Donna has spent three decades building a career that places people and their quality of life at the center of everything that she has done. When she opened Stoney Wines in 2019 she found herself breaking down barriers and perception as Oregon's first back female head winemaker but this was not her first history making endeavor. Discover how Donna’s big decision to follow her passions resulted in transforming the lives of people all around her - from college basketball to creating a community that is ALL-inclusive, Donna reveals the power of pairing your purpose and passion in an episode that we know is sure to lift your spirits and leave you inspired.
Donna has spent three decades building a career that places people and their quality of life at the center of everything that she has done. When she opened Stoney Wines in 2019 she found herself breaking down barriers and perception as Oregon's first back female head winemaker but this was not her first history making endeavor. Discover how Donna’s big decision to follow her passions resulted in transforming the lives of people all around her - from college basketball to creating a community that is ALL-inclusive, Donna reveals the power of pairing your purpose and passion in an episode that we know is sure to lift your spirits and leave you inspired.
Ep. 006 - Wine Not Make History? With Donna Stoney
[MUSIC: Noah Smith “New Girl”]
Karolyn Hart You’re listening to “Big on Small”, the official small business podcast powered by InspireHUB, I’m Karolyn Hart.
Samantha Castro And I’m Samantha Castro.
Karolyn Hart We unpack the big ideas happening in small organizations for businesses, agencies, schools, towns, charities, and teams.
Samantha Castro Because what we know is that good things come FROM small packages and there’s nothing small about doing good.
Have you ever noticed that a hero, a real hero, often doesn't see themselves as one? Today’s guest is no different. Donna Stoney is the epitome of a humble hero. Donna has spent three decades building a career that places people and their quality of life at the center of everything that she has done. A serial entrepreneur, Donna is the Founder of Stoney Wines as well as the Executive Director at StoneyBrooke Residential Services LLC helping adults with disabilities. When she opened Stoney Wines in 2019 she found herself breaking down barriers and perception as Oregon's first back female head winemaker but this was not her first history making endeavor. In today’s episode we discover how Donna’s big decision to follow her passions resulted in transforming the lives of people all around her - from college basketball to creating a community that is ALL-inclusive, Donna reveals the power of pairing your purpose and passion in an episode that we know is sure to lift your spirits and leave you inspired.
PART ONE - Making History (the first time)
Samantha Castro There’s nothing like settling in after a long day of working in your small business and cracking open a new bottle of wine, getting all cozy on the couch and opening that book you’ve been slowly working your way through; or, let’s face it, maybe just picking that book up and then deciding after a paragraph you’ll just turn on Netflix and watch the next episode of your latest TV Show binge.
No matter what you decide to do, whether it’s alone or with friends, you can enjoy your night with that glass of wine and recharge and unwind. That relaxing and self- care you're doing in that moment is exactly what we’re going to be focusing on in today’s episode as we talk to Donna Stoney and hear her incredible story of becoming the first black female winemaker in Oregon.
To understand who Donna is today, we need to go back to her childhood. Yes, all the way back there, because the way she grew up heavily influenced who she is today.
It’s the 1970s, and Donna lives with her family in Corpus Christi, Texas. Even though they live in the city, her father has land and a small farm about 16 miles out in the countryside that they help out with every week, if not most mornings.
Donna Stoney We had like a farm. And so I would get up in the morning with my dad and we go feed the chickens and the cows and things like that. So I was pretty active as a 10 year old because I was always involved in something. I was always moving. I played every sport you can imagine. Yeah, I was a tomboy. Never sat still.
Samantha Castro Donna’s family was always keeping her on her feet, and that’s because, throughout her childhood, her parents—and especially her mom—instilled in Donna this moral responsibility to help people in whatever way she could. And for Donna’s family, that mostly meant having an open door policy and spreading love through food.
Donna Stoney My mom was very caring and giving and growing up, like my mom's house used to be the home where everybody would come over, eat, she sent them on their way or they stay overnight.
Samantha Castro This open-door policy that her mom had really impacted Donna. It was through this that she found her calling in life: to help people. It wasn’t until she visited her sister’s special education classroom that she discovered her niche and wanted to help people with mental disabilities.
So in the late 1970s, Donna studies Social Work at the University of Texas in El Paso, Texas. This is where Donna begins setting a few things into motion. One is continuing her love of sports which grants her the opportunity to play for the women’s basketball team and set a record there.
Donna Stoney I believe the article is in the argonian about me hitting like 18 points and I miss one. Nobody has ever broken that record where I've only missed one shot, which was a free throw. So 17 out of 18, which was really really really, really good. They called me to sparkplug because I never wanted to start. I never wanted to be the first team. I said "No, I like to come off the bench." And they called me to sparkplug, the coach did, because I would always come in and hit a lot of points, get a lot of free throws and a lot of rebounds because I just would get spunk and just would run in there and just get 12 points in no time.
Samantha Castro Being a former basketball player myself, I always loved teammates like Donna, who could come hot off the bench and get stuff done on the court. And this story is fitting because that’s honestly how Donna is both on and off the court. She’s the spark plug that gets in and makes things happen.
But she’s very thoughtful about what she does because, around this time in college, Donna really started to take an interest in wine while pursuing her degree in social work.
Donna Stoney I really enjoyed drinking wine. And, you know, it's so funny I tell this story all the time about how I always loved, loved, loved, I loved Merlot and most people don't usually drink, Merlot; most of the time, not everybody. We don't drink it until you have some years in your life. But me, I started out right away with the Merlot. I just liked how, you know, the fruit was forward and the tanning was just right. And I just enjoyed it. And so I just said, "Okay, I'm gonna do this. Someday, I'm gonna own my own vineyard."
Samantha Castro Donna, the spark plug, had a spark of inspiration sitting in her college apartment drinking that Merlot. One day, she’d own her own vineyard. One day, but until then, she wanted to pursue her first love of helping people.
So after college, she started her career in social services. In 1982, Donna traded the yellow sunshine of Texas for the green forests of Oregon. And it wasn’t until her move to Oregon that she found out something pretty special about herself.
Donna Stoney I came home to Oregon, well I moved here to Oregon, and they had a Native American basketball team and I wanted to play and that's when I found out "You got a little Cherokee in you don't you know that?" And I said, "No I don't." And my mom showed me the papers and whatnot. And she said, "Yeah, you do. So you just go back and tell them that you can play on this team." And so I did and I played basketball with the Native Americans which was very, very, so much fun.
Samantha Castro Through wanting to play basketball, Donna found out she had Cherokee blood in her. She knew she had some Jamaican blood in her but no idea she had Cherokee until that moment, which is quite a cool way to find out, to be honest.
So Donna, being the spark plug, Cherokee, Jamaican, strong, black woman she is, dives into the social services sector and starts helping people in Oregon.
Donna Stoney I came here to Oregon I worked at East Coast Diversified Services as kind of a skilled instructor teacher at this place. And so I said, "Oh, I don't really like it here in Oregon. It's raining too much." So I left and moved to California. And then when I moved to California, I worked at a home for Prader Willi Syndrome. And I specialized actually in Prader Willi Syndrome, which is a syndrome where they eat, eat, eat and never feel full. It affects chromosome 15. And so you have to lock up, you know, the cabinets and put them on a special diets due to complications of you know, diabetes and congestive heart failure and so on.
Samantha Castro During this time while she was specializing in Prader Willi syndrome cases, Donna was starting to really enjoy the work she was doing and thought maybe this is where she would stay for a good while working in this home as a caregiver.
It was about three years into living and working in San Diego, California, though, when she got a call from a friend back in Oregon telling her about an opportunity in the social services back home.
Donna Stoney One of my friends called me here from Oregon and said, "You've got to apply, come and apply." And I was like, "Oh, I don't want to apply." So I said, "Okay, I'll do it. I'll do it." So I went ahead on and I applied and got the job for Multnomah County Developmental Disability Office.
Samantha Castro When Donna moved back to Oregon to take this job as a case manager for the Multnomah County Developmental Disabilities Office, she had no idea what she had just become. Here’s Karolyn:
Karolyn Hart When you became a social worker, you also broke some records. Right? You were the first…
Donna Stoney ...first black case manager in the county, in Oregon. Yes. That was 1988. I got hired at Multnomah County and, it's funny, during Halloween. Halloween, October 31, 1988. I had about 468 people on my caseload and I would say probably 90% of them were black.
Karolyn Hart So 90% of your caseload are black. And yet, 90 that blows my mind that it was 1988 and you were the very first black case manager with 90% of the caseload being black. That just seems like a strange, I mean, it shouldn't be but it is a strange reality that we live in.
Donna Stoney And I didn't know that I was the first black case manager. But I was like Jesus, no black people around here. I wasn't used to that at all. It's like, I'm the only one. Where is everybody you know?
[MUSIC: Hill “Dilution Of Distress”]
Samantha Castro Now even in 2020, many people of color have the experience Donna just described. They walk through the office building and just see.
On the podcast post for this episode, we linked to a 2019 Harvard Business Review article that talks about working Toward a Racially Just Workplace. In the article, it says “Research conducted by the University of Virginia… shows that because black employees feel a heightened sense of difference among their mostly white peers, their ability to contribute is diminished. ‘The sense of isolation, of solitude, can take a toll,’ one leader told them. `It’s like facing each day with a core of uncertainty…wondering…if the floor you’re standing on is concrete or dirt…solid or not.’”
Here’s Karolyn again:
Karolyn Hart Do you see yourself as a historic figure that was the first to do something within the government at Oregon?
Donna Stoney No, not really. Because again, I'm just the kind of person that just enjoy helping people. That's what I've always done. But you gotta remember, I've been in this field for 38 years. And so what you get is what you get. It's who I am. I'm not going to sugarcoat anything. If it's something that you didn't do, right, as a provider, I'm going to let you know that. But then on the other hand, I'm also going to support you as much as I can. So no, I don't feel any different.
Samantha Castro For 27 years Donna worked at the Multnomah County Developmental Disabilities Office. While there Donna helps to start the first group home and continues to help people with Prader-Willi syndrome.
In 2003, Donna saw an opportunity to branch out with her social work.
Donna Stoney I got this young lady from out of the state institution on my caseload - a young lady had difficult times with behaviors and they couldn't find any places for her to go and had been in about 11 placements. And so I talked to the county and the state and I said, "You know what, let me try this. I think I can do this. Let me just try this." And so I did that and started Stoney Brooke Residential Services. I just went from there.
Samantha Castro Donna opened her first home in 2003 and since then has opened 5 more group homes in Oregon serving people with behavioral and mental disabilities. Here’s Karolyn again:
Karolyn Hart You know, I love hearing your story, because it's an interesting thing. There are some people in our lives, right, you see them, they go out and they want to be something. They want to have that attention. And then there's some people who just want to get stuff done. And you're the person who just wants to get stuff done and the attention, you're not comfortable with it are you? Like you're like agh!
Donna Stoney No, no, I don't like that at all. Just because I just enjoy just doing what I do. I think you have to love what you do. You have a passion. If you don't have that, than what's the purpose of doing it? You know, we're all on this earth for a reason. We all have a purpose in life. And I believe my purpose in life is to help people and to bring happiness. And that's just who I am. I just think it was my calling of helping people and trying to change the world and you know, just get a little bit of social service. I think we need that people just don't care, you know, as much as they used to back in the day. So I'm glad that I pursued this career. It's been very good to me, very good to me. But I think I'm done. I tell my kids, I said, "I really just want to concentrate on my second career", because this is like the second part of my life. I guess you could say the second chapter in my life.
[MUSIC: OBOY “Step”]
Samantha Castro That second chapter in Donna’s life - setting yet again another first in the state of Oregon by becoming the first black female winemaker. Her journey to that and how she’s building her brand to create positive change and conversations is coming up after the break.
[AD MUSIC - Rhythm Scott “Old Skool 808”]
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Part Two: Crushing Barriers in Oregon’s Wine Industry
Samantha Castro By now, you should have a pretty good idea of who Donna is as a person. She’s kind, caring, a mentor, a helper, a friend. In the beginning, I only highlighted briefly the role family played in Donna’s life, but it’s actually one of the biggest and most important things to her.
Family is everything to Donna, and just like her mother’s house, which was always buzzing with people coming and going, when she started her family, she knew she wanted her house to be just as welcoming, especially to young people.
Donna Stoney A lot of the kids would always come over here, now they all grown up, but they would come over here to my house. I'd make sure they have breakfast if they came from breakfast or lunch or dinner. A lot of them would stay and someone would even sneak through the window and I go into the room and say, well, when did you come in here, you know? But they always knew that they had a safe place to come if they were having issues at home and they would come and I'd sit and talk with them and say "Okay, so we're gonna figure this out because you're not going to stay overnight. I'm gonna tell you that right now we're going to call your mom and your dad and they're going to come and get you because you know, I'm not going to be the one that's going to split between the two of you." And so the kids always knew to just come over here and they knew they could have fun and they knew that... they respect me and right today, all of the kids they call me Miss Donna. They don't call me Donna. They call me Miss Donna. And I'm sure a lot of it like I said, come from my mom because she taught us to respect our elders and taught us respect people in general.
I tell people all the time I'm not gonna say that I did this all on my own. But my parents, like I said, have always had an open door and my home is just like that. If you say you're going to come by, come on by, you don't have to have an invitation just ring the doorbell. Come on in. You know, if I'm cooking, come on in and help cook. If I'm done cooking, come on in and help clean the kitchen. You know, you're gonna have a good meal. You're gonna have wine or beer, soda, whatever it is that you enjoy, but by the time you leave, you're going to be you know, 'I'm happy and moving on to the next step. I guess I'll go home and go to bed', that kind of thing. So I do enjoy people being over at my home and I enjoy sharing that time.
Karolyn Hart I love it so much because I remember you were telling me a story about one of your your girlfriend's who was frustrating you because she's always like, calling to see if she can come over and you were like, "You don't need an appointment to come see me. The appointment is the doorbell at my front door - just come over."
Donna Stoney I know. I tell her that all the time too and she just will not hear it. Finally the other day, she did do that the other day. She actually came over it was like 10:30 I think it was and again I'm one that's gonna open my door. And she was like, "I know you said I can come over anytime but is 10:30 late?" And I said "I was just getting ready to go to bed and yes, it is. But come on in and have a glass of wine."
Samantha Castro When we interviewed Donna, her mother had recently passed away but as you heard she was so open to talking to us about the influence this incredible woman and her father had on her that I was just amazed. Yet another way to show just how strong this woman is am I right?!
Anyways, food was and still is a big component of how she shares time with others and Donna gives credit to her mom for teaching her the family recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. Recipes that Karolyn cannot wait to try.
Karolyn Hart Just for all of our listeners, I just need to say this - skillet cornbread. Skillet cornbread!
Donna Stoney Get that cornmeal with milk and buttermilk and you know some sugar and eggs and you know it's fun to make. My grandma used to make that all the time and then of course my grandma taught my mom and and then my mom taught you know me and I'm working on teaching Dominique, which is my daughter, you know, to keep it in the family. And that was one of the things she said the other day when my mom just passed away and that was one thing she was like, "Mom, we have to continue with all of these different recipes and all these different traditions - the Sunday dinners that we have..." and I said "We'll continue because it's going to be passed on to you now. So..."
Karolyn Hart You know, we were talking about what it feels like in your kitchen because I think that obviously wine... your passion for wine, your passion for food, which has me... I mean banana pudding and skillet cornbread and you were telling me about the brisket. I mean, the way you described your brisket that your family does and how you pair it with wine, so everybody understands that's listening, I'm a vegetarian and I was salivating. Like it's been a long time since I've had meat and I'm telling you the way you know the recipe, the family recipe that you have and just the whole feel of you and your family and your winery... you know I can't wait when I come over, we're going to be listening to Anita Baker, drinking your Stoney wines and there will be no skillet cornbread left but you know, it'll be great.
Donna Stoney Yes.
[MUSIC: Rhythm Scott “Lift It Up and Feel Good”]
Samantha Castro For all of our Big On Small food lovers out there, I asked Donna to describe her brisket for me and that took us into a whole conversation about food that it was just too much to put into this podcast so if you want to check that out there’s a mini-bonus episode on the podcast post for this episode along with some pictures of Donna and her family enjoying it all. Go to Bigonsmall.biz/podcast to listen and check it out.
Jumping back into things, Donna “retired”, air quotes, out of social work in late 2014 but she continued to run her small business, Stoney Brooke Residential. With her retirement she thought it was the perfect time to start working on the dream she had way back in college. The dream to own her own wine vineyard.
And that started with her learning the basics. She signed up to take Wine and Spirit Education Trust (the WSET) Level 1 course at the Napa Valley Wine Academy. Over the course of the next few months Donna studies and passes her Level 1.
Next was her Level 2 certification which she was actually able to take in person in Portland Oregon. It was here that she first got a glimpse at just how different and difficult jumping into this industry was going to be.
Donna Stoney Even when I was in class people... I don't want to sound horrible, but people had their little cliques. They all work for vineyards and I was trying to get a little bit involved. That's when I basically saw a little bit of hesitation, you know, in terms of I was the only black person in the class. And I remember I was trying to get in to talk to people to say "Hey, I'd like to come and do some harvesting there at one of your vineyards." Well, they just didn't want to. I don't know why, I don't know what it was. Who knows?
Samantha Castro Donna reached out to what felt like every vineyard and winery in the region and still couldn’t get her foot in the door until her friend suggested one specific winemaker to her.
Donna Stoney She was like, "Hey, Donna, you know, I heard about this black guy here in Oregon. He's the first black winemaker." And I was like, "Really?" And I said, "No, I haven't heard of that." And so she said, "Well I know this guy, his name is Bertoni Fosston. And he's Abbey Creek out in North Plains", which is kind of about 45 minutes from the east side.
And so I said, "Okay..." So I just went over there, introduced myself. I told him that my dream is to become a winemaker. And I said, "It's really hard to get into the industry. I tried to go to different places and talk to different folks and people just not giving me the time or day. And, you know, I just figured, you know, she told me about you and so I thought, well, I'm going to come here and pursue it. And I did. And so here I am. I was wondering if you could help me, you know, make my dream come true?"
Samantha Castro What was Bertoni’s answer? No. Here’s Donna again:
Donna Stoney One thing people told me was, "He won't help you. You're gonna have a hard time getting in, just like it is everywhere else. It doesn't matter if he's black, you know, you're gonna have a hard time getting in." But I was real persistent. Like I wouldn't stop like I was showing up every Saturday. Every Saturday when he was open. His tasting room was open on Saturdays and Sundays because I didn't know where his vineyard was at the time. And so I just kept showing up, showing up, showing up...
Karolyn Hart Buying all his wine.
Donna Stoney Buying all his wine.
Karolyn Hart I'm here!
Donna Stoney Exactly, I'm here! Showing up! That's what I kept doing. And I just kept talking about it...
Karolyn Hart How many times were you in his tasting room where he was finally like, "Okay, fine!"
Donna Stoney I got it. I got it. It was months really seriously, I can't count. I just kept going. I said, eventually, in some kind of way he's got to see I'm serious about this.
But I can understand that, you know, people do come and go, he says. You get a lot of volunteers and they come one day and they're gone. So I get it. They say that they want to do this but then they don't want to do the hard work and it is hard work. Because he took me out to his vineyard and it was hot. We were pruning and learning the difference between the vines and the shoots and and watching all the buds come out and then you know the verasion, which is the color, as it's getting close to harvest. I mean, it's a lot it's a lot of work. So I just kept going out there pursuing it just talking to them and talking to them and, and he said, okay, you serious? I can see you're serious now.
Karolyn Hart I love that you were showing up for months.
Donna Stoney Like I'm not giving up
Karolyn Hart So we're clear, you weren't going to stop until he finally relented, right?
Donna Stoney Yes, exactly.
Karolyn Hart Like it would have been like four years later and you would have been like, "Do you see me!?"
Donna Stoney I am right here in front of you right now.
Karolyn Hart Wow, persistence.
Donna Stoney It is I'm telling you... I remember getting interviewed by this young lady and she said she tried to get in with Toni and she says... I said well you weren't persist. You just have to keep coming. You just have to keep showing up. You know, that's what you do when you really want something. You really want something you just keep going and going and going and going and people get sick and eventually they'll say okay, all right. Okay. So we used to laugh about that Toni and I. We still keep going.
You know, you hear this all the time, too from like movie stars. You know, when I think about Tyler Perry sleeping in his car and, you know, you hear about people doing this. Anita Baker when you hear her story, you know, and you just you hear about people... people just think that most of the time you just jump in there and you have all this money, which I don't have a whole bunch of money. You know, I never did start out with a bunch of money I just saved. That's what it was. And it's like you know, you be persistent and you go after your dream and it'll happen but you know that... I think that's with everybody in life. I think people think movie stars and all these you know, folks that make it never have a hard time but you do. Everybody has a hard time trying to make it.
Karolyn Hart Yeah, and small businesses right now. I mean, that's how much do you want it? You got to just... I know you're tired. I know it's scary. I know that, but what are you going to do? You gonna give up? I keep saying to my team, "This is not the time for us to retreat. This is the time for us to you know, get down to work."
Donna Stoney Yes, really do you have to just be persistent even if it's hard because somebody, honestly, somebody at some point is going to hear what you want and believe in you, and then give you that chance.
Samantha Castro So what did Donna want to get out of winemaking? Well, just like her time in social work, she wasn’t looking to be the first of anything yet, here she was, becoming the first black female winemaker in Oregon in 2019.
Donna Stoney Sometimes I don't believe it. You know what I mean? It's like, Oh my god, this is really happening here. Yes, the first black female winemaker here in Oregon. And again, it's just something that I enjoy. I love making wine. I like making people happy. That's what my wine is all about just sitting back and enjoying yourself. And I don't ever look at it as a first first first...
I really want to focus more on the wine because it's going to take a lot of my attention. In order to get better at becoming a winemaker. I always say becoming because until, like, I know I'm a social worker, 38 years, you know... you know you're a social worker. I can probably solve a problem for you quicker than you can turn your head. So that's how well I want to get with making wine. And, you know, that's what I'm trying to strive for right now. And so I know that...
Karolyn Hart Yeah, and I think what's interesting about you, Donna is in everything that you've done, whether you were a child and a tomboy, running around with chickens, or going to college and playing basketball, or choosing a career in social work, and now launching your own wine label - every single one of those things has one thing in common and that is you're passionate about it.
There's a lot of people who have dreams. There's a lot of people I would say that have dreams of owning their own wine label and winery. I think that is not necessarily an unusual dream. I think what is extraordinary is that you're making it happen, because I can tell you that even like my husband and I have said, "Wouldn't it be lovely to have your own winery?" Of course the reality of working in wineries is that it's basically you have no life...
Donna Stoney It's true!
Karolyn Hart I've learned that but I mean, what's the difference? Because you know this right Donna, as a social worker, you know there's lots of people who say they want to do things and there's a very small percentage who then go and do it. What do you think is the difference maker?
Donna Stoney I think it's your drive. It's how bad you want it, you know? Like I... if I could have done both of them at the same time, I always think myself geez if I'd of started being a winemaker 38 years ago, my goodness, where would I be right now? If I'm successful in this one, man, where would I be with this other one? So I think it's your drive and your passion, as I said earlier, and how much you enjoy doing what you're doing. And the biggest thing for me, I think that I tell people all the time, if you really believe in yourself, you save that's what I did while I was at the county. There was the reason why I was at the county and saving, I would put money away because I knew I wanted to have this vineyard. I started out with, you know, 50 I started with actually $20. And then next thing you know, it's $50. And then it was 100. And I was at 750. And and I went on and on and on and on. And that's how I saved for 27 years.
Karolyn Hart So I love this story, because there's so many people who are thinking... Donna, they do say this, like if you own a winery, you must have deep deep pockets. That's what they say. Right?
Donna Stoney Exactly. That is right.
Karolyn Hart And I love the fact that your story is this - that you're like, I was a social worker on a government salary… And you started off with like that first $20 fast forward a couple decades, you know, give or take and you have a winery.
Donna Stoney Because I knew that that's what I wanted to do.
Karolyn Hart Not to get all like punny here but you planted a seed and it grew up, literally into your dream, and you made it happen with a teeny tiny seed of funding that you did for yourself. That's amazing.
Donna Stoney Yes, I haven't gotten one investor at all. And people always say, "Why don't you get an investor?" I don't want an investor. No, I want to do this on my own, I believe that I can, I'll figure out a way to get money, you know, whether it's through grants or through whatever to help me like production that I'm talking about, I want my own production. I want my own tasting room. And in order to do that, I'm going to have to, you know, find money source. And so... and I said, "Well, the best thing to do is start selling this wine and you can do it. So there we go."
And I think that if you just put a plan in your head and really stick to that plan, and don't let anything get in your way, because a lot of people said to me, "You'll never be able to have a residential home that's hard to do. You would never be able to do that." They also said "Oh, you will never become a winemaker. You will never..." Well when people tell me things like that, it just makes me... it just makes my drive even more. You know, so don't ever put a challenge in front of me because I'm not gonna let it go if you don't put a challenge in front of me, I'm gonna show you that I can. And I think that's all about the drive.
Karolyn Hart So for you it really comes down to don't you tell me what I can't do because then I'm going to show you exactly that I can.
Donna Stoney Exactly.
Samantha Castro I completely understand Donna’s thinking here because I and I’m sure many small business owners listening to this right now identify with this way of thinking. You tell me no, watch me go prove you wrong.
Now sometimes, especially when we’re younger, this doesn’t always work out, but when it does, when you can proudly take the steps to move towards doing something someone said you couldn’t do, it’s a feeling like no other. And sometimes with that feeling, it’s hard to stay humble, but for Donna, she’s nothing but humble because she knows what she’s doing is not for her. Here’s Karolyn:
Karolyn Hart You're so humble. But it's not just that you're... as you and I were talking and we were talking about Black Lives Matters, it's not just that you're black. It's also that you're a woman entrepreneur. And as we have that shared and, you know, owning your own wine label, I mean, there's not a lot of women winemakers and wine owners. You might have women winemakers, but they're not necessarily winery owners. And then you might have women winery owners who are not the winemakers but you are two. You are both. And that's phenomenal. It really is.
Donna Stoney Yeah. Well, my goal is hopefully that I'm paving the way for the next young lady, a person of color, you know, black specifically, hopefully, paving the way for that individual. I hope that when I get my tasting room going and my own production because that's my goal is to have my own production and my own tasting room. That is my goal over the next two years. And my hopes are is that I can mentor someone young and coming in and just trying to learn about the industry and to help you know them go to school and support them to learning to become a winemaker as well. I mean, that's my goal that I would like to see happen.
Some young lady wrote me the other day and we lost some of our email and she's a black woman that is starting school and wanted to come in and work with me and I lost the freakin email. So I was so upset about that. And I was thinking to myself, 'Oh, my God, I hope she don't think I'm this kind of snob and I'm not trying to... you know, don't want to help her.' But I have been searching and searching and searching for this because somebody actually reached out and said, I need some help. Every time I try to get in. I can't get in. Will you help me? Cory had passed the e-mail along to me, which is my significant other, and I don't know what the heck happened to it. We had somebody come in and redo our server and whatnot. I think it crashed. And so I lost it. So if she happens to hear this podcast, oh my god, I hope that she would get in touch with me again. Because if I can help her in any way, and mentor her in any way and get her in the industry, because it's not... it's hard to get in this industry here in Oregon. And so if I can help her, I most certainly want to do that.
I know how she feels. I know how she feels because I've been there and I don't want her to think that, and she probably thought that cuz that was a month ago. So she's probably thinking, 'Oh, see, she then got too big and she thinks she's all that' and I would never feel like that. I would never think that I'm too big for anyone. And so I definitely don't want her to see... and she's going to keep trying probably same thing I did until she finally gets an answer from someone. You know what I mean? So I'm gonna find her. I told my brother you need to dig into that server and find that person.
Karolyn Hart And here's hoping that she has your perseverance and she reaches back to you and says "Donna, what the heck?"
Donna Stoney That's what I'm hoping!
Samantha Castro We need your help Big On Small fam. We’re sending out the BOS SOS - the big on small SOS. The BOS Bat symbol if you will and need your help trying to find this young lady. If you can share this episode to your network with the #StoneySearch - that’s Stoney - S-T-O-N-E-Y search, let’s find her together.
So besides Donna wanting to pave the wave for the next generation of black female winemakers, she also is wanting her wine brand to symbolize all inclusive.
No that’s not all inclusive like a hotel or resort’s way of being all inclusive. It’s all inclusive in the way that she doesn’t want to leave anybody out. She wants people to be able to enjoy this beautiful wine and feel welcomed to join the conversations that these bottles of wine represents. Karolyn explains:
Karolyn Hart One of the things I think that I love about what you are doing with Stoney Wines is that you're so much more than just a wine company. You are a wine with a very clear mandate and mission. Donna someone asked me to explain, "Well, what do you mean when she's doing wine with a mission?" I said, "She's the TOMS Shoes of wine. And the whole reason TOMS Shoes became TOMS Shoes was because it was so much bigger than just a pair of shoes. Right?
Donna Stoney Yeah.
Karolyn Hart And I think what is extraordinary is that you are doing for wine, what Tom did for shoes.
Samantha Castro Just to put into context what Karolyn just said - You buy a pair of Tom Shoes and one pair gets sent to someone in need or the money from that sale goes to help one of their partnered organizations. For Stoney Wines, you buy a bottle of wine and your money goes directly back to helping people in Oregon. Donna explains:
Donna Stoney Some of the proceeds are going to be going to the intellectual and developmental disability group homes that I work with. I'm also going to be doing a new vintage at some point of my mom and dad and that's going to be going to Alzheimers and COPD. So that's basically what I want people to get out of the wine is just enjoying it and then know that it's going to a good cause.
Karolyn Hart And I want to lean into this because I, I think you know... yes, of course it's about wine, it's about food. It's about you cooking me food. It's about it's about all those beautiful and listening to Anita Baker we talked about that. It's about all those things but that is small in comparison to the what you're actually doing with the rest of the mentoring - with what you're doing with your wine clubs. That is very exciting. I think the fact that you are going to be using your wine clubs as a place to not just get great wine, but to actually... you know, you have a Sister Friends Wine Club membership, that is going to bring all women of all races together to say, 'Hey, we are together in this and to highlight women entrepreneurs,' right? And to all of us who belong to the Sister Friends Wine Club for Stoney Wines, we're all going to be sharing your wine. And then also getting to lift a glass once a month to one of those great women within the actual Wine Club itself and other inspiring women.
And you're creating this dynamic, this whole kind of shared thing of women together having wine and lifting one another and lifting a glass to each other. And I know for me, I was just like... I mean, that's amazing. That's just one of your wine clubs.
Samantha Castro Another wine club that is offered is called the Ally Membership which focuses on how we’re better together. And in that membership you not only get one red and one white bottle of delicious wine each month but more importantly you receive educational materials and information within that month’s box on how to be a better ally for minorities. Here’s Karolyn again:
Karolyn Hart You know, you're not just getting these two bottles of wine, but you're creating a dialogue for the people and I think I said to somebody... I was obviously talking about this podcast coming up and talking about you, because you, you are my... you are, you're my hero. I mean, you're just like this great, amazing woman who's breaking down barriers, doing all these things. It's just so incredibly, incredibly inspiring, and you're super, super humble about it. And so, you know, I'm telling people about what you're doing and I said, "You know, it's really going to come down to this - when you show up to a dinner party in the future and you see a bottle of Stoney Wine sitting on that table. It stands for something.
Donna Stoney Yes it does.
Karolyn Hart I mean, when was the last time... I think of all the different wines and I love wine too, that are out there, but to see a bottle of Stoney Wine on the middle of the dinner table is literally a signal to everybody there. I stand against racism. I stand for equal pay and equal work. I believe in all inclusiveness. I believe in accessibility because a lot of people with what you've been working in social work and you and I've talked about this, a lot of people don't even have that top of mind. And so suddenly the icebreaker is literally... it's Stoney Wines sitting on the table.
Donna Stoney Well and that's what it's all about. Exactly. That's what it's all about. The Sister Friends you know, you sit down with your girlfriends and you know, you're having hard times whether it's a relationship or your kids... trying to deal with problem solve with your children or just your you know, a good friend of yours maybe they passed away or you know, they get sick or something like that, and you're just sitting around just trying to enjoy life and enjoying that bottle of wine and that's what it's supposed to symbolize is to help you get through, you know, your process while you're thinking and, you know, just bonding. That's what it's all about.
[MUSIC: Isaac Joel “Inky Caps”]
Karolyn Hart And I love that because it's not about... it is about the wine, but it's actually not not about the wine. Right? Because we know obviously, and you're in social work, and obviously some people have issues with alcohol, and everybody needs to drink responsibly, but it's that shared connectedness. You and I, we can be across a nation, and we can be lifting the glass together or we can know that we're not alone in it. And I think that's just when when you and I really started talking and leaning into that, I mean, I just thought Wow, how much this is needed right now. Right now.
Donna Stoney It really is.
Samantha Castro Each of Stoney Wines' creations has a story. Donna shared one of the most important and poignant narratives behind one particular wine.
Donna Stoney One wine that I have it's, it's called the sons we bear on the back of the picture is of course is my nephew, my brother, Cory's on there, and my son. And that one, I did that specifically for guys and that's the other thing that I want to bring into the picture is getting guys together drinking this Pinot Gris, The Sons We Bear. That's what it's all about, is them starting to... because in our black culture, black men don't tend to talk about things and I had this big dinner for them at this nice... It's called the River View restaurant here in Troutdale, Oregon. And it sits on the water and so I had them come and they were drinking the Pinot Gris, it was so funny... So they were drinking the wine and I would like, you know, peek my head and every once in a while, but after they it was all over and they would, you know, finishing up with a wine they were just all talking about, it was about 10 guys, and they was saying, "You know, we need to do this every year. Why can we do this? This wine just bought us together, you know?"
And I said "Every year okay, every year we'll have this little retreat for you guys." And that's what I want to bring for The Sons We Bear. That's what that pinot gris is all about. It's bringing men, black men, together and not feeling like they can't talk about things that are intimate and not feel like it's okay to either cry or talk about something that's making them happy or sad or whatever, it's okay to be vulnerable for that moment, for that hour that you have that nice dinner, and that wine. So that's the one that I really want to touch on more than anything because it's a lot like Sister Friends, but yet it's for the sons that we bear.
Samantha Castro I asked Donna how she felt back when she launched her first bottles and how big a role her family played in that launch.
Donna Stoney So everybody helped me, from down to the, you know, making the labels. Like Dominique, she's so good. She does a lot, man... because this is her legacy. I always tell her, "You know, I'm leaving this for you when I leave this wonderful world this will be yours." And so when we bottled the first wine, my whole family, we did the whole entire thing. We put all the labels on, we did everything by hand... everything by hand. So the family plays a really big part of this. Anytime that I asked my family to help somebody is always pitching in, whether it's helping me go deliver wine somewhere or helping me bottle or, you know, whatever they are there for me.
I was so excited and proud of myself. It just felt so good. And then I kept saying to myself, 'Geez is this really real?' Like even when I see the bottles, I have them all in my office and so I sit there and I look and I just keep going and looking at the label going 'Geez did I do that I do that?' You know, I keep it envisioned all the time so it just makes me push even harder. I said, "Well, I got five wines up there now. Think what I'm going to have in a year... I'm going to do five more, I'm getting 10 this time." you know? So my head is always saying thinking, thinking thinking and I have a lot of visions in front of me in my office to help me continue to pursue my dream. Because this is going to be a big vineyard someday.
I remember speaking to a girls giving a couple of months ago, someone asked me to come in and talk about who I am and what I've been doing and just trying to help for African American young ladies. And so I went in and spoke and I said, "I'm going to be a millionaire in a year" and then the one lady stood up and said "You will be a billionaire." And I just thought that was so funny. I said, "Okay, if that's what you say, I'm going to be a billionaire." So it's all about your dream and, and believing in it and making it happen. And then people support you, you know, that's so big. Nothing is too big a dream. Nothing is too big to dream. It's just all about how far you want to push it.
Samantha Castro Donna is now studying and pushing towards her WSET Level 3 certification and although she no longer grows from Bertoni’s vineyard, she’s happy working with fellow winemaker Andreas Wetzel out at Willamette Valley in Oregon.
As we near the end of this episode, Karolyn wanted to do something a little different with Donna to lead us out. In order to get the full experience of what’s about to happen next, I invite you to go grab your own glass of wine, for me I’m just going to top mine up…. There we go. And as we experience this last bit of this episode together, I raise my glass to you and your small business.
Karolyn Hart So I want to do a little exercise. Now for our listeners. I'm going to pretend... right now we're in a podcast, and we're separated, but I'm going to pretend that I'm in your kitchen. We've got Anita Baker playing ... what’s she playing in the background?. By the way, what's your favorite song?
Donna Stoney Giving You the Best that I got.
[MUSIC: Cast Of Characters “Many Blessings”]
Karolyn Hart Course Donna is giving me the best that she's got! Of course! So we're listening to ‘Giving You the Best that I got’ because we are giving each other the best that we've got as friends. And we're having a conversation. What are you drinking? What are you drinking in this conversation?
Donna Stoney So right now I'm probably going to be drinking the chardonnay which is the Sister Friends. And we drinking that and I'm going back... I did this the other day, I made a nice linguini with some shrimp. I used a half a cup of the chardonnay it made and put into the cream sauce and whatnot and had a nice little salad. My sister actually made the salad with a little bit of Bayani which is a Pinot Noir. And she made a dressing out of that which was really really, really good. And so we just enjoyed that. So that would be really good with that chardonnay
Karolyn Hart Wow, yeah, so I'm gonna have that too in this thing. And what are we talking about over your kitchen counter as we're nibbling?
Donna Stoney Oh my God, that's what it could be anything whether it's you know, politics the world What's going on? How are we dealing with it? Oh, you know, what are we going to do next week? Are we going to be going here? I know my like… we were eating the other day and I was talking about going to the beach and they're like, okay, we'll stop at some wineries… We'll just have a typical conversation, you know, just enjoying life. Now with my true sister friends, which I have on the back of the bottles, which of these young ladies that I've been with for about 28 years now. Now we sit down and we talk about all kinds of things, you know, intimate stuff and, or we just talk about work. If we're working. Some of us are still working, some of us are retired. You know, we just talked about the day to day we usually meet every month. So it's fun time.
Karolyn Hart You know, it It's an interesting thing because I think what you're doing, there's a whole generation that is missing out on something that you and your sister friends have that ability of shutting off the phones, getting a glass of wine, looking at each other, and saying, “Hey, how was your week? Like, let's actually just do that connection.” I think it's, it's something that is absolutely so important.
You know, when you look back at everything, like this amazingly abundant journey that you've had, if there was one piece of advice that you would give to a woman entrepreneur, or a small business right now, what would it be?
Donna Stoney I say, dream about the dream that you want. Keep it in your head. Don't let anyone get in the middle of anything that you're thinking. You know, go forward with it. Invest in yourself. Believe in yourself, and then make it happen.
Samantha Castro To learn more about Donna and join in her mission to make wine all inclusive go to stoneywines.co. That’s Stoney S-T-O-N-E-Y wines.C-O
If you enjoyed this episode and want to help us find Donna’s lost winemaker, share this episode with the #StoneySearch.
CREDITS
[MUSIC: Noah Smith “New Girl”]
Samantha Castro Be sure to subscribe and follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.
Karolyn Hart Visit bigonsmall.biz to join our community of small businesses and find helpful resources. To learn more about what we talked about in today’s episode, read show highlights, and more, go to bigonsmall.biz/podcast and visit the post for this episode.
Samantha Castro We’re working on new stories where we need your help. Call and tell us how you’ve had to make small or BIG changes to the way you do business since COVID started. The number to call is 1-844-967-CHAT. That’s 1-844-967-2428
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Big on Small is produced and directed by me, Samantha Castro
Karolyn Hart And me Karolyn Hart. Additional support by Sue Braiden, Richard Brashear, Audrey Duncan and Sue Jenks. Music by Noah Smith. Mixed by Samantha Castro.
For the full list of credits visit the podcast page for this episode.
Thanks for listening!