By Joséphine Li

(Image: Courtesy of Jennifer McDonald)

For several years, Kansas wines have been underestimated by wine connoisseurs, despite a long and storied history of wine-making in the state. Fortunately, there’s Jennifer McDonald—the first black female winery owner in Kansas.

Jennifer and her family founded Jenny Dawn Cellars in 2016, a winery that crafts premium wines that highlight grapes from Kansas. Her business has rapidly grown from an incubated concept into Kansas’ first winery startup within merely a few short years of development.

 

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However, the story of her entrepreneurship wasn’t always as easy as it sounds. Being the first black winery owner in Kansas is no mean feat. Jennifer received major setbacks with her business model through licensing and regulation.

From the very beginning of her entrepreneurship, it was challenging and quite frustrating for Jennifer to finance her business, even with a business attorney. Sometimes things just don’t work out the way that we want them to. And that’s usually the case. Jennifer went to nine banks in order to finance her business and yet she failed to get any funding during the first round of the PPP loan process. Most of the other black entrepreneurs she knows have had the same experience. But the misery didn’t end there, soon other difficulties followed. Negotiating contracts is baffling and onerous and the unanticipated extension of the construction period added more vexation to the process—the construction of the winery took twice as long and it cost twice as much as originally anticipated. However, Jennifer bore through all the difficulties with her relentless perseverance and ardent zeal. Her business was later approved for funds in round two when funding was earmarked for minority businesses.

“Being a Black entrepreneur is tough, especially in these hard times. I’ve been through a lot of doubts about my abilities and my vision to run my own business. However, I always manage to turn naysayers into my supporters.” Jennifer said to the media, “At Jenny Dawn Cellars, we believe that premium wine is a powerful storyteller and we aim to tell our unique, remarkable story with every bottle of wine we craft—and we plan to tell our story many more for years to come!”

Racial problems are a particularly touchy subject these days. But luckily, the winery has not experienced any racial resistance from customers. Though Jennifer has experienced the effects of systemic and institutional racism while incubating and growing her business.

Amid all that is transpiring around the world, it is always reassuring to witness milestones of cultural progression.

Cheers to continued success!