Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Kelley.
Hi Brian, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Growing up in Prince George’s County, Maryland you will realize there is a ton of successful black individuals from the area and I wanted to be one of them. I was born in September 1994, my parents were 18 & 19 years old at the time. A lot of my drive and passion to become an entrepreneur came from them. My mother owned “Licorice Hair Studio” in Capital Heights, MD for almost 15 years and my father owned his own freight company along with many other businesses.
In May of 2017, I graduated from Bowie State University. Upon graduating I started High-level Sports Management and hosted my first basketball tournament on my own in December of 2017. My high school basketball coach, Walt Webb had taught me how to run tournaments, camps, and train through his sports management company while I was still playing in college. In 2018 I launched the MABC, a high school basketball showcase to highlight and provide exposure to high school. Since our inception we have had over 850+ College basketball players and a handful of NBA players play in my MABC event. During COVID, we did not host any events unfortunately which was a major hiccup but around that time I remember telling my business partner, Jamaal Dubose that I wanted to launch my own product next. Originally, I was starting a sports drink called “Activate” but I ended up declining on that opportunity. That is when I came up with the idea to have my own Wine company, “Imperial 94”. The inspiration for the wine actually came from my love for grapes because of my great grandfather, Benjamin Green.
Even though I am the CEO, my partners Jamaal, Tre, & Tavon played a major role in the inception of Imperial 94.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being an entrepreneur is hard. Nothing in this wine industry is considered a smooth road. There are so many rules & regulations on alcohol that it makes it difficult at times. Being in the DMV area has not made the business easier either, there are things we can do in Maryland that we can not do in Virginia. For example, shipping licenses per state cost different prices and some of them are really high in price per year. That makes it tough for us to ship to certain places where someone may want to try our wine but can not because we do not have the license to ship there legally.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Imperial 94 Wines?
Imperial 94 is a limited winery based out of Maryland. Though I do not own a vineyard I am the youngest winery owner in Maryland and one of the youngest on the east coast. Most would consider our wine an exclusive luxury wine brand because we sell out pretty fast every time. Our most popular wine is our Pink Rose Wine – We have sold out of that twice since launching in 2023 and plan on doing the same thing this summer. Our events and parties that we host help our brand stand out. Imperial 94 is more than just a wine, more of a lifestyle we aim for. We want our consumers to feel like a royalty regardless if they are at our events or opening one of our bottles in their home.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
We do a lot of collaborations and most our pitched to us via email. Anyone can support by purchasing wine or one of our candles on our website.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://imperial94.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealbk_1/?hl=en
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-kelley-6827a6248/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/imperial94wines/
