Ren Navarro
Educator and owner, Beer. Diversity.
Ren Navarro is expanding the horizons of brew culture.
When asked what kicked off the idea for her company, Ren Navarro recalls the moment she realized that she and her friends, who she describes as “the United Nations of beer drinkers,” weren’t really represented anywhere in the industry she’d been a part of for nearly a decade. In 2018, Navarro decided to do something about that blind spot and created her consulting company, Beer. Diversity. Her services are twofold, one part providing consultation and education with restaurants to discuss diversification of products offered, and the second part, arguably the most important, talking about diversity in a bigger way. Hosting for companies
big and small, Navarro’s sessions are conversational and often include a tasting and plenty of open discussion.
Since the pandemic, these sessions are hosted online, which lets people attend from the comfort of their own home. Demand for her talks has only increased during the pandemic as social justice issues and the Black Lives Matter movement have become more prominent in the mainstream. Initially she found there were often fears around the word diversity, because it seemed so big and daunting to people, but now she’s noticing “people are tripping over themselves to include more BIPOC, more LGBTQ+, more people with disabilities and people of whatever age or backgrounds. We are all in the same boat—it’s just different sections of the boat.”
Necessary conversations about representation and inclusivity are not just pertinent to beer culture, Navarro says. “The company name has become a misnomer. It was called Beer. Diversity. because that’s what I knew. You take out the name ‘beer’ and put in your industry, and this is legit the same problem [across industries].”
To encourage greater mentorship and leadership opportunities for younger racialized and marginalized people, Navarro has also started Do Better, Be Better, a hospitalitycentric company. In addition to her podcast, Ren Likes to Talk, she has an app (Beer. Diversity.) that’s rooted in her inclusion work.
“It’s basically me in your pocket,” she says. Like her companies, she uses it as a forum for speaking on a wide range of topics related to diversity. The app will also feature experts on various subjects and allow subscribers to reach out to do what Navarro does best: “open up a conversation.”