Empowerment Issue January 2018 | Page 51

MADEINC do that for? You have a small space to do that and then it’s like what are you going to do about it? MADE: How did you decide that you wanted to start your line of wines? AJ: Well it wasn’t initially until the breakup and going through the natural pain and hurt I went right back to work probably when he left me when my daughter was two months. I went right back to work, and I was working 14 hour days and I was so tired every single day. I was probably doing that for 5 months, and it got so bad to the point that I literally was like I can’t do this anymore and I remember telling people I really don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing and at this point,I said I’m just …God I’m just so tired and I feel like I’m doing this all by myself and that’s when everything really started to flip around when I said, I can’t do it anymore, I need the help. I started putting my faith in God and giving him the control and everything just started to happen with the wine line and and then one year later. He left me May 24 and one year later on May 24 I had the wine bottle in my hand on May 25, I had my first wine tasting and then the line launched July 23. Everything really started to happen once I changed my mindset and started to really heal and put myself first. MADE: Why did you want to break into the heavily saturated wine industry? What sets your wine apart from the rest? What set’s my wine apart is really the brand behind it. Anyone can sell a wine. But my wine isn’t just being sold— we’re pushing women empowerment even with men. I know it’s more geared toward women but we’ve been doing these hip hop and heels classes and AJ: I’ve always been a wine connoisseur since I was in college. When you’re younger you drink other sources of alcohol but it doesn’t make you feel good. When you start to get older it’s like, “I don’t mind having a drink, but I rather it just be a nice glass of wine.” It makes you relax, it chills you out especially for me when I a mom dealing with my children and it cuts me off from the edge. Really just over time I became a wine connoisseur. I just love it. I love the process of wine and how it’s made and it really just amazes me. made-magazine.com | we’ll wine and dine and giving back to mothers and showing women they’re appreciated. It’s motivating mothers and having people 51