Celebrating influential women across the drinks industry
Liz Lock
Brand Director at Speciality Drinks and the Whisky Exchange
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How is diversity & inclusion a key foundation at your own organisation?
“I&D is a key part of a ‘Valuing People’ pillar of our S&R (sustainable and responsible) roadmap, incorporating a number of policies and programmes implemented to ensure we foster a culture where respect and differences are valued.
“Our deliverables vary from 100% pay equity and enhanced parental leave to training and development opportunities for all. We are exceptionally proud to have an almost 50/50 male-female split across the business, and a true mix of diverse cultures across all departments.
“If I’m allowed to quote from one of our policies managed by our HR Director: ‘Our organisation is made up of great people. Each of us is unique, whether in terms of our background, personal characteristics, experience, skills or motivations. And we value our people for the differences they bring to the table. These differences – this diversity – is powerful. Fostering an inclusive culture helps each of us to benefit from a wider range of these different perspectives, experiences and skills. We believe that this creates a happier, more productive working environment for us all.’
“It’s the unique diversity of whisky lovers working at Speciality Drinks and The Whisky Exchange that inspired myself and buying director Dawn Davies MW, to develop a campaign called We Are Whisky. A celebration of the incredible community of whisky lovers around the world, encouraging everyone to share their stories of their love for whisky.
Do you feel a positive culture being in place helps you cement business relationships?
“Absolutely. Creating a culture of respect, transparency, collaboration, and support, provides an environment for not only employees to feel engaged and valued, but also fosters positive interactions with clients, partners, and stakeholders. People are naturally drawn to environments where they feel appreciated and respected, and they’re more inclined to develop long-term relationships with businesses that embody these values.
Tell us about your own success story, positive experiences etc?
“My career began straight from school, having made the decision not to go to university, and from the moment I secured my first job as a PR assistant at a food and drink agency, I promised myself to always work with businesses who value personality, passion and ambition just as much as qualifications and experience. That agency saw potential in me, even alongside all the graduates, and nurtured an incredibly positive work ethic and team values that I have taken with me throughout my career.
“Until recent years, most of my bosses have been female – perhaps I was subconsciously drawn to working with successful women – and I have felt supported and empowered by them to achieve whatever I wanted, but those women certainly haven’t been my only cheerleaders.
“They helped me navigate the juggle of a career with having children…but so did the men. I wouldn’t be in this role right now if it wasn’t for Sukhinder Singh respecting the fact that I needed to be flexible with working hours and working from home (pre-Covid).
“Passion and commitment was key to making this happen. Sukhinder built a team at The Whisky Exchange that shared the same dedication to the product, and now without our founders at the helm, I am determined to continue building teams with those shared values.”
What opportunities are there for career evolution within your company?
“My own evolution at Speciality Drinks is testament to how much we empower our people and invest in our teams. Having started eight years ago as a PR consultant to the business, then joining business as PR Manager, stepping up to head of PR, and now into the first ever Brand Director of the business, it’s been quite the journey!
“As multi-faceted business with head office functions, warehouse and logistics, shops, events, a distillery school all operating alongside each other, there are so many opportunities to develop a career in one area or switch paths entirely.
“As an example, we have warehouse workers who have re-trained to become our photography team and our new product development manager joined as a spirits advisor in the first shop 14 years ago.”
What has your experience been like as a woman working in your field?
“I’m exceptionally proud to be a woman working in the whisky and spirits industry and am lucky to have experienced nothing but positivity from everyone across the industry, but I realise not every woman can say this.
“It was eight years ago, when I made the move from PR agencies to in-house at Speciality Drinks, that I became fully immersed in the whisky industry, and it felt like there was a bit of a lightbulb moment around this time when everyone suddenly realised that the movers and shakers of the industry weren’t all middle class white men. Here we were as a band of women (we’re proud to have a significant number of women blazing a trail across all corners of our business) making a difference.
“In those eight years I’ve seen so many more women stick their flag in the ground and establish themselves in their area of expertise, from master distillers, to writers, educators, commercial directors, show directors, bartenders. It’s amazing.”
What challenges have you overcome in the past in this regard?
“The biggest challenge for me personally is being a mum in the drinks industry! For every evening when there’s another awards ceremony, or a tasting event, or a product launch, a bar opening…there’s two little kids at home wanting mummy to do bath and bed time.
“It’s easy to miss out in this industry if you’re not seen out and about. The nature of what we do means that the networking is very often in the evenings.
“I’m not sure I’ve totally overcome that challenge as it’s not something I can change (other than introducing our annual Christmas press get-together as a lunch instead of a dinner!) but I do have a very supportive husband to share the burden. Co-parenting has been just as crucial to my career progression as collaboration in the workplace!”
What experiences have you or your female colleagues had (positive or negative) within the drinks industry, if this is something you can share with us?
“As I said above, my personal experience has been incredibly positive but I have been fortunate enough to find women in the industry to lift me up as well as a very supportive group of men.
“I can only advise that anyone experiencing anything other than positivity in this industry needs to speak up. And if any women in the whisky industry in particular feel like they need advice/help on how to move forward in their whisky career there are plenty of resources out there to help, like Our Whisky Foundation who have a mentoring programme and can offer a great support network.”
