Black Excellence: Skyler Mapes
Soon after Skyler Mapes met her now-husband Giuseppe in 2014, he took her to his hometown of Le Castella, Calabria. In addition to meeting his parents, she also met his family’s olive trees, which date back three generations. Then in Texas years later, the couple thought up the idea for EXAU olive oil when Giuseppe was disappointed while cooking one night. In 2017 they moved to Italy to produce a small run: harvesting, milling, bottling, labeling, and exporting themselves. It’s waitlisted olive oil has even been named one of Oprah’s Favorite Things.
https://exauoliveoil.com/pages/about
By 2019, the EXAU Olive Oil Club was born, giving members quarterly access to freshly harvested oil direct from the farm. In 2020, EXAU was named to Oprah’s Favorite Things — and again in 2023. Also in 2020, Skyler was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and recognized as one of the very few Black women producing olive oil anywhere in the world. EXAU went on to sign a book deal with Penguin Random House, resulting in The Olive Oil Enthusiast — a guide to buying, using, and understanding great olive oil.
EXAU has since been featured in the New York Times, Food & Wine, and La Cucina Italiana, among others.