We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kimberly Hall. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kimberly below.

Kimberly , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us a bit about who your hero is and the influence they’ve had on you?

One of my heroes is my Aunt Jeannette. She was a teacher for many years, and eventually opened her owned daycare. After a few years she grew the business to four locations. She also owned a clothing store and hair salon. I spent summers with her and my uncle, watching her build her businesses, while also being an amazing wife, mom and family member. I saw the hours to took to build and maintain, not just the businesses, but to cultivate the relationships with her clients and their families.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My appreciation of spirits and a great cocktail grew during the pandemic. The free time to explore new brands and ingredients kicked off a whole new journey that even I didn’t see coming.

After more than 20 years in communications on campaigns and advocacy, a spirits business was not top of my list possible career paths. But after experiencing the challenges in being able to access and purchase Black-owned spirit brands with confidence I started Sip+Tipple, the membership club for Black-owned spirit enthusiasts.

Sip+Tipple is a community of members interested in exploring flavor profiles – understanding what they like and why – and want an easy and convenient to find and purchase Black-owned brands.

We do the work for our members. Every quarter we look for the best and hard to find Black-owned premium spirits to curate a personal shopping recommendation list based on their flavor profile.
We deliver a hand-picked curation every quarter, host an online marketplace for Black-owned spirit brands and hold an infinite space for content and community. Our membership options help our members discover new brands and enhance their at-home bar with Black-owned spirits, mixers and accessories.

I love the opportunities we have to share experiences with our community of members and brands founders, but what I am most proud of is that each Sip+Tipple membership supports multiple Black-owned brands. Each quarterly delivery not only features Black-owned spirits – we also include cocktail ingredients featuring other Black-owned brands. From honey, to ginger beers to garnishes we seek out brands to share with our members and help our partner brands continue to grow.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Connecting with our Spirits Consultant is a true example of what it means when people say, “What’s meant for you will be for you.”

I had a clear vision on what I wanted the differentiating factor for the brand to be. The Tipple Flavor Profile Quiz is what helps us make personal recommendations to our members, so that they aren’t shopping blind and can purchase brands with confidence. I, however, had no idea what needed to go into making a quiz that would truly help us accomplish that goal.

I was able to connect with a Spirits Professional over Instagram. At the very last minute that person had to backout and was not able to create the quiz. In a panic, I went back to the drawing board. This time, I found a brilliant Spirits Consultant, who was excited about the company, lived locally and ironically was already familiar with my brand because a very close friend was a friend of friend and told her all about it. When I reached out to her on Instagram, I had no idea where she lived or that she knew anyone in my world. Our member recommendations and quarterly curations would not be nearly as strong if it was not for Spirited Tracie’s insight and expertise. In the end, it didn’t just work out, it helped is to excel.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Despite the growth of social media and other alternative media platforms, traditional media has been the driver for us. To date, we have garnered more members from press stories than from any other source.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.SipandTipple.com
• Instagram: @SipandTippleClub
• Facebook: SipandTipple
• Youtube: @SipandTipple