"There is no reason today to do something you hate."

Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk  is a video blogger, co-owner and director of operations of a wine retail store, and an author and public speaker on the subjects of social media, brand building and e-commerce. Vaynerchuk immigrated to the U.S. from Russia in 1978, and after graduating from Mount Ida College in Newton, MA, transformed his father's Springfield, NJ liquor store into the large scale retail wine store named Wine Library.  In 2006 he launched a video blog entitled Wine Library TV, a daily internet webcast on the subject of wine, which launched his career of internet celebrity.

The MEAPA Way suggests that individuals, business, schools, communities and other organizations can learn a variety of lessons from this story by watching this 15 minute video and answering the following questions:

• What is Gary's main message in his speech?
  
• How does Gary demonstrate the ability to take calculated risks?
• How does Gary demonstrate the ability to engage in self-promotion?
  
• What trait allowed Gary to use the new social media networks to launch Wine.tv?
• As you seek to further your personal and professional development, what lesson/s can you take from this story and apply it to your ability to rebound from failure, take calculated risk or practice self-improvement?