Hi everyone. I'm Maggie McGrath, editor of Forbes Women. Fawn Weaver is the driving force

behind Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, one of the fastest growing American whiskey brands that Forbes

estimates is worth more than $1 billion. Fawn last year also became a New York Times bestselling author, and she joins us

today. Fawn, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. So I was listening to an

interview you did recently, and I think this is a great place to start. You said, quote,

I think people think the end result is indicative of where someone began. I prove the end result has

nothing to do with where you begin. What should the Forbes audience know about where you began?

Well, it is, what I'm referring to there is the fact that I left home when I was 15 years old

and I moved to Jordan Downs, which is the Projects in Watts, Los Angeles,

California. And I was there for a period of time. And then I lived in three homeless shelters by the time I

was 18 years old. And then dropped out of high school in between there. And by the time I was 20,

I had tried to commit suicide twice.

That's my beginning that I'm talking about there.

And so often when you hear about the success of entrepreneurs, so much of that is skipped.

And I go, no, no, no, don't skip that part.

All of that is important because it framed who I am and it helped me to build

a fortitude that most people don't have. You experienced hardship at such a young age. What were the

skills you developed then that you have used as an entrepreneur? No nonsense and being authentically me because it's what led me to suicide is trying to fit

into a world that tries to create and to shape and to mold people into robots, into people

that think like them and have the same political thought process, have the same background or

worldview.

And we don't.

...