Commission hears from people of color within some of KY's signature industries

The Commission on Race and Access to Opportunity heard from people of color within some of Kentucky's signature industries on Tuesday.

The commission is tasked with studying and researching issues where racial disparities may exist in the Commonwealth. When it comes to horses and bourbon, experts told the commission that one of the biggest issues is a lack of representation.

"When students do not see people who look like them, certainly that discourages notions of being a part of," said Clark Willians, the president and cofounder of the Ed Brown Society.

Williams said several other barriers exist for people of color within the equine industry: limited access and exposure to opportunities, limited networking opportunities, cultural barriers, educational gaps, stereotypes about horse ownership, and lack of role models.

"Growing up in Kentucky - I'm born and raised here - I wasn't much exposed to the equine industry due to those barriers we talked about," said Shania Rayford, a program coordinator for the Ed Brown Society. "Whenever the idea came about, I was like 'I'm in the horse capital of the world, why don't I work in the equine industry? That's big here."

"That's when I got introduced to the Ed Brown Society and they really opened the door for opportunities, with Keeneland specifically, to shadow there during my last semester. It was awesome. I got to go into rooms that if I'm being quite honest, at the time, I couldn't afford to go in," Rayford added. "They really helped overcome that socio-economic barrier."

Sean and Tia Edwards, the owners of Fresh Bourbon Distilling, also told the commission about a lack of representation within the bourbon industry.

"In 2020, we were recognized as the first African Americans in Kentucky to make bourbon since slavery," said Tia Edwards.

"Historically, the bourbon industry has been a predominantly white male dominated industry," said Sean Edwards. "And that's from top to bottom - as far as the consumers who have drunk it, also the people in the C-suites making the decisions. So, a lot of that and operating like that for many years creates a lack of diversity."