As the daughter of pub owners, Ava Nakagawa began working in the hospitality field when she was sixteen and eventually found her passion for craft beer when they went from adding eight to now 32 taps.
She finds herself lucky to have diversified her brewery and cafe in the past decade.
“I haven’t done anything other than hospitality and beer; however, this year, I am studying part-time in a completely different field but hope to have them both working together one day as I love this industry and hope to stay in it for a long time.”
Nakagawa admires numerous women in the industry, from Tracy Banner, the pioneer of craft beer in Aotearoa, to Jayne Lewis.
“My other teammate, Andi, is arguably the bigger half of Beer Baroness, as she’s the one who makes it all run while I run around hatching new plans,” said Nakagawa.
“I’ve worked with her for more than fifteen years now, and I can honestly say I still admire all that she does. She’s one of the hardest-working humans and can do it all.”
She advises those entering the field not to try to be anyone else and that it is okay not to know it all. She encourages asking questions and is grateful to have met the people she did along the way, as even during hard times, it is the people who get you through.
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