Ep. 2289 Isis Daniel | Voices with Cynthia Chaplin

If we look at our industry and we understand how the culture has kind of created the illusion that you have to know a lot about wine in order to enjoy it, it makes sense why wine snobs feel obligated to behave in the way that they do. It's just a lack of information. So I decided to create videos where I could connect to the wine snob, but also educate the person who was interested in wine, but didn't feel like they were welcome. I started creating these personalities of people I was seeing in the wine industry because I wanted everyone to feel seen, but I also wanted everyone to know that you are safe at least on my page. Welcome to the Italian wine podcast. I'm Cynthia Chaplin, and this is Voices. Every Wednesday, I will be sharing conversations with international wine industry professionals discussing issues in diversity, equity, and inclusion through their personal experiences working in the field of wine. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and rate our show wherever you get your pods. Hello. This is your host, Cynthia Chapman. And today, I am thrilled to have Isis Daniel with me on Voices. Isis is known as the millennial psalm by her 12,700 followers on Instagram with a mission to cultivate the next generation of wine lovers via entertainment, education, and authenticity. She's the founder of Elevage LLC, and she was named a wine enthusiast 40 under 40 tastemaker in 2021. She's also a TikTok sensation with almost a 150,000 followers who tune in to catch her tasting videos and enjoy her amazing sense of humor as she brings inclusivity to the world of wine. So totally up my street, Isis. I'm so happy to have you on the show today. Welcome. Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to be here. Let's get into it. Let's get into it. Alright. So first of all, how did you get into wine originally? I know you got into hospitality as a server and a social media manager, but how did you move into the wine sector properly where you are now? Yes. So my journey into wine, as you said, began in hospitality, of course, learning all the basics of serving wine, presenting wine, but it was actually my mother who was, as I like to say, Periscope famous for all the people who remember that platform from years ago. By the way, just a little note for people who are used to going on Instagram live or any other lives, Periscope was the founding father of that from its original platform. But at that time, my mother was very popular on, on Periscope, and she met a som who, you know, pretty much heard my mother talking about me enjoying wine, and she wanted to connect with me directly. So while I am at work in the restaurant, you know, I was managing at the time in the back. I had a phone call with Maya Parish, and she pretty much just said we need more African American women in this field. If you have an interest in wine, I encourage you to go to your local wine school at Capital Wine School here in DC and just see if you like it. And that's exactly what I did. I went to that first class, and I fell in love. Well, thank you to Maya because she is so right. We need more women, more women of color. We we need so much more diversity in line. And I'm sitting here, you know, I'm a white woman, so believe me, I see this lack. So, you know, if I can see it, everybody should be seeing it. And it's it's great that you went in, you know, through the door of education because, you know, I'm sure you've seen this too. You know, anybody these days who can hold a wine glass while wearing a bikini is suddenly a wine expert. So I've got problems with that, and I love the fact that, you know, you got education. You you know, you you're a serious player, so I I really highly approve of that. And I think it's a great way in. How did you find the education in DC? Oh my gosh. I fell in love. Number one, shout out to Capital Wine School. Anyone who's in the area, I highly recommend. Even if you're not interested in being a wine professional, they offer, you know, great classes and workshops just so that you can brush up on your wine knowledge, learn more about regions, and just be a great wine enthusiast or wine professional if that's what you choose. And, like, have fun. Yes. You know, people see wine school and they think, oh god. I don't know enough to go into wine school. No. Go have fun. As you know, I let let me just say this. Wine is probably it's intense. Right? So, yes, I'm, level three WSET. Yes. Taking that through, Capital Wine School like we're talking about. But the truth is we are talking about wine. So you get to drink wine as you study. I don't think it's you do you get what I'm saying? It's it's a bit fun to be able to explore. Oh, my friend. Friend. I am a professor of Italian wine and culture, and I have university students in Rome who are on their semester abroad. And my class is packed out because, you know, who doesn't wanna take wine class while they're on their semester abroad? And, you know, I hate to break it to them. They have to have a midterm and a final and write a paper, but I do love to grab those people when they're so into it and so excited about it before they, you know, get jaded, and let them have fun. Wine is supposed to be fun. Yes. It's intense. You know? I'm a WSET educator. It's intense. But it's you know, the reason we all got into it is because it's fun. Yes. It's fun, and I love the history. I think, I was a late bloomer when it comes to appreciating history in the way that I do now, but there's just something special about wine, especially when you are able to study abroad or simply just travel and go to these different wine regions. But wine is woven throughout history, and it makes this bigger picture of our world and how diverse it is much clearer. So I I mean, I just think that wine is it's everything. I love it. I will fight for it every day, because I just believe it is the central piece that has always been about connectivity no matter what culture you're from. Okay. Well, we're gonna be friends first. Yes. We will. Hello? Well, I know, you know, at this point in history, as we're saying, you know, the COVID pandemic is part of everybody's history. So for better or for worse, you know, I know that, really, you were pushing so hard on your social media during that time, not only to reach out to your followers, but also working with wine brands and bringing them into the social media world. You used that pandemic time in a really positive way. So tell us what you were doing, you know, during COVID and how people reacted to all the content you created. You know, it's so funny. I actually, recently was talking about this time. And people some people know if you've been following me for a while, but others don't know that during the pandemic, my father was actually sick. In fact, he passed away, came back, and had to learn how to walk, and he's a, a musician. So even playing the guitar, he had to relearn how to play, and it's so that time was a very, it was a very precious time for me because I wasn't actually able to be as active on my page as I wanted to be, but all I had was consistency. Right? And that's something that we talk about within the digital marketing world, content creation. It's all about consistency, and so I stuck to my Taste in Thursdays where I posted every Thursday just rating and talking about wines, usually using my, my studies to help educate others and practice what I was studying on these platforms. But it was just all about consistency for me. Once my father was better, I ended up going and taking care of my great aunt. So, yes, I am the family nurse. Oh, my word. You need one. You need one. Right? But it was a blessing to be able to be in that space and to support my family, but they also supported me, both my aunt and my, my father. They allowed me time to make a video really quickly, edit it, do all the things, post, but I was a full time nurse. Once they both were in a better, position health wise, tha