Fawn Weaver

Entrepreneur Fawn Weaver was born on September 5, 1976 in Hollywood, California to Philomena and Frank Wilson. She earned a Corporate Director Certificate from Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts in 2021. She went on to earn her B.A. degree in business leadership and interdisciplinary studies from The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 2023.

Weaver founded FEW Entertainment, a public relations firm, in 1994. Then, in 1999, she was hired as chef Gerry Garvin’s business manager for his Los Angeles restaurant, G. Garvin’s, where she also served as the minority partner. Weaver went on to work as a manager for the Viceroy Hotel Group in 2004 and as a general manager for the Dimension Development Company in 2007. She founded Grant Sidney, Inc. (GSI), a private investment company, in 2010. She and her husband, Keith Weaver, purchased the ‘Nearest’ farm in Shelbyville, Tennessee in 2016. In 2017, Weaver became the first African American woman to lead a major spirit brand when she founded Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, which went on to become the best-selling African American owned spirit. In 2020, Weaver co-founded the Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative with Jack Daniel’s and launched the Black Business Booster program to empower Black-owned spirit brands. In 2021, she also created the $50 million Uncle Nearest Venture Fund to invest in minority-owned spirits companies. Then, in 2023, Weaver opened the Humble Baron restaurant at the Nearest Green Distillery.

Weaver is the author of several books including New York Times bestseller Happy Wives Club: One Woman's Worldwide Search for the Secrets of a Great Marriage and The Argument-Free Marriage: 28 Days to Creating the Marriage You've Always Wanted with the Spouse You Already Have, published by HarperCollins Publishers in 2014 and 2015, respectively. She published her third book, Love & Whiskey with Melcher Media Inc. in 2024.

Besides founding and serving as chairman of the Nearest Green Foundation, Weaver served as a board member for the following organizations: the Young Presidents Organization, Black Women On Boards, WomenExecs on Boards, Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND)’s, Slavery No More, and Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc.

Throughout her career, Weaver has received numerous awards and honors including on Time magazine’s “31 People Changing the South” list in 2018, the Spirit of the Year Award at the Bartender's Spirits Awards in 2021, on Food & Wine magazine’s “Drinks Innovators of the Year” list in 2022, and a Distinguished Patriotic Award from the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 2024. That same year, she was recognized on both Forbes’ “America’s Self-Made Women” list and “The ForbesBLK 50” list.

Weaver and her husband, Keith Weaver, reside in Shelbyville, Tennessee.

Fawn Weaver was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on January 30, 2025.