Meet Chelsea Erica Smith
Connection-seeker, wine-lover, Christ follower, Mother to twin 3 yr olds.
Chelsea was raised in a suburb of Portland, Oregon. Her mother, a doctor. Her father, a pastor.
She attended George Fox University, graduating with a degree in Accounting, Spanish, and Philosophy.
Chelsea moved to Nashville, Tennessee to exit the pandemic world of the West Coast and never looked back. She loves live music, luxury hotels, and a gorgeous floral arrangement. Chelsea moved from Finance to Events + Photography in 2016 and has run a self-sufficient business ever since. Her passion is helping small businesses to scale, any way she can.
One story, that Chelsea needs to tell, from her experience as a Nashvillian.
You may think that if I had the chance to tell you one story, it would be a success story. But instead? I want to share a beautiful learning experience.
In 2022, I had my heart set on throwing a luxury wine gala for somms and other folks in the industry. I first reached out to Tom Black, a local wine guru. Tom invited me and my spouse into his home, where he opened a “birth year wine” for Dana and I. 1983 and 1992. He pulled them out of the cellar and gave me tips.
I orchestrated an event where I had the hotel comp’d, wine from folks like Gaylon Laurence (Heitz), and 14 major players in wine coming to speak at the event.
Then, I sat and did two-hundred zoom sales calls.
Every single person wanted to come to the event.
Then, I got pregnant with twins.
My own priorities were thrown for a loop, but why wasn’t this event coming together? I had access to the Nashville Wine Auction email list, for goodness sake.
Bing Bing Bing… I hadn’t thought about WHO I was selling to.
Although Sommeliers are coveted, they aren’t the ones buying the wine for their private cellars. They all wanted to join in on the fun, but they didn’t have the funds. The restaurants they worked for wouldn’t sponsor their trip… and they were not really the ideal buyers of the wine, either. They may decide the list for a restaurant, but high end wineries really want one thing too; sales.
So, after one more meeting with Tom Black (where I may have snuck in a taste of wine - though pregnant - sue me!) I made the hard decision to pay back those who had bought tickets to the gala and postpone it.
It was devestating, but through building it… I made the best connections, friends, business buds, and it started a long line of working with high end clients and hotels in Nashville.
All this to say, I learned that WHO you sell to… really matters. I want to continue to help customers and firms to make the best connections so they too can choose the right WHO to sell to, and create an environment that will foster those relationships.
