What is the climate like for an African American who owns a cigar company?
The industry has been good to me. I certainly have gotten my share of raised eyebrows, but I supposed that’s to be expected. There just has not been anybody at my level in the industry that looks like me. With that being said, everybody that I’ve met in the game has been more than welcoming and extremely helpful. I’m literally friends with many of the other manufacturers in the business and we all network and support each other as much as we can while maintaining healthy competition among each other. After three years in the business, I’ve developed some strong relationships and a support structure of sorts. The biggest scrutiny that I faced early on was just that I was some new cat trying to make my way into the business. There have been hundreds of cigar companies come and go, especially during the boom of the late 90s. Cats that have been in the game for a while are naturally skeptical of most new companies, but my race wasn’t an issue at all inside the industry. I don’t believe tha
