WMAR — Before Tiffany Capri Hainesworth became the founder of the award-winning brand, TCapri Tequila, she remembers running into a major road block in this journey before it even began.
Several years prior to coming up with the idea, she went through one of the darkest times in her life. On December 12, 2012, she waas in a traumatic car accident.
"I was stopping for my morning Starbucks coffee and I was turning into the shopping center and a car hit me from behind and he hit me so forcefully that my car turned again and he hit me again," she said.
As a result of the accident, Tiffany suffered a severe concussion and the road to recovery would be anything but easy. The symptoms only got worse as time went on.
"I was like losing my memory, I was stuttering, I couldn’t speak properly and I knew something was wrong but I didn’t know was getting ready to happen; and that wa the seizures," Tiffany recalled.
Her neurologist had doubts she would ever be the same again; but this determined single mother had other plans.
"I can’t even believe that because I have to keep on keeping on," she remembered. "I have this daughter that’s relying on me. I have to work."
Not only did she go back to work with her job with for federal government, but she actually started paying more attention to a hobby that made her popular with her friends on their weekend girls' nights.
She mastered making special treats for their get togethers.
"I was always responsible for the deserts, so I would always make boozy deserts that was my thing," she said.
With all the attention her infused treats were getting and a little push from her daughter, Tiffany turned her weekend hobby into "TCapri Gourmet Treats."
However, as she kept working with different alcoholic drinks, one stood out to her above the rest.
"I love tequila so [I thought] let me research where Tequila is made and how its made," she said.
This led Tiffany to a decision that would change everything.
"I jumped on a plane and went to Jalisco, Mexico," she said. "I didn’t speak Spanish, I didn’t know anything, I was just like I need to find someone that can help me, find the distillery that will allow me to produce maybe just a small batch and it grew legs on its own from there."
Tiffany spent time learning which ingredients could combine to make up "the ultimate tequila," and came back home with a brand. That's when TCapri Tequila was born. After launching her own company in 2019, she saw some quick success.
"I literally did everything from the ground up to the point where the distillery said we've never seen anything like this before' and I went from 1,500 bottles to now we’re probably up to about 40,000 bottles in 10 different states."
Using the key authentic ingredients including agave, her goal is to change people's expectations when it comes to tequila. While she had her eyes set on that goal, she accomplished something else. Tiffany became the first black woman to solely own her own Tequila brand.
"Going in, I had no idea that I was going to make history," she said.
The milestone made her look back on everything that happened to get her here, including the car accident.
"It was like something is trying to take me out but you know my faith was like ‘no there’s a reason you’re supposed to be here and I know the reason now because I made history," she said while smiling with pride.
" I was supposed to show little girls that look like me that they could still survive and be super successful in their lives.
Now, with the support of a small team of black women, she is looking to take TCapri Tequila global. Currently it's sold in many stores across Maryland and in 10 different states. Tiffany runs the company with a small team of black women and is still full-time with her career in the federal government.
Tcapri Tequila comes in two different flavors; Tequila Blanco and Tequila Reposado.
Find out more about the brand and how to order at www.tcapritequila.com or on social media by following @TCapriTequila on Facebook, Twitter ("X") and Instagram.