Tahiirah Habibi is a sommelier and founder of The Hue Society, which is committed to changing the narrative of Black & Brown wine consumers and brands. The Atlanta-based non-profit aims to curate a community that facilitates education and economic access to wine through culturally relevant experiences. Habibi, who grew up in North Philadelphia, had her first experiences of wine when she was at Penn State University. On graduating, she worked at a restaurant during the day and took wine classes at night to begin her journey of becoming a sommelier and pioneer.  She would go on to work as a sommelier at the St Regis hotel in Bal Harbour, Miami and later moved on to leadership positions at other prestigious Miami restaurants, including Michael’s Genuine. In 2017, she launched The Hue Society as a safe space for the Black community to learn, commune and find resources in one place. Tahiirah is the first Black woman to be on the cover of Wine Enthusiast magazine; she has featured in Vogue, Upscale Magazine, Wine & Spirits, Wine Spectator and Imbibe among others, and was named one of South Florida’s Top Five Female Sommeliers.  At the start of her career, while working to become the first Black female Master Sommelier, she dropped out of the course when she was told she should address other sommeliers as "Master", something that as a Black woman she found traumatising.

What is the mission of The Hue Society?

The Hue Society is committed to changing the narrative of Black & Brown wine consumers and brands. We are focused on advancing commerce, building community, and curating wine-relevant experiences that honour and celebrate African American heritage and history and bridge the intersection of wine and culture. We are leaders, pioneering wine education and opening doors to African Americans who want to learn more.

Hue focuses not only on the black voice but on historically misrepresented groups, so indigenous groups and other people of colour: those historically disenfranchised in the wine industry

How does it work in practice?

We currently have six current chapters with about 12 more opening this year. South Africa will be our first international chapter and then London in the fall. Every chapter – both national and local – is different. Some people have parties and study groups; everyone does at least one tasting a month. There are seminars, for example on distribution or winemaking; talks one-on-one intimate conversations with people who have an intriguing wine presence – Jancis Robinson for example.

How does your mentoring system work?

We consider group mentoring to be more effective than one-on-one mentoring, particularly with minority groups. With peer-to-peer group mentoring there is a support system; you have a like-minded group all seeking the same thing – and they all have ideas. One-on-one mentoring can create power dynamics and an uneven situation.

Would you have wanted mentorship when you were starting out?

Yes, it was very lonely. At St Regis I was mentored by a Frenchman, who taught me a lot but he also didn’t understand the racism and microaggression that I was going through. This is why The Hue Society is so important. You might not be working with someone who looks like you but at least you can come home and unpack those things

What kind of microaggressions did you have to deal with?

Every day racism, blatant racism, being sent away from the table by people saying “We don’t want you, we want him.” It’s mentally very taxing. You might be at a high level but you’re suffering because no one understands why saying that kind of thing was not ok. You have no one to protect you.

Is that kind of racism still prevalent?

Yes. I spoke to a mentee of mine not long ago and she was still having similar experiences. It’s more prevalent where money is important, at the luxury end, five-star hotels. In more casual places the microaggressions are more through ignorance. But overt disrespect comes from fine dining restaurants. They know they have power because they have money.

What have you learnt over the course of your career?

I understood very early that I had privilege, and that not a lot of people that look like me are able to come in with that kind of experience and be able to branch out and do their own thing. So I’m always trying to make sure I’m redistributing my privilege and power, and those resources and networks that I’ve been able to build over the years.

How has the situation improved since in the ten years since you started in the wine industry?

There are more support groups like The Hue Society – there’s more of a community here now. The Hue Society has brought in another 20 black women and there is now much more acceptance of the idea that not only black people, but black women, can be into wine and food, and can be professional and have a stake in the industry. So the power dynamic is changing (2020 and the pandemic changed a lot of things), and now everyone is revamping their protocols: they are thinking, Maybe we should branch out and get diversity.

Is there an issue with companies jumping on the bandwagon – with tokenism?

Tokenism can be as harmful as overt racism. My question to anyone who wants to work with me is, “Who is in leadership - what does your company look like?” A lot of people don’t understand what diversity means – they are cherry-picking to get diversity clout, but they’re not changing the people who are in positions of power. The front positions are changing, but the decision-makers and the systems aren’t changing, so they are bringing more black and brown people into a system that is still feeding the negativity.

How does the UK compare to the US in terms of diversity?

It’s a little different in London but anti-blackness is a global struggle, so picking out somewhere and saying, it’s a bit better there, is not really important. Here’s an example of how it works in the UK. I was staying at the [five-star Mayfair, London hotel] the Connaught, and one afternoon I pulled up in an Uber. From the time I got out of my car to the moment I got to my room, I lost count of the number of people who asked me, “Can I help you? Are you staying here?” I’m confident, I know what I’ve accomplished, so I knew how to handle it, but if you don’t, it can strip your confidence: do you want to go forward in a space where you’re made to feel like that just literally for existing?

How important is it to recognise that not everyone has the capacity to get to the top – they just want to get into the hospitality or wine industry?

It’s important. Not everyone wants to be a Master of Wine or a Master Sommelier, they just want to be able to do what they love without the colour of their skin or their socio-economic situation being a barrier. They just want to love their job and to be themselves – that is basic humanity and it’s lacking in this industry.

Which area of hospitality is most in need of diversity reform?

All of them are in need of help. Front of house has a bit more diversity, but then back of house: where are the women? Where are the disabled people? No one part is doing better than another. Little steps are being made, but every time you make a little step everybody gets so excited about it that they dismount the rest of the way. This is a band aid on a wound that needs to be sewn up to be healed.

What stage are you at on the journey towards full diversity?

We have along way to go: we’re still working out what that even looks like. You can’t focus so much on the little wins when the bigger picture is still in place – all that racism is still rampant. It’s funny because when Trump was in power, it was in your face, and now he’s not around it’s gone quiet, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone away. There was the joke that when Trump went, “Now we can go back to good old-fashioned racism.”