Ep. 2466 Jessica Dupuy interviews Amanda McCrossin | TEXSOM 2025

Know, TexOM has always been one of those conferences that I have really respected. I think what's really exciting is that I get to go this year and speak about something that I don't know that has been spoken about there yet, which is social media, educating, and, you know, doing what it is I do, which I'm still not totally certain what it is I do. So if that's unclear to everyone else, it's unclear to me as well. If I rewind to when I started doing this all, I very much felt like I needed an invitation to do this. I'm very grateful to have had some people in my life that kind of pushed me in that direction to say, anybody can do this. Just pick up a camera and just start going. Like, what's the worst gonna happen. Ciao y'all. I'm Jessica Duppuis, guest host for a special Texom series on the Italian wine podcast, covering the twenty twenty five Texom Conference in Dallas, Texas. Join me in the heart of the lone star state. As we dive into conversations with key speakers and attendees, exploring career paths, challenges, and the latest trend shaping the wine industry today. This series is proudly sponsored by the Texas Department of Agriculture' Uncourt Texas wines program. Which celebrates Texas wine culture by promoting local wineries and grape growers, both in state and around the world, building a vibrant community around the Texas made wine. Be sure to subscribe and rate the show wherever you get your podcast And don't miss our Texas wine tidbit in every episode. A fun little fact, insight or story that highlights the people and places behind this exciting wine scene. Alright. Well, Amanda McCra Casson. Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of Italian wine podcast. I'm glad to have you. Actually, tell me where are you right now? Are you in on the East Coast? I'm on the East Coast, and the pleasure is mine to be here. Thank you for having me. But, yes, I'm sitting in my home outside of Philadelphia. Okay. Great. This actually helps with some of the questions I wanna be asking you because I feel like for those of you who know Sam Vivant, which, you know, this is kinda like people with who own dogs and, like, you're walking in the neighborhood and you meet people but you you know the dog's name and then you forget about the person's name. You know what I mean? Like, oh, it's it's, you know, rovers owner. I think it's in, like, with social media because I know your name, but I keep just wanting to say Sam Bivant. On Vermont. Right? Like, I don't say Amanda all the time. Well, I consider that a compliment. So thank you. Good. Well, good, Brandy. You know, great job there. But I think that's the other thing too is I think, you know, a lot of us associate that some of your career has been on the West Coast. Right? Like, being with press, in Napa Valley, and I didn't even consider until you and I started conversing that you live on the East Coast. So tell me a little bit about your background, how you got into wine, and we'll kinda go from there in terms of how Texom is involved in that. Well, sure. I'll make the beginning as brief as I can. I am East Coast born and raised. I grew up around this area, and then I moved to New York because I have a background in musical theater. I have my degree in musical theater, so you often see a little jazz handed when I am using social media, but when I moved up to New York, I, like, so many actresses got a side job at a private club, and there was a somebody there who really just kind of opened my eyes to the world of wine and was really gracious in helping me to navigate that very tricky world to enter. This is about two thousand ten, two thousand eleven, and I feel very lucky to have had the situation happen that did and that he sort of enrolled me in classes. And I quickly realized that wine was sort of the pathway that I wanted to continue my career in. So I decided to continue my education. I ended up getting a job as a family in New York kind of making some friends in the New York wine scene but then realized that I really wanted to live in a winemaking region, and so when the opportunity to move out west to Napa Valley and join the Psalm team at Press came up, I immediately jumped. I couldn't have been any fast at it. I think it was like a three week window in which I interviewed for the job and then moved to California, but that was how I landed on on the West Coast and ended up working there for five years. I took over the wine program up after about three and a half years as wine director. But in that time, I really wanted to kind of show what it was that I was doing. I wanted to explore some of the Napa Valley wineries. I wanted to talk about some of the really cool old Napa Valley bottles that we were opening that at that point, nobody was really talking very much about. Kelly White was just about to release her book. And so it was very exciting at the time, and I felt like I had a lot to share with the world and having that theatrical background. I just decided that I was gonna put myself on Cameron, figure it all out, how to edit, how to shoot, and that's how the origin of somebody won't started. That's amazing. So do you do a lot of it on your own now, or have you grown to where you have some help because I would want help. It's a good question. I I'd still do it on my own. I have sort of dabbled with working with editors and producers, and I do have help in some areas like the podcast that I produce for wine access we do have a team that helps me there. But all of the content that you see on social is is what I do myself. I think the beauty of where we're at right now, technology has advanced so much. When I first started, I was using a pretty big rig. It was like anybody remembers, like, like, the early days of Casey Niestat when he was vlogging every single day, I basically took his rig, his canon, and, I just decided to I didn't know that Casey NICE had, like, a very deep background in film production. I just assumed that, like, you know, anybody could do this, which is very silly, but I basically just mimicked what he had. And I started to shoot on that and edit myself, and I taught myself how to edit on on final cut. You can learn to do anything on YouTube. But now I I do everything on my iPhone, which is really lovely and wonderful. And I I take all the things that I learned from those early days and I apply it now, but it's much easier than it used to be. That's great. Yeah. I think that's the beauty of, like you said, of technology. I mean, being able to travel and not have to Yes. Bring so much stuff with you. I imagine it's gotta be. Yeah. A tripod. Yeah. A tripod, a light and an iPhone. You're kinda good to go. You're okay. Yeah. Well, tell me about that. So your son, Vivans, you're a personality on social media and YouTube. But you also speak. Right? Like, so you go to different engagements from the Aspen Food and wine classic to are you doing Charles Stack? I can't remember all these. I am. Yeah. Okay. So you engage with people in person as well. And I wonder if you could talk a little bit about the fact that you will be speaking at TechSom. Is this your first endeavor into TexOM coming down to Dallas in August? It is. I am ready for Dallas in August. I have researched the weather and the air conditioning situation. So I'm excited. If you see me, like, simultaneously sweating in at the same time over there. Just please forgive me. I'm I'm doing my best. But, yes, I'm very excited. I, you know, Tech Tom has always been one of those conferences that I have really respected and always wanted to attend, but circumstances have never really presented themselves for me to be there, but I think what's really exciting is that I get to go this year and speak about something that I I don't know that has been spoken about there yet, which is social media and educating and you know, doing what it is I do, which I'm still not totally certain what it is I do. So if that's unclear to every