Interview with Creola Dickerson, April 20, 2021

Interview Summary

Creola Dickerson discusses her path into the bourbon industry today. Dickerson explains the origins and efforts behind her father's creation of their family business, known as Goodies, a barbecue restaurant located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Further within the conversation, she details her perspective of operating the company in the year 2000 before her younger brother's transition to running the restaurant. She talks about her childhood and her college experiences at University of California, Davis. Dickerson explains her first exposure to the bourbon industry and her role transitions, starting as a bartender, within the distillery company New Riff Distilling. Dickerson provides insight into working in the position of Single Barrel Brand Ambassador and emphasizes the uniqueness of the company's single barrel program. Dickerson discusses diversity within New Riff Distilling and the bourbon industry, particularly addressing the inclusion of women, African Americans, and other minorities. Dickerson explains how different the company's employee composition is from other industries, and the misconceptions about the bourbon industry. Dickerson recalls the hardships of dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, both personally and for New Riff Distilling.

Interview Keyword

New Riff Distilling New Riff bourbon whiskey Bourbon whiskey Whiskey Single barrel bourbons Brand Ambassadors Goodies Barbecue Restaurant Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Interview LC Subject

African Americans in the whiskey industry Bourbon whiskey Careers. Distilleries--Kentucky Occupations. Professions. Vocation. Whiskey industry--Kentucky Women in the whiskey industry Women--Employment. Work. Businesspeople Family-owned business enterprises. African American business enterprises African American families COVID-19 (Disease)

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Interview Usage

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