December 8, 2024 • 33 mins
Mary Anna Ossa, Founder of Partners and Grapes Organic Wines, joins Trent and Patrick on “At Home with Roby”. Partners and Grapes offers fully organic and vegan wines with no added sugars or sulfites. Tune in to learn about the hangover free trip to Barcelona that inspired Mary Anna to start her wine business after 13 years as a stay-at-home mom, and how this leap of faith is inspiring her kids to follow in her entrepreneurial footsteps. And for a healthier, cleaner drinking experience, visit partnersandgrapes.com to learn more about Mary Anna’s wines and where you can find them. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Good morning, Welcome back Home with Roby.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Patrick mc isaac with Robe Commercial on Services along
with tred Hayson from the Roby family of companies.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
We are your hosts.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
WBT nine to ten eleven, ten am ninety nine point three.
We are here and it is cold outside Trent.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
It's definitely cold. Winter has a arrived. Yeah, I was
a little tardy this year, it was, but it came
with a little bit of a vengeance here.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
You know, we have not had a measurable snowstorm and
over a thousand days in Charlotte.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Well, let me tell you. We're recording this midweek before Sunday.
It wasn't measurable, but nothing happened.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I text you, I'm like, hey man, we've talked about
this on the show quite a bit, like recently. Recently,
I think some people did get some snow in the area.
But I tell you, I was like, hey man, get
the snowlight going. It's coming tonight.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Because we talked on a recent show about looking into
the floodlight as a kid when we're supposed to snow
and you see a piece of LNT. You're like, that
is snowing. He's like the sun get to work. This
Dame Moss will really get you to kind of hang
around look like a snowflake fluting. But anyway, nothing happened.
And where I lived at I had a buddy in
Belmont send me some frost on his car hood. It
(01:18):
was not snow, I don't think. And then Reagan said
they might have got a little bit of on the
north side of town. I think I don't know, but
but I could probably spit from where I lived to
Belmont and I didn't have any snow frost.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
That warm, warm kind of eats up that that moisture.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah, you know. And I always used to break my
heart when, uh, when we would get a you know,
three four inches of snow that lasts a day or two,
and as you drive down Bright Road towards the river,
it would it would just be wet. So we never
really got the snow unless it was like low twenties.
And you know, the river is a heater.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Can't be I give you a couple of degrees out there.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
It is. It is a warm heater.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Well, I you know, they said it was gonna come
through around one thirty in the morning. So I told
Scarlett d She said, well, I'm just setting alarm and
get up. And I was like, I'll get up with you.
I'll set an alarm. And then she got smart. She goes,
why don't you get up first? And if it's stewing,
come wake me up. But don't wake me up unless
it's snowing.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
I think Rowland says she was set her alarm, but
I don't think she got up either. I got bamboos
and I got up and went out in the cold.
It was cold, season of lists, a lot of things.
You know, calendar puts pressure on you. Yeah, I don't understand. Well,
we have to have pressure in this world.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Well, especially during the holiday. Isn't that supposed to be
the time where you're.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Speaking of such? When there's pressure on a pipe and
a pipe freezes, it'll bust. And that's why Rugby Services
can come fix your leak shameless plug? When? Uh? When
when it won't falls back out? Yes, when you notice
the leak, there's pressure on it. When it's a pressurized pipe.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
What was that two Christmases ago where it got down
to like eight degrees and pipes were busting everywhere?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
That must be when my I have a water line
to the boat dog and it got down the first
cold night here, like twenty six and we didn't drain
it and take the pressure off of it, open the
valves and cut it off. But it didn't bust because
of the heat coming from the river. Thank you the
pipe saving real. I tell you, I did turn on
the space heater in my well house last night. I
(03:23):
saw it was gonna get down to twenty two for
and be below freezing for about ten hours. I didn't
want to wake up this morning and me, my five
kids that go to school and my wife not have water.
That would have definitely been your fault, it would Yeah,
So I turned the space here on, smashed my finger,
did it all, ran my power bill up. My power
(03:44):
bill was looking like on a national lampoon's vacation. When
this Christmas Christmas lights are going.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
They hit that side auxiliary breaker he put the only thing.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
They have meters like that on my house today they
hide it. Yeah, yeah, they're digital. Yeah, I've never knew it.
I was the part owner in an electrical business. Never
knew that I'm not a part owner in a power company. Well,
I might have in my four to one k and
a little piece of DUP power Dominion Energy. What are
you about to tell us? I want to see that
(04:15):
thing spinning. I want to see the reaction to the
meter when I go cut off all my kids' lights
all evening long.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
You went that fidelity count. It's cecon as your meters
go off.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
The other morning, I went up, I wake my girls up.
They're already up. I just kind of like to go
up and help them a little bit and say I
love you. And they all share a bedroom and I said, hey,
they were kind of groggy. I said, I'm gonna cut
the light on outside. Do y'all need it? And they said, well,
we don't need it, we're already up, but you can
leave it on. I said, well, just make sure when
you come down, please cut it off. That was at
six point fifteen am. At six fifteen pm, I was
(04:52):
the only one home and the light was still on.
And this is like eight recess cans in the music
room or whatever room, art room. It was the music
room now it's an art room, computer room, classroom for
COVID room. There's a lot of things that room. You've
got li D bulbs come on. That's what I'm trying
to get at. You know, so you sound like Reagan
(05:13):
She's like, it really isn't burning that much, it's energy.
You need to calm down. Though. They're running joke in
my family is my dad. If you leave a door
cracked or open for more than six milliseconds, he starts
to be losing it. Okay, I like your dad. Me
and your dad get along really well. He's kind of
hard of hearing, so I think that's somewhere we really bond.
(05:35):
And he was a salesman's career. He's been on a
radio man. He's a great guy. Uh. You know, sometimes
we go off and talk about sports. Sometimes we talk
about politics. No, I'm incorrect, I'm kidding. We never talk
about politics. Sometimes we talk about other current events. This
time is was weather. But as you listen to the
(05:55):
show on Sunday, s MU will have played Clemson in
the ACC Championship. You're gonna get me back in Charlotte
on Saturday wins? Who wins? Patrick?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Well, let me tell you what. I'm real quick. I
know we got to go to a break. But they're
telling people. People are telling SMU not to play.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I wouldn't play if I had to play Clemson because
in there they're probably end even if they don't play.
But if they play and they lose their I promise
you this, there'll be a hefty fine if they don't play.
Championship Tigers. Clinton set up our guest. Patrick got Mary
Anna Ossa who is in the wine business, brought us
some wine. Right wise, what was going on? Ralph organic
(06:35):
wine to boot her husband Jack as has been he's
a rag, he's a he's an architect, self made entrepreneur.
I can't wait to hear your story, boss lady, when
we return. Marianna, you're listening to At Home with Roby.
Welcome back to Get Home with Roby.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Patrick Ka from Roby Commercial and Services, along with Trent Kayson,
the Ruby family of the company's we are your hosts.
You miss the last segment talking all things weather stuff,
funny stuff, but go back and check it out. You
can find us anywhere podcasts are found. Trull We got
a special guest in the studio. This is not the
first time we've had both a husband and wife come
(07:17):
on the show.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I think it might be.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
We've done it a couple of times, sometimes together, sometimes together,
and that's when the.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Cat fight happens. Don't be getting crazy over here. Marianna,
I got you, You got me. I like the shades.
Our shades kind of match. You still have your zone.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
It's a fashion statement.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I gotta to look less as you're outfit.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Trend's a very fashionable fellow. He's usually with the times
on the trend.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
I can tell.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah, me too. Well. I rode Reagan how to teach
Sunday school all. I'm always cutting it close. I rode
to church on my own this past Sunday. So I
was like, I'm gonna listen Doug on radio show a
little bit. So I called you come in on the
second segment. You said, facebook x hashtag and catch it
(08:05):
on whatever you said. Man, I won on Instagram, Facebook
and LinkedIn.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
How are you doing, Marianna, I couldn't be better. Good
beautiful day here in the Carolinas. Thank you so much
for having me.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Yeah, it's so nice to meet you. You too.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yeah, we know that you're the you know, the the smarter,
better and a stronger entrepreneur of the family.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
I'm the brain behind.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
We happy to have you. Yeah, we had to have you.
Thank you well. Well, well, I invited. I'm in a
YPO Young President organization. I was teeing up one of
my buddies, and uh, he asked what we're going to
talk about, and I said, hey, you know, we talked
about entrepreneur stuff. Some people talk about generational family business stuff.
You know, it's kind of like the variety. But you
come from a household of entrepreneurism.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Indeed.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Indeed, and uh, without even knowing it, I work for
Corpora America. When I first moved to the States twenty
six years ago. Uh, little did I know I was
going to start a waye business after being a stay
at home mom for thirteen years.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Wow, So did you did you move so you moved
directly to Charlotte when you came over?
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Or yes?
Speaker 4 (09:07):
I was born and raised in Kadakas, Venezuela, and moved
to the States after college and fell in love with
the Carolinas. I know it sounds super corny every time
I say it, but there's something about the southern hospitality
that I fell in love with and I never left.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Well in something about Charlotte. I might sound corny too,
but everybody who asked me that's not from here. What
do I think about Charlotte? ID say, it's the best
country in the world.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
In the world. I'm sorry, the best country. It's a
country best, but you know, every time you come back here.
I don't know if this is political or not, but
Trump told Trudeau that Canda could Canada could be our
fifty first state. Yeah. I saw that. Hell, I'm not
touching that.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
I won't go there.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah. Anyways, whenever we come speaking of Charlotte becoming a country.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Anywhere, it's not becoming a country. But yeah, I always say,
it's just such something about this area that it just
gets gets in your blood.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Completely.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
I was in love with it, not only I mean
the diversity, how welcome I felt. I mean ever since
I moved here and I got married here, I had
my children here, built a community, and like I said,
never left.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So where did you and Jack? Mate?
Speaker 4 (10:13):
We met here in Charlotte through a friend. That's uh,
that was twenty some years ago. We met, we hung out,
we were friends, and we went from being friends to
oh my gosh, I'm completely in love with this man.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
And we'll have our twentieth wedding anniversary in about two weeks.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Very cool, very rightly, thank.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
You, thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
I'm not gonna I'm not just not on twenty one
down yeah, married in four.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yes, December seventeenth four.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah, quick, I'm working on sixteen West, some years under.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Our elderly like Marianna Refreshed's on the kids.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Yes, three beautiful, amazing, talented children. Jacob is sixteen, Julian
is thirteen, and Jonah is eight.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Wow. Yep, yeah, okay, So I got a sixteen, A four,
fifteen or thirteen, A nine and a four. So we're closed.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah, so you got a new driver at home?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Yeah? Yeah, I do definitely have a driver. I said
this the other day, like to go get dinner at
nine o'clock. Reagan's like, well, Tatum can go, and this
dark outside, I'm like, well, somebody gonna ride with her?
And I was, y'all, girl's gonna ride with She's like
she can go to Taco Bell by herself.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
And I'm like, oh, it's a new feeling.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, a little tough. Yeah, I mean that that has
to be a little bit weird. But Meagan's like, I
drove to the beach by myself at night when I
was sixteen. Take that, well, I'm not your dad. I
did it when I was fourteen. Reagu Oh, kiddy, oh kitty. So,
so you were came to Charlotte. Did you get your
(11:54):
job in Charlotte you already had your job? No?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
I actually I came here to study and got hired
by a company. I worked for a home builder for
a few years, worked in mainly real estate mortgages, and
loved it. But when I had my first child, Jacob,
who's now sixteen year driver, I looked at him and
I said to Jack, I want to be home with him.
(12:17):
And we work hard, made arrangements financially so I could
stay at home.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
And I did it for thirteen years.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
But as you probably don't know, but once you become
a stay at home mom and you stayed home for
that long, I felt kind of lost. I felt like
I was either someone's mom or someone's wife. But I
sort of lost my identity and I needed something for myself.
So yeah, when I started Partners in Grapes three and
a half years ago, which is my wine company, yeah,
(12:45):
it became the dream I didn't know I had.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
So tell us about that. What gave you the idea?
Why wine?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
You tell us your story, I mean, what sparked you
to start this business.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Completely out of nowhere? So I always loved wine, but
I couldn't drink it. I always, after a glass or two,
I will get this massive headache.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
And in my case, I have severe.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
Food allergies, some allergic to apples, cherries, a whole bunch
of stuff that are super weird, and wine gave me
an allergic reaction.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
So in my case, and I'm saying in my.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Case, because other people have different reactions, it was the
added sugar, the additives in general, so I could never
enjoy wine. Now, three and a half years ago, we
went to Spain to visit my family and I was
in Barcelona. Went to a wine bar and I was
hanging out with a good friend of mine and I
was like, girl, I cannot have wine and I'll have
vodka whatever, but I'm not having wine. And she was like, hey,
(13:37):
we're in a super nice wine bar here in Barcelona,
you're having wine. So long story short, I ended up
having five glasses of wine, and I thought for sure
I was gonna feel like hot garbage the next day.
Woke up the next morning felt amazing. So I called
my friend, I say, what kind of witchcraft wine did
you give me last night?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
That I feel so good? And she was like, it's
organic wine.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
I started researching right there and there in Barcelona, started
googling stuff, and I understood that the wines that I
had been drinking had a bunch of additives. Like the
FDA here in the States allows you to put wine
in seventy two additives into wine and you don't have
to put them on the label as a wine maker. So,
knowing I wasn't the only one with that problem, I
(14:21):
decided I'm going to do something about it. I wanted
to get into this, so I started visiting vineyards and
trying to find a way to partner with them in
creating my own wine. And I gotta say, I gotta
give credit to my husband, Jack, because my first idea was.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I'm going to import wine.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
And he said, well, if you're going to do all
of that work, why don't you create your own And
I said, yeah, I can do that now.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
I had this inner voice in my head that said, the.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
Hell do you know about running a wine company and
creating wine, importing, distribute. You didn't know anything about that.
But if I had listened to that voice, I would
be missing out on this incredible adventure that I got
myself into. Three and a half years ago, so I
brought my first two wines here, didn't know anything about it,
(15:08):
started learning about importing distribution, created my own distribution company
because I couldn't find a distributor at the time, and
little by little we're being growing the entire thing.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Wow, is that is organic wine? Is that a European thing?
I mean the reason I asked, we recently went to
Germany and my wife likes is a big wine. She
likes white wine. It had some wine in Germany that
we can't find here, but she was like something about
it just tasted different, and I don't know, I don't
know if it was organic or not, but she kept
telling about how fresh it felt and how did that
(15:41):
just had a different taste and a different feeling the
next morning.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
Yeah, I mean, organic is a trend now in the
US that's growing in Oregon and other parts. But in
Europe it's been going on for years and the regulations
are a lot more strict than in the US. And
it all starts with the soil not using pesticize for
the lysers, herbicide, none of that, and some of those
are still allowed in the States. So, yeah, what your
(16:07):
wife is looking for it's definitely organic mines.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
So the definition of organic is no additives yea, even
in starting with the soil.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
And because it takes about five years to have a
soil that's completely organic.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Wow. Yeah. And then you don't put additives in the wine?
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Correct?
Speaker 4 (16:24):
No preservatives, no either sugar, no colorants, none of that stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Got it. The addictive stuff that's what they used to
put in them. Cancer sticks.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Well, in all fairness, you know alcohol could be addictive.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
So I recommend drinking in moderation.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
But you know, just like we make better choices in
drinking and eating, I think we should do the same
thing in and drinking fast.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Okay, fascinating, Marianna, this is so cool. I got something
to say when we return. You're listening to that Home
with Roby. Welcome back to head Home with Roby.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Patrick mcasa from Rouby Commercial in Services along with Trent
Hayson from the Ruby family of Companies. We are with
Mary Anna Asa from Partners and Grapes. If you missed
the last couple of segments, Man, we are getting educated.
I love that about our shows that I would I
didn't know anything about organic wine.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Now I feel like I know enough to be dangerous.
What well? Uh, yeah, you had something. Where can they
find us? Where can they find you? Didn't say it?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Well, I was going to but uh maybe Instagram, LinkedIn
and Facebook you can find the podcast where you can
find them anywhere podcast.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
I was sweating. Thanks, Okay, I want to ask, uh,
I can't remember where I got a couple questions for you, Marianna.
Number one, Uh, where Jack is from? Is in Venezuela.
Number two you said you're from Venezuela. Uh, but but
you went to Spain to visit your family. Uh. And
(17:53):
number number three, I wanted to make a point, uh,
as as I've been traversing this world uh in business
and entrepreneurialism and stuff. Patrick and I always talk and
haven't said this in a while on the radio. First
generation immigrants are the most hustling folks ever. Some My
hat off to you on that. Thank you. You feel
(18:15):
it the drive, you figure out you got grit, you
got hustle, which is which is? Uh? You know some
of our core values you.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Listen to Jack Show. I mean, I know you definition
of grit.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
And maybe that was the last time that we really
said it, but hats off to you.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Thank you thank you.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
So. First question, Jackie is from Bogota, Colombia. I grew
up in Caracas, but my grandfather was from Spain, so
a lot of my family had moved back to Spain
after many, many years.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
So my roots are in Spain.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
But I am a proud Venezuela and proud Latina and yes,
you're right, we first generation immigrants.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
We have this drive.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
And I tell you why, I think personally is when
you leave everything behind, everything you know, your family, your friends,
your community, excuse me, your culture. You do it for
a reason. I'm not gonna come here to be mediocre
or I have to make it. I have to make
it worth.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
If I come here and leave all of that behind,
it's gotta be to make something big, to make it different.
And now that we have children, to inspire our children
and say, listen, if we did this with the limited
opportunities that we had, this guy's the limit for you.
And that's one of the things I want to do
with my company. Yes, I love selling wine. I'm incredibly
(19:34):
passionate about it. However, the other part of my business
is I want to inspire women to go after what
they want. I started this at forty three, not knowing
anything about wine, not after having three kids, and now
I have not only an importer production company, I have
a distribution company. We distribute in North Carolina, South Carolina
(19:58):
with Distributing Georgia, partner with bud Weiser in most states,
and they're my distributor. I have great relationship with them.
I also have an online story and we ship to
forty eight states. So if I can do all of
that and I get to inspire at least one woman
to go after what she wants, I consider myself success.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Well, goodness, gracious, I had one other thing to say
that doesn't get you, and now I have another editive.
Number one. I think women, powerful women have the best opportunity.
You go do it, and y'all are so smart. Number two,
and I agree with you wholeheartedly. Number two. In my
travels throughout the Latin world and stuff, I so love
(20:40):
how the family is the central and how relationships are
central to it. And they say, if somebody has things
to do and they see an old friend, they might
stop and drop everything and visit. And my wife's to
stay at home mom with five kids, and that's very
important and you did the same, So congratulations.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Thank you, thank you. Yeah, it's like I said, it
means a lot to me.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
And if I can, especially to Latina women and Black women,
if I can talk to them and say, hey, you
can do this too, because we have so much self
doubt and sometimes we are peeded against each other. And
the care value of my company is believing one another
and writes together. So if I believe in their project,
they believe in mind we work together, the opportunities are there.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Ye say the quote a rising tide, that's you always
it raises all ships.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
He says that quite often.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
But if you can't feel the passionate energy at a Marianna,
listen to this show.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
I feel it's remarkable.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
And I follow you on LinkedIn, which you can find
the show on Trent And everything you say is it's
so uplifting. I mean, you can down that I'm meeting
you and hearing you the way you talk about your company,
your family and just in general.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
It's the real deal. And thank you. And people see that.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I know that you're putting stuff out there and read
it and and it's important that you have that positivity
in that uplifting voice.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
But I also want to put the bat out because
it's not all success and fun and money.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
There is a lot of challenges, a lot of frustration,
a lot.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Of what the heck am I doing? What did I
get myself into? And I think when we celebrate the
small victories, those little victories carry you through the bad days, like,
oh but I did that, and I did that, so
that means I can do this too. I just got
to keep pushing forward.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
And sometimes you have to look back.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
And I know that a lot of places tell you
not to, but look back to where you were and
where you are now to find where you've been through
these things before, because it builds confidence on the next,
on the next hurdle that you're going to jump through.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Totally agree with that.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Yeah, especially in a business that's filled with rejection.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Oh yeah, I know.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
I always tell my salespeople, you know, on twenty doors,
hoping that one opens, So don't expect oh twenty to open.
You'll get more nose than yes. But when you get
a yes, then you stick with that one and you
keep going.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
And out of that one that opens, out of the
twenty that opens, one might actually buy from you.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Oh one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, so I mean there's there's a there's an equation
that you can work with that.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
But no, I totally agree.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I mean persistence and resiliency is so important in any
of our business is the same way you see it
through what Jack does. I mean, the construction industry can
be can be tense and can be dealing with pitfalls
and things like that problems, but anything can be overcome.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
I have a friend, one of my best friends, and
every time I vent to her and I say, oh,
this is happening, this and that, she always comes back
with the same thing.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
She says, Honey, it's cold living. And that puts.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
Everything in perspective for me. And I'm like, Okay, never mind,
I'm gonna go back to work.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
I heard that Tim McGraw's got a sound like that.
Oh yeah, I will say. It's good to have a
good partner at home, Patrick, and I give Reagan and
Jody some compliments here. The good sounding boards just good.
And Jack as well entrepreneurs, so you are able to
bounce some early business ideas off of him. And I'm
sure he helped coach you a little bit.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
My goodness, he helps in everything. And not only that,
but I am in a privileged position to start this
business because of everything that he's done for the past
twenty years.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Well in a treaty.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Mike Jack's a EO member as well, so we see.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Did not know that.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
Oh yes, he has been an amazing community. He's very,
very glad to have joined.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
I'm super proud of him for that.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
The entrepreneur organization.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
That's my goal. I'm sure next year. Yes, I'm not
quite there yet, but i will be.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Oh, yes, all right serious, Yes that is good. Yeah.
My goal was always uh for Patrick to join on
the businesses that he leads YPO Young President's Organization, which
I've been in for fourteen years now, uh and and
through time able to do it. But joined e O
for the whole different perspective a network, because because he
(24:43):
already gets a lot of my my annual.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Face and I think, you know, all the benefits that
come with it are great. But I think the most
important part is the fact that this is a lonely
journey being an entrepreneur. And when you have other people
that share the same challenges and the same obstacles and
you can share that journey and support each other, oh
my gosh, it makes such a big difference.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
It really does. You cry on each other's shoulders. But everybody, Uh,
I'm in a family business form, so we're lead generational
family businesses, whether there's two generations or eight generations. And
we named ourselves twelve years ago, same same boat, because
we're all on the same boat, and when we start talking,
(25:24):
we all have the same stories, no matter big or smaller.
What it is? So nice country song about that too?
Isn't there is there? I think it's Zach Brown. I
don't know, man, you gotta stop dropping. I'm not psychic.
Number one and number two I have a bad memory
and couldn'ts I just listen to this.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
There's that country something for everything that there is. That's
Johnny Cash.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
I mean, come on, hey, I heard that. Well cool. Well, uh,
we'll get into another subject when we return, but uh,
I'm excited. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
I want to know where you can where you can
find partners in great wine? Oh hey, let's hit that
on a couple of thisgments. So folks that are listening
and hear your energy obviously would love to go out
and buy your product.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Where can we find it?
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Yeah, I mean the easiest way to find us is
you go on our website, which is Partners and Grapes
dot com. There's a story locator and you type in
whatever you are and it'll show you if you're in
the Charlotte area. I'm sure everyone in town knows Southern Spirits,
state Line, Elite, Yogle, McDougall, we're in all of those.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Very cool. Patrick, it seems like Partner and Grapes dot com.
You need to go Christmas shopping for Jody. That's right. Uh,
get her some fresh organic wine for Christmas. Man. Yeah,
this wine is called bundercous and we cannot find it anywhere,
but it's got to be. It's gotta be it.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Yeah, we'll talk about it.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Eyeballs, just did goodness gracious through them sweet shades. Will
you stick around for the last segment on the special
people make the last segment. Marianna also and return Partners
and Grapes dot com. Welcome back, Get home with Roby.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
I'm Patrick mcaac from Roby Commercial and Services on a
twin Hayton from the Roby.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Family of their companies. We are your hosts. Man.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
We are having fun in here on a Sunday morning.
Got Mary and Asa here with Partners and grapes. We
are not drinking wine, but it kind of sounds pretty
good after here to talk about her product.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
If miss Last gave us a bottle, I know we'll
have to we'll have to check that. She might as
to listen to some of our shows because our good
guests bring us some of their product. I still don't
have a green juice. Oh yeah, I'm green Brothers so
Josh our guests last week said he has some great
care package. I'm over here backslapping him.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
He did get me into some forty four degree water.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Well I didn't well, and I didn't want that either.
I want a juice. So I just told it. I
just told a story of I'm sure Marianna is gonna
go get the product, but I think a grosserro oute.
Halfway through the story, I told it to see if
I it uh the diva, the Latina diva, get her
(28:05):
a little off off hilter. And I think it worked
because you're like, what am I hearing now?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
I just you know, I'm yes, you listen.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
You never you never know what's gonna come out of
his mouth. He's he's, he's, he's pretty good these days,
But the earlier days of the radio.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Sometimes that got old.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
I was expecting some type of wisdom in the end,
but it didn't come.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
It was just about the story.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
It was wisdom. I think the moral.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
The moral of that story was Reagan is always right
and Trent is never right. Well, what I knew that,
And that's how it goes in my house as well.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
I said, why we get along? So I was playing
golf week ago with some guys in this tournament and
I started telling the story about the West Side and
they said, okay, you got a two whole limit. Story
has to be over by the time we tee off
on two whole. So hunt, I said, this is a
good story. You might be selling yourself short if you
(29:03):
try to milk it. Yeah, So I drug it out
because then they wanted to hear the end true salesman,
I hear you, well, uh so, so tell me about it.
So you so you go over. You're in Barcelona and Spain.
You have this wine. That's great. You ask your girlfriend
what did you do to me? I feel so good?
(29:25):
And then uh you get this creative idea? So well,
I mean, give me, give me step one. How do
you reach out to a vineyard?
Speaker 4 (29:36):
I started visiting different vineyards and asking about their process.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I wanted.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
The first idea was I wanted that to be fully organic,
women own and family owned. Because there's so much mass
produced wine everywhere that I wanted something small. I wanted
something that was small batches uh, and a product that
wasn't here in the States I wanted. I knew the
flavor profiles that I wanted to create and I want
(30:03):
and I needed to talk to the owners and sort
of figure out a way to develop that product. It
took a few tries and then right place, at the
right time, we found the vineyard that was willing to
partner with us and grow with us.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Wow, and were you doing this on that trip or
once you got back.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
A different trip?
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Okay, it's been a future. It's I wanted to be
an importer. That's a story for we were an importer. Well,
my wife wanted to raise five children, though she told.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Me they were in the purse business.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Real from Italy.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Very interesting generational twel generation.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I think I'm adichi. But anyway, we got out of it.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Time there's still time.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
No, there's not time. There's time to keep plowing with
what we're plowing with. There you go, let's go. So,
uh are your kids interested in your business?
Speaker 4 (30:59):
They are in the sense that they feel inspired by
what I do and by what Jack does. My sixteen
year old, for example, already said, you know, he wants
to go to Clemson and he wants to major in
computer science. But he said, I want to have my
own business. I don't want to work for other people.
And you know that's that was our goal to inspire
(31:19):
them to look further than a nine to five.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
I hear you Clemson. Why Clemson in state tuition? Great school.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Oh I'm sitting here quiet and I'm letting her explain it.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
You over here doing that.
Speaker 4 (31:33):
And they do have an incredible computer science program. He's
very good at math. So I think it's a good
good match.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
When c Limpson is a great school, The hardest working
kids were either in computer science or architecture. That I
mean they were.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Any time you would go to computer lab, it's full
computer science folks, and then the architect folks would You
wouldn't see him for two weeks when they had their
studio time. So yeah, definitely, definitely a good major.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
And when you came to Charlotte you were studying, where
were you studying.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
I went to see and then I went to UNCC
to take a few Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Wow, Yeah, CP is such a great asset for our city.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
Yeah, and it has grown so much. When I first
moved here, it was tiny. Look at everything that they've
done and everything they provide the community.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
It's over eighty thousand people students attend you and you see,
I'm sure that's the old number. Two attend CPCC every year.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Wow. And we're big on the rock and they partner
with CP Trade School. Okay, Marianna, I know you gave
your culture of your company or your vision or mission statement.
What's one thing you live by and give your company
a plug again?
Speaker 4 (32:37):
The one thing I live by is gratitude, heart, work,
and persistence. And my shameless blog is if you want
a healthier and cleaner drinking experience, tried Partners and Grapes.
We're fully organic, vegan, no out at sugar, no out
at sulfights.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Partners and Grapes go by a bottle today. And I
don't know what you heard today, but what I heard
today was persistence gets there, Yes, and gratitude persist men, persist, persist.
Are you going shopping Patrick, I might, I might. So yeah.
I got a couple people I'm gonna ask you about
when we get off the air. My buddy Brian Ferris's
(33:17):
and the wine distribution business. Y'all might be rivals in catfight.
I don't know. Hey, but thanks for listening to At
Home with Ruby. Thanks for being here, Mary and Jna.
What a wonderful story, What a wonderful soul. You resonate
with your gratitude. Go do the Golden rule today. Treat
others the way you want to be treated, and carry
(33:39):
a smile around on your face. Thanks for listening to
At Home with Ruby.
Good morning, Welcome back Home with Roby.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Patrick mc isaac with Robe Commercial on Services along
with tred Hayson from the Roby family of companies.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
We are your hosts.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
WBT nine to ten eleven, ten am ninety nine point three.
We are here and it is cold outside Trent.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
It's definitely cold. Winter has a arrived. Yeah, I was
a little tardy this year, it was, but it came
with a little bit of a vengeance here.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
You know, we have not had a measurable snowstorm and
over a thousand days in Charlotte.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Well, let me tell you. We're recording this midweek before Sunday.
It wasn't measurable, but nothing happened.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I text you, I'm like, hey man, we've talked about
this on the show quite a bit, like recently. Recently,
I think some people did get some snow in the area.
But I tell you, I was like, hey man, get
the snowlight going. It's coming tonight.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Because we talked on a recent show about looking into
the floodlight as a kid when we're supposed to snow
and you see a piece of LNT. You're like, that
is snowing. He's like the sun get to work. This
Dame Moss will really get you to kind of hang
around look like a snowflake fluting. But anyway, nothing happened.
And where I lived at I had a buddy in
Belmont send me some frost on his car hood. It
(01:18):
was not snow, I don't think. And then Reagan said
they might have got a little bit of on the
north side of town. I think I don't know, but
but I could probably spit from where I lived to
Belmont and I didn't have any snow frost.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
That warm, warm kind of eats up that that moisture.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah, you know. And I always used to break my
heart when, uh, when we would get a you know,
three four inches of snow that lasts a day or two,
and as you drive down Bright Road towards the river,
it would it would just be wet. So we never
really got the snow unless it was like low twenties.
And you know, the river is a heater.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Can't be I give you a couple of degrees out there.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
It is. It is a warm heater.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Well, I you know, they said it was gonna come
through around one thirty in the morning. So I told
Scarlett d She said, well, I'm just setting alarm and
get up. And I was like, I'll get up with you.
I'll set an alarm. And then she got smart. She goes,
why don't you get up first? And if it's stewing,
come wake me up. But don't wake me up unless
it's snowing.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
I think Rowland says she was set her alarm, but
I don't think she got up either. I got bamboos
and I got up and went out in the cold.
It was cold, season of lists, a lot of things.
You know, calendar puts pressure on you. Yeah, I don't understand. Well,
we have to have pressure in this world.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Well, especially during the holiday. Isn't that supposed to be
the time where you're.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Speaking of such? When there's pressure on a pipe and
a pipe freezes, it'll bust. And that's why Rugby Services
can come fix your leak shameless plug? When? Uh? When
when it won't falls back out? Yes, when you notice
the leak, there's pressure on it. When it's a pressurized pipe.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
What was that two Christmases ago where it got down
to like eight degrees and pipes were busting everywhere?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
That must be when my I have a water line
to the boat dog and it got down the first
cold night here, like twenty six and we didn't drain
it and take the pressure off of it, open the
valves and cut it off. But it didn't bust because
of the heat coming from the river. Thank you the
pipe saving real. I tell you, I did turn on
the space heater in my well house last night. I
(03:23):
saw it was gonna get down to twenty two for
and be below freezing for about ten hours. I didn't
want to wake up this morning and me, my five
kids that go to school and my wife not have water.
That would have definitely been your fault, it would Yeah,
So I turned the space here on, smashed my finger,
did it all, ran my power bill up. My power
(03:44):
bill was looking like on a national lampoon's vacation. When
this Christmas Christmas lights are going.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
They hit that side auxiliary breaker he put the only thing.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
They have meters like that on my house today they
hide it. Yeah, yeah, they're digital. Yeah, I've never knew it.
I was the part owner in an electrical business. Never
knew that I'm not a part owner in a power company. Well,
I might have in my four to one k and
a little piece of DUP power Dominion Energy. What are
you about to tell us? I want to see that
(04:15):
thing spinning. I want to see the reaction to the
meter when I go cut off all my kids' lights
all evening long.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
You went that fidelity count. It's cecon as your meters
go off.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
The other morning, I went up, I wake my girls up.
They're already up. I just kind of like to go
up and help them a little bit and say I
love you. And they all share a bedroom and I said, hey,
they were kind of groggy. I said, I'm gonna cut
the light on outside. Do y'all need it? And they said, well,
we don't need it, we're already up, but you can
leave it on. I said, well, just make sure when
you come down, please cut it off. That was at
six point fifteen am. At six fifteen pm, I was
(04:52):
the only one home and the light was still on.
And this is like eight recess cans in the music
room or whatever room, art room. It was the music
room now it's an art room, computer room, classroom for
COVID room. There's a lot of things that room. You've
got li D bulbs come on. That's what I'm trying
to get at. You know, so you sound like Reagan
(05:13):
She's like, it really isn't burning that much, it's energy.
You need to calm down. Though. They're running joke in
my family is my dad. If you leave a door
cracked or open for more than six milliseconds, he starts
to be losing it. Okay, I like your dad. Me
and your dad get along really well. He's kind of
hard of hearing, so I think that's somewhere we really bond.
(05:35):
And he was a salesman's career. He's been on a
radio man. He's a great guy. Uh. You know, sometimes
we go off and talk about sports. Sometimes we talk
about politics. No, I'm incorrect, I'm kidding. We never talk
about politics. Sometimes we talk about other current events. This
time is was weather. But as you listen to the
(05:55):
show on Sunday, s MU will have played Clemson in
the ACC Championship. You're gonna get me back in Charlotte
on Saturday wins? Who wins? Patrick?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Well, let me tell you what. I'm real quick. I
know we got to go to a break. But they're
telling people. People are telling SMU not to play.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I wouldn't play if I had to play Clemson because
in there they're probably end even if they don't play.
But if they play and they lose their I promise
you this, there'll be a hefty fine if they don't play.
Championship Tigers. Clinton set up our guest. Patrick got Mary
Anna Ossa who is in the wine business, brought us
some wine. Right wise, what was going on? Ralph organic
(06:35):
wine to boot her husband Jack as has been he's
a rag, he's a he's an architect, self made entrepreneur.
I can't wait to hear your story, boss lady, when
we return. Marianna, you're listening to At Home with Roby.
Welcome back to Get Home with Roby.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Patrick Ka from Roby Commercial and Services, along with Trent Kayson,
the Ruby family of the company's we are your hosts.
You miss the last segment talking all things weather stuff,
funny stuff, but go back and check it out. You
can find us anywhere podcasts are found. Trull We got
a special guest in the studio. This is not the
first time we've had both a husband and wife come
(07:17):
on the show.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I think it might be.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
We've done it a couple of times, sometimes together, sometimes together,
and that's when the.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Cat fight happens. Don't be getting crazy over here. Marianna,
I got you, You got me. I like the shades.
Our shades kind of match. You still have your zone.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
It's a fashion statement.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I gotta to look less as you're outfit.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Trend's a very fashionable fellow. He's usually with the times
on the trend.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
I can tell.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah, me too. Well. I rode Reagan how to teach
Sunday school all. I'm always cutting it close. I rode
to church on my own this past Sunday. So I
was like, I'm gonna listen Doug on radio show a
little bit. So I called you come in on the
second segment. You said, facebook x hashtag and catch it
(08:05):
on whatever you said. Man, I won on Instagram, Facebook
and LinkedIn.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
How are you doing, Marianna, I couldn't be better. Good
beautiful day here in the Carolinas. Thank you so much
for having me.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Yeah, it's so nice to meet you. You too.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yeah, we know that you're the you know, the the smarter,
better and a stronger entrepreneur of the family.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
I'm the brain behind.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
We happy to have you. Yeah, we had to have you.
Thank you well. Well, well, I invited. I'm in a
YPO Young President organization. I was teeing up one of
my buddies, and uh, he asked what we're going to
talk about, and I said, hey, you know, we talked
about entrepreneur stuff. Some people talk about generational family business stuff.
You know, it's kind of like the variety. But you
come from a household of entrepreneurism.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Indeed.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Indeed, and uh, without even knowing it, I work for
Corpora America. When I first moved to the States twenty
six years ago. Uh, little did I know I was
going to start a waye business after being a stay
at home mom for thirteen years.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Wow, So did you did you move so you moved
directly to Charlotte when you came over?
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Or yes?
Speaker 4 (09:07):
I was born and raised in Kadakas, Venezuela, and moved
to the States after college and fell in love with
the Carolinas. I know it sounds super corny every time
I say it, but there's something about the southern hospitality
that I fell in love with and I never left.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Well in something about Charlotte. I might sound corny too,
but everybody who asked me that's not from here. What
do I think about Charlotte? ID say, it's the best
country in the world.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
In the world. I'm sorry, the best country. It's a
country best, but you know, every time you come back here.
I don't know if this is political or not, but
Trump told Trudeau that Canda could Canada could be our
fifty first state. Yeah. I saw that. Hell, I'm not
touching that.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
I won't go there.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah. Anyways, whenever we come speaking of Charlotte becoming a country.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Anywhere, it's not becoming a country. But yeah, I always say,
it's just such something about this area that it just
gets gets in your blood.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Completely.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
I was in love with it, not only I mean
the diversity, how welcome I felt. I mean ever since
I moved here and I got married here, I had
my children here, built a community, and like I said,
never left.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So where did you and Jack? Mate?
Speaker 4 (10:13):
We met here in Charlotte through a friend. That's uh,
that was twenty some years ago. We met, we hung out,
we were friends, and we went from being friends to
oh my gosh, I'm completely in love with this man.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
And we'll have our twentieth wedding anniversary in about two weeks.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Very cool, very rightly, thank.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
You, thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
I'm not gonna I'm not just not on twenty one
down yeah, married in four.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yes, December seventeenth four.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah, quick, I'm working on sixteen West, some years under.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Our elderly like Marianna Refreshed's on the kids.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Yes, three beautiful, amazing, talented children. Jacob is sixteen, Julian
is thirteen, and Jonah is eight.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Wow. Yep, yeah, okay, So I got a sixteen, A four,
fifteen or thirteen, A nine and a four. So we're closed.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah, so you got a new driver at home?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Yeah? Yeah, I do definitely have a driver. I said
this the other day, like to go get dinner at
nine o'clock. Reagan's like, well, Tatum can go, and this
dark outside, I'm like, well, somebody gonna ride with her?
And I was, y'all, girl's gonna ride with She's like
she can go to Taco Bell by herself.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
And I'm like, oh, it's a new feeling.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, a little tough. Yeah, I mean that that has
to be a little bit weird. But Meagan's like, I
drove to the beach by myself at night when I
was sixteen. Take that, well, I'm not your dad. I
did it when I was fourteen. Reagu Oh, kiddy, oh kitty. So,
so you were came to Charlotte. Did you get your
(11:54):
job in Charlotte you already had your job? No?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
I actually I came here to study and got hired
by a company. I worked for a home builder for
a few years, worked in mainly real estate mortgages, and
loved it. But when I had my first child, Jacob,
who's now sixteen year driver, I looked at him and
I said to Jack, I want to be home with him.
(12:17):
And we work hard, made arrangements financially so I could
stay at home.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
And I did it for thirteen years.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
But as you probably don't know, but once you become
a stay at home mom and you stayed home for
that long, I felt kind of lost. I felt like
I was either someone's mom or someone's wife. But I
sort of lost my identity and I needed something for myself.
So yeah, when I started Partners in Grapes three and
a half years ago, which is my wine company, yeah,
(12:45):
it became the dream I didn't know I had.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
So tell us about that. What gave you the idea?
Why wine?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
You tell us your story, I mean, what sparked you
to start this business.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Completely out of nowhere? So I always loved wine, but
I couldn't drink it. I always, after a glass or two,
I will get this massive headache.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
And in my case, I have severe.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
Food allergies, some allergic to apples, cherries, a whole bunch
of stuff that are super weird, and wine gave me
an allergic reaction.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
So in my case, and I'm saying in my.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Case, because other people have different reactions, it was the
added sugar, the additives in general, so I could never
enjoy wine. Now, three and a half years ago, we
went to Spain to visit my family and I was
in Barcelona. Went to a wine bar and I was
hanging out with a good friend of mine and I
was like, girl, I cannot have wine and I'll have
vodka whatever, but I'm not having wine. And she was like, hey,
(13:37):
we're in a super nice wine bar here in Barcelona,
you're having wine. So long story short, I ended up
having five glasses of wine, and I thought for sure
I was gonna feel like hot garbage the next day.
Woke up the next morning felt amazing. So I called
my friend, I say, what kind of witchcraft wine did
you give me last night?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
That I feel so good? And she was like, it's
organic wine.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
I started researching right there and there in Barcelona, started
googling stuff, and I understood that the wines that I
had been drinking had a bunch of additives. Like the
FDA here in the States allows you to put wine
in seventy two additives into wine and you don't have
to put them on the label as a wine maker. So,
knowing I wasn't the only one with that problem, I
(14:21):
decided I'm going to do something about it. I wanted
to get into this, so I started visiting vineyards and
trying to find a way to partner with them in
creating my own wine. And I gotta say, I gotta
give credit to my husband, Jack, because my first idea was.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I'm going to import wine.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
And he said, well, if you're going to do all
of that work, why don't you create your own And
I said, yeah, I can do that now.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
I had this inner voice in my head that said, the.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
Hell do you know about running a wine company and
creating wine, importing, distribute. You didn't know anything about that.
But if I had listened to that voice, I would
be missing out on this incredible adventure that I got
myself into. Three and a half years ago, so I
brought my first two wines here, didn't know anything about it,
(15:08):
started learning about importing distribution, created my own distribution company
because I couldn't find a distributor at the time, and
little by little we're being growing the entire thing.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Wow, is that is organic wine? Is that a European thing?
I mean the reason I asked, we recently went to
Germany and my wife likes is a big wine. She
likes white wine. It had some wine in Germany that
we can't find here, but she was like something about
it just tasted different, and I don't know, I don't
know if it was organic or not, but she kept
telling about how fresh it felt and how did that
(15:41):
just had a different taste and a different feeling the
next morning.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
Yeah, I mean, organic is a trend now in the
US that's growing in Oregon and other parts. But in
Europe it's been going on for years and the regulations
are a lot more strict than in the US. And
it all starts with the soil not using pesticize for
the lysers, herbicide, none of that, and some of those
are still allowed in the States. So, yeah, what your
(16:07):
wife is looking for it's definitely organic mines.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
So the definition of organic is no additives yea, even
in starting with the soil.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
And because it takes about five years to have a
soil that's completely organic.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Wow. Yeah. And then you don't put additives in the wine?
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Correct?
Speaker 4 (16:24):
No preservatives, no either sugar, no colorants, none of that stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Got it. The addictive stuff that's what they used to
put in them. Cancer sticks.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Well, in all fairness, you know alcohol could be addictive.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
So I recommend drinking in moderation.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
But you know, just like we make better choices in
drinking and eating, I think we should do the same
thing in and drinking fast.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Okay, fascinating, Marianna, this is so cool. I got something
to say when we return. You're listening to that Home
with Roby. Welcome back to head Home with Roby.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Patrick mcasa from Rouby Commercial in Services along with Trent
Hayson from the Ruby family of Companies. We are with
Mary Anna Asa from Partners and Grapes. If you missed
the last couple of segments, Man, we are getting educated.
I love that about our shows that I would I
didn't know anything about organic wine.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Now I feel like I know enough to be dangerous.
What well? Uh, yeah, you had something. Where can they
find us? Where can they find you? Didn't say it?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Well, I was going to but uh maybe Instagram, LinkedIn
and Facebook you can find the podcast where you can
find them anywhere podcast.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
I was sweating. Thanks, Okay, I want to ask, uh,
I can't remember where I got a couple questions for you, Marianna.
Number one, Uh, where Jack is from? Is in Venezuela.
Number two you said you're from Venezuela. Uh, but but
you went to Spain to visit your family. Uh. And
(17:53):
number number three, I wanted to make a point, uh,
as as I've been traversing this world uh in business
and entrepreneurialism and stuff. Patrick and I always talk and
haven't said this in a while on the radio. First
generation immigrants are the most hustling folks ever. Some My
hat off to you on that. Thank you. You feel
(18:15):
it the drive, you figure out you got grit, you
got hustle, which is which is? Uh? You know some
of our core values you.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Listen to Jack Show. I mean, I know you definition
of grit.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
And maybe that was the last time that we really
said it, but hats off to you.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Thank you thank you.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
So. First question, Jackie is from Bogota, Colombia. I grew
up in Caracas, but my grandfather was from Spain, so
a lot of my family had moved back to Spain
after many, many years.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
So my roots are in Spain.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
But I am a proud Venezuela and proud Latina and yes,
you're right, we first generation immigrants.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
We have this drive.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
And I tell you why, I think personally is when
you leave everything behind, everything you know, your family, your friends,
your community, excuse me, your culture. You do it for
a reason. I'm not gonna come here to be mediocre
or I have to make it. I have to make
it worth.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
If I come here and leave all of that behind,
it's gotta be to make something big, to make it different.
And now that we have children, to inspire our children
and say, listen, if we did this with the limited
opportunities that we had, this guy's the limit for you.
And that's one of the things I want to do
with my company. Yes, I love selling wine. I'm incredibly
(19:34):
passionate about it. However, the other part of my business
is I want to inspire women to go after what
they want. I started this at forty three, not knowing
anything about wine, not after having three kids, and now
I have not only an importer production company, I have
a distribution company. We distribute in North Carolina, South Carolina
(19:58):
with Distributing Georgia, partner with bud Weiser in most states,
and they're my distributor. I have great relationship with them.
I also have an online story and we ship to
forty eight states. So if I can do all of
that and I get to inspire at least one woman
to go after what she wants, I consider myself success.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Well, goodness, gracious, I had one other thing to say
that doesn't get you, and now I have another editive.
Number one. I think women, powerful women have the best opportunity.
You go do it, and y'all are so smart. Number two,
and I agree with you wholeheartedly. Number two. In my
travels throughout the Latin world and stuff, I so love
(20:40):
how the family is the central and how relationships are
central to it. And they say, if somebody has things
to do and they see an old friend, they might
stop and drop everything and visit. And my wife's to
stay at home mom with five kids, and that's very
important and you did the same, So congratulations.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Thank you, thank you. Yeah, it's like I said, it
means a lot to me.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
And if I can, especially to Latina women and Black women,
if I can talk to them and say, hey, you
can do this too, because we have so much self
doubt and sometimes we are peeded against each other. And
the care value of my company is believing one another
and writes together. So if I believe in their project,
they believe in mind we work together, the opportunities are there.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Ye say the quote a rising tide, that's you always
it raises all ships.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
He says that quite often.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
But if you can't feel the passionate energy at a Marianna,
listen to this show.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
I feel it's remarkable.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
And I follow you on LinkedIn, which you can find
the show on Trent And everything you say is it's
so uplifting. I mean, you can down that I'm meeting
you and hearing you the way you talk about your company,
your family and just in general.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
It's the real deal. And thank you. And people see that.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I know that you're putting stuff out there and read
it and and it's important that you have that positivity
in that uplifting voice.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
But I also want to put the bat out because
it's not all success and fun and money.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
There is a lot of challenges, a lot of frustration,
a lot.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Of what the heck am I doing? What did I
get myself into? And I think when we celebrate the
small victories, those little victories carry you through the bad days, like,
oh but I did that, and I did that, so
that means I can do this too. I just got
to keep pushing forward.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
And sometimes you have to look back.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
And I know that a lot of places tell you
not to, but look back to where you were and
where you are now to find where you've been through
these things before, because it builds confidence on the next,
on the next hurdle that you're going to jump through.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Totally agree with that.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Yeah, especially in a business that's filled with rejection.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Oh yeah, I know.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
I always tell my salespeople, you know, on twenty doors,
hoping that one opens, So don't expect oh twenty to open.
You'll get more nose than yes. But when you get
a yes, then you stick with that one and you
keep going.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
And out of that one that opens, out of the
twenty that opens, one might actually buy from you.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Oh one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, so I mean there's there's a there's an equation
that you can work with that.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
But no, I totally agree.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I mean persistence and resiliency is so important in any
of our business is the same way you see it
through what Jack does. I mean, the construction industry can
be can be tense and can be dealing with pitfalls
and things like that problems, but anything can be overcome.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
I have a friend, one of my best friends, and
every time I vent to her and I say, oh,
this is happening, this and that, she always comes back
with the same thing.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
She says, Honey, it's cold living. And that puts.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
Everything in perspective for me. And I'm like, Okay, never mind,
I'm gonna go back to work.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
I heard that Tim McGraw's got a sound like that.
Oh yeah, I will say. It's good to have a
good partner at home, Patrick, and I give Reagan and
Jody some compliments here. The good sounding boards just good.
And Jack as well entrepreneurs, so you are able to
bounce some early business ideas off of him. And I'm
sure he helped coach you a little bit.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
My goodness, he helps in everything. And not only that,
but I am in a privileged position to start this
business because of everything that he's done for the past
twenty years.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Well in a treaty.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Mike Jack's a EO member as well, so we see.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Did not know that.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
Oh yes, he has been an amazing community. He's very,
very glad to have joined.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
I'm super proud of him for that.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
The entrepreneur organization.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
That's my goal. I'm sure next year. Yes, I'm not
quite there yet, but i will be.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Oh, yes, all right serious, Yes that is good. Yeah.
My goal was always uh for Patrick to join on
the businesses that he leads YPO Young President's Organization, which
I've been in for fourteen years now, uh and and
through time able to do it. But joined e O
for the whole different perspective a network, because because he
(24:43):
already gets a lot of my my annual.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Face and I think, you know, all the benefits that
come with it are great. But I think the most
important part is the fact that this is a lonely
journey being an entrepreneur. And when you have other people
that share the same challenges and the same obstacles and
you can share that journey and support each other, oh
my gosh, it makes such a big difference.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
It really does. You cry on each other's shoulders. But everybody, Uh,
I'm in a family business form, so we're lead generational
family businesses, whether there's two generations or eight generations. And
we named ourselves twelve years ago, same same boat, because
we're all on the same boat, and when we start talking,
(25:24):
we all have the same stories, no matter big or smaller.
What it is? So nice country song about that too?
Isn't there is there? I think it's Zach Brown. I
don't know, man, you gotta stop dropping. I'm not psychic.
Number one and number two I have a bad memory
and couldn'ts I just listen to this.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
There's that country something for everything that there is. That's
Johnny Cash.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
I mean, come on, hey, I heard that. Well cool. Well, uh,
we'll get into another subject when we return, but uh,
I'm excited. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
I want to know where you can where you can
find partners in great wine? Oh hey, let's hit that
on a couple of thisgments. So folks that are listening
and hear your energy obviously would love to go out
and buy your product.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Where can we find it?
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Yeah, I mean the easiest way to find us is
you go on our website, which is Partners and Grapes
dot com. There's a story locator and you type in
whatever you are and it'll show you if you're in
the Charlotte area. I'm sure everyone in town knows Southern Spirits,
state Line, Elite, Yogle, McDougall, we're in all of those.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Very cool. Patrick, it seems like Partner and Grapes dot com.
You need to go Christmas shopping for Jody. That's right. Uh,
get her some fresh organic wine for Christmas. Man. Yeah,
this wine is called bundercous and we cannot find it anywhere,
but it's got to be. It's gotta be it.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Yeah, we'll talk about it.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Eyeballs, just did goodness gracious through them sweet shades. Will
you stick around for the last segment on the special
people make the last segment. Marianna also and return Partners
and Grapes dot com. Welcome back, Get home with Roby.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
I'm Patrick mcaac from Roby Commercial and Services on a
twin Hayton from the Roby.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Family of their companies. We are your hosts. Man.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
We are having fun in here on a Sunday morning.
Got Mary and Asa here with Partners and grapes. We
are not drinking wine, but it kind of sounds pretty
good after here to talk about her product.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
If miss Last gave us a bottle, I know we'll
have to we'll have to check that. She might as
to listen to some of our shows because our good
guests bring us some of their product. I still don't
have a green juice. Oh yeah, I'm green Brothers so
Josh our guests last week said he has some great
care package. I'm over here backslapping him.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
He did get me into some forty four degree water.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Well I didn't well, and I didn't want that either.
I want a juice. So I just told it. I
just told a story of I'm sure Marianna is gonna
go get the product, but I think a grosserro oute.
Halfway through the story, I told it to see if
I it uh the diva, the Latina diva, get her
(28:05):
a little off off hilter. And I think it worked
because you're like, what am I hearing now?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
I just you know, I'm yes, you listen.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
You never you never know what's gonna come out of
his mouth. He's he's, he's, he's pretty good these days,
But the earlier days of the radio.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Sometimes that got old.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
I was expecting some type of wisdom in the end,
but it didn't come.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
It was just about the story.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
It was wisdom. I think the moral.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
The moral of that story was Reagan is always right
and Trent is never right. Well, what I knew that,
And that's how it goes in my house as well.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
I said, why we get along? So I was playing
golf week ago with some guys in this tournament and
I started telling the story about the West Side and
they said, okay, you got a two whole limit. Story
has to be over by the time we tee off
on two whole. So hunt, I said, this is a
good story. You might be selling yourself short if you
(29:03):
try to milk it. Yeah, So I drug it out
because then they wanted to hear the end true salesman,
I hear you, well, uh so, so tell me about it.
So you so you go over. You're in Barcelona and Spain.
You have this wine. That's great. You ask your girlfriend
what did you do to me? I feel so good?
(29:25):
And then uh you get this creative idea? So well,
I mean, give me, give me step one. How do
you reach out to a vineyard?
Speaker 4 (29:36):
I started visiting different vineyards and asking about their process.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I wanted.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
The first idea was I wanted that to be fully organic,
women own and family owned. Because there's so much mass
produced wine everywhere that I wanted something small. I wanted
something that was small batches uh, and a product that
wasn't here in the States I wanted. I knew the
flavor profiles that I wanted to create and I want
(30:03):
and I needed to talk to the owners and sort
of figure out a way to develop that product. It
took a few tries and then right place, at the
right time, we found the vineyard that was willing to
partner with us and grow with us.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Wow, and were you doing this on that trip or
once you got back.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
A different trip?
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Okay, it's been a future. It's I wanted to be
an importer. That's a story for we were an importer. Well,
my wife wanted to raise five children, though she told.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Me they were in the purse business.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Real from Italy.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Very interesting generational twel generation.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I think I'm adichi. But anyway, we got out of it.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Time there's still time.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
No, there's not time. There's time to keep plowing with
what we're plowing with. There you go, let's go. So,
uh are your kids interested in your business?
Speaker 4 (30:59):
They are in the sense that they feel inspired by
what I do and by what Jack does. My sixteen
year old, for example, already said, you know, he wants
to go to Clemson and he wants to major in
computer science. But he said, I want to have my
own business. I don't want to work for other people.
And you know that's that was our goal to inspire
(31:19):
them to look further than a nine to five.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
I hear you Clemson. Why Clemson in state tuition? Great school.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Oh I'm sitting here quiet and I'm letting her explain it.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
You over here doing that.
Speaker 4 (31:33):
And they do have an incredible computer science program. He's
very good at math. So I think it's a good
good match.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
When c Limpson is a great school, The hardest working
kids were either in computer science or architecture. That I
mean they were.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Any time you would go to computer lab, it's full
computer science folks, and then the architect folks would You
wouldn't see him for two weeks when they had their
studio time. So yeah, definitely, definitely a good major.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
And when you came to Charlotte you were studying, where
were you studying.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
I went to see and then I went to UNCC
to take a few Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Wow, Yeah, CP is such a great asset for our city.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
Yeah, and it has grown so much. When I first
moved here, it was tiny. Look at everything that they've
done and everything they provide the community.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
It's over eighty thousand people students attend you and you see,
I'm sure that's the old number. Two attend CPCC every year.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Wow. And we're big on the rock and they partner
with CP Trade School. Okay, Marianna, I know you gave
your culture of your company or your vision or mission statement.
What's one thing you live by and give your company
a plug again?
Speaker 4 (32:37):
The one thing I live by is gratitude, heart, work,
and persistence. And my shameless blog is if you want
a healthier and cleaner drinking experience, tried Partners and Grapes.
We're fully organic, vegan, no out at sugar, no out
at sulfights.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Partners and Grapes go by a bottle today. And I
don't know what you heard today, but what I heard
today was persistence gets there, Yes, and gratitude persist men, persist, persist.
Are you going shopping Patrick, I might, I might. So yeah.
I got a couple people I'm gonna ask you about
when we get off the air. My buddy Brian Ferris's
(33:17):
and the wine distribution business. Y'all might be rivals in catfight.
I don't know. Hey, but thanks for listening to At
Home with Ruby. Thanks for being here, Mary and Jna.
What a wonderful story, What a wonderful soul. You resonate
with your gratitude. Go do the Golden rule today. Treat
others the way you want to be treated, and carry
(33:39):
a smile around on your face. Thanks for listening to
At Home with Ruby.
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