Be the Change Job Fair, an initiative led by Cara Bertone, Philana Bouvier, Lia Jones, and Rania Zayyat, in partnership with Diversity in Food & Beverage and Lift Collective announced that registration for beverage alcohol employers is now open for the second virtual job fair.
The virtual event will take place on April 22, 2021, and will partner with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), the nation’s largest organization exclusively representing the Black college community to further advance Be the Change’s initiative and digital job fair to their networks. Additional education partners include Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) and JP Morgan. Bacardi USA and Tito’s Handmade Vodka are among several new spirit exhibitors (additional partners and exhibitors will be announced in the coming weeks). Exhibitors can register here.
“Be The Change is the ideal partner for TMCF. Their commitment to increasing diversity through very targeted and intentional strategies is to be commended,” said Dr. Harry L. Williams, President, and CEO of the TMCF. “We are proud to partner with them to provide HBCU students with expanded career options in the beverage alcohol industry”.
In December 2020, the first-of-its-kind virtual job fair connected more than 700 job applicants with industry leaders such as Jackson Family Wines, Constellation Brands, Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits, E & J Gallo, Moet-Hennessy USA, and The Wine Group, using the cutting-edge technology from Brazen and ForceBrands. The event successfully connected out-of-work candidates with new opportunities in the beverage industry.
“Like a lot of sommeliers all over the world, I was furloughed last year in March due to the pandemic,” attendee Juan Carlos Ruiz, who received a job with Moet Hennessy USA in Las Vegas, said. “ I had the opportunity to speak to 37 different representatives of these companies over the course of the four hours. One of the final companies I spoke with ended up having a job available in my market.”
Get to know the founders of ‘Be the Change’ by watching our exclusive interview with them below.
