SPRING 2026 Ransom Everglades LOG 11 The company has added two spirits to its lineup – Hawthorn’s Gin and Xoma, a small batch Pulcatta made from agave. “What’s unusual about Danny’s brand is that he is donating proceeds directly to the charity whereas most CEOs donate personally to a charity,” said Larry Waks ’72, an attorney who specializes in the food and beverage industry and Simple’s counsel. “Paul Newman set the standard with his products where every penny went directly to charity.” Waks mentioned how one of his clients – Jon Bon Jovi, who started the Hampton Water rose wine brand in 2016 – is known for his charitable giving but from his personal funds, not as a percentage of sales. “Vodka is a tough category in a competitive industry,” Waks said. “Vodka is vodka – it doesn’t have the variations of wine or rum – and the spirits industry is down because young people don’t drink as much.” Lafuente considers Waks to be one of the most important mentors in his life. Again, there’s a Ransom Everglades connection. Waks, half Cuban, son of a shoe salesman, raised in Miami’s Westchester neighborhood, said he attended the Ransom School but departed before graduating to support his siblings after both parents passed away. “Danny is the son I never had,” said Waks, who met Lafuente serendipitously six years ago when Lafuente was on a marketing trip to Texas and ran into Waks in Marfa, where he owns a ranch. “He said he went to Ransom Everglades and bingo! We hit it off. “Other than our families, nothing gave us more of a rocket launch into life than Ransom Everglades,” Waks said. “Before I went to Ransom, my goal was to live in a house with air conditioning and drive in a car that didn’t have holes in the floorboard. “I get to Ransom and holy cow! I joined the sailing team. There were kids from Gables Estates talking about Harvard and Yale. I thought, if I work hard maybe life can be like this. If I can make it here I can make it anywhere.” Although Waks recalls struggling to fit in and experiencing social hardships, he remains loyal. “I love, love, love Ransom Everglades with all my heart,” he said. Waks and Lafuente have become close friends. They are already discussing Lafuente’s next endeavor. “I struggle with vodka as the tool for good,” Lafuente said. “I’d love to move off of spirits and focus on hunger relief.” In addition to running Simple, Lafuente has returned to LAB Miami, in partnership with another Ransom Everglades alumnus, Scott Srebnick’83. They want to extend its reach and create a venture fund and startup residency to support local talent. He’s devoting more time to his family – wife Sabrina, whom he met at LAB, and their sons Nico, 5, and Marco, 1. Lafuente can’t sit still. His brain is brimming with ideas. There are problems to solve, communities to build, models to test, risks to weigh. The “Aha moments” can strike anytime – in the middle of the night, or at cocktail hour. “Maybe I could launch a non-alcoholic beverage. And at some point in my career I’d like to run a museum, bring back a sense of awe to culture. But my superpower is really bringing people together,” he said. “There’s lots to learn. That’s the beauty of it: The love of learning.” Linda Robertson is a journalist at the Miami Herald, formerly a sports columnist, now an investigative reporter. Twice she has been part of the Herald‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning news coverage, and her stories were selected for The Best American Sports Writing multiple times. She was president of the Association for Women in Sports Media and a University of Michigan Knight-Wallace fellow. She grew up in Miami and loved attending Dan Leslie Bowden’s annual reading of Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” at Ransom Everglades before his passing. Larry Waks ’72 and Danny Lafuente ’05 Sabrina Scandar, Marco Lafuente, Nico Lafuente, Danny Lafuente ’05 and Khaleesi
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