Bonnie Harvey is the co-founder of Barefoot Cellars along with partner Michael Houlihan. She was Vice President and “The Original Foot” for 19 years. There she had a wide variety of duties, doing whatever was necessary to operate the business. While Michael’s role was “big picture visionary,” Bonnie translated his ideas into workable processes and displayed a genius for managing the millions of details that come with a start-up. She proved to possess a rare combination of creativity and business savvy that served Barefoot well.
In the early days of the brand, Bonnie was responsible for bottling oversight, supply inventory and label design—in fact, the famous footprint is actually hers! Later as Barefoot grew, she focused on overview and direction of the business, setting company goals, and attending to Board of Director matters. She managed all financial aspects of the business, oversaw legal relations and compliance, and edited countless press materials, presentations, official manuals and other documents.
Along with Michael, Bonnie donates professional time to non-profits to help them improve their image, increase donations and achieve financial sustainability. She also coauthors weekly business blogs at The Barefoot Spirit and Consumer Brand Buiders with him, and they consult together with several clients.
Bonnie has a passion for helping young entrepreneurs choose the right path. With her varied “hard-knocks” experience, she offers practical solutions for all aspects of starting a business. She loves showing others how to avoid painful and costly mistakes and directing them toward profitability.
Bonnie is the Co-author of The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand, a New York Times Bestselling Business Book.
Michael Houlihan is a highly sought-after business strategist, keynote speaker, consultant, and corporate trainer. Presentations are often with Bonnie Harvey, his Co-founder of Barefoot (now the #1 wine brand in the world), providing decades of real-world, practical business experience. Using out-of-the-box thinking, pay-for-performance, positive culture, channel distribution management, and “Worthy Cause Marketing,” they help start-ups, entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 corporations increase their sales, profitability and brand equity. For the first time, their secrets to success is available in an exclusive online series at BarefootSpiritGPS.com
He, along with Bonnie, bootstrapped Barefoot (a novelty wine brand) into a national mega-brand, selling 600,000 cases per year in 50 states and 28 countries. They’ve keynoted at many prestigious conferences, symposiums, universities and forums.
Access the transcript on our blog at https://voicesofcx.com/teaching-empathy-through-storytelling-michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_medium=description
Listen to a free chapter of Michael and Bonnie's audio theater book. at businessaudiotheatre.com.
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The Voices of CX Podcast brings on top leaders across multiple industries to talk best strategies, trends, and more. These leaders share their insight on anything from understanding customer decisions, to creating an empathetic business, to achieving sustainable profitability. No matter your industry, there are tangible takeaways in each episode that you can apply in your own career and business.