Karis Roberts traded the beach for the mountains in 2008 when she moved across the state of North Carolina, from Wilmington to Asheville, to attend UNC Asheville. The relocation suited her, and she quickly found ways to get involved with her new locale.
“When I was at UNC Asheville, I gave tours every Friday,” says Roberts, who was a University Ambassador as a student. “I’ve met people around town who say, ‘You gave us our first tour when we came to Asheville!’ It was a fun way to meet people and get them excited about the place.”
Roberts was a running coach in college and is now on the board of the nonprofit Girls on the Run. The 2011 grad is also a part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters initiative.
That civic mindset led Roberts to her latest career move: Taking on the role of Executive Director for the Asheville Brewers Alliance. Formed in 2009, the mission of the ABA is to promote beer crafted in Western NC and to provide education and support to its membership, which includes more than 100 businesses and organizations.
Roberts was working part time at two different Asheville watering holes: The Wedge and The Mule. Both are Asheville Brewers Alliance members; The Mule is a bar/event space in the Devil’s Foot Beverage production facility. Devil’s Foot is known for its non-alcoholic ginger beers and sparkling lemonades, and is owned by Roberts partner, Jacob Baumann.
It was Roberts’ boss at The Wedge who suggested she apply for the ABA position.
“I was looking for more work and this is more of an events position — a networking and member retention position,” Roberts says. “I found value in using my community networking skills and creating a safe space for members to share knowledge, get continuing education, and network with other people in their industry."
Roberts’ background, since graduating from UNC Asheville, included nine years of teaching preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. She also worked for a leather smithing company, sewing, manufacturing, and handling customer service. “I realized I wanted a more client-facing role,” she says. The ABA position provides that, and allows Roberts creative freedom to spotlight the Asheville community — both within and beyond the brewing sector.
For example, in rethinking the popular Asheville Beer Week event — which launched in 2012 —Roberts is aiming to make it more Asheville-centric. “In my opinion, everybody already knows about the beer, but they don’t know about all the other wonderful things that Asheville has to offer,” she explains. “My idea is, during beer week, to spotlight those other things that may not have to do with beer at all, but they have to do with all the little entities that make Asheville thrive.” She names local favorite outings such as trivia nights around town, pick up volleyball, live collaboration brews at Outsider Brewing, and First Fridays at Noir Collective on The Block.
“I’ve been here a long time, and I know a lot of people who are putting on events,” she says. “I want to highlight that and let our tourists and our Asheville community at large know what’s going on.”
Beyond the ABA, Roberts is excited about her work with Asheville-based organization CoThinkk. “CoThinkk is dedicated to social change philanthropy by working to impact critical issues facing BIPOC, African-American, and Latino communities in Western NC,” she says. “We have capacity-building workshops, grant-writing workshops, grant-giving, and more.”
CoThinkk, she adds, is “an incredible program that a lot of people in the Asheville Community aren’t aware of as a resource.”
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