Ep.35 / Joey Wölffer, Co-Owner & CBO Wölffer Estate

Joey Wölffer on turning a struggling Hamptons winery into a 300,000-case lifestyle brand, and the hungover decision that started it all.

In this episode of Professional Jealousy, host Natasha Jakubowski talks with Joey Wölffer, Chief Brand Officer and co-owner of Wölffer Estate Vineyard, about the hungover, middle-of-the-night decision at 27 that led her to buy into her father's struggling business instead of selling it, how she and her brother rebuilt the brand around the "soul" of the Hamptons rather than the wine itself, and why she recently turned down an acquisition offer from a much bigger company to protect what she'd built.

Read More

Ep.34 / April Gargiulo, Founder & CEO Vintner’s Daughter

April Gargiulo, founder and CEO of Vintner's Daughter, joins Professional Jealousy to share how growing up in a Napa Valley winemaking family shaped her approach to skincare — and why she's released just three products in twelve years, each one taking three to six weeks to formulate from whole plants.

April walks host Natasha Jakubowski through the early days of building Vintner's Daughter: convincing skeptical labs to break from decades of standard practice, hand-packing the brand's first 500-bottle run herself, and growing an entirely word-of-mouth following — "girlfriend to girlfriend" — with no paid advertising, ever. She also explains why Vintner's Daughter's nutritional skincare formulas reject the beauty industry's "anti-aging" and "fix and correct" messaging, what it takes to scale a luxury brand without compromising quality, and her vision to build a heritage skincare company meant to last for generations, not one built to sell.

Read More