Gary Vaynerchuk and His Success in the World of Public Speaking, Social Media, and Wine

Even at a young age, the entrepreneur blood can already be sensed through his personality. Gary Vaynerchuk, a Wall Street Journal and New York Times best-selling author first showed actual interest in business when he operated seven lemonade stands at the age of eight. At 10 years old, he already began selling baseball cards in malls at the local neighborhood.

During his high school years, while working at his family’s liquor store, Gary began reading a number of wine books and found that wine excited him as much as baseball cards did. As he went on to college, he spent weekends at their store and recognizing the emerging importance of e-commerce, he launched WineLibrary.com in 1997 which helped their business grow significantly.

In 2006, he launched the Wine Library TV where he posted wine reviews, getting about 100,000 views daily. He also ventured in video blogging. In 2009, he signed a 10-book deal with HarperStudio and released his first book entitled Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion. In 2011, The Thank You Economy, the follow-up to his first book, was released.

As of today, Gary continues to influence different people in different industries, with his different views on different things.

Jesse Kirshbaum: From Loving Music to Loving Entrepreneurship

Jesse Kirshbaum is one that can be considered as an innovative entrepreneur. With the love for music and parties apparent in his personality even at a young age, the man also known as Jesse Kay thought of establishing one of today’s fastest growing booking agencies for music artists, the New Universal Entertainment Agency.

Before the establishment of NUE, Kirshbaum has already worked for several other boutique agencies during the course of his career and had realized early success working with a number of promising acts. In his mid-twenties, he left the agency world and moved to Los Angeles. He then worked for a video game start-up. After that stint, he moved back to New York and soon after, NUE was launched.

Founded in December 2003, NUE is now recognized for successfully representing some of the hottest acts in the industry, and it continues to help artists show their talents, and bring audience the best experience possible.

Aside from being its founder and CEO, Jesse also serves as a senior talent agent for the company. Over the past decade, Kirshbaum and NUE has been active in the music industry, securing that purely good talents are being recruited for concerts, tours, and endorsement deals, providing satisfaction for their clients and partners worldwide. As its CEO puts it, the agency has been designed to be able to work with every major entertainment companies in the world, yet possess the creativity and flexibility normally found in independent agencies.

With Jesse at the helm, NUE prides itself on remaining as one of the international boutique firms that maintain connections with all of the major talent houses in the industry, while keeping the indie spirit. Kirshbaum has already worked with numerous artists including Jay-Z, Black Eyed Peas, Busta Rhymes, Nelly, LL Cool J, Sean Paul, and The Pussycat Dolls, among others.

As a prominent supporter of digital media and technology, he has also co-founded SoundCtrl, a blog aimed at presenting and covering the latest developments happening in the industry.

The Rise and Fall of Carly Fiorina

Cara Carleton “Carly” Fiorina is an American business executive. Her father was a lawyer and a judge who had to move a lot so that Fiorina studied high school in California, North Carolina, England and Ghana.

Fiorina earned her BA in medieval history in 1976 from Stanford University. During her college, she worked with Hewlett-Packard as secretary. She earned her Master in Business Administration degree from the University of Maryland and Master’s degree in science from the MIT.

Her first job was with AT&T. In ten years, Fiorina became AT&T’s first woman officer. Five years later, Fiorina was promoted as head of the North American operations.

In 1990, Fiorina was hired by HP, a Fortune 500 company, as president and CEO. During her term, HP registered annual sales of $50 billion, making HP the largest company in the US that is run by a woman.

Fiorina served HP until February 2005 when she was ousted following a few faults and mistakes, including what was dubbed as “Fiorina’s Folly”.

Michael Eisner: Placed The Walt Disney Company in the Mainstream After the Death of Walter Disney

Michael Eisner is a businessman who was known for being the CEO of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 to 2005. Born on March 7, 1942 in Mount Kisco, New York, Eisner grew up in Manhattan. He earned his BA in English degree at Denison University in 1964.

Eisner worked with CBS and NBC for a short while before being hired by ABC as Assistant to the National Programming Director. His hard work earned him the honors to become the senior vice president for programming and development. When ABC President Barry Diller became Paramount Pictures’ chairman in 1976, he hired Eisner as president and CEO of Paramount. At Paramount, Eisner produced several hit films like Saturday Night Fever and Raiders of the Lost Ark, and hit TV programs like Family Ties and Happy Days.

In 1984, Diller resigned from his position at Paramount and his protégé Eisner became the CEO. A time came when he passed over the job as CEO at Paramount and started looking for another job. He lobbied for the vacant position of CEO at The Walt Disney Company.

The death of Walter Disney in 1966 was the beginning of a season of difficult takeovers. In 1984, Eisner was brought into the company to provide the strength that the company has missed. From that time until the early 1990s, The Walt Disney showed revitalized business ventures and produced such hit films as who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and The Little Mermaid. The company also purchased Miramax Films to broaden its adult offerings and media outfits such as ESPN and ABC.

Eisner’s term also began “The Disney Decade” in the early 1990s. The plan would feature new theme parks in many parts of the world, expansion of existing theme parks, and investments in new films and new media. Some of the proposals, however, were completed. Among those completed included Disneyland Paris, Disney’s Hollywood, Disney California Adventure and the Walt Disney Studios Park.

In 2012, Eisner was inducted into the prestigious Television Academy Hall of Fame.

William Fargo: The Roots of Express Freight Business in the US

William Fargo was a pioneer in the American freight business. He was born on May 20, 1818 in Pompey, New York. He started working as a clerk in a Syracuse grocery store to support his studies at thirteen. In 1841, he worked for the Auburnb & Syracuse Railway company as a freight agent. He was an expressman for Albany and Buffalo.

With Henry Wells and Daniel Dunning, Fargo founded the Wells & Co., the first express company that engaged in the freight business in the west of Buffalo. Later, the lines extended to St. Louis, Chicago, and other points in the west.

In 1850, the competing lines of American Express Company were consolidated. Wells Fargo & Company was organized. Wells was the president and Fargo became the secretary. The new company served the areas of San Francisco and New York.

Fargo also became a public servant, having served Buffalo as mayor from 1862 until he died on August 3, 1881.