Meet Marcella Thompkins of We Pop Bottles in Greater Los Angeles Area

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marcella Thompkins.

Marcella, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’m a Black and Mexican PR/marketing professional who has worked with wine brands for 6+ years. I also have a Level 1 Award in Wines from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and am a candidate for the Level 2 Award. Throughout my career, I’ve noticed that I am often the only person of color at wineries, wine bars and wine industry conferences/events. At best, this is intimidating, and at worst, it feels unwelcoming. You start to get the idea that these spaces are not meant for people who look like you and that perhaps you are unwanted. One day, I realized that if this is how I feel, people of color who don’t have my industry experience must feel even more uncomfortable. And so, I decided to do something about it. My vision for “we pop bottles” was to create a community where Black Indigenous People of Color would feel comfortable, welcomed and encouraged to learn about and enjoy wine. Moreover, I wanted to create a place where we could celebrate BIPOC wine industry professionals and support their businesses.

Originally, the goal was to have monthly meetups. I envisioned a sea of brown people filling up a winery or wine bar–almost as a protest or political statement if I’m being honest. I wanted the wine industry to see that people of color are here and that we deserve as much attention as your other clientele because, despite popular belief, we pop bottles. Unfortunately, COVID happened, so we were only able to have one in-person meetup. However, the work continues on our social media accounts where we spotlight the members of our community, as well as POC sommeliers and winemakers. We’ve also had a few virtual wine tastings, which have been incredible. It takes a lot of work to coordinate them, but each time I am reinvigorated because I know this is a community and cause worth fighting for.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
COVID has been the biggest obstacle, as it derailed our original goal of meeting in person and physically taking up space at wineries and wine bars. I can’t wait for the day; it is safe for us to do this again. However, we’ve still been able to keep the spirit and excitement about our community alive through virtual tastings and social media conversations about POC in the wine industry.

Please tell us about We Pop Bottles.
We Pop Bottles is a wine tasting community for people of color. Our mission is to promote diversity and inclusion in the wine industry by creating wine tasting events for people of color. As a biracial person, it was important to me that this community wasn’t just for one group of people; it should be for all of us–anyone who has ever felt excluded or ignored by the wine industry. What I’m most proud of is that we don’t just celebrate Black people or Latinx people–we’ve also featured those who are Asian, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and people living with disabilities. The way I see it is, even if we’re talking about something as minor as creating welcoming places for people to enjoy wine, my fight is your fight and your fight is mine. As Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote in his Letter from the Birmingham Jail, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Los Angeles is a great place for a community like ours because of how diverse it is. It is shocking to me how homogenous the crowds at wineries and wine events are when there are so many different kinds of people all around LA county. I would like to see the leaders of LA wineries, wine bars and wine events make more of an effort to show BIPOC that they are valued customers.

Pricing:

• $10 Access Pass to our events
• $20-40 per bottle if they decide to purchase wines from the POC-owned wineries we are promoting

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wepopbottles.org
• Email: info@wepopbottles.org

Image Credit:
Girls in the pool: Photo Credit Bryan Gray Photography. All other photos are mine.

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