Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | February 18, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 9 Winners also get professional services from Greenberg, Rosenblatt, Kull & Bitsoli and Fletcher Tilton PC Deadline: February 28, 2019 W O M E N I N L E A D E R S H I P F O C U S full-time female director. "I certainly have never felt like it's a boys club," Stinchon said. Katrina Shabo, a sales and market- ing director at Wormtown Brewery in Worcester and a Pink Boots member, said she's worked at four different brew- eries and never felt like she didn't belong. "ere are so many women who real- ly love beer and the industry," she said. "I fell in love with it." Shabo said she never once identified a woman not being able to grow in her role at a brewery. "We create our own barriers for our- selves," she said. "I hope most women don't put themselves in a box." Of the 188 Pink Boots members in the state, 49 hold managerial positions and 23 are brewers or assistant brewers; 26 are listed as owners, and one just opened a brewery in Worcester. Paying attention to the details Redemption Rock Brewing Co., Worcester's fih brewery, has only been open since January, but the Shrewsbury Street taproom is building a reputation as a woman-friendly location. It's not just the female-designed color scheme, layout and furniture giving the space the reputation, but the very public female CEO. Danielle Babineau is the face of the brewery, and that's evident on the com- pany's website and social media profiles. More than 60 percent of the guests who responded to the company's grand opening Facebook event were women, and followers of the brewery's Insta- gram account are almost an exact split between men and women. "If cra beer is going to continue to grow and as the market becomes more competitive, you have to reach a more diverse audience," Babineau said. "One of the most powerful is having more diverse faces here." Of the company's eight employees, five are women. at was done deliberately to make the company appeal to women. Babineau pointed to the design of the taproom with patterns of of so blues and greens and a large mural. Even the bathrooms were designed to be wom- en-friendly, she said. "ose touches make it clear that someone is taking those things into account," Babineau said. Leading by example Fabry said she had second thoughts about her career choice when she began brewing more than 20 years ago in an industry then almost completely dom- inated by men. While going through brewing school and finishing appren- ticeships at three different breweries, Fabry found two women who made beer, and that was all she needed. "It was easy to picture myself doing what they were doing," she said. Occasionally, male patrons of the brewery will take a wayward guess that Fabry got her start in the industry by expanding on a homebrewing hobby. "People don't realize this isn't my first rodeo," she said. The Massachusetts brewing industry is among the national leaders in employing women. At the 16 Central Mass. breweries who responded to a WBJ survey, the workforce was 43 percent women. Women in brewing Total Barrels brewed Brewery employees % women in 2017 Wachusett Brewing Co., Westminster 104 34% 70,000 Wormtown Brewery, Worcester 36 25% 24,000 Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co., Worcester 24 58% 2,500 Exhibit 'A' Brewing Co., Framingham 21 33% 2,431 Medusa Brewing Co., Hudson 16 50% 1,300 Rascallion Brewery, Sturbridge 13 62% 1,000 Moon Hill Brewing Co., Gardner 3 33% 740 River Styx Brewing, Fitchburg 10 40% 400 Craftroots Brewing, Milford 11 64% 308 Homefield Brewing, Sturbridge 9 78% 200 3Cross Fermentation Cooperative, Worcester 3 67% 150 Purgatory Beer Co., Northbridge 12 50% 33 Seven Saws, Holden 8 62% 7 Timberyard Brewing Co., East Brookfield 10 60% N/A Altruist Brewing Co., Sturbridge 9 44% N/A Redemption Rock Brewing Co., Worcester 8 63% N/A Total 297 43% 103,069 Notes: Jack's Abby Craft Lagers in Framingham, Tree House Brewing Co. in Charlton, Start Line Brewing in Hopkinton and Flying Dreams Brewing Co. in Worcester declined to respond to the WBJ survey. Timberyard Brewing, Altruist Brewing and Redemption Rock Brewing all started making beer after 2017. Sources: Individual breweries W Maureen Fabry found a couple of female role models early in her 20-year brewery career.

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