What We’re Feeling
Monthly Reflections from Wine Unify’s Lead Writer, Lucy Anderle
What We’re Feeling
For our monthly newsletters, we ask Lucy to reflect on a word that best describes “what we’re feeling” that month. Take a moment to catch up on her reflections below, and if you haven’t signed up for our newsletter, please join us below to stay in touch and up to date.
Photo by Emma K. Morris
November 2020
I've felt a significant shift in energy lately. Maybe it's the change in seasons, a shift in crucial leadership; maybe it's eating more greens, or something astrological beyond our understanding. Whatever the source, I am grateful for the focus that I and many of my colleagues have been enjoying over the past month.
How is life different when you feel focused? For me, it's more than simply getting things done. It's having the appetite for completing tasks without the usual procrastination and emotional angst I pour over my work like syrup on pancakes. Feeling focused translates to taking real joy in the job, losing myself. Reading through the applications for our "Elevate" awards, it's obvious that I'm not alone in that feeling. These dedicated students of wine are focused on their learning, their professional aspirations, focused on each bottle and what it has to teach them. I'm taking a leaf out of their book, slowing down, and staying present for every single moment (and glass!) as we bring this strange year to a close. Let's all refocus together, onto a bigger, brighter, future ahead.
October 2020
What a month it's been! We've been welcoming the blessings, even mixed with the bitter; blue skies in one direction and smoke in the other. Strangely, that cocktail of happy and sad makes our feeling of gratitude all the more acute. Every lungful of fresh air, every good conversation, every night spent in our own beds feels like a precious gift. And there are even bigger blessings, too. We are grateful for the enthusiasm of our applicants, the support of our generous sponsors, and the positive impact of our mission. Welcoming our first round of award recipients has made our ambitions of diversifying the wine industry a more tangible reality, and every new face gives us a reason to celebrate. We invite you to join us and raise a glass high with hearts full of thanks.Your continued dedication to making sustainable change fuels our efforts and bolsters our vision. Wine Unify is grateful for YOU!
September 2020
Receiving the applications for our Welcome Awards felt like a syringe full of hope straight to the heart. I met baristas, scientists, servers, parents, doctors, and Dreamers in those answers. I sat there with a glass of Grüner in my hand and hot, happy tears in my eyes. The longer I read, the more energized I felt. Each candidate positively fizzed with optimism and curiosity about the world of wine. Their ambition stirred memories of lying on my dorm room bed, daydreaming about becoming a Master of Wine. For the first time in a few years, the industry felt limitless again. And the good news? It is, particularly if we continue to extend our hands to these incoming classes of intelligent, dewy-eyed revolutionaries.
In a spectacular reversal of the mentor/mentee relationship, those applications reaffirmed my choice to work in this industry and got me feeling very excited about the future. I think anyone who's worked in the wine industry for a while can stand to benefit from connecting with people at the beginning of their careers. I, for one, have felt like a newly minted penny ever since reading those applications, and have been drawing inspiration from their energy ever since. We can't wait to meet you!
August 2020
Where do you find motivation in moments of exhaustion? I've posed that question to myself many times, lately -- bent over a computer screen in the wee hours of the morning, or trying to get back into running, or reading news of yet another injustice. Sometimes the weight of all the work there is left to do stacks on my heart like an anvil. Feeling unmotivated can be deeply unmooring, particularly when the work we are doing has larger ramifications for the health of the world we're building.
In those moments, I find solace in the simplest definition of motivation: "the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way." What am I working toward? And why is this important? No matter how overwhelmed I am feeling, the answers to those questions come easily -- most often in the form of the faces of people I love.
Motivation doesn't need to be a bolt of divine lighting, and expecting it to be can create unrealistic expectations for your success. More often, being motivated just means quietly putting one foot in front of the other and fixing your eyes on the vision of the world we are working to create. We at Wine Unify are deeply motivated to increase diversity in the wine industry and every email, every Instagram post, every dollar collected toward that goal feels like a step towards a more equitable future. Stay motivated with us this month as our Welcome Awards take us closer to that goal! The road is always shorter with friends.
July 2020
Wine Unify was born from a desperate need to diversify the wine industry in a thoughtful and regenerative way. It’s become obvious that the challenges we face within the wine business reflect the growing pains of our world as a whole. Our work at Wine Unify is one small tile in a mosaic of collective education, opportunity creation, and challenging the systems of oppression that have kept our industry from equality. But we hope that by effecting change in our small way first, we will create a powerful "ripple effect."
The future of wine depends on the industry’s active racial diversification. We’ve all witnessed wine’s unique ability to bring the most unexpected people together in shared enjoyment. Our industry should embody wine's natural inclusivity by creating equitable, energizing opportunities for people of all racial backgrounds. Let’s lay a new foundation together, one that levels the playing field of opportunity and champions the richness of perspectives we so desire.
We find ourselves in a pivotal moment that has lasting consequences for both our industry and our world as a whole. Each one of us can do our part by engaging in these difficult but hopeful conversations about the place where we are and the place we want to be. Don't be afraid to daydream - what does an equitable wine industry look like to you?
Let that vision warm our hearts as we work together towards true inclusion.
Let wine bring us together.