We were lucky to catch up with Eric Fleming recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Eric thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?
Since I was a kid, I was obsessed with entertaining, circling up my friends, playing, and unbeknownst to me at the time-teaching. I was a little know it all, but always wanted to share what I was learning with people in a really fun way. Fast forward to 2014, I was working at one the best wine restaurants in the country. I was able to meet and learn from heavyweights in the wine industry-winemakers, sommeliers, wine directors-legends. While being immersed in this culture, I fell in love with wine. It felt like discovering this secret society in a way. There’s always a tasting or wine lunch happening in the city. I was excited at the potential to expand, to learn more, to discover new parts of myself. While having all of this excitement, I was also holding this tension of feeling like an outsider. I would go to these events and feel completely isolated. I was often treated like I didn’t belong or like I stumbled into a room that I wasn’t supposed to be in. I would have eyes on me, but no one would speak to me. I would walk up to a table to get a taste of wine, watching the person pouring do so with the utmost excitement as they explained the wine to the guy (cis, white) in front of me. When it was my turn, they would splash my glass, give the name of the wine, and say nothing more. After so many of those experiences, I said to myself, “Fuck this. I’m gonna create my own thing to make sure that people like me never have to feel like this in wine spaces.” So I started Gay Wine Club in 2018 with the intention of creating a space for people of color, queer people, and our allies to feel safe in wine spaces, to create community, and to take all the pomp and circumstance out of wine events.
I wasn’t worried about if it was a worthwhile endeavor. I was just committed to carving out a space that felt good for me to be in. I loved how I was growing, but I truly hated how exclusionary and sterile some of the wine spaces I entered felt. I just knew that it could be different. I knew that there were voices and energies missing from the conversation. And it turns out, other people felt the same thing.
I had always been coaching on the side and dipping my toe into podcasting and podcast production. That work took on a bigger presence in my life during the pandemic, which led to me becoming the Secretary of Innovation and Growth with Joy Channel, LLC. I love the work that I do there! I get to ideate on a large scale; I host; I interview; I write copy; I produce podcasts and media for organizations; I coach executives; I consult on growth strategy within organizations. The work is expansive and absolutely lights me up!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m Eric Fleming. I’m a sommelier, life coach, and growth strategist based in Brooklyn. My personal mission, which I call “The Five E’s”, guides all that I do: Educate through insightful content, Entertain with events, Enlighten with a focus on spirituality and connectedness, Enliven any space, and Empower those in my orbit.
I’ve worked in the food and wine space since 2010, and I’ve been a certified life coach (CPC) since 2013. As a wine professional, I’ve run award winning wine programs, I host and curate events, produce wine media and travel writing, lead wine education and tastings, consult on wine programs, and consult on building personal collections, I pride myself on cultivating vibrant communities, mentoring, and sharing resources with queer people and people of color in the wine industry,
My coaching journey has led me into consulting with Joy Channel, LLC. I serve as the Secretary of Innovation and Growth which allows me to flourish in my creativity and synthesize my coaching background in a really delicious way. I consult on organizational leadership and improving culture within them, i produce podcasts, I write copy, I host podcasts, I design curriculum and workshops, I coach executives. The work is expansive and it completely lights me up!
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
As I get older and evolve, the mission is evolving too. I think when I started out, I just wanted to create community for queer people. My next iteration of work in the wine industry was creating opportunities and community for people of color in the wine industry. I also wanted to use my position/influence to amplify the work of queer folks, POC, and women in the wine world. I find myself evolving into more of a media and coaching space now. I’m passionate about personal development for 40something’s and designing your life with intention, I suppose my passion now is centered on helping people to feel rooted in their power and purpose, and to lead life with that focus in mind. I try to stay open to my evolution. There’s always been a through line in my interests. I think the wisdom for me has been to allow the unfolding; not to worry about changing tracks…not worry about what anyone else is doing, but staying true to the voice telling me to show up in a certain way.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I think quite possibly the biggest lesson I’ve had to unlearn-and continue to beat back with a stick-is unworthiness. Some may call it imposter syndrome, but at the root of it, I think is a not so fun dance with our self-worth. As a Black, queer person, I move in spaces that haven’t had representation like me before. I didn’t grow up hearing that I could do these things. Some of my family still doesn’t know what a sommelier is or what I do. I actively have to give myself permission to show up, to question the fear, and to keep going. I have to give myself permission to have the audacity to try. That’s a learned skill.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.iamericfleming.com; www.joychannel.org
- Instagram: eflems
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericflemingnyc/
