Ep. 2448 Juliana Colangelo interviews Pilar Brito | Masterclass US Wine Market

Today, on the Italian podcast, we are joined by one of the most vibrant and influential voices in the wine space today. Pilar Prito. A storyteller, educator, and community builder. Pilar has carved out a unique space in the digital wine world with an approachable unbridge pinterest style and infectious enthusiasm. So our three key takeaways for today's episode, number one, how to build authentic online community that can really translate into real life connections Number two, what is the next generation and your followers specifically really looking for when it comes to wine experiences at events? And then finally, you know, how can Italian wines, timeline category do a better job reciting what these new audience is? Hello. Welcome to Masterclass US wine market with me, your host, Juliana Colangelo. This show has been designed to demystify the US market for Italian wineries through interviews with experts in sales and distribution, social media, communications, and so much more. We'll will quiz each of our esteemed guests in every episode to solidify the lessons that we've learned from the episode. So sharpen your pencils, get out your notebooks, and join us this week to learn more about the US market. Hello. Welcome to Masterclass US Y market. Today, on the Italian podcast, we are joined by one of the most vibrant and influential voices in the wine space today. Pilar Prito. A storyteller, educator, and community builder, Pilar has carved out a unique space in the digital wine world with an approachable, unpretentious style, and infectious enthusiasm. Today, we'll talk about how she connects with consumers, what's resonating in the US market and some trends that the Italian wine industry can tap into for the to attract the next generation of wine lovers. Pull are welcome to the show. It's so great to have you here. Thank you. Thank you for the very kind intro. Of course. So for our listeners who might not already be familiar with you, tell us a little bit more about your journey into wine and what has brought you here today. Yeah. So for those who don't know me, I'm a wine content creator. My full name is Pilar Brito, but my handle is Bar Pilar on Instagram TikTok and Substack. It's two r's at the end because I couldn't get the handle with one r. I'll work on it later because I think it is confusing to some people. I have about a hundred and fifty thousand community members across platforms, and I've been doing this for a year and half, way I got started. I mean, I really didn't grow up in a wine drinking family at all. My mom did some drink and my dad, like, will occasionally, but, you know, pretty frugal in his wine spending. But we moved to Italy actually in Spain when I was a kid, so that started a love of travel and food. I was a French literature major in college. So it was kind of, like, right there ready for me when I wanted to expand into wine, but I really fell in love with it in law school. My law school had the very intent wine society that I'm happy to get into more if you like, But basically producers, importers would come every year and kind of show off their products or their portfolio with the idea of, you know, okay, you guys are broke now, but you're about to have very good disposable income. Let's kinda get you on the train. It's very it's very good marketing, actually. So the first tasting when I was a one l in law school was Chateau Margo. I fell completely in love with wine. So I joined the port of the wine society, started being the person kind of running the tastings, building relationship with producers, started doing my CMS certification, later switched to w's at doing line testing competitions, etcetera. By the end of law school, it was like, you know, I really would love to be in line, but law school's very expensive. I just spent three years on this. I think I regret not being a lawyer. Move to California was a lawyer for four years, but in the meantime was, you know, still doing my w set certifications and doing as much in line as I could. And in my, you know, third starting into my fourth year, of being a lawyer, I felt like, okay, this actually has been great in many ways, but I've given it long enough. I still really wanna be in line. So let me figure out how to make the full transition. And that's when I started creating content and building this community. Yeah. Wow. What a cool story. And I mean, it started from sounds like you're, you know, experienced living in Spain and Italy, but really from this fine club at your law school, like you said, it's a great form of marketing, and I think that's something we can talk about as we get later into the episode and and talking about connecting with Nick generation. So I'm excited to talk to you a little bit more specifically about the hundred fifty thousand followers that you have across your platforms and have started translating that into, you know, IRL and real life events, communities, and connections. So our three key takeaways for today's episode Number one, how to build authentic online community that can really translate into real life connections. Number two, what is the next generation and and your followers specifically really looking for when it comes to wine experiences at events? And then finally, you know, how can Italian wines, tell them on category, maybe do a better job perhaps of resonating what these new audiences. So to dive in, you know, when you think about creating content around wine, what's your approach? Like, how have you found that special structure to really keep your followers engaged and and build such a great following in just a year and a half. Thanks. Yeah. So I'm gonna be honest. The real reason I started creating content with combination of a get I used to be a venture capital and startup attorneys, so I was seeing how a lot my clients, especially, like, CPG clients, some of which were actually Elk beverage companies, but plenty of which were, like, beauty and whatnot. I was seeing how they were using social media and it sort of clicked with me how powerful it was and that I should learn it. But the main reason that I just couldn't break into the wine industry. Like, I was trying to, and I was having no luck. I was trying so hard, and it was not going well. I was at that awkward meeting. This is a separate topic, but basically, like, I think if I had been younger or if I had been much, much more experienced in something, there would have been a way, but every room was, like, you're thirty. You have, like, you're used to having an assistant at your law firm. You have, like, great experience in this other area, but no wine experience. And I can't, like, put you on the floor. I don't trust, like, if you were twenty two, sure. Like, it was just this really weird, like Actually, I think it's a really relevant topic, though, to our conversation because to attract next generation consumers. I firmly believe you need next generation people Ed leaders in the wine industry, whether that says marketers, as Psalms, as wine industry professionals. So I actually think it's super relevant to the conversation. Something, you know, we can dive into a little bit more, but I think for our whole industry, it to be super cognizant of the fact that there's outside talent, people like yourself who might come from a a different background, but are so passionate that, you know, it's important to think about ways to integrate people from other industries professionally. You know, just for for starters. So I'm really glad you found your way in through social media. So I'll let you get back to that story. Yep. Totally. And it's not unique to the wine industry, but, yeah, I think there should be more cross pollination across every industry. And, like, lawyer might not be the most obvious one, but, like, you know, for example, beauty and fashion marketers are incredible. Like, if the wine industry wants to pull more of that, and I think that would be great, but