06/02/2026
IN THE MIX
Nicky Hines’ Brown Girl Mixers sweeten social experiences!
Nicky Hines was a longtime corporate food and beverage veteran with almost 30 years under her apron. But 10 years ago, she began an event and catering company, A Dining Diva, on the side. “I’d take a vacation day and host dinner parties, which translated into me doing cocktail classes,” she says.
She was doing so well with her side hustle that she eventually left her corporate job in 2019 to pursue A Dining Diva full-time. The timing was not great; the pandemic followed swiftly after she had made that decision.
Hines did not let world events derail her, despite feeling hopeless. “Everything we did was social; the whole concept of the company was to be social,” she says. But customers continued to ask her to show up, even in the most precarious of times, including a customer who requested she do an online cocktail class.
“People from all over the country joined me for this girls’ happy hour,” she says. In advance of the event, Hines sent participants mixology boxes that included homemade cocktail syrups. Customers loved the concept and the syrups. Her business grew from there, eventually leading to a 100-person, two-day, online event with Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey.
While the events were fun, the main feedback the Upper Westside resident kept getting was that her attendees wanted syrups in bigger bottles. So in 2022, she found a commercial kitchen, applied for a Department of Agriculture license and began commercially bottling her Brown Girl Mixers line...
Read more in the latest issue of out now!
📝 Lauren Finney Harden
📸 Joann Vitelli
browngirlmixers.com
