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Detroit-Based Black Tea-Maker Just Inked a Major Distribution Deal with Sam’s Club. ‘Ellis Island Tea’

Nailah Ellis-Brown, the creator of Ellis Island Tea entered entrepreneurship at the age of 20 when she launched her own hand-crafted tea business back in 2008. Ellis-Brown vision for Ellis Island Tea grew into opening her own manufacturing plant; making her the only Black woman beverage creator to do so.

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Ellis Island Tea, produces traditional Jamaican hibiscus bottled teas and has grown immensely since its founding in 2008. The sweet teas can be found on supermarket shelves in Meijer and Whole Foods, but due to the distibution deal with Sam’s Club have now made their debut in all 600 Sam’s Club locations Model D Media reported.

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Being from Detroit, Ellis-Brown says she was always determined to not let her circumstances define her future and she knew that she couldn’t wait for opportunities to come her way and had to create them herself.

“Growing up in Detroit, I knew nothing was going to be handed to me. I expected doors to be closed and knew I would need to work hard and never take ‘no’ for an answer,” she said in a statement according to BlackNews.com.

With the deal with Sam’s Club, Ellis Island Tea will be bottled and sold at almost every one of their stores across the U.S. The recipe for the tea was handed down from her great-grandfather.

“There is a lot of history in the recipe for this tea. It was handed down to me from my Great-Grandfather Cyril Byron, who was a Jamaican immigrant. He knew his recipe had value,” said Ellis-Brown. “He passed it down through the generations with the caveat that it was to be ‘sold, not told’ – meaning take the tea to market. I am honoring his legacy every single day with every bottle of Ellis Island Tea I brew and sell.” She added that the Sam’s Club order was the largest one that she’s received since she started her business.

In a recent column for the Sam’s Club Ellis-Brown recalled the moment it dawned on her that she could start her very own beverage company.

“…The idea for Ellis Island Tea and my beverage company began at a backyard barbecue. My father used to brew up my great-grandfather’s recipe for iced hibiscus tea and serve it at every special family event. During one of those gatherings, it suddenly dawned on me that this tea was so good that I could market it and make beverages my business. I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur and this was my pathway” Ellis-Brown said.

After persuading her father to share the secret family recipe, the then-20-year-old took to the streets and began selling the bottled goodness around Detroit from a cooler in the back of her car. Now the Detroit businesswoman has gone on to be featured on Forbes 30 Under 30 list and was crowned the winner of Centric TV’s Queen Boss business competition.

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