Rising Stars: Meet Jax Wine Crew

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jax Wine Crew.

Hello Jax Wine Crew, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Inspired by @JaxBeerCrew and, of course, driven by our love of good wine, we launched the @JaxWineCrew on Instagram in 2017.

After observing our local brewery scene flourish, we thought there was a real opportunity to highlight local businesses, curate a (never-ending) library of wine recommendations, and create a community of local wine lovers. We also wanted to help break down the stereotypes of wine.

Everyone’s tastebuds are different, and you shouldn’t have to be a wine connoisseur to enjoy. That’s why we chose the motto, “Wine. How classy people get wasted”. We wanted to share where wine lovers could pop a cork, grab a glass, and enjoy adult grape juice- in a judgment free-zone.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Early in our journey, we had to really cultivate our own lane as local influencers in the wine space. With not many people to model ourselves after, we found being authentic to ourselves helped the brand really grow.

As far as content creation, in the beginning, we struggled to find a variety of places to recommend. There are so many wine varietals that most people have never tried, and some restaurants focus more on liquor, places that don’t invest in keeping wine fresh or just have a single selection of red, white, or sparkling.

However, thanks to working with our unofficial crew members (our followers), we created a host of really great recommendations to try and places to go. Still, the biggest challenge we met, was the pandemic in 2020. Like most influencers, we had to pivot since a big part of our brand focused on connecting people to local businesses like restaurants.

We chose to diversify and mix in more at-home recommendations and different types of content. Overall, this has been a real eye-opening experience. It has challenged us to step outside our bubbles, meet new people, and continuously learn about a new brand or varietal of grape!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
From 9 am to wine ‘o’clock, (that’s a happy hour of course) the founding members are focused on day jobs where they bring an exemplary level of passion and commitment to projects for well-known organizations. As 3 determined women, they break barriers in various industries with poise and professionalism.

Natalie, a licensed PMP professional, focuses on complex IT project management for a data science company. Nicole is an experienced Senior Salesforce Administrator with over 10 years of expertise in building and managing CRM applications.

And Sandy, a professional storyteller, builds and supports marketing campaigns for a healthcare company.

Any big plans?
Ultimately, we truly love wine and love our brand, so plans for the future include continuing to grow our influence and expanding to new cities. We also don’t plan on stopping exploring our city.

We look forward to wine partnerships we can be involved in and checking out new places as our city’s wine scene continues to grow!

Contact Info:

• Email: Jaxwinecrew@gmail.com
• Instagram: @Jaxwinecrew

Image Credits
Jerome Martin