Tobacco Business

[ 72 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ JULY / AUGUST | 21 ] P Passion, loyalty and courage—those are three words Karen Berger, owner of Don Kiki Cigars and this year’s Tobacco Businesswoman of the Year, uses to describe herself. In the cigar industry, Berger is what many may consider to be a triple threat. She’s a retailer, brand owner and tobacco grower known for her business savviness and dedicated work ethic. Berger entered the tobacco industry when she was just 18 years old and living in Nicaragua. At the time, she was in school studying business administration. She didn’t have enough money to cover all of her school expenses so she decided to get a job in a local cigar factory. She started off in the production area of the factory, rolling tobacco. This was a typical job for a woman working in a factory. While the men were bunching tobacco for the cigars, the women were often seen rolling the cigars. After a year in the factory, Berger met the factory’s owner, Don Kiki Berger, who she fell in love with and later married. “Don Kiki Berger was an amazing and wonderful person,” Berger shares. “If you ask anybody in the cigar industry who had the opportunity to meet him, they would tell you that he was a friendly person. He wanted to support everybody. He wanted to help everybody. He was a big guy because he had a big heart. He was my professor, and he taught me a lot of things.” Don Kiki Berger served as a husband, mentor and catalyst for Berger. He started his business in the 1990s in Nicaragua with the launch of his own factory. He worked with private labels before he decided to create his own brand, aptly named Don Kiki Cigars. Following his death in 2014, Berger had a newfound purpose—she wanted to make sure that the cigar industry would forever remember her husband and his accomplishments. “It’s personal for me,” she proclaims. “I am working—and will be working until my last day—to keep his legacy alive because he deserves it and more.” By Antoine D. Reid Photography courtesy of Karen Berger Karen Berger has faced her share of obstacles and heartache, but against all odds she has built a tobacco empire with patience and love at its foundation. DREAM CHASER