As a solopreneur, one of the most important things you can hope to solidify in your business is great partnerships. I’ve had some, well, not so good ones: Expectations aren’t set, work ethics don’t quite match, efforts aren’t shared, etc. And then there are some that just work with very little effort at all. That is what it feels like to work with Nicole Ward of Wine Expressions!
Anyone who knows me knows that I think social media can be a pretty big pain in the bootay. However, it also happens to be how I have met many of the artists on our roster, many of the people who have done work for me behind the scenes, old friends who’ve become colleagues and clients, and, of course, partners like Nicole.
I started following Nicole on the ole ‘gram (please follow her here) and, unlike many, she returned my outreach email within less than a day. We exchanged a few notes and met in person a few weeks later. It was immediately clear to me that not only was she massively knowledgeable about her industry and that she loved it but also that she was open to and excited by exploring it in different ways.
We only met once in person before we decided on a date for a test event, Nicole found a Chef, Donald Hooper, who agreed to collaborate with us on this event, and found a couple who were gracious enough to open their home to us as completely strangers.
Our program played into one of my not-so-mini obsessions: the notion of B-Sides. For those who do not know a “B-side” song is simply a song that was on the B side of a record. For whatever reason, a record producer thought it did not merit being on the A side, perhaps wasn’t as strong commercially or, through a coin toss, simply ended up on the B side. The irony, of course, is how many B-side songs actually ended up being at least as big – or even bigger – hits than their A-side companions. A few examples:
“Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers
”Strawberry Fields Forever” by the Beatles
”Hound Dog” by Elvis Presley
”We will rock you” by Queen
and one of the most surprising to me, “At Last” as sung by Etta James
Our Coronado event was a wonderful experience! Four couples attended an afternoon event. Local pianist Anna Lefler accompanied me as I sang selections chosen specifically because they brought out the essence and personality of the wines (also selected from lesser known regions and representing expressions of lesser known grapes) we served.
We couldn’t have been more grateful to Danielle and Trent Munoz for sharing their beautiful home with us. The acoustics were beyond wonderful, and the setting was perfect for us to introduce our unique tasting concept to the San Diego market.
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