This is our chance to get to know someone better who is working in the B.C. craft beer industry (or in this case on the opposite coast of Canada!).
PIC REF (L-R): O'Neil Miller, Giovanni Johnson, Jayme-Lynn Gloade, LaMeia Reddick, Shekara Grant, Amber Zaza and Damian McCartney.
1. Who are you?
Change is Brewing Collective is a BIPOC group promoting diversity & inclusion in the craft beverage industry. Our collective has seven members and is majority female. Most of our members are not originally from Canada but we all call Canada home.
2. What do you do?
Change is Brewing primarily collaborates with established businesses who show interest in becoming allies in our efforts to promote change and inclusion in local industries. We are known for our beer collaborations but we have also collaborated on ciders and cakes as well. We want to promote diversity in all industries we can. All our members help with every aspect of the collaborations ranging from can/cake design to recipe development to launch day planning. We tend to assign tasks to each other depending on our availability, skills or comfortability for instance. We do have a lot of scheduling conflicts but we are all committed to being successful. 3. What is your biggest pet peeve about the industry?
We can all agree that the lack of opportunities for entering the industry does not promote progress or inclusion. The lack of accessible education in the industry also creates generational barriers. Certain communities are not encouraged to enter these industries which leads to lack of representation.
4. What do you love most about working in the industry?
Our collective certainly appreciates the artistic freedom we have during recipe development. We each pull aspects from our culture, environment, history or personalities and use them to create an original product with its own story.
5. What is your favourite beer right now?
Our favorite beers would have to be those from our collaborations. Knowing that the proceeds are helping to promote diversity and inclusion is what it is all about!
6. What local charity should we be paying attention to?
Tough question. There are so many causes in our society which need ample support. As of late, we have been looking forward to tackling the local housing crisis and destroying food insecurity through our own efforts.