Please meet Sarah Perez, The MJF Nearest Green Award for Distilling: “My name is Sarah Perez, I am honored and excited to have been selected. I’m a brewer at Maui Brewing Company, a graduate of Siebel, and I’ve been in brewhouses - doing pretty much every brewery job there is - for two years now. I plan on making sure the gates are opened to us all. I vow to help educate, and pass along all the knowledge that I have, so that we all are on the same pathway. I love a thicc, dark, velvety stout with as many layers and depth as I have. I love being a mom, a grandma and a sister. I’m deathly afraid of the dark!! Saisons make me wanna sing and dance, and learn about their stories. I am here to help, and this is soo freaking RAD! As I grew up, there was never a time when I didn’t jump up and be the first to volunteer. I knew my life would be best serving others, my children, my spouse, my bosses. I worked hard to make sure everyone has always had what they needed, or at least what I thought they needed. And then, few years ago, while the world was turning upside down, I started to think about what Sarah Needed. What is missing in my life, what can I do now to help my future Sarah smile? What do I need to start doing today to push tomorrow's Sarah along the path? This was the beginning of my awakening, the transition when I said it has to be my time now or I’m never gonna do it. Education is the base, followed by layers and layers of patience, positive reminders, and a vision of how great it will be to have others alongside me. By placing myself in front, I have started a pathway, a support system that will be a beacon for more BIPOC humans. Along the way I will be fortifying this path, it will grow wider, and all of us will be able to walk it. I want to see so many others that look, and feel differently, and for us all to know our worth. Co-founding Lifting Lucy (@biwocinbeer), working with Pink Boots Society, flying a flag for the MJF...these are bridges, over-passes, and merging lanes on the path, and I hope they’re all headed towards one beautiful destination for all of us.” Sarah is currently deciding upon her school. Next up: Roxanne Tiburolobo