Nayana Ferguson

The First Black Woman to Own and Lead a Tequila Brand

Nayana Ferguson

Name & Surname: Nayana Ferguson

Strengths: Creating Businesses, Positive Mindset

Country: United States

Industry: Spirits & Business Consulting

Favorite quote: “When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead and extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.” Jacques Cousteau

Please give us a bit of background on yourself

My name is Nayana Ferguson, and I am the Co-Founder and COO of multiple award-winning tequila brand, Anteel Tequila and the first black woman in the world to own or co-own a tequila brand. I am also a 16-year pancreatic cancer survivor, a 9-year breast cancer survivor and a national advocate for the Pancreatic Cancer Network, an organization that helps to spread awareness for pancreatic cancer.

In 2017, my husband Don and I wanted more out of life than the same old corporate, 9-to-5, weekends off, lifestyle. We looked at investment opportunities, but nothing stood out, as it just was not exciting. We discussed businesses often, but nothing really stuck against the wall until one day I asked him, "if there was anything in life you could do, if money was not a concern, what would you do?" He replied, that he would want to own a tequila company, but we could not do that. I replied, ‘why not?”

After multiple discussions, regarding the tequila company, I found a distillery in two days that we could work with and the process, a lengthy one, began there. Although neither my husband nor I had experience in the spirits industry, we both had previous experience in building a business. After almost eleven months of going through the process, we were able to hold the first bottle of Anteel in our hands.

Anteel Tequila was launched in August 2018 with the world’s only Coconut Lime Blanco tequila, along with a Reposado tequila that is aged eight months in Tennessee whisky barrels and a year later, Anteel welcomed a Blanco tequila to its portfolio. In the three years that Anteel Tequila has been on the market, Anteel Tequila has become a fast-growing brand that has won 28 awards and accolades since 2019. In July of 2021, Anteel Tequila launched a limited release expression, Anteel Blood Orange Blanco tequila for national tequila day, which has shown the world that Anteel Tequila is becoming a leader in the infused tequila space.

Beyond my accomplishments in the business world, I am a wife, mother of two girls and a proud grandmother who enjoys speaking to others to inspire and help them create their legacy.

What are some of your biggest achievements throughout your journey?

There are several achievements that I can point out on this journey, but I believe the biggest achievements are, creating a tequila brand from scratch and being an inspiration to others who want to create their own legacy in the world. Although we have had many challenges in this journey, I am grateful for those challenges, because they have taught me how to grow in this space and to be able to impart some wisdom to others who are motivated to start their own paths and create the lives that they want to live.

What are 3 business principles that are of core value to you?

One of the most important business principles to me is, whatever you do in life, do something that you truly enjoy. If you have passion for something, it will keep you driven, motivated and focused.

Secondly, organization and structure are key to a business’ success. Developing a solid foundation is a core fundamental in business. Things will always change; obstacles will present themselves, but if you are structured, it helps your through challenging times.

Lastly, know your numbers. If you have a product, know everything there is to know about the production of your product. Know your margins, profit levels, logistics and any other number that keeps your company in business. Develop and learn them very early on and watch them carefully. The slightest increase could impact you drastically. This is information that you always want to stay in front of.

What is the hardest part of being an entrepreneur?

The hardest part of being an entrepreneur is balance. Balancing your work life and personal life is a much harder task when you are an entrepreneur because you do not usually have a structured time frame to work, as in a regular 9-5 schedule. Being an entrepreneur means that you may be working 10-12, or more, hours a day and you must be very cognizant of the time that you need to provide for your personal life. I try to make sure that I am balancing the several areas of my life by having structured time frames of when I am working on the business, having time for self-care, and making time for my family. These structured schedules make sure that I am working to keep balance as an entrepreneur and still have a life that I want to live.

How do you stand out in this digital world?

We stand out in the digital world by sharing our stories. The story of creating a multiple award-winning tequila brand, our personal stories, our adversity, and our successes. From the beginning, we realized that people want to know more about the people behind the brand. We know that our consumers want to have a connection with the people involved with the brand, therefore, they feel like they are part of the brand family and part of the journey.

People regularly reach out to us on social media and we reply to a high majority of them. We encourage them to tag us in pictures and we share those pictures as well. This creates and builds relationships that can lead to brand loyalty. We want people talking about our brand, telling their friends and family about Anteel Tequila. We want them to be excited about discovering a new tequila and when people reach out or share something with us, we are grateful for it. I personally believe that this is one of many things that sets our brand apart from the rest.

What was one of the biggest mistakes that you have made throughout your journey and what lesson did you learn from it?

One of the biggest mistakes I made in this journey happened very early on, whereas I did not know the true ins and outs of the spirits industry and I did not properly forecast product that we needed to keep up with the demand that Anteel Tequila garnered once it came on the market. Being able to keep up with product demand and to forecast the need, is key information to know when you have a product that is selling in the market. I learned, quickly, how to make sure that I could always be ahead of the demand and to forecast what is needed, barring any extraordinary circumstances, such as covid. Even in this unexpected time, I have learned other lessons to make sure that our product is properly represented in the market and can meet the demand from our consumers.

What is your key to success?

There are several things that I believe help me to be successful. The first is, I do not stress…for the most part. I problem solve, looking at every challenge and obstacle as an opportunity to figure out a plan to overcome. It is important to remain calm to be able to think clearly and find a solution.

I am a predominately positive person and I believe it is a mindset that you have to have not only in business, but in life. This mindset, I believe, helped me to overcome cancer, twice. When my husband said there was no way we could create a tequila company, I instinctively said “why not?”. There was no real or good reason for us to believe that we could not start our own tequila company. When I challenged his way of thinking, it changed his perspective. We can all accomplish just about anything in this world, but we must have a positive mindset to do so.

I am comfortable with being uncomfortable. I am comfortable with the unknown, as well as challenging myself. When we began this journey, I knew nothing about the spirits industry, but I researched, asked questions when I needed to and spent the time to put together a plan. In this space, there is truly not a lot of guidance on starting a tequila company, so I had to figure out a lot on my own however, it allowed me to grow in ways I never anticipated. It helped me to evolve as a business leader with skills I did not know that I possessed. To succeed, you have to be able to allow yourself to be open, to being uncomfortable and to challenge yourself.

What does success mean to you?

Success to me means that I have accomplished the goals that I have set for myself and in turn have inspired others to accomplish their own goals. In the scope of Anteel Tequila, success means that I have been able to create a brand, from scratch that has become a multi-award winning brand, that consumers are talking about. It is rewarding to me to hear from people all over the country who have followed our journey and are motivated to create their own legacies. To me, that is the ultimate success, to be able to inspire others to share their gifts with the world.

Where can we find Anteel Tequila?

Anteel Tequila is physically distributed in the US, in 8 states and counting as well as in The Caribbean and online ordering with nationwide shipping.

Where can we follow Anteel Tequila on social media?

Website - http://www.anteeltequila.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/anteeltequilas/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/anteeltequila/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/anteeltequilas/