In a male-dominated industry with veteran and celebrity-owned brands, D.C. native and Maryland resident Tiffany Hainesworth is fighting the odds by being the first Black woman to solely own her own tequila brand, T-Capri Tequila.
Hainesworth worked in the federal government for nearly three decades, pursuing her career in criminal justice. Then a major life event brought things into perspective, and she decided to become an entrepreneur.
“I was in a car accident, and, you know, things were bad for me, I wasn’t working … I wanted to do something different, something fun,” Hainesworth said.
She began to create gourmet treats, including wine and gummy bears made with popular liquor brands — but owning her own tequila brand was always part of the plan.
Hainesworth began to research in 2018 how tequila is made and was fascinated with the process.
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A distillery in Guadalajara, Mexico, caught her eye. The U.S. State Department urges Americans to avoid the city due to high crime rates. Nonetheless, that didn’t stop Hainesworth.
From then on, she was dedicated. She worked right alongside the farmers who harvested the agave plants, which would later produce tequila.
“It was important to me to pay homage to a product that I was producing,” she said. “I didn’t want to just slap my name on a bottle and say I have a liquor brand.”
She credits her grandfather and aunts for teaching her to help herself and for pushing her to be successful.
Fortunately for Hainesworth, her story is one of success. T-Capri Tequila is on store shelves across Maryland. In the future, she hopes to make it a worldwide brand.
“It makes me feel like anything is possible for women, anything is possible for minorities,” Hainesworth said. “You just have to focus, put your mind to it and stay at it.”
