We recently connected with Tae Michelle & Chevaun Camille and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tae Michelle & Chevaun thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Near the end of 2020, Chevaun was looking for a wine she had had years before with her cousin. She had ben ablet o find it on Google but no one local appeared to sell it. In search of this, at that time, elusive red wine, she stumbled upon the Vivino wine app and was able to find various sellers in her region that could ship it to her. Excited and knowing her sister, Taé Michelle, a former bartender with a love for wine, would appreciate the site, she called and told her about her wonderful discovery. Michelle’s response was, “We should start a podcast.” Knowing her sister is prone to large ideas, due to her natural entrepreneurial nature, but questionable follow through, Chevaun shrugged the comment off and with a chuckle said, “Yeah, we should.” In January of 2021, during another conversation, Chevaun asked Michelle if she was serious about starting the
podcast. She gave a resounding, “Yes!”
Chevaun had more questions. What would they even call the podcast? How does someone even host a podcast? What does it take to run one? What would they even talk about? And Chevaun’s biggest concern, was Michelle serious and committed enough to the journey of getting the podcast launched?
They would talk about various topics and drink wine, Michelle declared. Simple enough, but they had no idea about what a podcast really entailed. As a test of commitment, Chevaun gave her sister homework: research what it takes to run a podcast, and they set a check-in to meet that coming Monday.

In the meeting that followed they compiled the common and consistent advice for starting a podcast into a checklist and went through it. First and foremost, they established the title of the podcast: A Little Something 2 Wine About. Next, they set regular a regular check-in schedule and recording schedule, both to occur weekly on separate days, allowing for any cushioning if needed. They established the first 20 potential topic ideas and quickly realized topic generation was not going to be an issue. They structured the podcast into series to avoid having a podcast whose topics were so broad and random they could not be covered. Over time those series would evolve into 4: Sis, Let’s Wine, Wine’ing with the Guys, For the Culture, and monthly Wine Out Wine Tastings. During the first meeting they also set a deadline. The first episode of A Little Something 2 Wine About would be released the first Wednesday of May and the podcast would be released weekly at noon.

Next came the research and subsequent purchasing of podcast equipment, microphones namely, as well as finding a podcast hosting platform to get ALS2WA on as many different platforms as possible, website design and set up, establishment of an email address and YouTube account dedicated to the podcast, the beginning of content organization: tracking of episodes and topics and wines and their ratings, and the obtaining of recording, audio and video editing software and platforms. However, they decided to be audio-focused with only a handful of episodes “in color”—visual – and would be available on YouTube as well as major podcast platforms.

Finally came the conversation about social media. They would keep it limited since, per advice from a friend, podcasting was a part-time job and both Chevaun and Taé Michelle had full-time jobs and familial and personal responsibilities. They set up an Instagram account, in addition to the already established YouTube account, and that was it. They would also use Canva as a means of being able to create social media friendly marketing materials in a common place with common access.

Between January and March all research and logistics were completed and they recorded the first episode of ALS2WA in April with its release scheduled for May. A soft launch of the first episode was released the week before May 5th to allow for a week of troubleshooting if necessary.

On May 5, 2021, the first episode of ALS2WA was officially released.

With Michelle as the visionary idealist and Chevaun as the pragmatic architect, ALS2WA has so far had over 100 episodes, had listeners in over 15 countries, over 10K views on YouTube, and completely organic followers on both Instagram and YouTube.

Tae Tae Michelle & Chevaun, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We aspire to have a community that is fueled by meaningful conversations and an appreciation for wine. Every Wednesday sips get real as Taé Michelle and Chevaun Camille talk, laugh, debate and have honest and candid conversations about life, relationships, culture, and more over a glass of wine. Grab a glass, and a friend and join us (and guests) on the couch every Wednesday @ 12pm EST on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform as we talk, discuss, laugh, and debate because sometimes you just need to wine a little 🍷

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In summer of 2021 we recorded, or so we thought, a full and amazing Wine Out episode about the various forms and types of friendships with a friend /guest only to find that none of the 1-hour+ content was recorded. We took that huge disappointment and loss and learned to always double check that Zoom is actually recording (although since then Zoom has updated so there is an announcement). We were also able to arrange with our guest a re-record. We grabbed 6 bottles of new and different wines, as the Wine Out is also a sincere wine tasting, chose a different topic and recorded again. Though it was a huge disappointment and lose, we learned from it and, no matter what, understood that you have to keep going.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

In 2008 we met cheering for the same semi-professional football team in the DMV area. We clicked somewhat immediately and have been sisters ever since.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://alittlesomething2wineabout.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alittlesomething2wineabout/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@als2wa
• Other: https://linktr.ee/als2wa https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-little-something-2-wine-about-podcast/id1565260143

Image Credits
Carl Gray, Prototype Photography