Meet Keyatta Mincey Parker | Bartender / Cocktail influencer / Owner and Operator of A Sip of Paradise Garden

We had the good fortune of connecting with Keyatta Mincey Parker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Keyatta, career-wise, where do you want to be in the end?
My end goal is to be someone who impacted my community, my bar community. I hope to expand A Sip of Paradise Garden to other cities and countries, our community is so broken and covid only exposed us even more. I want to establish The Jim Project, my foundation that will train ladies in my native home of Liberia from age 16 to 21 in hospitality and ladies 21 to 24 in bar culture. Liberia is still recovering from an almost 20-year war. A lot of women did what they had to do to survive, including prostitution. This could have been my future. This is my end goal, to continue to give back, to my community and live in the South of France with my hubby and a small garden.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I started a bartender’s nonprofit community garden. I am so proud the idea of playing in the dirt with my friends came true. A Sip of Paradise Garden is a safe space for us to refresh our minds, creativity, and ourselves. Members are able their our food for their families, bars or to share with their community. We offer wellness activities, spirit workshops, and just the feeling of having ownership of something. I was able to build this vision of the garden in the middle of a pandemic and on the strength of my bar friends. Most of the things I was able to do were on relationships, I got the land from Community Farmers Market, a local nonprofit in Atlanta that supports farmer, local businesses, bartenders and honestly the city. I’ve bartended events with them for years they took a chance on me, my accountant and lawyer are regulars that have followed me from several bars, my members and former coworkers, and bar friends. It was all a massive learning curb, it was hard to transform my mindset from bartender to owner and philanthropist. I had to learn how to shift this from a project to a business. It wasn’t easy, but I was built for this and I am dedicated to continuing to learn and grow. I want to world to shift its perception of bartenders and spirits, we are just like everyone else we deserve a space for ourselves. We are worthy.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
First, this would be a long day of fun. We would have a champagne picnic in the garden, then we would head to Bon Ton for a few frozen cocktails, then we would head to Ponce City Market and go shopping at Bombshell and walk the beltline a bit and then finish at the rooftop of The Glenn hotel or Nine Mile Station ( if you can even get in, lol ) and the lobby of Bar Margot. That would be epic!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This journey has taken many, many people so here goes, my husband and family, my Atlanta bar community, my Liberian community, Maurice Small, and my gardening community. Last but not least a big part of the bartenders’ community garden coming to life is because of Bombay Sapphires Most Imaginative Bartender.

Website: www.asipofparadisegarden.org

Instagram: @picturesandcocktails_ / @asipofparadisegarden

Facebook: Jenique Keyatta Holder Mincey / A Sip of Paradise Garden

Image Credits
Kimberly Howell Keyatta Mincey Parker