411: How Julia Coney Pivoted Careers to Pioneer a New Era in the Food & Wine Industry

This week in the guest chair we have Julia Coney, award winning wine writer, speaker, & consultant. Julia wears many hats, including being the Wine Consultant for American Airlines in partnership with the James Beard Foundation, the Founder of Black Wine Professionals, a resource for the wine industry whose goal is to lift up the multifaceted Black professionals in the world of wine. 

In this episode she shares about:

• Being multi-passionate: how exploring a range of interests, from starting at a law firm to writing a beauty blog, has elevated her career 
• Paving the way for diversity: how starting honest conversations about racism, equity, and inclusion in the wine industry led to being the recipient of Wine Enthusiast's 2020 Social Visionary Award Winner 
• The power of putting yourself out there on social media: How she has created opportunities for herself like being the first Black woman to run a wine program for American Airlines

Highlights include: 

00:00 Intro

04:42 Original career path and intro to wine

13:00 Navigating a switch in careers

21:39 Transition from beauty blogging to wine writing

27:06 Addressing racism in the wine industry

29:40 Sustaining financially as a freelance writer

35:00 Providing a niche wine service 

41:30 Unlocking networking opportunities 

45:07 Running a wine program for American Airlines 

54:16 Tips for entrepreneurs 

Check out episode 411 of Side Hustle Pro podcast out now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube

Links mentioned in this episode

• Julia’s Substack: https://juliaconey.substack.com/ 
• Julia’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliaconey/ 
• Julia’s email: [email protected] 

Click here to subscribe via RSS feed (non-iTunes feed): http://sidehustlepro.libsyn.com/rss

Join our Facebook Community

If you’re looking for a community of supportive side hustlers who are all working to take our businesses to the next level, join us here: http://sidehustlepro.co/facebook

• Julia’s Substack: https://juliaconey.substack.com/ 
• Julia’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliaconey/ 
• Julia’s email: [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.