Kate Shapira Latts, May 24, 2016

Kate Shapira Latts, May 24, 2016

Kate Shapira Latts is one of the only women in a high executive position at her family’s business, Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc. She was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1971. From an early age, Latts remembers feeling very proud of and interested in the family business. She recalls doing childhood science experiments to see which grains or mash blends provided the highest yields of alcohol. She explains that her Jewish identity was shaped by many things, including her family’s Jewish values and her experiences at Camp Birch Trail in Minong, Wisconsin, a primarily-Jewish all girls’ summer camp. She was also very active in the National Council of Jewish Women’s junior council leadership development program. Kate Shapira Latts was inspired from a young age by her aunt, who had a meaningful executive career as well as a family in the 1980s, a time when it was not the status quo to do so. In her interview, Latts discusses the challenges professional women face in a mostly male-dominated industry. While she explains that she loves her job, she also points out that working with her family in the family business requires a special work-life balance.

Alcohol industry.

Bourbon whiskey

Distillation.

Distilleries--Kentucky

Distillers.

Family-owned business enterprises.

Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc.

Whiskey industry--Kentucky

Jewish families.

Jews--Identity.

Judaism.

Religion

Worship (Judaism)

Women in the whiskey industry

Women--Employment.

video

2016oh153_jk025

Janice W. Fernheimer

Kate Shapira Latts

Fasts and feasts--Judaism.

Holidays.

Family histories.

Childhood

Jewish children

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Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.