The beer industry is becoming more diverse as more entrepreneurs establish brands dedicated to maintaining spaces for blacks and other colored people to talk about their love of drink. Anheuser-Busch is the world’s largest beer company, compromising well-known names like Budweiser and Bud Light. Now the company is taking steps to diversify its workforce and make history by appointing its first female black brewmaster.
Natalie Johnson recently made history when she became the first black female brew master for the beer giant. In a Q&A with BLACK COMPANYJohnson talks about how she got interested in brewing beer as a MINT graduate entered the market and promoted diversity in the beer industry.
BE: How did you get into brewing beer?
Johnson: The name Anheuser-Busch comes from St. Louis and is known to everyone! In the summer before starting my studies, when I knew I was going to graduate in science, I was lucky enough to get an internship at Anheuser-Busch through Inroads.
With this internship, I was immersed in the brewing process by working in the laboratory, analyzing raw materials sent to breweries, and providing master brewers with data that was used to make decisions about brewing quality. At the end of the internship, I was invited back, and it wasn’t until the following summer that I really began to envision myself as part of the larger brewing process and see it as a possible career path.
How did you come to work with Anheuser-Busch?
Immediately after graduating from high school, I was offered a position as an intern at Anheuser-Busch. At the time, I was looking for laboratory experience before college and the internship allowed me to see the immense amount of data and detail that goes into the brewing process. After graduating from college, I was fortunate enough to receive an offer from Anheuser-Busch and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to rejoin the innovation brewery team, where I learned about the brewing process and how to conduct my own analysis .
What were some of your challenges as a woman and a minority in this area? How was that experience?
The lack of variety in brewing is nothing new. The internship program, which I took part in outside of high school for the first time, introduced me to the brewing industry and showed me early on that this was a potential career path. Not many color students see this as a path in itself.
Our goal with UNCF’s Budweiser Natalie Johnson Scholarship is to provide color students working on a STEM degree with more opportunities to not only complete their major, but also to enable a new career to pursue, whatever brewing industry leads to a greater diversity within the MINT. With this grant, we not only want to continue working on D&I practices at Anheuser-Busch, but also encourage others in the industry to act.
What don’t people realize when it comes to the art of brewing beer?
What many don’t expect is that the brewing process will strike an extremely precise balance between science and art. As master brewers, when we run new recipes, we ensure consistency in each brewery and make adjustments to ensure that the taste is the same regardless of where consumers drink our beer. My role as Brewing Director of North America allows me to touch all of the breweries in my zone and help them stay consistent and resolve overarching issues.
What advice do you have for other black women interested in the industry?
I am honored to share my experience and continue to find a way for young black students to show them that a career in the brewing industry is possible. There is still a lot to be done and I am very proud to be in a company that has such a strong emphasis on D&I initiatives and continues to work with organizations like UNCF to make change happen. My advice to other black women interested in the brewing industry is to go after them! … your contributions are needed. Find and seize opportunities to learn and familiarize yourself with all aspects of the industry, then follow your passion.
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