Gary Vaynerchuk
Entrepreneur, Author, Social Media Guru, Wine Expert


Gary Vaynerchuk is 35-year-old online marketing trailblazer with a dual identity of both a hugely successful entrepreneur and social media guru who grew his family wine business from $4 million to $60 million in five years. What raised Vaynerchuk’s notoriety even more than his business acumen was his foresight combined with his pioneering, multi-faceted approach to personal branding and business.

In Vaynerchuk’s first New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling book, CRUSH IT! Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In On Your Passion (HarperStudio) he shares with business owners how they can boost sales using the internet. He shows audiences how to find their passion, then step by step how to turn it into a flourishing, monetized business. In Vaynerchuk’s highly anticipated second New York Times bestseller The Thank You Economy, he describes the most recent important shift in culture that businesses have seen, how everything has changed except human nature as well as why smart people dismiss social media (and why they shouldn't).

Vaynerchuk’s speeches on personal branding, social media, and marketing at conferences such as FOWA, Strategic Profits, and South By Southwest have occasioned praise from established web denizens and earned him the admiration of countless bloggers and aspiring entrepreneurs. As the youngest winner of Marketwatch’s Business Award at 27, as well as being named to “Silicon Alley 100” –Silicon Alley Insider – 2008, “101 Most Influential People in New Jersey” - New Jersey Monthly - 2009, and Businessweek’s list of the top 20 people every entrepreneur should follow, Vaynerchuk is an icon in his industry.

Vaynerchuk has made television appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Ellen DeGeneres, NBC’s Today Show, CNBC’s Mad Money with Jim Cramer, and The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, was featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and has become a consultant for Fortune 100 companies.

As Director of Operations at Wine Library in Springfield, NJ, Vaynerchuk’s roots in wine tasting come honestly - his Russian immigrant parents owned a liquor store when he was growing up. Bored at the cash register, he began reading Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate and realized collecting wine offered an allure. As a teenager, tasting wine was legally impossible, so he set out to train his palate “backwards.” To study various flavors associated with wine, he tasted obscure fruits and vegetables, along with earthly influences, including grass, dirt, rocks, tobacco, and wood. “I probably consumed more New Jersey grass in my teens than any lawn mower.” By familiarizing himself with the numerous tastes that contributed to a specific wine, Vaynerchuk was able to detect subtleties that an ordinary palate wouldn’t recognize. With a wealth of knowledge and an entrepreneurial spirit, Vaynerchuk spent every weekend of his college years at his parents’ store, rebranding the family business as Wine Library and establishing himself as a respected expert. As the store’s only wine buyer, he sampled every wine that entered the store. Customers depended on Vaynerchuk for his advice and within a five year time period, Wine Library grew from a $4 million dollar business to a $60 million business. His first book, 101 Wines Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World, brought his unpretentious approach to wine appreciation to the page.

A sought after speaker, Vaynerchuk has given keynote speeches to a diverse group of organizations such as NIKE, ReMax, the Digital Marketing Mixer, Boston Wine Expo, Inman Real Estate Connect, Ramquest Users Group Conference, DeGustibus Cooking School, and the Disney Food and Wine Festival.