August 5, 2023 • 44 mins
Join Dr. Lewis in a conversation with Nicole Anderson, CEO/Founder of HER Wine. Nicole is a winemaker, speaker, and professional marketer who has deftly blended her passion for wine with her experience as a recent breast cancer survivor to create a brand that is both inspiring and relatable. Through HER Wine, Nicole has created a brand that is reflective of herself and her peers. Email: info@herwine.com
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FOWN Radio. I got the IDid you know women represent just three percent
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of Fortune five hundred CEOs and lessthan fifteen percent of corporate executives at top
companies worldwide. Have you wondered whatthe secrets are to getting into the top
ranks, whether in the private orpublic sector? Do you want to figure
out how to stop being held backin your career? Are passed over for
(01:17):
promotion, then you're in the rightplace. Hi. I'm doctor Madelonian Lewis,
President and CEO of the Executive Women'sSuccess Institute. I have decades of
experience in the military, the federalgovernment, and corporate America, and my
mission is to help women succeed andtap into their full potential. I want
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to reach a million plus women aroundthe world to become the leaders they are
meant to be. So if youwant to move into a management or executive
level position, or maybe you're afemale veteran transitioning out of the military into
business entrepreneurship, then reach out tothe Executive Women's Success Institute at three zero
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one six nine three three two eightfour. Let us get you on the
fast track to success. Well.Hello, and welcome to the Success for
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Women's Show, where you can viewus on Talk for TV and listen to
us on the Women for Women Network. I am doctor Madeline and Lewis your
host, and my mission is tohelp women accelerate the path to success.
Well. Today's topic is why Wewind w I N E. And my
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guest is Nicole Anderson. Let megive you just a little bit of background
on Nicole Anderson. Nicole Anderson isa wine may speaker and professional marketeer who
has definitely blended her passion for winewith her experience as a recent breast cancer
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survivor to create a brand that isboth inspiring and relatable. After being diagnosed
with stage two breast cancer. InDecember of twenty twenty one. Nicole used
her diagnosis as an opportunity to exploreher own happiness and joy, discovering that
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a glass of wine was always acomforting part of her treatment journey. Nicole
released two new sparkling wines in commemorationof her cancer journey, aptly named A
Toast to Me, A Bubbly Reasoning, and limited addition, Bubbly Rose,
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where proceeds are donated to I WillSurvive, which is a nonprofit breast cancer
organization. Her wine, which standsfor having evolved repeatedly, represents her resilience,
determination, and creativity. I'd liketo introduce my guests, Miss Nicole
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Anderson. Hello, Hi, howare you. It's so great to have
you on the show. I knowit took us a little while to get
here, but that's okay. We'rehere now, We are here now.
I am doing fantastic, So honoredto be here, so excited to have
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this conversation and to chat while wewhine. Absolutely, so let me just
get started. One of the thingsI like to do. I always give
the standard bio on my guests,but then I like to ask the guests
for them to tell us, Soyou tell us what you want us to
know about Nicole Anderson. Oh man, that's always a that's always a fun
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one. So for you did sucha great job. So I appreciate that
introduction. Let alone. I thinkif I was to add anything to it,
I would say that I started outon this journey just as a lover
of wine. I have no wineexperience prior to this. I started this
journey in twenty eighteen making wine atmy house, so literally learning how to
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use kits. I was bored withwine at the time. Everything was muscatto
this, muscatto that, and Iwas like, there's gotta be more.
And I decided to just give ita shot Google YouTube Academy. I was
like, oh, there's people whoare making wine at their house and like
doing this on their own. Whynot? And you know a little with
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down the line. A few monthslater, I was able to create my
first couple of bottles, and allof the flavors that you guys are tasting,
and the wines that are part ofthe portfolio today are all wines that
you know, We're kind of justa thought or something that I played with
and came up with that concoction andnow here we are. Wow, that's
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amazing. So how long have youbeen an entrepreneur? I would say it
sounds so silly. I mean honestly, as a child, I've been doing
entrepreneurship and dabbling into different endeavors.I was the candy lady in my neighborhood
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when I was in elementary school,So like, I started really young in
building that kind of foundation and interestin entrepreneurship, but with full time just
really diving into something that I foundpassion behind. That really started with this
company, with my wine company,and we officially launched in twenty twenties,
so right in the midst of thepandemic. Wow. Now, I know
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this has been a journey for youdoing this. Tell us about that journey
and what actually brought you into thewine industry. I know you said you
were kind of bored with the wines, but tell us about that journey.
It was. Honestly, it wasa lot of fun. So I kind
of equate make wine like a scienceexperiment, so to speak. So it's
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a lot of like putting pieces togetherand trying to create like the perfectly balanced
wine. So it was really interestingwhen I started, I like I mentioned,
started out with wine kids, andI'm very we gotta put something in
my heart. Sometimes you just gottaact. Sometimes you can't delay. And
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I don't like delaying when I feellike something's in my spirit. And so
God literally was like try this winekid, and I saw it online.
I did not want to wait forit to ship to me. I was
so excited to like start this process. So I found a wine store in
Georgia that actually sold the kids.Ended up talking to the owner and she
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predominantly was helping people create beer,but she had experience in creating wine.
She offered to let me use herspace, to rent out her space to
create my wine there and taught meeverything, you know, from start to
finish. So it was really reallyamazing to kind of go in and find
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somebody, you know. It wasa spirit that led me to actually being
impatient and wanted to start today andled me to finding a location where I
could do so. And from thereI found out very quickly that Uncle Sam
kind of frowns upon h You're sellingwine that you make yourself, and you
know a prohibition. I was like, oh, yeah, does so.
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So I decided to use twenty nineteenand really twenty twenty to buckle down and
get all of my ducks in arow, you know, get all the
permitting, find a license on winery, which took time because I entered into
this industry again as just a loverof wine and someone who appreciates the process.
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But up until that point, myexperience was going to wine wineries and
doing wine tours with my friends,and I had an appreciation for the process,
but never an actual formalized knowledge oreducation. And so there was a
lot of doors. There were alot of nose. There were a lot
of we're not interested, we don'twant to make your style of wine.
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I heard that a lot before Iheard the one yes, and so it
took it took over a year,you know, to kind of get to
a place where I could find theperfect partner that was willing to curate wines
in the style that I wanted,and from there was able to kind of
just blossom and flourish. And nowwe're in stories here in Georgia and we're
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getting national distribution soon. So we'rejust we're instantly growing and it's a beautiful
thing. Wow, Now I knowyou said that you kind of knocked on
a lot of doors and you gotnose. But was it hard for you
to get into the wine industry?Do you think because you were a woman
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or is it just really a hardprocess to get into that industry? You
know, I I don't want tosay that there's anything that's too hard to
get into. Wine is definitely somethingthat's very traditional, you know, it
is the old boys club, soto speak. But I also feel like
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when you have certain perseverance and you'rejust not gonna take no for an answer,
you'll find a way when you wantto. So I never like to
say that it's hard to get intothe industry because it's not. It takes
work, it takes research and timelike anything else, but it's possible.
Now, are there additional barriers thatwere set up because of my life of
experience and knowledge and my color ofmy skin and my gender. Absolutely,
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I would be you know, Iwould not be giving great advice if I
said that those things didn't exist andoccur. I could tell you off rip.
I would speak to different wineries.In the moment that they figured out
that I was black, or thatI had no wine experience, they were
no longer interested and it was nolike communication just dies at that point,
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and so there was a lot ofthat, a lot of ghosting in the
in that community. But I willsay that I felt like people were playing
hot potato with me. So itwas like, oh, once I told
them what I wanted, what Iwas trying to accomplish, it was either
oh, we're going to charge you, you know, an arm and a
leg and then some or you don'tdo that, so here, try this
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person. Oh we don't know thatthat person doesn't do it. Try this
person. So it took a lotof referrals, but it felt like people
were just pushing me off until Ifound the one company that was willing to
say, hey, actually I thinkI got somebody for you, and I
think we can do it. Letme see what we can do. Wow.
Interesting. Now I know that thereare a lot of wines out there,
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there are a lot of wine makersout there. What do you feel
makes you different or that sets youapart from them? I love that.
So my wine, as you mentioned, it stands for something. So her
is actually an acronym and it standsfor having evolved repeatedly. And the idea
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behind that is I wanted to curatesomething that can follow us along this journey.
As we are constantly achieving and pursuingour goals and our passions. Oftentimes
we kind of get tunnel vision onthat goal and we kind of just tap
in and lock in and we don'ttake time to really appreciate the process,
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you know. And so each ofthe wines that I've created, they represent
those moments that give us permission tounwind. It gives us permission to prioritize
ourselves. And for me, thosetimes, those moments were usually associated with
a glass of wine some way,and so I wanted to create those experiences
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in those moments for others. Soeach of the wine and represent those moments.
We have a peach wine right nowthat's called Finally after five. All
of the wines are traditional wines witha twist, so you'll hear a lot
of fruit forward names and flavors.And that one pays homage to all of
my corporate warriors that are nine tofive grinding and those of us that are
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in the entrepreneurship route and where thatwere dual rolls, because a lot of
us do both. So I wantedto capture what finally after five means for
all of us. And the coolunique factor about that one also is it's
fifteen percent, so put that intoperspective stellar roses or anywhere between five and
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seven. So you need one goodglass, maybe two if you're really dangerous,
say you're gonna feel really good.Yes, now you mentioned the peach
flavor. What are some of theother flavors that you have? I know
you and you also said finally afterfive, that's so, what are some
of the other flavors that you have? We have Mama needs a break.
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So that one is a sweet tinnedmerlough. It's not sweet, it's very
reminiscent to a cabernet. But ifyou like a good, well balanced,
smooth red wine it's not super dry, that's gonna be a fan favorite.
And then we have our two sparklingwines as well. So I have the
sparkling Reasoning and a sparkling Rose andI named them a toast to me,
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And the idea there is I reallywant us to reframe how we choose to
celebrate, because a lot of timeswe'll delay our happiness in that big moment,
like I'm gonna wait till this milestonebirthday or when I get this promotion
or you know, we're always likewaiting for the next thing. But anytime
every day that we're here, everyday that we get to make our impact
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and push our business or our passionsforward, that's the day worthy of celebration.
So I want us to get intoa habit of incorporating and injecting more
celebrations for the small things and notjust waiting for the one big thing,
because it's the compilation of the smallthings that makes the big thing that more
more exciting. So let's celebrate thosethings. So those two are my newest
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releases, and they're really awesome becausethe Rose is dedicated towards my breast cancer
journey, and so it's just reallycool to be able to give back in
that way. Wow. Now,I know you mentioned doing this like during
a pandemic or right before. Howdid COVID influence or affect your wine business?
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Wow? You know, So Iofficially launched my business September twenty twenty.
So Covid served dual purposes for me. Covid allowed me an opportunity to
actually focus in and set dedicated timeto creating and doing the work that was
needed to officially launch it. Becauseyou know, the reality is that their
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life is full of distractions, andso COVID removed all of that when you're
you know, forced inside, andso I really decided intentionally so to take
that time to be productive for myself. Adversely, God will say, or
in addition to that, outside ofjust being able to go through the adversities
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of building a business in the midstof COVID, because that's the whole thing
in itself, it actually ended upbeing such a blessing because you know,
there's there's certain businesses that are aswe call economically sound or that are recession
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proof, and I would say that, you know, spirits are definitely something
that you know, people during differenttimes lean more into. And so we
saw a huge spike in people lookingto indulge in different spirits. But that
isn't the biggest thing. The biggestthing that came out of COVID, I
think was the intentionality of our communityas African Americans to really highlight and support
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one another. For me, whatI find or what I've found is coming
out of COVID came we became acloser community, and there was a lot
of support and rally behind small blackowned businesses or craft spirits that were something
unique and different that people were lookingfor. And so my brand perfectly aligned
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in that. Because we're minority ownor blooming on, we have a purpose
that were driven behind, but wewere relatable and I think it offered people
were looking for something that was different, that was relatable, that tastes good,
that kind of you know, waslike a Fubo effect for us bias
right, And so for me,I think that's probably the biggest takeaway is
the community built that happened as aresult of COVID. Wow. So tell
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me now, I know that yousaid her wine stands for you have an
acronym for that, it's an acronymfor something else. How did you come
up with the name her whine?Uh? The name her Wine came came
out of despair, if I'm beinghonest. So when I started this business,
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I actually had my very first likebusiness WHOA my big business blow very
early into my business. The nameof my business was originally was something else,
and we ended up getting sued unrightfullyso, but we ended up receiving
a season desist from another another winerythat was using a similar name. And
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to wrap it with a bow,on it. Essentially there the name was
extremely common, and there were otherwineries throughout the nation that were using that
same likeness. However, they hadnever pursued any of those businesses that were
bigger and that didn't necessarily look likeme or were owned by people that look
like me. However, they forwhatever reason, chose me, and so
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we had to go through the litigationsof fighting for the name and for rights
and who's right and who's wrong,and you know, there's just so many
different ways that it spent spun upto be. However, as a business
owner, you kind of get putin a position. Right. So at
that partic icular time, I hadjust created my new batch of wine.
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I'm ready to go to market.I have spent all this money. Everything
up until this point has been selffunded. So this is my heart arm
writing that I have poured into thisbusiness. And all of a sudden,
I'm getting a cease and desist froma company that's not even anywhere near where
I'm doing my business, and Ihave to pause everything. And so,
as entrepreneurs, the one lesson youlearned very early on in business is the
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art of pivot. And you geta choice, you have to choose.
Am I going to stagnate and justyou know, fight this thing, figure
it out? Do we rebrand andwe continue to push the needle as we
need to, and we figure thisout on the back end, And that's
the latter is ultimately what I choseto do. I wanted to continue to
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build off of the momentum that wehad. We just launched in September.
We get a cease and desist inApril, so you know, you're kind
of in this pickle of like,just launched this business. I just came
up with the name, like andin my head the name was brilliant.
So the name was Unwind. Thatwas the name that I had. It
was like Unwind with a while.I was like, oh, none can
uses that. That's so unique,Like apparently everybody had that same thought,
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so lesson learned. Definitely look itup, like do your research. But
long story short, I ended upwinning the case, so I could have
used the name. But in themidst of me pivoting and rebranding her came
to me because that was what Iwas doing in that moment, I was
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evolving. I was in a positionwhere I had to decide, am I
going to evolve or repeat. Arewe going to evolve or are we going
to stay this track and keep thecourse? And so evolution to me is
continuous, it's it's never in onesingular area. And it really represented where
I was in my transformation in mylife, and so I was able to,
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you know, kind of do adouble entanger on the name a little
bit, and that's really what kindof birthed her wine. Wow, that
is so interesting because some people wouldhave, like you said, given up.
They you know, they would havebeen so frustrated that they may have
just said, I'm not gonna dothis. There were many nights like that.
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Don't get me wrong, there's alot of tears, a lot of
frustrations. But you know, it'swhen it's your baby, it's your passion,
you just wanna That's where grit comesin. That's where where great greatness
is birth from adversity, and sosometimes you just gotta pushed through, have
faith and keep pushing. Absolutely.Wow. Now, when I was reading
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your bio, it was mentioned inthere that you had the breast cancer and
that that was also a part ofyou starting the wine business. Tell us
about that. Yeah, So I, as I mentioned, if we're going
through a timeline. I launched thiscompany September twenty twenty. I get hit
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with the lawsuit in April twenty twentyone, and after that happens, I'm
in rebrand mode. I'm in cellmode. And so from April through or
for the remainder of twenty twenty one, April through December, I was an
extreme hustle mode. I had anine to five. I was an executive
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for this corporation, so I hada team of people I'm leading and balancing
that on top of building this businessthat's taking off but does require an extensive
time, you know, requirement becausewe're a team of one. And that
was it. So it was yourmarketing, your sales, your finance,
your everything. And then on topof that, trying to even you know,
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my social life was non existent.It was if it wasn't wine,
it was nothing. So I failall that to say that throughout that process,
the one thing that fell by thewayside was my health. I was
so so consumed with giving and pouringinto everybody else. I'm a daughter,
I you know, I'm very closeto my friends, so they're starting commitments
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that I have outside of myself justjust as being a helper and a you
know, citizen and community. Andso I was I found myself not pouring
from an empty cup. We werelike desert dry. There was nothing left
for me to give. And whenthat happens, I feel like your body
kind of goes introspectively and starts toeat it yourself. And I wasn't.
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I wasn't drinking water consistently. I'mnot eating the right things, like I'm
always on the go it's fast food, you know. So I found at
the same my stress levels were outof this world and I didn't realize it.
And I think that's the big thingthat we have to realize an entrepreneurship,
as we're as we're going through anysuccess honestly climbing any ladder to reach
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your goals, your priority of yourselfhas to be included on your list.
Because when it's not health as wealth, it doesn't matter if your business is
one hundred million dollars if you're notthere to enjoy it. So I had
the harsh reality when I felt alump and dismissed it, never thought about
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it, like I'd never associated withit, with it being cancer at all.
But I definitely wasn't paying attention tomy body to notice that it existed,
and my own detriment because by thetime that I did go to the
doctor and was diagnosed, I wasdiagnosed at stage two with triple positive highly
aggressive form of cancer. And theytold me that in in literally a month,
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I could go from stage two tostage four. And so that was
honestly like the biggest if God couldever just you know, hit you over
the head with the something to say, sit down and you need to make
some some life decisions. That wasthe moment. You know, at the
time, I was thirty one,so I'm still young. I'm still like
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just kind of easing into my thirtiesand figuring getting life figured out. And
to be hit with something so detrimental, it's life changing. And I'm very
honored, proud, blessed, favoredall the things to be here in front
of you today and to say I'mcancer free. But through that journey,
through that process, it taught menew perspective and to that point, it
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helped me to create this wine,the Sparkling Rose, in particular that not
only is dedicated to a nonprofit thathelps women who are dealing single single mothers
specifically who are dealing with this typeof diagnosis. But it also helped me
to give more purpose to my winebecause now I want to create joy in
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a bottle. I want people tofind their happiness there. That tie in
that I always had about this beingassociated with your mom I'm gonna piece it
means something even more to me nowbecause it's like, those are the moments
we have to take for ourselves now. I don't care if you're drinking wine
or drinking water either way, it'sit's more so around the moment that we're
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creating with this wine. M wow. So doing you know during that period
when you were going through that,I guess the wine was like a comfort
for you. Is that? Yes? It's so funny because when I go
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to the to the different doctors andI and you tell them like, oh,
what do you do? You know, they just make conversation and I'm
a wine drinker and they were like, well, you know, you probably
got to pull it back, AndI'm like, that's the one thing that
makes me happy. We are nottaking this off the table. I always
have to preface this by saying thatit's not necessarily the most recommended thing,
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but it was something I absolutely lookforward to. I don't think that oftentimes
in the marketing of cancer, whenpeople talk about it, we don't always
go into the details of what chemotherapyis and how harsh it can be on
the body. It is a itis truly a drug, a poison that
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they put through and it doesn't havea compass on what's good or bad sales.
It just goes for everything. Andso for me, it was extremely
debilitating and for like two weeks,and I had to do six rounds of
chemout every three weeks, and sotypically the first two weeks in that three
week time span you're down and out, and then the last week you have
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enough energy and then you gotta goright back and do it again. So
I say that to say for me, I found so much comfort and tholace
in the moment. I would countdown to the day I could drink wine
again, and that was the thingto look forward to, because in those
moments when you're when you're in yourdarkest spaces and you're looking for that light
at the end of the tunnel,you have to identify what that is,
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and for me, it was wine. For me, it might have been
I would have wine and I wouldgo out to a really good restaurant and
get some really good food and that'swhat I look forward to. So it
brought me peace, it brought mehappiness, It brought me joy, and
that's what saved my life. Justthe anticipation in the actual search, in
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the actual search and identification of whatbrought me happiness. Wow. Now,
I know early on you mentioned someonewho kind of helped you as you were
getting started. I think they evenlet you use the part of their facility
to work in. So as anentrepreneur, do you recommend having a mentor
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or coach to help you in business? Absolutely? Absolutely. I have had
so much fortune in meeting people whoare truly invested in helping the success of
this business and just mentorship. Andoftentimes I think when we think about mentorship
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we think of it as like adirect tie, like is it somebody that
does exactly what you do? Butyou can find mentors in people that have
adjacent, you know, industries.For me, one of my biggest mentors
who was really a big inspiration togetting into this industry is a vodka owner
Island John Vodka. Kevin really liketook me under his wing and taught me
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the ropes of the spirits industry,and that's you know, that helped me
to understand, Okay, these arethe overall steps and how to navigate this
space from there. Sometimes you findyour mentors and people that don't even know
that you're watching their steps and watchingthem. We have to take off the
lens or the expectation that mentors haveto be like a one to one direction
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and it's like a like I'm askingyou formally to be my mentor. Sometimes
that that's a way to do it. There's other ways as well as more
informal relationships that you build and youjust follow and you befriend people and you
learn you know what they're doing.So I have mentors several several several mentors
that I call upon that are justwomen entrepreneurs, women and wine men and
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wine men in spirits, men inbusiness. Like there's I try to find
inspiration and mentorship and guidance in anybodywho's in a successful state of where I'm
trying to be. Now, doyou see a lot of women who are
in this industry? Are is itmore men than women? You know,
(31:48):
it's really interesting, I think fromthe standpoint globally, there's more men in
this industry, even though women aremain consumers. However, I will say
in the African American wine maker space, I've seen a really good blend of
it, but I see a verygreat amount of Black women that are wine
(32:09):
makers and wine brand makers in thespace, and that brings me a lot
of delight to see us as majorconsumers, like taking our talents and actually
creating the products as well that weindulge in. Wow. Now is your
product in this area? Like I'min Maryland? Can I find it in
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this area? Do you think comingsoon? Coming soon? We are inching
our way up to Maryland. Rightnow we're in Georgia, Texas, and
Florida, but Maryland the DMV areathat's next on our list. You might
see us out there at a winefestival this fall. So if anybody's heard
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of the DC Wine Festival, wewill be there this year. And yeah,
we're just continuing to spread, sodefinitely come into that area. Wow.
So tell us what's next? Whatdo you have on the horizon for
you as an entrepreneur? Are youcreating anything else? I know you're doing
the wines, but is there anythingelse that you'll be creating. Yes,
(33:16):
you know I mentioned and alluded tothis earlier, but this's going through this
cancer journey. It really puts likelife into a different perspective. And for
me, it really enlightened how muchjoy impacts, you know, my health
and just me and my overall satisfactionand happiness with life. And so I
(33:38):
am in the process now of becominga happiness coach and setting up different coaching
packages to help more people to identifytheir joy in their life. We have
joy journals that are coming out,We have different events that we're doing to
help women, specifically Black women priorityas ourselves find our joy, find our
(34:01):
happiness, and lead it more fulfillingand happier life. Like I it sounds
the craziest to say, but Iliterally have no bad days every day is
amazing. I literally ten out often on my happiness scale. And people
are like, you just came outof this. And when I say just
came out of this, I justhad my final procedure July twelfth, So
(34:25):
this is like we're just inching outof this, this whole journey that's been
over a year and a half now, and I can't tell you I'm the
happiest I've ever been. And it'sbecause I've learned these different practices I'm and
these are things that I share withmy family, with my friends, and
now we're building out this community andso that's the next thing that we're phasing
(34:46):
in. Still. So, ifyou had one piece of advice that you
would uh want to give to someonethat wanted to get into the wine industry
of the one business, what wouldthat piece of advice be. Oh,
man, I would actually say toanybody who's interested in getting into the wine
(35:08):
industry, do not be afraid ofthe industry. And what I mean by
that is a lot of times welook and we're like, oh, there's
already so many wines, and there'sso many doesn't matter. Be unique.
There's no one that's gonna do itlike you. And any time that you
(35:29):
think about any industry, whether it'sit's wine, makeup, whatever the case
may be, bring your personality,do it with purpose and passion in mind.
When you're leading with a with aenergy and with a sense of servitude,
it always comes back. So leaveand find it with passion and purpose
and it will always like the moneywill find you, the success will find
(35:51):
you. But don't be afraid justbecause the industry is saturated so you think
no one's gonna do it like you. Absolutely so, if the viewers and
listeners wanted to reach out to you, tell us how they can find you.
Yes, you guys can find meon Instagram, Facebook, social media,
(36:13):
all the tiktoks and all the thingsyou can find us at It's Her
Wine on all social media platforms.If you guys want to connect with me
directly, you can find me onthose same social platforms at miss her Wine.
So feel free to connect with me. I love chatting with people and
sharing stories and wine recipes, solet me know. I'd love to hear
(36:37):
from you. Wow, that's incredible, great story. Thank you so much
for joining us on the successful women'sshow. As I said, it took
us a little while aget here,but we made it. So I'm glad
of that, and I'm glad thatyou were able to come and share your
journey with us. Thank you somuch for being here today. Thank you,
(37:00):
thank you so much. It wassuch a pleasure. I'm so honored.
Thank you to everybody who joined in, and please connect with us.
I'd love to talk with more peopleand if you're interested in getting in the
wine industry, happy to share someknowledge as well. Wow, thank you
so much. So that was myguest, Miss Nicole Anderson, and the
(37:22):
topic of course was why We Wine, which is WI n E. And
now I'm gonna just let you knowwhat's coming up events some of the things
that's coming up for me, andone of them is to make sure to
let you know to pre order yourcopy of the Own It anthology It's Your
(37:43):
Life, Own It Unapologetically and thejournal three hundred and sixty five days to
transformation. To pre order the paperbackbook and the journal separately will be twenty
four ninety nine for each of thebooks. To order the Pleat set both
the book and the journal is fortynine ninety nine And if you'd like to
(38:05):
order them, you can go tomy website which is www dot EXWSI dot
com and you'll find the links onthere, or you can email me if
you'd like more information about it atinfo at EXWSI dot com. Also coming
up again this month will be theBlack Business Olympics, which will be August
(38:30):
twenty feet through the twenty seventh,and the Black Business Olympics is a fundraiser
to provide scholarships and laptops to highschool seniors going to college and also k
through twelve Entrepreneurs. The Black BusinessOlympics showcases black businesses, black business owners
(38:51):
and corporations all around the world.If you'd like to be a speaker to
showcase your business on the Black BusinessOlympics, you can email me at info
at EXWSI dot com. I willalso be speaking at the Black Business Olympics
on that Thursday, so make sureyou tune in. I'll be speaking at
(39:15):
seven pm on that Thursday. Comingsoon, you'll be able to join the
women Show Up to Rise Up Networkand the mission of the Women's Show Up
to Rise Up Network will be toempower and connect all women in their career,
business, professional and personal lives byhelping them to gain resources, gain
(39:37):
buying power, increase their revenue,and accelerate their personal business and career growth
through unlimited opportunities. As a member, you will have access to coaching,
training events that may be taking place, workshops, resources, networking opportunities and
(39:58):
much more. And if you havenot viewed my TEDx talk that I did
in Vancouver, Canada, make sureyou do so. The topic of course,
to show up to Rise Up,and you can watch it on YouTube.
To do so, just put myname in the search box doctor Madeline
(40:19):
and Lewis, or you can sendme an email to info at EXWSI dot
com and I will send you thedirect link. I'm excited because my video
is still moving out there to themasses. It's at one hundred sixty nine
thousand, eight hundred and sixty sevenviews, So thank you all to in
(40:44):
advance to those of you who willbe watching, those of you that have
watched, those of you who havecommented and also shared my video, and
as you know, my goal isto reach a million plus view, so
let's keep pushing it out there.I'm also a contributing writer to the magazine,
(41:06):
to the own It magazine where Ishare nuggets and resources every month.
Own It Magazine is a resource forpersonal, professional and business development, so
make sure you get your subscription.For an annual subscription to the magazine,
you can go to my website whichis www dot exw SI dot com.
(41:34):
And that is all my announcements forthis upcoming the things that I will be
doing. So again, I wantto thank my guests. Miss Nicole Anderson,
the CEO and founder of Her Wine, who shared with us today her
journey into getting into the wine business. I would also like to thank my
(41:58):
viewers and my listeners for joining metoday. This is the successful Women's show.
I am doctor Madelinine Lewis and ifyou'd like to reach out to me,
you can email me at info atEXWSI dot com or go to my
website www dot exwsi dot com.And while you're there, make sure you
(42:22):
download my free three part video serieson three things every woman should do to
position herself for executive leadership. Andyou can also sign up for my online
course, which is Crack the CareerCode, how to Lead with Confidence,
Charisma and Credibility. To sign upfor the course, go to www dot
(42:47):
Crack the Careercode dot com. Youcan also reach out to me on any
of the social media sites I amon all of them. Don't forget to
subscribe to our channel. Also makesure that you like and share this episode
with others, as we got somegreat nuggets from my guest, Miss Nicole
(43:07):
Anderson. Again, this is thesuccess for women's show. We are here
every Thursday. I am your host, Dr Mathlin and Lewis helping women to
accelerate the path to success. Thankyou again for joining us. I love
(43:28):
you all to life and as always, be well and stay safe out there.
I am h
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(00:22):
FOWN Radio. I got the IDid you know women represent just three percent
(00:55):
of Fortune five hundred CEOs and lessthan fifteen percent of corporate executives at top
companies worldwide. Have you wondered whatthe secrets are to getting into the top
ranks, whether in the private orpublic sector? Do you want to figure
out how to stop being held backin your career? Are passed over for
(01:17):
promotion, then you're in the rightplace. Hi. I'm doctor Madelonian Lewis,
President and CEO of the Executive Women'sSuccess Institute. I have decades of
experience in the military, the federalgovernment, and corporate America, and my
mission is to help women succeed andtap into their full potential. I want
(01:38):
to reach a million plus women aroundthe world to become the leaders they are
meant to be. So if youwant to move into a management or executive
level position, or maybe you're afemale veteran transitioning out of the military into
business entrepreneurship, then reach out tothe Executive Women's Success Institute at three zero
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one six nine three three two eightfour. Let us get you on the
fast track to success. Well.Hello, and welcome to the Success for
(02:23):
Women's Show, where you can viewus on Talk for TV and listen to
us on the Women for Women Network. I am doctor Madeline and Lewis your
host, and my mission is tohelp women accelerate the path to success.
Well. Today's topic is why Wewind w I N E. And my
(02:49):
guest is Nicole Anderson. Let megive you just a little bit of background
on Nicole Anderson. Nicole Anderson isa wine may speaker and professional marketeer who
has definitely blended her passion for winewith her experience as a recent breast cancer
(03:13):
survivor to create a brand that isboth inspiring and relatable. After being diagnosed
with stage two breast cancer. InDecember of twenty twenty one. Nicole used
her diagnosis as an opportunity to exploreher own happiness and joy, discovering that
(03:36):
a glass of wine was always acomforting part of her treatment journey. Nicole
released two new sparkling wines in commemorationof her cancer journey, aptly named A
Toast to Me, A Bubbly Reasoning, and limited addition, Bubbly Rose,
(03:57):
where proceeds are donated to I WillSurvive, which is a nonprofit breast cancer
organization. Her wine, which standsfor having evolved repeatedly, represents her resilience,
determination, and creativity. I'd liketo introduce my guests, Miss Nicole
(04:21):
Anderson. Hello, Hi, howare you. It's so great to have
you on the show. I knowit took us a little while to get
here, but that's okay. We'rehere now, We are here now.
I am doing fantastic, So honoredto be here, so excited to have
(04:42):
this conversation and to chat while wewhine. Absolutely, so let me just
get started. One of the thingsI like to do. I always give
the standard bio on my guests,but then I like to ask the guests
for them to tell us, Soyou tell us what you want us to
know about Nicole Anderson. Oh man, that's always a that's always a fun
(05:08):
one. So for you did sucha great job. So I appreciate that
introduction. Let alone. I thinkif I was to add anything to it,
I would say that I started outon this journey just as a lover
of wine. I have no wineexperience prior to this. I started this
journey in twenty eighteen making wine atmy house, so literally learning how to
(05:30):
use kits. I was bored withwine at the time. Everything was muscatto
this, muscatto that, and Iwas like, there's gotta be more.
And I decided to just give ita shot Google YouTube Academy. I was
like, oh, there's people whoare making wine at their house and like
doing this on their own. Whynot? And you know a little with
(05:55):
down the line. A few monthslater, I was able to create my
first couple of bottles, and allof the flavors that you guys are tasting,
and the wines that are part ofthe portfolio today are all wines that
you know, We're kind of justa thought or something that I played with
and came up with that concoction andnow here we are. Wow, that's
(06:16):
amazing. So how long have youbeen an entrepreneur? I would say it
sounds so silly. I mean honestly, as a child, I've been doing
entrepreneurship and dabbling into different endeavors.I was the candy lady in my neighborhood
(06:36):
when I was in elementary school,So like, I started really young in
building that kind of foundation and interestin entrepreneurship, but with full time just
really diving into something that I foundpassion behind. That really started with this
company, with my wine company,and we officially launched in twenty twenties,
so right in the midst of thepandemic. Wow. Now, I know
(07:00):
this has been a journey for youdoing this. Tell us about that journey
and what actually brought you into thewine industry. I know you said you
were kind of bored with the wines, but tell us about that journey.
It was. Honestly, it wasa lot of fun. So I kind
of equate make wine like a scienceexperiment, so to speak. So it's
(07:25):
a lot of like putting pieces togetherand trying to create like the perfectly balanced
wine. So it was really interestingwhen I started, I like I mentioned,
started out with wine kids, andI'm very we gotta put something in
my heart. Sometimes you just gottaact. Sometimes you can't delay. And
(07:46):
I don't like delaying when I feellike something's in my spirit. And so
God literally was like try this winekid, and I saw it online.
I did not want to wait forit to ship to me. I was
so excited to like start this process. So I found a wine store in
Georgia that actually sold the kids.Ended up talking to the owner and she
(08:07):
predominantly was helping people create beer,but she had experience in creating wine.
She offered to let me use herspace, to rent out her space to
create my wine there and taught meeverything, you know, from start to
finish. So it was really reallyamazing to kind of go in and find
(08:28):
somebody, you know. It wasa spirit that led me to actually being
impatient and wanted to start today andled me to finding a location where I
could do so. And from thereI found out very quickly that Uncle Sam
kind of frowns upon h You're sellingwine that you make yourself, and you
know a prohibition. I was like, oh, yeah, does so.
(08:52):
So I decided to use twenty nineteenand really twenty twenty to buckle down and
get all of my ducks in arow, you know, get all the
permitting, find a license on winery, which took time because I entered into
this industry again as just a loverof wine and someone who appreciates the process.
(09:13):
But up until that point, myexperience was going to wine wineries and
doing wine tours with my friends,and I had an appreciation for the process,
but never an actual formalized knowledge oreducation. And so there was a
lot of doors. There were alot of nose. There were a lot
of we're not interested, we don'twant to make your style of wine.
(09:35):
I heard that a lot before Iheard the one yes, and so it
took it took over a year,you know, to kind of get to
a place where I could find theperfect partner that was willing to curate wines
in the style that I wanted,and from there was able to kind of
just blossom and flourish. And nowwe're in stories here in Georgia and we're
(09:58):
getting national distribution soon. So we'rejust we're instantly growing and it's a beautiful
thing. Wow, Now I knowyou said that you kind of knocked on
a lot of doors and you gotnose. But was it hard for you
to get into the wine industry?Do you think because you were a woman
(10:18):
or is it just really a hardprocess to get into that industry? You
know, I I don't want tosay that there's anything that's too hard to
get into. Wine is definitely somethingthat's very traditional, you know, it
is the old boys club, soto speak. But I also feel like
(10:41):
when you have certain perseverance and you'rejust not gonna take no for an answer,
you'll find a way when you wantto. So I never like to
say that it's hard to get intothe industry because it's not. It takes
work, it takes research and timelike anything else, but it's possible.
Now, are there additional barriers thatwere set up because of my life of
experience and knowledge and my color ofmy skin and my gender. Absolutely,
(11:05):
I would be you know, Iwould not be giving great advice if I
said that those things didn't exist andoccur. I could tell you off rip.
I would speak to different wineries.In the moment that they figured out
that I was black, or thatI had no wine experience, they were
no longer interested and it was nolike communication just dies at that point,
(11:26):
and so there was a lot ofthat, a lot of ghosting in the
in that community. But I willsay that I felt like people were playing
hot potato with me. So itwas like, oh, once I told
them what I wanted, what Iwas trying to accomplish, it was either
oh, we're going to charge you, you know, an arm and a
leg and then some or you don'tdo that, so here, try this
(11:48):
person. Oh we don't know thatthat person doesn't do it. Try this
person. So it took a lotof referrals, but it felt like people
were just pushing me off until Ifound the one company that was willing to
say, hey, actually I thinkI got somebody for you, and I
think we can do it. Letme see what we can do. Wow.
Interesting. Now I know that thereare a lot of wines out there,
(12:11):
there are a lot of wine makersout there. What do you feel
makes you different or that sets youapart from them? I love that.
So my wine, as you mentioned, it stands for something. So her
is actually an acronym and it standsfor having evolved repeatedly. And the idea
(12:33):
behind that is I wanted to curatesomething that can follow us along this journey.
As we are constantly achieving and pursuingour goals and our passions. Oftentimes
we kind of get tunnel vision onthat goal and we kind of just tap
in and lock in and we don'ttake time to really appreciate the process,
(12:54):
you know. And so each ofthe wines that I've created, they represent
those moments that give us permission tounwind. It gives us permission to prioritize
ourselves. And for me, thosetimes, those moments were usually associated with
a glass of wine some way,and so I wanted to create those experiences
(13:15):
in those moments for others. Soeach of the wine and represent those moments.
We have a peach wine right nowthat's called Finally after five. All
of the wines are traditional wines witha twist, so you'll hear a lot
of fruit forward names and flavors.And that one pays homage to all of
my corporate warriors that are nine tofive grinding and those of us that are
(13:39):
in the entrepreneurship route and where thatwere dual rolls, because a lot of
us do both. So I wantedto capture what finally after five means for
all of us. And the coolunique factor about that one also is it's
fifteen percent, so put that intoperspective stellar roses or anywhere between five and
(14:00):
seven. So you need one goodglass, maybe two if you're really dangerous,
say you're gonna feel really good.Yes, now you mentioned the peach
flavor. What are some of theother flavors that you have? I know
you and you also said finally afterfive, that's so, what are some
of the other flavors that you have? We have Mama needs a break.
(14:26):
So that one is a sweet tinnedmerlough. It's not sweet, it's very
reminiscent to a cabernet. But ifyou like a good, well balanced,
smooth red wine it's not super dry, that's gonna be a fan favorite.
And then we have our two sparklingwines as well. So I have the
sparkling Reasoning and a sparkling Rose andI named them a toast to me,
(14:52):
And the idea there is I reallywant us to reframe how we choose to
celebrate, because a lot of timeswe'll delay our happiness in that big moment,
like I'm gonna wait till this milestonebirthday or when I get this promotion
or you know, we're always likewaiting for the next thing. But anytime
every day that we're here, everyday that we get to make our impact
(15:15):
and push our business or our passionsforward, that's the day worthy of celebration.
So I want us to get intoa habit of incorporating and injecting more
celebrations for the small things and notjust waiting for the one big thing,
because it's the compilation of the smallthings that makes the big thing that more
more exciting. So let's celebrate thosethings. So those two are my newest
(15:37):
releases, and they're really awesome becausethe Rose is dedicated towards my breast cancer
journey, and so it's just reallycool to be able to give back in
that way. Wow. Now,I know you mentioned doing this like during
a pandemic or right before. Howdid COVID influence or affect your wine business?
(16:00):
Wow? You know, So Iofficially launched my business September twenty twenty.
So Covid served dual purposes for me. Covid allowed me an opportunity to
actually focus in and set dedicated timeto creating and doing the work that was
needed to officially launch it. Becauseyou know, the reality is that their
(16:23):
life is full of distractions, andso COVID removed all of that when you're
you know, forced inside, andso I really decided intentionally so to take
that time to be productive for myself. Adversely, God will say, or
in addition to that, outside ofjust being able to go through the adversities
(16:45):
of building a business in the midstof COVID, because that's the whole thing
in itself, it actually ended upbeing such a blessing because you know,
there's there's certain businesses that are aswe call economically sound or that are recession
(17:07):
proof, and I would say that, you know, spirits are definitely something
that you know, people during differenttimes lean more into. And so we
saw a huge spike in people lookingto indulge in different spirits. But that
isn't the biggest thing. The biggestthing that came out of COVID, I
think was the intentionality of our communityas African Americans to really highlight and support
(17:33):
one another. For me, whatI find or what I've found is coming
out of COVID came we became acloser community, and there was a lot
of support and rally behind small blackowned businesses or craft spirits that were something
unique and different that people were lookingfor. And so my brand perfectly aligned
(17:55):
in that. Because we're minority ownor blooming on, we have a purpose
that were driven behind, but wewere relatable and I think it offered people
were looking for something that was different, that was relatable, that tastes good,
that kind of you know, waslike a Fubo effect for us bias
right, And so for me,I think that's probably the biggest takeaway is
the community built that happened as aresult of COVID. Wow. So tell
(18:22):
me now, I know that yousaid her wine stands for you have an
acronym for that, it's an acronymfor something else. How did you come
up with the name her whine?Uh? The name her Wine came came
out of despair, if I'm beinghonest. So when I started this business,
(18:45):
I actually had my very first likebusiness WHOA my big business blow very
early into my business. The nameof my business was originally was something else,
and we ended up getting sued unrightfullyso, but we ended up receiving
a season desist from another another winerythat was using a similar name. And
(19:14):
to wrap it with a bow,on it. Essentially there the name was
extremely common, and there were otherwineries throughout the nation that were using that
same likeness. However, they hadnever pursued any of those businesses that were
bigger and that didn't necessarily look likeme or were owned by people that look
like me. However, they forwhatever reason, chose me, and so
(19:40):
we had to go through the litigationsof fighting for the name and for rights
and who's right and who's wrong,and you know, there's just so many
different ways that it spent spun upto be. However, as a business
owner, you kind of get putin a position. Right. So at
that partic icular time, I hadjust created my new batch of wine.
(20:03):
I'm ready to go to market.I have spent all this money. Everything
up until this point has been selffunded. So this is my heart arm
writing that I have poured into thisbusiness. And all of a sudden,
I'm getting a cease and desist froma company that's not even anywhere near where
I'm doing my business, and Ihave to pause everything. And so,
as entrepreneurs, the one lesson youlearned very early on in business is the
(20:27):
art of pivot. And you geta choice, you have to choose.
Am I going to stagnate and justyou know, fight this thing, figure
it out? Do we rebrand andwe continue to push the needle as we
need to, and we figure thisout on the back end, And that's
the latter is ultimately what I choseto do. I wanted to continue to
(20:48):
build off of the momentum that wehad. We just launched in September.
We get a cease and desist inApril, so you know, you're kind
of in this pickle of like,just launched this business. I just came
up with the name, like andin my head the name was brilliant.
So the name was Unwind. Thatwas the name that I had. It
was like Unwind with a while.I was like, oh, none can
uses that. That's so unique,Like apparently everybody had that same thought,
(21:11):
so lesson learned. Definitely look itup, like do your research. But
long story short, I ended upwinning the case, so I could have
used the name. But in themidst of me pivoting and rebranding her came
to me because that was what Iwas doing in that moment, I was
(21:33):
evolving. I was in a positionwhere I had to decide, am I
going to evolve or repeat. Arewe going to evolve or are we going
to stay this track and keep thecourse? And so evolution to me is
continuous, it's it's never in onesingular area. And it really represented where
I was in my transformation in mylife, and so I was able to,
(21:56):
you know, kind of do adouble entanger on the name a little
bit, and that's really what kindof birthed her wine. Wow, that
is so interesting because some people wouldhave, like you said, given up.
They you know, they would havebeen so frustrated that they may have
just said, I'm not gonna dothis. There were many nights like that.
(22:21):
Don't get me wrong, there's alot of tears, a lot of
frustrations. But you know, it'swhen it's your baby, it's your passion,
you just wanna That's where grit comesin. That's where where great greatness
is birth from adversity, and sosometimes you just gotta pushed through, have
faith and keep pushing. Absolutely.Wow. Now, when I was reading
(22:44):
your bio, it was mentioned inthere that you had the breast cancer and
that that was also a part ofyou starting the wine business. Tell us
about that. Yeah, So I, as I mentioned, if we're going
through a timeline. I launched thiscompany September twenty twenty. I get hit
(23:06):
with the lawsuit in April twenty twentyone, and after that happens, I'm
in rebrand mode. I'm in cellmode. And so from April through or
for the remainder of twenty twenty one, April through December, I was an
extreme hustle mode. I had anine to five. I was an executive
(23:26):
for this corporation, so I hada team of people I'm leading and balancing
that on top of building this businessthat's taking off but does require an extensive
time, you know, requirement becausewe're a team of one. And that
was it. So it was yourmarketing, your sales, your finance,
your everything. And then on topof that, trying to even you know,
(23:47):
my social life was non existent.It was if it wasn't wine,
it was nothing. So I failall that to say that throughout that process,
the one thing that fell by thewayside was my health. I was
so so consumed with giving and pouringinto everybody else. I'm a daughter,
I you know, I'm very closeto my friends, so they're starting commitments
(24:11):
that I have outside of myself justjust as being a helper and a you
know, citizen and community. Andso I was I found myself not pouring
from an empty cup. We werelike desert dry. There was nothing left
for me to give. And whenthat happens, I feel like your body
kind of goes introspectively and starts toeat it yourself. And I wasn't.
(24:36):
I wasn't drinking water consistently. I'mnot eating the right things, like I'm
always on the go it's fast food, you know. So I found at
the same my stress levels were outof this world and I didn't realize it.
And I think that's the big thingthat we have to realize an entrepreneurship,
as we're as we're going through anysuccess honestly climbing any ladder to reach
(24:57):
your goals, your priority of yourselfhas to be included on your list.
Because when it's not health as wealth, it doesn't matter if your business is
one hundred million dollars if you're notthere to enjoy it. So I had
the harsh reality when I felt alump and dismissed it, never thought about
(25:22):
it, like I'd never associated withit, with it being cancer at all.
But I definitely wasn't paying attention tomy body to notice that it existed,
and my own detriment because by thetime that I did go to the
doctor and was diagnosed, I wasdiagnosed at stage two with triple positive highly
aggressive form of cancer. And theytold me that in in literally a month,
(25:45):
I could go from stage two tostage four. And so that was
honestly like the biggest if God couldever just you know, hit you over
the head with the something to say, sit down and you need to make
some some life decisions. That wasthe moment. You know, at the
time, I was thirty one,so I'm still young. I'm still like
(26:06):
just kind of easing into my thirtiesand figuring getting life figured out. And
to be hit with something so detrimental, it's life changing. And I'm very
honored, proud, blessed, favoredall the things to be here in front
of you today and to say I'mcancer free. But through that journey,
through that process, it taught menew perspective and to that point, it
(26:30):
helped me to create this wine,the Sparkling Rose, in particular that not
only is dedicated to a nonprofit thathelps women who are dealing single single mothers
specifically who are dealing with this typeof diagnosis. But it also helped me
to give more purpose to my winebecause now I want to create joy in
(26:52):
a bottle. I want people tofind their happiness there. That tie in
that I always had about this beingassociated with your mom I'm gonna piece it
means something even more to me nowbecause it's like, those are the moments
we have to take for ourselves now. I don't care if you're drinking wine
or drinking water either way, it'sit's more so around the moment that we're
(27:12):
creating with this wine. M wow. So doing you know during that period
when you were going through that,I guess the wine was like a comfort
for you. Is that? Yes? It's so funny because when I go
(27:34):
to the to the different doctors andI and you tell them like, oh,
what do you do? You know, they just make conversation and I'm
a wine drinker and they were like, well, you know, you probably
got to pull it back, AndI'm like, that's the one thing that
makes me happy. We are nottaking this off the table. I always
have to preface this by saying thatit's not necessarily the most recommended thing,
(27:55):
but it was something I absolutely lookforward to. I don't think that oftentimes
in the marketing of cancer, whenpeople talk about it, we don't always
go into the details of what chemotherapyis and how harsh it can be on
the body. It is a itis truly a drug, a poison that
(28:18):
they put through and it doesn't havea compass on what's good or bad sales.
It just goes for everything. Andso for me, it was extremely
debilitating and for like two weeks,and I had to do six rounds of
chemout every three weeks, and sotypically the first two weeks in that three
week time span you're down and out, and then the last week you have
(28:41):
enough energy and then you gotta goright back and do it again. So
I say that to say for me, I found so much comfort and tholace
in the moment. I would countdown to the day I could drink wine
again, and that was the thingto look forward to, because in those
moments when you're when you're in yourdarkest spaces and you're looking for that light
at the end of the tunnel,you have to identify what that is,
(29:03):
and for me, it was wine. For me, it might have been
I would have wine and I wouldgo out to a really good restaurant and
get some really good food and that'swhat I look forward to. So it
brought me peace, it brought mehappiness, It brought me joy, and
that's what saved my life. Justthe anticipation in the actual search, in
(29:23):
the actual search and identification of whatbrought me happiness. Wow. Now,
I know early on you mentioned someonewho kind of helped you as you were
getting started. I think they evenlet you use the part of their facility
to work in. So as anentrepreneur, do you recommend having a mentor
(29:48):
or coach to help you in business? Absolutely? Absolutely. I have had
so much fortune in meeting people whoare truly invested in helping the success of
this business and just mentorship. Andoftentimes I think when we think about mentorship
(30:10):
we think of it as like adirect tie, like is it somebody that
does exactly what you do? Butyou can find mentors in people that have
adjacent, you know, industries.For me, one of my biggest mentors
who was really a big inspiration togetting into this industry is a vodka owner
Island John Vodka. Kevin really liketook me under his wing and taught me
(30:36):
the ropes of the spirits industry,and that's you know, that helped me
to understand, Okay, these arethe overall steps and how to navigate this
space from there. Sometimes you findyour mentors and people that don't even know
that you're watching their steps and watchingthem. We have to take off the
lens or the expectation that mentors haveto be like a one to one direction
(30:59):
and it's like a like I'm askingyou formally to be my mentor. Sometimes
that that's a way to do it. There's other ways as well as more
informal relationships that you build and youjust follow and you befriend people and you
learn you know what they're doing.So I have mentors several several several mentors
that I call upon that are justwomen entrepreneurs, women and wine men and
(31:26):
wine men in spirits, men inbusiness. Like there's I try to find
inspiration and mentorship and guidance in anybodywho's in a successful state of where I'm
trying to be. Now, doyou see a lot of women who are
in this industry? Are is itmore men than women? You know,
(31:48):
it's really interesting, I think fromthe standpoint globally, there's more men in
this industry, even though women aremain consumers. However, I will say
in the African American wine maker space, I've seen a really good blend of
it, but I see a verygreat amount of Black women that are wine
(32:09):
makers and wine brand makers in thespace, and that brings me a lot
of delight to see us as majorconsumers, like taking our talents and actually
creating the products as well that weindulge in. Wow. Now is your
product in this area? Like I'min Maryland? Can I find it in
(32:30):
this area? Do you think comingsoon? Coming soon? We are inching
our way up to Maryland. Rightnow we're in Georgia, Texas, and
Florida, but Maryland the DMV areathat's next on our list. You might
see us out there at a winefestival this fall. So if anybody's heard
(32:52):
of the DC Wine Festival, wewill be there this year. And yeah,
we're just continuing to spread, sodefinitely come into that area. Wow.
So tell us what's next? Whatdo you have on the horizon for
you as an entrepreneur? Are youcreating anything else? I know you're doing
the wines, but is there anythingelse that you'll be creating. Yes,
(33:16):
you know I mentioned and alluded tothis earlier, but this's going through this
cancer journey. It really puts likelife into a different perspective. And for
me, it really enlightened how muchjoy impacts, you know, my health
and just me and my overall satisfactionand happiness with life. And so I
(33:38):
am in the process now of becominga happiness coach and setting up different coaching
packages to help more people to identifytheir joy in their life. We have
joy journals that are coming out,We have different events that we're doing to
help women, specifically Black women priorityas ourselves find our joy, find our
(34:01):
happiness, and lead it more fulfillingand happier life. Like I it sounds
the craziest to say, but Iliterally have no bad days every day is
amazing. I literally ten out often on my happiness scale. And people
are like, you just came outof this. And when I say just
came out of this, I justhad my final procedure July twelfth, So
(34:25):
this is like we're just inching outof this, this whole journey that's been
over a year and a half now, and I can't tell you I'm the
happiest I've ever been. And it'sbecause I've learned these different practices I'm and
these are things that I share withmy family, with my friends, and
now we're building out this community andso that's the next thing that we're phasing
(34:46):
in. Still. So, ifyou had one piece of advice that you
would uh want to give to someonethat wanted to get into the wine industry
of the one business, what wouldthat piece of advice be. Oh,
man, I would actually say toanybody who's interested in getting into the wine
(35:08):
industry, do not be afraid ofthe industry. And what I mean by
that is a lot of times welook and we're like, oh, there's
already so many wines, and there'sso many doesn't matter. Be unique.
There's no one that's gonna do itlike you. And any time that you
(35:29):
think about any industry, whether it'sit's wine, makeup, whatever the case
may be, bring your personality,do it with purpose and passion in mind.
When you're leading with a with aenergy and with a sense of servitude,
it always comes back. So leaveand find it with passion and purpose
and it will always like the moneywill find you, the success will find
(35:51):
you. But don't be afraid justbecause the industry is saturated so you think
no one's gonna do it like you. Absolutely so, if the viewers and
listeners wanted to reach out to you, tell us how they can find you.
Yes, you guys can find meon Instagram, Facebook, social media,
(36:13):
all the tiktoks and all the thingsyou can find us at It's Her
Wine on all social media platforms.If you guys want to connect with me
directly, you can find me onthose same social platforms at miss her Wine.
So feel free to connect with me. I love chatting with people and
sharing stories and wine recipes, solet me know. I'd love to hear
(36:37):
from you. Wow, that's incredible, great story. Thank you so much
for joining us on the successful women'sshow. As I said, it took
us a little while aget here,but we made it. So I'm glad
of that, and I'm glad thatyou were able to come and share your
journey with us. Thank you somuch for being here today. Thank you,
(37:00):
thank you so much. It wassuch a pleasure. I'm so honored.
Thank you to everybody who joined in, and please connect with us.
I'd love to talk with more peopleand if you're interested in getting in the
wine industry, happy to share someknowledge as well. Wow, thank you
so much. So that was myguest, Miss Nicole Anderson, and the
(37:22):
topic of course was why We Wine, which is WI n E. And
now I'm gonna just let you knowwhat's coming up events some of the things
that's coming up for me, andone of them is to make sure to
let you know to pre order yourcopy of the Own It anthology It's Your
(37:43):
Life, Own It Unapologetically and thejournal three hundred and sixty five days to
transformation. To pre order the paperbackbook and the journal separately will be twenty
four ninety nine for each of thebooks. To order the Pleat set both
the book and the journal is fortynine ninety nine And if you'd like to
(38:05):
order them, you can go tomy website which is www dot EXWSI dot
com and you'll find the links onthere, or you can email me if
you'd like more information about it atinfo at EXWSI dot com. Also coming
up again this month will be theBlack Business Olympics, which will be August
(38:30):
twenty feet through the twenty seventh,and the Black Business Olympics is a fundraiser
to provide scholarships and laptops to highschool seniors going to college and also k
through twelve Entrepreneurs. The Black BusinessOlympics showcases black businesses, black business owners
(38:51):
and corporations all around the world.If you'd like to be a speaker to
showcase your business on the Black BusinessOlympics, you can email me at info
at EXWSI dot com. I willalso be speaking at the Black Business Olympics
on that Thursday, so make sureyou tune in. I'll be speaking at
(39:15):
seven pm on that Thursday. Comingsoon, you'll be able to join the
women Show Up to Rise Up Networkand the mission of the Women's Show Up
to Rise Up Network will be toempower and connect all women in their career,
business, professional and personal lives byhelping them to gain resources, gain
(39:37):
buying power, increase their revenue,and accelerate their personal business and career growth
through unlimited opportunities. As a member, you will have access to coaching,
training events that may be taking place, workshops, resources, networking opportunities and
(39:58):
much more. And if you havenot viewed my TEDx talk that I did
in Vancouver, Canada, make sureyou do so. The topic of course,
to show up to Rise Up,and you can watch it on YouTube.
To do so, just put myname in the search box doctor Madeline
(40:19):
and Lewis, or you can sendme an email to info at EXWSI dot
com and I will send you thedirect link. I'm excited because my video
is still moving out there to themasses. It's at one hundred sixty nine
thousand, eight hundred and sixty sevenviews, So thank you all to in
(40:44):
advance to those of you who willbe watching, those of you that have
watched, those of you who havecommented and also shared my video, and
as you know, my goal isto reach a million plus view, so
let's keep pushing it out there.I'm also a contributing writer to the magazine,
(41:06):
to the own It magazine where Ishare nuggets and resources every month.
Own It Magazine is a resource forpersonal, professional and business development, so
make sure you get your subscription.For an annual subscription to the magazine,
you can go to my website whichis www dot exw SI dot com.
(41:34):
And that is all my announcements forthis upcoming the things that I will be
doing. So again, I wantto thank my guests. Miss Nicole Anderson,
the CEO and founder of Her Wine, who shared with us today her
journey into getting into the wine business. I would also like to thank my
(41:58):
viewers and my listeners for joining metoday. This is the successful Women's show.
I am doctor Madelinine Lewis and ifyou'd like to reach out to me,
you can email me at info atEXWSI dot com or go to my
website www dot exwsi dot com.And while you're there, make sure you
(42:22):
download my free three part video serieson three things every woman should do to
position herself for executive leadership. Andyou can also sign up for my online
course, which is Crack the CareerCode, how to Lead with Confidence,
Charisma and Credibility. To sign upfor the course, go to www dot
(42:47):
Crack the Careercode dot com. Youcan also reach out to me on any
of the social media sites I amon all of them. Don't forget to
subscribe to our channel. Also makesure that you like and share this episode
with others, as we got somegreat nuggets from my guest, Miss Nicole
(43:07):
Anderson. Again, this is thesuccess for women's show. We are here
every Thursday. I am your host, Dr Mathlin and Lewis helping women to
accelerate the path to success. Thankyou again for joining us. I love
(43:28):
you all to life and as always, be well and stay safe out there.
I am h
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