We were lucky to catch up with Ikimi Dubose-Woodson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ikimi, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The idea to launch The Roots Fund, a nonprofit addressing inclusivity in the wine industry, came both slowly, and all at once. We knew we needed to make a change and something had to be done to make a difference in the wine and hospitality industry. My good friend Carlton McCoy and I often talked about how we could give someone an opportunity like we had through the C-CAP scholarship program in high school. But the final impetus was I had gone to Nonprofit Executive Leadership at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy – and I was looking at jobs at nonprofits. Did I want to do other people’s work? How could I make the most difference to the most number of people? And then the light came on, I was going to build it myself and create my own nonprofit.

Ikimi, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am the Chief Executive and Cofounder of The Roots Fund, a nonprofit committed to helping more people of color gain access to the wine industry. We launched in 2020 at the height of the latest wave of racial reckonings – and we were heavily influenced by a need to change the industry we work in. I have two decades experience in hospitality, front and back-of-house, and when I looked around I didn’t see enough people like me. We started with the idea of helping one person.

In the three years since launch, we have given out over 200 scholarships, which includes educational programming, enrichment trips, mentoring, career consulting, mental health support. We’ve expanded our career board and added a high school program to introduce people to the wine industry. In addition, I lead our massive fundraising effort and advise wineries and other partners on their diversity, equity and inclusion work.

It’s a ton of work – and when I look around, I realize there is so much more to be done to create equity in the industry. At the same time, I am so overwhelmed by the people we have impacted. I get to see all our scholars out in the field doing amazing things and they represent the change.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

As a woman that began in culinary, then hospitality, and now beverage you have to build an ability to push through. I’m in rooms surrounded by mostly white men, so you’re navigating in a space with no one like yourself. I always had to study, educate myself, and rely on my mentors. I was grateful to have some wise men around rooting for me. I faced obstacles of being respected, gaining business relationships, just being second guessed. In every instance that I got a no, I was resilient and made it through.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Carlton McCoy Jr, is one of our co-founders and one of my closest friends. As teenagers we were apart of an organization called C-CAP. This organization funded our college education. Although we took the program in different cities, we were connected. Its been an amazing journey supporting each other and watching our careers grow. We faced obstacles together, and have built outstanding careers. When we started the Roots Fund alongside Tahiirah Habibi, owner of the Hue society we wanted to create pathways for people who looked like us. Carlton & I understood the power of a charity. When we started Roots Fund we knew what our scholars needed and the impact it could have. We literally built this program for people like us, by us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.therootsfund.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rootsfund/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rootsfund
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-roots-fund-incorporated/

Image Credits
Courtesy of The Roots Fund