Please meet Roxanne Tiburolobo, The MJF Nearest Green Award for Distilling: My name is Roxanne Fernandez Tiburolobo and I am a brewer and distiller of Chiricahua Apache Nde and Rarámuri descent currently residing on occupied Chocuyen land. I have spent the past nine years in the craft beer and spirits production industry and I predominantly make whiskey these days at my current job as a distiller for Sonoma Distilling Company. I have recently also been working to advocate for greater inclusion in production spaces for BIPOC, particularly greater Indigenous visibility and inclusion within an industry that we historically have a contentious relationship with, and have been denied access to as Native people. While my love affair with fermentation and alcohol production started early, learning to make ceremonial corn beers as a child with my Rarámuri grandmother, my journey into the alcohol industry was not a straightforward one. My actual degrees and technical certifications are in molecular toxicology and bioscience microscopy, and I was initially interested in getting my medical doctorate to go into the field of forensic pathology. After a financially-induced detour into biotech, I felt myself pulled back to my beginnings, and my interest in fermentation science. I had started to get back into it in college; making natto, kimchi, tepache, mead, and getting into homebrewing; so the alcohol industry seemed like a perfect fit. I originally wanted to start at a distillery, but jobs were scarce, so I began brewing. I got my start as a cellarman, genuinely loved it, moved quickly to also working on the brewhouse and did that for the next 4.5 years. When I moved to Sonoma so my husband could be closer to his paramedic school, I turned my attention back to distilling. In my career the one thing I feel I'm lacking is a formal education in distilling. I truly believe that being great at this requires a balance of practical, boots-on-the-ground experience and formal technical knowledge. Through the MJF scholarship I hope to expand the latter, and I'm truly honored for this opportunity. " Roxanne will pursue the IBD Diploma in Distilling. CONGRATS TO OUR AWARDEES!