I didn’t want to be a lawyer any more.  I had practiced law for twenty plus years and I married late and had my children late.  When I was pregnant with my seven year old, I decided I didn’t want to practice law any more, so I started this company.

My home brew, the one that we market as Autumn Nectar, is a brew I’ve been making since I was a law student at Howard.  People kept telling me it was good enough to market, but I would just smile and say, “Yeah, right!”  As I started to look for a new business venture, I started to learn of other people who had taken recipes and created businesses from them.  The idea then became something that I perceived as being possible for me to do.

I have always been a faith-walker and a dreamer, and I said, “You know what?  I’m going to start this business.  I don’t have a clue, but I’m going to start it.”

I did; and information, people and opportunities just started to come my way.

It took us eight months to get what I made on the back eye of my stove bottled, labeled and ready for market.  I subsequently found out that it is suppose to take eight years.  So, it’s good I didn’t know.

Within six months of that we got full distribution with Jewel Foods.  Six months later, we got full distribution with Dominick’s; and we’ve just grown.  We have seven divisions of Kroger in seven states.  We’re in Supervalu, and we’re looking at some mass merchandisers and some convenience stores.

It’s been a fun ride.

People are looking for healthy alternatives to carbonated beverages, alcohol, coffee and even water.  Tea is having a rebirth that has only just started.  The projections are that tea rooms are going to out-distance coffee houses because they have health benefits.

We’re coming out with a green tea.  It will be our fifth flavor.  Our green tea will be flavored with liquorish and hibiscus.  Our other teas are brewed from black tea leaves.  We also plan to introduce a chia tea and a decaffeinated tea.

Not to be concerned about what I don’t have – in terms of capital and in terms of help.  I’ve learned to just get up each day and do what I can do that day and move on.

I talk to so many people that say, “I can’t do this until I get the money.”

That’s not the way it works.

You move forward and money comes.

I’m just now at that point where the business is attractive to investors.  I just had to close my eyes to the fact that I didn’t have what I thought I needed in terms of financing.  I had to just keep doing what I could do and keep moving forward.

Oooh, Lord (laughs) … to coin a phase … (laughs some more) sweet Jesus, yes (laughs again) … Absolutely!

If we waited to do it the way it is traditionally done, we’d never do it because we can’t get the money that other people get.  We can’t get the support.

A lot of majority companies start with three or four major accounts.  They have a million dollar business before they ever open their door; or they walk into the bank and say, “I’ve got an idea,” and walk out with a couple of million dollars in start up capital.  That’s not available to us.

Even now, with seven hundred stores, seven states, I can’t get traditional financing – possibly because I’ve twisted and turned to keep going.  Luckily, I run into people who catch the dream, who believe in it, who have a couple bucks and are willing to invest.  God has given me favor.  That’s the only way I can explain it.  It’s not like they are people I’ve known for a long time.  A lot of them I’ve just met, but they write me a check and say, “Go forward!”  Two of my folks are here with me at this show.  They invested heavily in my company, and they’re at the point now where they come and help work the show.  It’s a blessing.

Like I said, don’t get caught up with what you don’t have.  You’d be surprise what you can do.

Has your family been supportive?

Yes.  I’m divorced now, so I’m a single mom.  I have a four year old and a seven year old.  To watch them walk into the grocery store and say, “that’s mom’s tea,” that’s real support.  My sister was one of my first investors.  When I got my first truck, my mom went and financed it, so I could get no interest, no down payment.  It was my first 14-foot truck, and I was d-r-i-v-i-n-g it. (Laughs)  I can’t wait to get it shrink-wrapped and get the Magnolia logo all over it; so, it’s a rolling billboard.

Oh no, those were not the good old days.  I mean they weren’t bad.  I made a decent living.  I handled a couple of pretty high-profile cases.  I had a good practice and made a good buck, but it wasn’t the shoe that fits.

Right out of law school, Ford Motor Company recruited me.  They had about 120 lawyers, eight Black, and maybe four female. My girlfriend was there, and we would oftentimes joke that we had to be friends whether we liked each other or not, it was a survival thing. She said when I was coming to Ford she thought it was the second coming of Christ.  She was so elated.  Eighteen months later, when they fired me, (laughs), she said, “How can this be?”

I vowed then that no one would ever fire me again.  I didn’t realize at the time what that meant, but that meant I had to be self employed.

I left there and had some interesting encounters with the Michigan Bar Exam.  I ran into a bar examiner, the first time I sat, who told me I would not pass the Michigan Bar Exam if I didn’t sleep with him. I took the Michigan Bar Exam eight times and he was right.  I didn’t sleep with him and I never passed (laughs).

I came home to Illinois and passed the Illinois Bar Exam the first time.  They spent a year investigating what had happened in Michigan.  They wouldn’t swear me in.  I had to get an attorney to get them to swear me in.  He was an older guy.  When they finally swore me in, he turned to me and said, “You know what you gotta do now?”  I thought to myself, “Oh no, here we go again,” but instead he said, “You have to practice law.”

So, I started, and I was fairly good at it, but I never really enjoyed it; and especially now that I’m doing this, I understand just how much I didn’t enjoy it.  This is like a party.  This is so much fun.