Ara is the Portfolio Director for Distill Ventures, the world’s first independent drinks accelerator for new brands. She is also the founder of Barra Mexico, the main trade show for Latin America for premium spirits.

Your True Self 

Ara has found the drinks sector to be male-dominated. Although “things are changing, it is still very strongly driven by men.” 

At the beginning of her career, Ara felt that she needed to suppress her personality and to be more “like men” to succeed. Ten years ago, she decided to stop doing that and to be her true authentic self instead. Now, she embraces what are conventionally considered feminine traits: soft skills like compassion and listening, and being a team player. She believes that authenticity leads to success and that people – regardless of gender – do not need to change themselves. Rather, it’s the system we need to change, so that everybody can thrive. 

Modesty 

Ara’s success is striking. The founding of Barra Mexico, her inclusive and sustainable tradeshow, is one of her successes: it is a female-led business, that works with other gender diverse-led agencies, with the aim to show that inclusive and climate positive business growth is possible and should be the norm.  

“I'm very, very proud” of Distill Ventures: “it has been an amazing journey.” A paltry 0.025% of all UK venture capital investment has gone to black women. That’s just not enough. We launched the Pre-Accelerator to help tackle this gap that many people of colour face. The Pre-Accelerator is an early-stage drinks programme dedicated to helping founders from underrepresented communities through funding and tailored business support.

But Ara still cites “self-doubt every day” and a lack of confidence. With her entrepreneurial  track record and three Master’s degrees, she has no reason to self-doubt. “We need to normalise self-doubt, because most high achieving females I know struggle with self doubt. Having self doubt is good, it means you have the opportunity to turn it into self worth. But first we need to remove the stigma of self doubt.”

Allies

Ara thanks two people for her success and mentoring her – her business partner in Barra Mexico and the Chief Executive of Distill Ventures. For the tradeshow, it was so powerful that her partner told her that, “I believe in your dream” and to have an ally as their journey began.

Frank, the Distill Venture’s CEO, understands the virtues of diversity in business and is a great ally. At her first interview, she told him that “I am going to do things very differently” but that she would “deliver the same or better results.” Drawing a wider lesson, “it's just having people that are allies and letting you be yourself.” 

Study and Challenge 

The clarity of Ara’s thoughts continues. To her younger self, she would give her two pieces of advice. “The first one is never stop studying.” And “the second is question everything.” 

Speak and Question 

That questioning will break the bias: “I would tell younger, younger people just continue to question everything.” Speaking up will also challenge how we think. Calling out micro-aggression is vital as “we need to be very vocal.” 

Ara wants to continue her work to break the bias with Distill Ventures. She is “really actively seeking out female entrepreneurs for the spirits industry” even if they “just have an idea” at this stage. Anyone interested should contact this inspiring leader. With her focus, Ara will continue to break the bias for years to come.