Spirit Forward Womxn’s Empowerment Series powered by Bacardi Women in Leadership returned for its third consecutive year of conversation, education, and inspiration. The series is dedicated to championing the outstanding individuals that make up the spirits trade and hospitality community.
This year’s programming focused on timely topics amidst the current landscape, such as managing finances during a global pandemic, what to expect as bars begin to re-open across the world, as well as a rich and eye-opening session on Black History within Hospitality and moments to honor the LGBTQ+ community.
This year also featured an episode of “Treacherous Waters” by Ashtin Berry and Maggie Campbell, where they explore themes, topics, and power dynamics of white women in relation to women of color. “Treacherous Waters” is an ongoing conversion, and the video from Spirit Forward, along with archived past episodes and additional resources, can be found on Patreon.
Spirit Forward Womxn’s Empowerment Series is committed to discussing topics that are top of mind and instrumental in creating change within the hospitality community, beginning with the womxn that keep it all together and that are all too often underrepresented. Their enriching and educational sessions can be watched in full below.
Managing Finances During a Pandemic
With Lindsey Perez of The Financial Gym
Managing finances is always an intimidating topic let alone in the middle of a pandemic. How can we adapt to make the best financial decisions? What steps should we take? Financial Gym provides tools to use now and beyond.
Lindsay Perez has a background in financial services and spent several years as a financial analyst on Wall Street. In her previous role, at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, she focused on wealth management and corporate benefits. While her time there was extremely educational, Lindsay felt somewhat unfulfilled in her role. She joined the Gym in 2018 in order to help empower those mystified by economic jargon and to help them feel confident about their financial choices. IG: @thefinancialgym
Mindfulness Break
With Tanya Clark from Jigger & Dash
The creator of Jigger and Dash Wellness, a wellness events platform for hospitality professionals, leads a short session focusing on breathing and meditation techniques to help stimulate the body’s “rest and digest” functions.
Tanya Clark has been in the hospitality industry for 15 years. She is a certified Yoga instructor, part owner of MOXIE Yoga and Fitness in San Francisco and the creator of Jigger and Dash Wellness, a wellness events platform that is specifically geared toward hospitality professionals. With a team of dynamic women as resources, Jigger and Dash not only offers kick-ass fitness events, but financial planning advice, meditation and mental health talks. IG: @jiggeranddash
Black History Within Hospitality
With Ashtin Berry
If we don’t know how we got here, we can’t possibly know how to get where we want to go. Food and beverage industry activist Ashtin Berry delivers a lesson on Black History within hospitality dating back hundreds of years, touching on the role of Reconstruction in the rise restaurants, the origins of tipping and beyond.
Ashtin Berry is a food and beverage visionary whose work is changing the way people think about hospitality. Berry is a unicorn in the industry whose impressive titles include educator, speaker, mixologist, entrepreneur and, most importantly, activist. Drawing on a 15-year track record of success in the hospitality business, a degree in sociology from the University of Chicago and a dedication to activism on behalf of marginalized people, Berry is uniquely positioned at the intersection between the service industry, entrepreneurship and activism, and brings this perspective and commitment to her work.
Berry focuses her work on educating and advocating within hospitality, taking her experience beyond the booze and zooming in on intersectionality and prevention. She uses social theories to build modified business models and operational frameworks, creating a curriculum for employers with the goal to demystify the history around the service labor and unpack how the contemporary dining and going out-culture is an evolution of many inherently racialized and gendered systems. In 2018, Berry founded RadicalxChange, a hospitality content agency that places marginalized people at the center. The agency partners with brands and people to create fun experiential events that unpack social issues. IG: @thecollectress @radicalxchange
About Another Round, Another Rally
With Travis Nass and Amanda Gunderson
Another Round, Another Rally is a nonprofit financial resource for the hospitality industry, providing grants and educational scholarships to underrepresented voices in the community. They also supply emergency assistance to food and beverage industry workers who have fallen on unexpected hardship. IG: @
Re-Opening Bars: A Glimpse into Our Future from China
With Michael Chen, Adam Devermann, Beckaly Franks & Jaymee Mandeville
Open for almost three months, industry colleagues in China share their experiences on what we can expect in the months to come.
Michael Chen was raised in New Zealand and started bartending while studying in university. He further honed his craft in Sydney, Australia, where he has worked in some of the most awarded bars and restaurants in Australia, including Zeta Bar at The Hilton, Mr. Wong, Palmer & Co., Eau de vie and The Roosevelt. Four years ago, he relocated to Shanghai where he is the Group Bars Director at The Cannery, RYE&CO, The Nest and PERCH by The Nest. He is also co-founder and partner of bottled cocktail company startup LAIBA. In 2020, Michael hopes to also launch PAO Beverage Co. a boutique soda company focusing on Chinese/Asian fruits and teas. IG: @therealmchen
Adam Devermann is a 16 veteran of the beverage industry. Since 2008, he has been applying his experience to develop and manage award-winning bars, spirits brands and bartenders. Since 2015, Adam has been the Associate Advocacy Director in Greater China for Bacardi. He has consulted for a wide range of International spirits brands, international chain restaurants, trade groups and independent bars from India to New Zealand. In addition, he co-founded Starling, a rum-focused cocktail bar in Shanghai, in 2014.
He is one of 250 B.A.R accredited professionals worldwide (Master Sommelier equivalent for spirits) and was crowned 2009 Shanghai bartender of the year. IG: @adevermann
Beckaly Franks is an award-winning bar owner and mixologist originally from Portland, Oregon, and currently based in Asia. She has spent over a decade behind the bar and frequently works as an advisor, consulting on cocktail menus around the world.
Beckaly relocated to Hong Kong in 2015 to open The Pontiac, a rock n’ roll craft cocktail bar, which has been the proud recipient of Asia’s 50 Best Bars for four consecutive years. Inspired by the neighborhood watering holes of Portland, Brooklyn and San Francisco, The Pontiac is focused on inclusivity and community. In the summer of 2019, Beckaly opened her sophomore project, The Pontiac Stardust. IG: @beckalyfranks
Jaymee Mandeville is the Bacardi Senior Portfolio Ambassador for the West. Before joining the Bacardi team Jaymee managed three beverage programs in Los Angeles, consulted on more than 25 and has trained 100-plus bartenders in just the last 10 years.
A mentor to many up and coming bartenders, Jaymee has become a vital resource for the bartending community. In her role, Jaymee creates cocktails, helps elevate the industry’s craft, leads brand and category trainings, travels to global distilleries and hosts a wide range of trade events. A self-proclaimed spirits geek, Jaymee currently lives in Los Angeles where you will find her either mixing up a new concoction, learning a new technique or helping a fellow industry member, all the while spreading the Bacardi portfolio love. IG: @jetsetjaymee
LGBTQ+ Beyond Pride Month
With Chris Cabrera
This brief seminar discusses the history of social change lead by Black and trans folx, the use of gender neutral pronouns and actionable ways to make our bar spaces more inclusive and diverse.
Chris Cabrera (they/them) is a transplant New Yorker by way of San Francisco, and an award-winning bartender-turned-ambassador, member of the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, advocate and activist. They became the Grey Goose Ambassador for New York City in 2018 and, since taking on their role, they’ve worked closely with the Multicultural and LGBTQ+ communities to change the conversation, and how Grey Goose gets involved in it. They have been working tirelessly within the cocktail industry at large to promote a message of inclusivity, specifically for the POC and Queer community. They are working more exclusively now to further a much overdue conversation and in doing so, they continue to be driven by one of their most inspired Maya Angelou quotes, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” IG: @chrscab
Treacherous Waters
With Ashtin Berry & Maggie Campbell
Making a special appearance at this year’s Spirit Forward event, “Treacherous Waters” host an episode of their series exploring themes, topics and power dynamics of white women in relation to women of color and explicitly black women. To watch this episode and subscribe to future episodes, subscribe to “Treacherous Waters” on Patreon.
Ashtin Berry is a food and beverage visionary whose work is changing the way people think about hospitality. Berry is a unicorn in the industry whose impressive titles include educator, speaker, mixologist, entrepreneur and, most importantly, activist. Drawing on a 15-year track record of success in the hospitality business, a degree in sociology from the University of Chicago and a dedication to activism on behalf of marginalized people, Berry is uniquely positioned at the intersection between the service industry, entrepreneurship and activism, and brings this perspective and commitment to her work.
Berry focuses her work on educating and advocating within hospitality, taking her experience beyond the booze and zooming in on intersectionality and prevention. She uses social theories to build modified business models and operational frameworks, creating a curriculum for employers with the goal to demystify the history around the service labor and unpack how the contemporary dining and going out-culture is an evolution of many inherently racialized and gendered systems. In 2018, Berry founded RadicalxChange, a hospitality content agency that places marginalized people at the center. The agency partners with brands and people to create fun experiential events that unpack social issues. IG: @thecollectress @radicalxchange
Maggie Campbell is President and Head Distiller at a small scale, independently held distillery and a current Masters of Wine student. She was the founder of the Denver Brewer’s League. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the American Craft Spirit Association and previously served as Vice President for two terms. She further serves on the Wine and Spirits Education Trust’s International Advisory Alumni Board, representing North America.
Maggie first became interested in learning distilling in 2004 on a trip to Scotland and has since received her Diploma in Craft Distilling Technologies from the Siebel Institute, her Level IV Diploma from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust and won the Denver Brewsters Women’s brewing competition. She attended The Alcohol School in Jamaica and was the keynote speaker for the Alcohol Schools Extra Credit program in Montreal in 2019. She has spoken at TedX Cambridge and numerous conferences and summits around the globe. Her advice for aspiring distillers: “Read all the books you can and knock on every distillery door you can get to. Having mentors with different philosophies gives you a whole world of tools to pull from.” IG: @halfpintmaggie
PUNCH’s Tip Your Bartender
with Chris Cabrera and Lorenzo Cyril
This special edition of PUNCH’s Tip Your Bartender fundraising initiative is hosted by Chris Cabrera, featuring Lorenzo Cyril of New York’s acclaimed Chinese Tuxedo. (Venmo: @Lorenzo-Cyril)
Chris Cabrera (they/them) is a transplant New Yorker by way of San Francisco, and an award-winning bartender-turned-ambassador, member of the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, advocate and activist. They became the Grey Goose Ambassador for New York City in 2018 and, since taking on their role, they’ve worked closely with the Multicultural and LGBTQ+ communities to change the conversation, and how Grey Goose gets involved in it. They have been working tirelessly within the cocktail industry at large to promote a message of inclusivity, specifically for the POC and Queer community. They are working more exclusively now to further a much overdue conversation and in doing so, they continue to be driven by one of their most inspired Maya Angelou quotes, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” IG: @chrscab
Lorenzo Cyril joined the Chinese Tuxedo family in late 2017 and received the title of Beverage Director in 2018. Since 2013, Lorenzo has gained extensive experience working throughout New York City at iconic venues and cocktail bars, honing his craft and fully immersing himself in the cocktail world. Upon moving back to New York City from his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina, Lorenzo trained and perfected his skills and played an integral role in the opening of neighborhood cocktail bar Boilermaker in the East Village. It was there he worked under Erick Castro, owner of famed cocktail bars Polite Provisions and Raised by Wolves in San Diego. During his time at Chinese Tuxedo, Lorenzo supported in the opening of the critically acclaimed Japanese-American cocktail bar Katana Kitten in the West Village, named number 14 of the World’s 50 Best Bars in 2019. IG: @trophypony
Closing: A Toast from La Gran Familia
with Earlecia Richelle
Earlecia Richelle Gibb is the National Brand Ambassador for St~Germain Liqueur at Bacardi. As a cultural curator and brand experience designer, Earlecia utilizes the power of aesthetics and narrative to transcend trends, create an inclusive environment and defy stereotypes. As the National Brand Ambassador for St~Germain, she contributes to strategic brand advocacy programs that drive awareness, enhance visibility and create a defined culture around the product. Her creative edge and conceptual thinking has helped the artisanal brand create meaningful touch points that captivate new audiences and cultivate brand loyalty. In 2020, she was honored in the creative category of 31 Days of Black Women in Food, was a finalist in the 2019 Spirited Awards and was featured in Forbes for her fresh approach to experiential brand marketing.