BABE #332: JACKIE ZYKAN - Master Taster, Old Forester
With biology and chemistry degrees under her belt and years of experience promoting major spirit brands and crafting tasty cocktails behind the bar, Jackie now deservedly represents America’s longest-running bourbon brand. As the Master Taster at Old Forester, she leads the distillery’s production, global marketing and everything in-between with passion, intention and purpose. We enjoyed our chat with Jackie—and our tour of the distillery—and are so glad we could squeeze into her jam-packed schedule, because her story and insights are undoubtedly meant to be shared and celebrated.
The Basics:
Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri
Current city: Louisville, Kentucky
Alma mater: University of Missouri, St. Louis
Degree: B.S., Biology, Chemistry
Very first job: Dairy Queen drive-through!
Hustle: Master Taster, Old Forester
The Interests:
Babe you admire and why?
This is a really, really hard question because there are so many, but I'd have to say Colleen and Maggie Clines. They run the show at the Anchal Project and we've worked together so well on so many projects, and they just get it.
How do you spend your free time?
Any free time I actually have is very limited. I’m a single mother, so I try to coordinate my work travel, which is 50 percent of the time when I don't have my son. Anytime I’m not traveling, I have him. Being constantly in the distillery and on the road, I’m a person who needs to be outside. He and I spend a lot of our time hiking, and camping, and kayaking. I get the shakes if I can't get fresh air.
What would you eat for your very last meal?
This might blow your mind, but I’m gonna stick to it. It's going to be fried chicken and champagne.
If you could have coffee with anyone in the world, who would it be?
Bill Murray. He has to be the greatest human of all time. I've always wanted to meet him.
The Hustle:
Tell us about your hustle.
I’m the Master Taster for Old Forester, which is kind of like a weird hybrid role that straddles the line between production and global marketing. Half of my time is spent with quality control and sensory analysis, making sure all the stuff that actually makes it to the bottle ends up under the right label and with the highest quality it possibly can. I’m sort of the face of the brand—I lead our drink strategy, I lead all of our trainings, I travel constantly not just for distributor training but consumer trainings; women-in-whiskey groups, bartenders—kind of all over the place. It's a really hard job to describe, because every day is so different. Some days I'm literally in the warehouse from sunup to sundown pulling samples, and some days we have a movie premiere for which we're pouring whiskey. You have to be pretty nimble with it, but that keeps it interesting, for sure.
Can you tell us what it means to be a Master Taster? What are the qualifications or trainings required?
Every distillery has their own definition for the role. There isn't an industry standardized certification process. At Brown-Forman, the training program involves deep dives into production training, sensory panel training, and quality control training. One must pass every step of those programs, and then pass a blind sensory examination in order to earn the title.
What’s been your biggest career milestone?
Very early on in this position I recognized my teammates were going to be open and receiving of any ideas or suggestions on fresh ways of doing things. The alcohol industry has made it pretty hard for women to succeed when they're setting everyone up to look as if they're a promo model—you know what I'm talking about. It didn’t take very long for me in this position to get frustrated with it, and it was very quickly addressed with Old Forester that we would be doing unisex promo materials moving forward. My biggest accomplishment in my career has absolutely not been to become a master taster or to be with Brown-Forman. It's been to acknowledge and recognize that I'm in a place of leveraging things for the greater good and for the give-back. We just raised $20,000 for women in India to learn how to sew so they no longer have to work in brothels. And that was from the purchase of one barrel. I mean, hundreds of lives were changed from one bourbon barrel. That's what it's about. We're all responsible for finding ways that we can make everything better for those coming after us.
How has being a woman affected your professional experience?
I've got a thick hide on me. I don't notice an uphill battle if everyone else is walking on a flat surface. I just don't—because I'm busy. But I do realize it's not doing anybody any service for me to go, “I don't know what you're talking about; I just show up and go to work.” I don't think that's a fair acknowledgement of the women who have had to struggle much harder than I have; who have come before me, and I am very appreciative for all of their efforts. I'll say it this way: Brown-Forman does a good job of making it feel like I just go to work—not that I go to work as a woman. That part is lifted when I'm at Brown-Forman. When you're out in the world, it is a totally different story. You do have to speak twice as loud. You do not have the ability to screw up like other people do, because everyone is just waiting for you to do it. They're just waiting for you to misspeak. They're waiting for you to hiccup somewhere along the line, so that they can have a reason to justify their bias against you. There's a lot of pressure with it. There really is. But you just kind of have to rise above it. You have to keep showing up and keep going.
What words of wisdom do you have for other working moms?
I know what I'm supposed to say here. I'm supposed to say it's OK to just be OK and just give enough, but most people aren't satisfied with that. The way that I make it work is that I 100 percent prioritize that time, and I take the time to sit and reflect on where I'm actually spending my time. If I have to travel for work, I can alleviate the guilt of it if I'm doing it when I don't have my child anyway. But what this means is that every second I'm not traveling, I am still working a full-time job and juggling a 5-year-old who’s climbing the walls. Fortunately, the company culture at Brown-Forman is like, if you need to leave early, if you need to bring your kid to work (within reason,) no one's going to bat an eye. God, we're so good at beating ourselves up for not being what we're supposed to be or doing what we're supposed to be doing as moms. We're so judgmental of ourselves—I do it too. It takes so much work to try to get over that, but as long as you know you're doing your best, that's all it really takes.
Who are some women in your field you look to for inspiration?
It's hard to answer this question when you're in a field that doesn't have a lot of women in it, isn't it? We all have the same answer. There are quite a few women at Brown-Forman I look up to. I definitely look to those who have found a way to hold onto their identity in a corporate landscape and still succeed with that. There is a lovely lady by the name of Laura Petry. She’s our VP of emerging brands, and she’s a powerhouse. She's my go-to for any and all things when I need advice about anything. She's always there to just kind of talk me off the ledge. My first mentor was a woman I worked with named Wendy Treinen. She now does PR for GE Appliances. She has taught me so much. She's helped fine-tune who I am and how I present myself and the decisions I make with my career.
Career and/or life advice for other babes?
Say yes to as many opportunities as you can, and don't cherry-pick too much. I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves that this either fits with the path I have envisioned for myself or not. But you'd be amazed at some of the skill sets and some of the networking opportunities you get out of doing things that maybe you didn't think were going to be relevant (but later on they really are). That's how I ended up where I am, for sure. Just say yes to it all, no matter how dumb it seems. It all adds up. It all happens for a reason.
In partnership with: Bourbon and Beyond
Bourbon and Beyond is a Louisville, KY-based festival featuring a perfect blend of bourbon, food, and music. Learn more about the fest here and keep an eye out for 2020 dates soon!
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