Career Highlights: Our Roots Run Deep

Creating & Building the World's Largest Consumer Wine Organization

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Joel and Cailyn's 28-years of experience in wine and entertainment began with 9-years as Executive Director and Director of Operations of Wine Brats, respectively. With their mandate and funding from the wine industry's most influential leaders to demystify wine for a new generation, their strategy was to bring wine to America's young adult culture. They pioneered social media, producing national multimedia tours, all while growing it into the world's largest wine consumer organization.

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At its peak, the organization was producing 300 plus events a year through its network of 27 chapters and 45,000 members. Cailyn's technical prowess enabled her to build the Internet's first online ticketing system for wine events.

Cross-Promotional Partnerships to Accelerate Growth

By the early 2000s, the organization was selling 87% of its event tickets online in advance. They created and moderated one of the wine industry’s first Bulletin Board sites, WineRave.com, in association with the New York Times and WineToday.com. On the experiential events side of the business, they developed and produced two, five-city national wine and lifestyle tours that were perpetual sell-outs and media sensations.

• WineRave Tour (1997 - 2000) Title sponsors: ELLE magazine & Universal Music

• Chefs w/out Hats Tour ( 2000 - 2004) Title sponsors: Food & Wine magazine & American Express 

As a writer, Joel created, sold, pre-edited, and ghostwrote sections for the Wine Brats' Guide to Living, with Wine published by St. Martin's Press. The book was written in an educational essay format and gave voice to a new generation of wine writers. It received excellent reviews, including 3.5 starts with Entertainment Weekly.

Senior Director of Creative Services at Paige Poulos Communications

Following their nearly decade-long stint with Wine Brats, Joel moved on to become Senior Director Creative Services at Paige Poulos Communications. Highlights from his six-year tenure include:

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• (2004 - 2009) Led Kunde Family Estate's sustainability positioning and consumer education, and played a key role in its 100th Anniversary public relations campaign

• (2004 - 2014) Director of Rose Avengers & Producers / Producer of Pink Out!

• (2005) The movie Sideways: Co-produced and directed 18-city food and wine media sneak previews/tastings and word-of-mouth buzz campaign for Fox Searchlight Pictures

• (2008) Created and produced C. Donatiello’s “Live From the Middle Reach” Music Series

• (2004 -2007) Director for the Alliance for Innovative Wine Packaging

• (2007) Created Wente Vineyards' "Discover the Wine, Discover the Music” campaign and off-premise promotion in tandem with the iconic wine family's 125th Anniversary public relations campaign

• (2004 - Present) Wine Consultant and host at MUSEXPO: United Nations of Music & Media

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Going Indie, Cailyn Leverages Sum Cum Laude Associates Degree in Accounting

Cailyn turned her focus to being a self-employed bookkeeper and accountant. From her foundation as a summa cum laude AA graduate in Accounting from Santa Rosa Junior College, she signed on as a Full-Charge Bookkeeper with Accountemps while also working independently with other clients. She fine-tuned her skills in all aspects of General Ledger Accounting and Bookkeeping through Financial Statements, while also becoming an asset to many companies in need of forensic accounting.

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Reuniting to Launch Creative Furnace

In 2009, Cailyn and Joel once again merged their talents by co-founding Creative Furnace, while also becoming managing partners at TasteLive.com, a Social Media platform integrated with Twitter to host virtual tastings with bloggers and wineries from around the world. The virtual tastings integrated real-time discussions with video, both live and pre-recorded, and other visual assets.

Over the past 11-years, Cailyn earned her Certifications as Quickbooks Pro Advisor for both online and desktop, worked with sole proprietors making custom motorcycle luggage for Ducati owners to luxury wine estates to a computer component distribution company with $50 million-plus in annual sales. She continued to diversify, gaining 10-years of experience in non-profit accounting and 9-years in construction accounting.

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Chasing the Good Life

Stepping back to 2012, Joel began consulting with The Good Life Wine Collective (Jessup Cellars, Handwritten Wines, Humanitas Wines) in the Napa Valley. After just 3-months, he accepted the position of Senior Vice President of Marketing Communications to help drive destination and event-based marketing for the direct-to-consumer luxury brands.

During his tenure, he became a Yountville Chamber of Commerce Board Member. He created Jessup Cellars 'Art House Sessions' summer music series in partnership with Hollywood's famed Hotel Cafe, 'Art House Short Film Series' in collaboration with the San Jose Int'l Short Film Series, and Handwritten's 'StoryTeller Series.'

As an engaged member of the Yountville and Napa Valley community, he was the creative mind behind the idea of Yountville Live, where he brokered the players for initial seed money, media sponsorship with Sunset magazine, and the festival production partner, Live in the Vineyard. He also negotiated the deal to create and launch the Yountville Int'l Short Film Festival in 2018. In 2019, Joel became a Board Member of Napa Green Certification to help imagine and launch its consumer-facing initiatives.

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Diversifying the Accounting Business

While Joel was deeply engaged in the Napa Valley, Cailyn launched CannaKind Inc. in 2017 in response to the legalization of recreational cannabis to help businesses become legal and to secure investment.

In this same year, following the devastating Tubbs Fire in Napa and Sonoma Counties, she gave back to our community by helping Heather Irwin, Chief Fork for BiteClubEats.com, create Sonoma Family Meals by setting up accounting and operation systems. Sonoma Family Meal has gone on to become a disaster-focused non-profit connecting local chefs, farmers, and food producers to fight food insecurity.

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The Current State of Affairs

Following the successful launch of Handwritten Wine's new home in Yountville, California in early 2020, Joel has returned to full-time independent consulting with Creative Furnace. Along with her collection of clients, Cailyn is now also a Corporate Controller for Palooza Fresh restaurant group in Sonoma County. The team welcomes inquiries from individuals and companies seeking advice and support for their day-to-day needs and long term strategies to succeed in dynamic and creative ways!