TisF Spends Five Fabulous Minutes with Gary Vaynerchuk!

Gary Vaynerchuk (VAY NER CHUK), is a 34 year old New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best-Selling author who is also a self-trained wine and social media expert.  From a young age, it was clear that Gary was a businessman.  At 8 years old he was operating seven lemonade stands in his neighborhood and by age 10 he had moved onto selling baseball cards at local malls.  In high school while working at his family owned liquor store, Gary started reading The Wine Spectator and wine books, and realized collecting wine offered an allure similar to his previous hobby of collecting baseball cards. With a wealth of knowledge and an entrepreneurial spirit, Gary spent every weekend of his college years at his parents' wine store. By 1997, Gary launched Winelibrary.com and helped grow his family business from $3 million to $45 million by 2005.

In 2006, with a flipcam and a NY Jets bucket Gary began WineLibraryTV (www.winelibrarytv.com), which revolutionized the wine world.  Today, his irreverent wine reviews currently attract over 90,000 viewers each day and his email queue typically holds 1,000 messages from die-hard fans, self-named "Vayniacs." Gary's cult-like following is the result of his unconventional, often irreverent commentary on wine. Using comical expressions like "Sniffy sniff" and "The Oakmonster," he encourages straightforward wine tasting and debunks wine myths. Wine Library recently launched Cinderella Wine (www.cinderellawine.com), a wine website which features one wine per day beginning at 9PM EST for 24 hours sold at a severely discounted price.  Gary also owns Cork'd (www.corkd.com), where wine lovers can review, share and discuss wine in a fun, interactive way.

Gary is one of the first Facebook users to max-out his friend limit, with over 17,000 requests still pending. He also has close to 1 million followers on Twitter and was included in Business Week's list of the top 20 people every entrepreneur should follow. Gary landed a 10-book 7-figure deal with HarperStudio. The first title, Crush It! Why Now Is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion, released in October 2009, hit the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Associated Press Best- Sellers lists in its first weeks. The book maps out Gary's road rules for how to "Crush It" in today's business market by following your passion and building your own personal brand.  In the spring of 2009, Gary and his brother AJ launched VaynerMedia (www.vaynermedia.com), a Social Media Storytelling agency and angel investor in www.dailybooth.com that helps Fortune 500 companies and individuals expand and build brand equity with clients including his beloved NY Jets and the National Hockey League.

Gary has appeared on countless programs from Jimmy Fallon, LateNight with Conan O'Brien and Ellen to FOX News, CNN and NPR.  He was also notably featured in Decanter Magazine's 2009 Power List, which is a list of the 50 most influential people in wine and named Innovator of the Year at Wine Enthusiast's 2009 Wine Star Awards.  Additionally, Gary was one of Askmen.com's 49 Most Influential Men of 2009.  Gary's ultimate goal is to one day own the New York Jets.

TisF recently caught up with the wine guru...

What is your idea of Fabulous?
GV: The girls in my life.

Who is the most Fabulous person you know?
GV: My mom

Which Fabulous word do you use most?
GV: Fabulous

What is your greatest (most Fabulous) extravagance?
GV: An experience actually, an extremely decadent and fabulous wine and food dinner in France 5 years ago.

Where would you like or prefer to live your Fabulous life?
GV: New York City

What do you consider your greatest (most Fabulous) achievement?
GV: My daughter Misha

What is your (Fabulous) motto?
GV: You, with a little bit of me, we're changing the wine world... whether they like it, or not.

Now That is Fabulous!

For more fabulous information about Gary, please visit:
garyvaynerchuk.com/
tv.winelibrary.com/
cinderellawine.com/
vaynermedia.com/

Tags: Gary Vaynerchuk, Wine Library TV, Cinderella Wines, Vayner Media, Social Networking, Wine