In January 2021, Tiffany Capri Hainesworth launched her award-winning tequila brand, TCapri Tequila, making her the first Black woman to solely own a tequila brand. (Before her, Nayana Ferguson became the first Black woman to co-own a tequila when she launched Anteel Tequila with her husband in 2018; and in July 2021, Rikki Kelly founded Ego Tequila.) For 30 years, Hainesworth has worked in the U.S. government for the Secret Service, the U.S. attorney’s office and currently for the Securities and Exchange Commission. But it took a life-changing car accident for Hainesworth to realize her passion wasn’t in government. TCapri Tequila has become her second full-time job. Though the pandemic caused a glass bottle shortage, production has ramped up again, and in the spring her tequila will be found in stores in Maryland, where she’s based, and D.C. A tasting kit featuring miniature bottles can be ordered on TCapri’s website. For this edition of Voices in Food, Hainesworth tells Garin Pirnia how she built her tequila empire and why it’s important to see women in leadership roles.I’ve been through some very traumatic experiences in my life. On Dec. 12, 2012, I was in a really bad car accident. That led to traumatic brain injury. I was having seizures — grand mal seizures and petit mal seizures — and that lasted for about five years. I’ve been in the federal government for 30 years. You go to school. You get degrees. You do everything — but is it your passion? The car accident opened my eyes because you see how the government treats you. They were very insensitive to what I was going through. The compassion wasn’t there. They expected me to still function as a normal person. But I had to get into my new norm, which was not normal. I gave my whole life to the federal government, so what am I going to do for the better half of my life that’s going to make me happy?That’s when I started my gourmet treats business, TCapri Gourmet Treats. I was like, OK, well, I’m making a lot of desserts and gummies with wines and spirits and I think I want my own. Tequila is my favorite, and I want to start with something that I enjoy drinking.“Of course, when I went into stores and talked to them — they were all men — about my tequila, they kind of brushed me off. And then when they realized I own everything, their tone changed.”So I went to Jalisco, Mexico, and I met with a couple of different people. It was definitely a language barrier, because I went by myself and I don’t speak Spanish. I finally got direct access to El Tepozán distillery’s owner, and once we had access to him, things started flowing better. I hired my own translator and we started traveling there together. The first six months were difficult. I don’t want anybody to think that it is easy. With everything, you have to put in hard work.When I started trying to distribute my brand, I did everything myself. I own 100% of my company and I get to say where it goes. Of course, when I went into stores and talked to them — they were all men — about my tequila, they kind of brushed me off. And then when they realized I own everything, their tone changed. I said, “You have to go through me with everything. I am the final decision-maker.” I was strung along a lot. I was told “no,” and they didn’t want my product until they saw me in the media. I took my brand out of one store because one guy was just so rude to me and I just couldn’t handle it anymore.In so many instances, women are not taken seriously. We still are confronted with male chauvinism and disrespect. It’s important for us to sustain our ground in so many areas of our lives, and that doesn’t mean aggressive, because we get misconstrued as being aggressive when we’re in a position of power. It’s almost like a double-edged sword, because it was like, “Oh, they removed their emotions. Now they’re aggressive.” But if we react emotionally, then that’s another story. You may not like what we’re doing, but you’re gonna respect what we’re doing.I’m still kind of getting acclimated to [the business], but it makes me feel good because a lot of people don’t think that it’s feasible. They don’t think that they can accomplish this on their own. I love the fact that I have shown that women can do it without a man. They can do it without a partner. If your dream is to have a spirit brand, it’s attainable. I used my own capital when I started out with 1,500 bottles. I think when people think about spirit brands, they think of the mass production, and that’s why they get kind of spooked about starting their own brand, because they think they have to mass produce. Granted, a lot of distilleries do want you to mass produce, but you have to do your research. You have to take the time to find a distillery that will allow you to do small batches. And don’t get me wrong — even with the small batch, it costs a lot of money. Can you imagine if I was mass producing? I would be a multimillionaire in a year. Because I’m doing this on my own, I’m not. But the market has loved it. You have to invest in yourself.