November 4th, 2021
Partners
Chef
Keith Corbin
Alta Adams
Keith Corbin is no stranger to the kitchen, but his path to Alta Adams has hardly been a conventional one. The Watts native learned to cook from his grandmother, who raised him from an early age. They lived in South LA’s housing projects, a place Corbin clearly recalls with love. There wasn’t always a lot in the kitchen cupboards but they would share whatever they had.
Corbin liked feeding his siblings and anyone else nearby who was hungry. Even when he fell into trouble, the kitchen was his safety net. Corbin spent seven years in prison but cooked nearly the entire time. He says his creativity as a chef likely stems from those non-professional years, preparing meals with just a few ingredients and making the best of it.
Corbin went back home to Watts when he was released from prison. He got a job at an oil refinery, but after his employers did a background check they let him go. He was walking around his neighborhood a week and a half later when he spotted a job posting for Locol, Daniel Patterson and Roy Choi’s groundbreaking fast food restaurant. Corbin worked in the kitchen before moving into a leadership role, where his skill was visible from the start.
Keith Corbin is now the executive chef of Alta Adams in West Los Angeles. He hopes to display his personalized style of soul food, using California ingredients. He has worked alongside Daniel Patterson, a San Francisco chef who’s earned accolades and recognition for his Bay Area restaurants. Corbin was given the opportunity to learn from more established kitchens. Corbin helped open Locol in Oakland while interning at Patterson’s fine dining establishment Coi in San Francisco and also at Reem Assil’s Dyafa restaurant in Oakland.
Flowers
Itika Oldwine
Oldvine Florals
EDUCATION: OldVine is owned and operated by California native, Itika Oldwine. After graduating from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, Itika completed grad school at the University of Chicago where she earned her Master of Arts degree in Social Sciences.
EARLY CAREER: She began her career with Harpo Productions, working as an affiliate marketing manager for the Oprah Winfrey show. After the final season in 2011, she returned to Los Angeles for a position with AEG where she produced 100+ events at L.A. Live. In 2014, Itika teamed up with famed celebrity florist Eric Buterbaugh to be the head of Marketing at the Eric Buterbaugh Design Group.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: In 2017, Itika embarked on her biggest adventure yet: starting and running her own business. OldVine Florals was established in the heart of downtown L.A.’s Fashion District just blocks from the historic Los Angeles Flower Market.
EXPANSION: And now, after more than 3 successful years in the floral business, Itika’s passion for problem solving and eye for beauty takes her to the next chapter as she introduces OldVine Fragrance.
Candles
Shavaun Christian
Spoken Flames
Shavaun Christian is a Creative Director, Strategist, and Founder of Spoken Flames, a direct-to-consumer experiential candle brand that’s earned recognition for its innovative approach to self-care. Spoken Flames curates immersive candle experiences—with the help of augmented reality (AR)—to engage your senses and stimulate your mind.
Shavaun works with agencies, small businesses, and entrepreneurs to deliver creative solutions and consult across brand strategy, design, and digital through essy & jo. But when (work) life gets crazy, Shavaun lights candles, which is the premise of Spoken Flames. She's intentionally crafted a multisensory candle that encourages a more introspective and sensorial self-care experience. She believes that self-awareness is self-care: when you know how you feel, you can truly tap into what you desire.
Sweatshirts
Meena Harris
Phenomenally Human
Media brand, production company and creative agency centering women/underrepresented communities. Black & brown owned. Disenchanted with the political mood in America, Meena Harris launched the Phenomenal Woman Action Campaign last year ahead of International Women’s Day, while working as a San Francisco-based tech adviser and entrepreneur. The grassroots initiative promotes activism and empowers women and has partnered with seven non-profit women’s organizations.
Coffee
Keba Konte
Red Bay Coffee
Red Bay Coffee Roasters was founded in 2014 by Keba Konte, a renowned artist and successful food entrepreneur with deep roots in the San Francisco Bay Area specialty coffee and hospitality industry.
Red Bay Coffee is at the forefront of what we believe is the fourth wave of coffee—a firm commitment to ensure coffee production is not only high quality and sustainable, but a vehicle for diversity, inclusion, social and economic restoration, entrepreneurship, and environmental sustainability. We are foodies, artists, activists, community folk, and innovators who love, love, love what we do.
Red Bay seeks to create unity by hiring and serving people of all backgrounds, striving to be diverse and inclusive of those who have traditionally been left out of the specialty coffee industry, especially people of color, the formerly incarcerated, women and people with disabilities.
Totes
Delina White
IamAnishinaabe
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe is a Native Apparel Designer, Jewelry Maker & Beadwork Artist. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from Bemidji State University, MN, in Business Administration in Management, and a Management Information Systems minor.
Wine
Adams Wine Shop
Rose:
La Fete du Rose 2020 by Donae Burston (friend of Ruben’s) - Burston, who's responsible for bringing the first Black-owned rosé label from France's Saint-Tropez to the United States - 80% Grenache, 14% Mourvèdre and 6% Syrah grapes
White:
Brisat del Coster 2019 by Josep Foraster (Owned and operated by his sister, Julieta Foraster, and her son Ricard Foraster) For over 150 years, the Foraster family has been growing grapes and olives on their estate in the township of Montblanc, Spain.
Brisat del Coster is a delicious orange wine made with 100% skin-contact 40 year old Macabeo (aka Viura) grapes grown organically on calcerous soils with a lot of boulder and slate. Located on the sunny slopes of the Prades Mountains.
Red:
Zinfandel 2019 by Brown Estate - Napa Valley’s first Black owned vineyard est. 1996 - The Zinfandel is the older varietal they have on the property, the most celebrated as well. Tasting notes: Wild strawberries, raspberry hard candy, guava nectar. Secondary notes of dried rose petals, cinnamon, and clove lead to crème brûlée, toasted marshmallows, and caramel with lingering traces of lavender, brambleberry, and roasted sage.
David has been making Zinfandel for nearly 25 years and while he remains pretty humble about it he is considered a “Zin master” in some quarters. In 2017, two small Zin growers in the Sierra Foothills who know someone who knows David pitched him a proposition: We’d love to see what you can do with our fruit. David was intrigued by the climate conditions which albeit due to different factors are relatively similar to the prevailing conditions at Brown Estate. He took on small quantities of fruit from both sites, blended together in 2017 to create our first non-estate Zinfandel bottling. For 2018, we have a standalone bottling from one of those vineyards.