News — black women

The wine industry has been known for being notoriously white but there are many examples of Black entrepreneurs who have not only been able to enter the market but also find ways to thrive. These twin sisters have found a way to integrate culture with their love of rosé wine to create a new brand.

Nichelle and Nicole Nichols are the founders of Guilty Grape, a newly launched wine brand of rosé packaged in the micro-vineyards in Napa Valley at an affordable price. “As Black women and wine lovers, we became increasingly frustrated with the lack of Black representation and inclusion within the wine industry,” said the sisters in an email interview with BLACK ENTERPRISE.

“From marketing efforts to the type of wines being offered to our community (typically sweet wines), we noticed that the African American market was an afterthought in wine. Our culture deserves more, so we decided to join the other small groups of Black industry disruptors by starting The Guilty Grape to include those overlooked consumers.”

Coming from an entertainment background, the sisters wanted to create a brand that offered representation for other Black women who like to indulge in wine with their own business aspirations. “There is no easy access point into the wine industry, but it was abundantly clear that our mere presence was disruptive to the norm,” they added.”Between being young, Black, female, finding the right resources, and building the right relationships —there were many hurdles.”

The brand plans on expanding its collection to include Chardonnay and Cabernet options at a later date.

In 2009, Jeanette J. Epps became the first Black woman astronaut for NASA. Next year, she’ll make history again as the first Black woman to live and work on the International Space Station for an extended period of time.

NASA announced this week that Epps has been assigned to the Boeing Starliner-1 mission, her first official spaceflight since joining the agency. Prior to joining NASA, she worked as a technical intelligence officer for the CIA.

“Epps will join NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada for a six-month expedition planned for a launch in 2021 to the orbiting space laboratory,” the organization wrote in an August 25 statement. “The flight will follow NASA certification after a successful uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 and Crew Flight Test with astronauts.

“NASA assigned Williams and Cassada to the Starliner-1 mission in August 2018. The spaceflight will be the first for Cassada and third for Williams, who spent long-duration stays aboard the space station on Expeditions 14/15 and 32/33.”

Epps took to social media to share the news:

“I’m super excited to join Suni Williams and Josh Cassada on the first operational Boeing crewed mission to the International Space Station,” she said in a video shared on Twitter, where she has more than 40,000 followers. “I’ve flown in helicopters with Suni flying and I’ve flown in the backseat of a T-38 with Josh flying, and they are both wonderful people to work with, so I’m looking forward to the mission.”

Back in 1983, Sally Ride became the first woman to fly into space. That same year, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Guion S. Bluford became the first African American to travel into space.