black Women In Wine: Yvette Simpson

As a certified women owned business we love celebrating all women’s achievements. Working from our mission to redefine the wine industry to reflect its largest customer- women, gets us exponentially excited to celebrate women’s achievements in wine! 

This Black History Month we want to bring you profiles of women of color working in the wine industry and helping to close the large gap between our ideal state, and where we are in actuality, in terms of women and especially women of color making progress in the wine industry. 

Currently, female winemakers make up only 10% of the industry, and black winemakers only 0.1%. Female sommeliers still make 70 cents on the dollar to their male counterparts, and yes, there are women working in tasting rooms, but when you look at the industry as a whole, there are very few women in leadership positions and even fewer women of color. In 2022 Deloitte, along with Women of the Vine and Spirits published a study about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion called Women Raising the Bar that examined the beverage alcohol industry. In it, they surveyed women working in the sector and only 10% of female respondents reported feeling a positive change towards women in the previous five years. 

One woman who is bringing her attention to the wine industry is Yvette Simpson, a woman already highly respected and sought out for her strategic consulting abilities including executive strategy, policy and program development, and for speaking engagements. She is also a lawyer, a realtor, a previous CEO of Democracy of America, and has held political office. Yvette has been named YWCA Career Woman of Achievement, A Top 100 Influencer by the American City Business Journals, a Woman of Influence by Venue Magazine, a Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio, and a Woman Who Means Business by the Cincinnati Business Courier. Yvette is also known for her political correspondence and expertise on NPR and ABC News.