“You Are Not the Minority. You Are the Majority”: Fawn Weaver’s Powerful Message To FAMU Graduates – Essence
Florida A&M University’s Spring 2025 commencement weekend featured three powerhouse speakers, but it was Fawn Weaver who brought the Lawson Center to its feet on Saturday afternoon. The billionaire entrepreneur and founder of Uncle Nearest, Inc. delivered the keynote address during the 2 p.m. ceremony for graduates of the College of Science and Technology, College of Law, School of Business and Industry, School of Journalism & Graphic Communication and School of Nursing.
Joining Adrienne Brown, group vice president and head of corporate business development at Eli Lilly and Company, and Bernard W. Kinsey, businessman and co-founder of the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection, Weaver helped close out the weekend with a personal and faith-filled address rooted in legacy, purpose, and power.
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Weaver, who says she rarely prepares remarks in advance, told the crowd she made an exception that morning. “For the first time ever, God had me write down five points,” she said. Before diving into them, she shared the story of her father, Motown songwriter and producer Frank Wilson. “My father, born and raised in Houston, Texas… he picked cotton,” she said. He later attended Southern University on a scholarship, which he lost after joining a civil rights demonstration. A one-way train ticket took him to Los Angeles, where he pursued music and became one of Motown’s original hitmakers. “I share that,” she said, “because he started picking cotton.”
That origin story laid the foundation for Weaver’s first message: “You are not the minority.” She urged graduates to reject limiting labels. “People of color and women are 70% of this country and 92% of the world,” she said. “You are not the minority. You are the majority.”
Her second point pushed back on doubt about where students come from. “You come from good stock,” she said, echoing what her father used to tell her. Weaver unpacked the data of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the resilience of its survivors. “Only 388,000 made it to America. That means those who made it onto these shores were the strongest of the strong. Mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally.” She reminded students, “That blood that runs through your body came from people that refused to give up.”
Weaver then moved into her third point: “You are your only limitation.” She shared the story of “fleas in a jar” — an experiment where insects stopped jumping after hitting the lid. Even when the lid was removed, they and their offspring continued limiting themselves. “We believe that there is a ceiling,” she said. “But if there is a glass ceiling, it’s got a crack the size of Hades because I got through it.”
Weaver listed names like Oprah, Tyler Perry and Melody Hobson — leaders who’ve defied limitations. She added her own story to that list: leaving home at 15, dropping out of high school at 16, and living in three homeless shelters by age 18. “Your end story has nothing to do with your beginning story. And this country cannot contain what God means to excel.”
Her fourth point reminded the graduates that they belong in every room they enter. “You belong wherever God places you,” she said. “I sit in rooms with the most powerful people in the world… and their question is, ‘How do we find our purpose?’” Weaver rejected the concept of imposter syndrome, saying it was invented to hold back women and people of color. “How do you have imposter syndrome when God puts you there?”
She ended with her final point: “If God be for you, then who can be against you?” Weaver made it clear that her belief doesn’t waver with the political climate. “I am never bothered about who’s in the White House,” she said. “They may have been voted in, but nobody gets anywhere without God deciding.” Her closing call was simple but profound: “You running this, or is God running this? And if God’s running this, you should have no concerns.” The crowd responded with a standing ovation.
Weaver said her message aligned with her own journey. She is one of only five Black women to found and lead a billion-dollar company in the U.S. Uncle Nearest, the whiskey brand she launched in 2016. She is the fastest-growing American whiskey brand in history and the best-selling Black-founded spirit brand of all time, according to Forbes. Weaver is also a two-time New York Times bestselling author, a TED speaker and a board member at Endeavor Group Holdings.
FAMU’s decision to bring in Weaver, Brown, and Kinsey underscored the university’s commitment to showcasing Black leadership at the highest levels. Their presence sent a message to graduates about the power of representation and what’s possible when legacy and leadership intersect the value of representation at the highest levels of leadership. Their presence signaled to graduates that legacy isn’t something to chase later; it starts the moment you walk across the stage.
