WWN by Anggie Salazar Ep11: Marvina Robinson

Hi Networkers! I'm Anggie, VP of Sales & Marketing at CROING l Creative Agency , a creative agency founded by Alejandra Salazar , part of the 0.1% of creative agencies founded by a woman.

Welcome to our newsletter, Women Who Network: Stories of Connection and Success.

I’m super excited to introduce our special guest today: Marvina Robinson founder and CEO of B. Stuyvesant Champagne. "B. Stuyvesant" is an homage to the neighborhood where she was born and raised, Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York. Marvina said that it encapsulates the spirit of authenticity, empowerment, and inclusivity that she aims to infuse into every bottle of champagne.

Why did we start this newsletter?

As I always say, networking has played a key role in my career, and I have found through many conversations that it is an area where many women still don't feel confident or need a little push to explore further.

At CROING, we are motivated to inspire and empower professional women to feel more confident in networking. We believe that by sharing stories and experiences, we can encourage more women to connect and grow together.

I’m confident that Marvina’s story will motivate many women to embrace networking with more confidence. ??

From Nervousness to Genuine Connections

Everyone has a different approach to networking, not everyone starts and behaves the same way. Marvina shares with us how she started and how she felt at the beginning.

Marvina: So I would say from my early years when I was not in the wine industry, networking has always been intimidating to me. So I have grown over the years to become a little bit more comfortable. I still have my little nervousness about networking, especially when walking into a new event and not knowing anybody. But I just envision that everybody is there for the same reason. They want to get out, they want to meet more people. So as I go into new places to network, you know, I find like little icebreakers and I start having conversations with different people within the room and it makes me feel more at ease.

Anggie: Yes, that's amazing. I wanted to let you know that this is our first in-person interview, so I'm so happy to be here with Marvin and also as I recall, Marvina is our first founder because so far we've interviewed people from marketing within companies and also different communities like Latinas in Tech Venture Miami. But Marvina is our first women founder. This is pretty special for us. So thank you Marvina for being here.

To establish genuine and meaningful connections and networking events, Marvina says

Marvina: I just normally go with the flow, right? Okay. So it's more about reading or energies in a room and what makes me feel comfortable internally as I begin to network. Sometimes it might be about just making eye contact with somebody, having a conversation. You happen to ride up on the elevator with somebody and then conversation generates from there. And then also sometimes it's just more about introductions, you know, and then from there it just grows.

Anggie: Yes, we think introductions are so important because when you start off by being introduced, you already have the confident of the person introducing you. Yes. So it's all about networking and that's when what networking really means to build a network around your existing contacts. So what you want to do is for them to trust you enough to introduce you to more people and then everyone benefits each other and there's a lot of opportunities to take advantage from.

Stories of Connection and Success: Marvina Robinson’s Edition

When I asked Marvina what had been the pivotal moment in her career in which networking had played a key role, she replied

Marvina: I can name several. So I would say with me being the founder and CEO of my business, I'm a small business owner, is very crucial in how you grow. So I would say I attended an event and it was based around women. It was during women's history month. I was just in a room just talking to different people, you know, explaining who I was, introductions about business. And I met a key person who was a buyer for a specific restaurant in which we made introductions, we set up a tasting and they had, they ended up onboarding our product into their venue.

So that was very good with being pivotal as far as that. And then another instance I can give different scenario is attending Charleston Food and Wine Festival and just attending an event and just talking.

Marvina: "We were talking about outfits, like she liked my outfit and it was totally different. Then come to find out, she was one of the journalists for the New York Times and then we started talking and it evolved into them covering a story of B. Stuyvesant."

Marvina’s pivotal moment highlights how powerful networking can be, especially when it leads to key opportunities like securing a new partnership. She said that meeting the journalist was something completely unexpected, and sometimes networking is about that: being open to unplanned opportunities and embracing those moments that can transform into significant connections

Marvina: Unexpected one definitely was meeting the journalist through the New York, of course, New York Times. That was very unexpected. I would say just meeting. I remember meeting another person. I wasn't even there to network. I was meeting a friend 'cause we were going out for drinks afterwards. She was at a networking event and I just was waiting for her. And then I was just, you know, sitting on the outside lobby waiting and I just happened to meet somebody randomly that saw my story somewhere. And then we started having a conversation and then that led to a speaking engagement at their office for also a women's event.

Anggie: That's so cool. And bringing back what you mentioned about the outfit, it has been a key point and so easy to start conversations when you're at an event and everyone pays mind to their outfit when they're going to this event. So complimenting each other, it's a really cool way to establish a connection to lighting up the, the environment and be able to move forward with maybe deeper conversation and talking about their interests and stuff. But it's a really cool way to start the conversation.

Marvina’s advice: “Be sincere and genuine”

To everyone in this community reading this, Marvina shares some advice to start networking:

Marvina: Be sincere and genuine. Starting with LinkedIn, I would say slowly branch out to find events within your industry so that you can grow your network and also, you know, just also be on top of your news, your topics or related information so that you find other events to attend to. And sometimes it can just be more about just having a coffee chat with people. Be genuine and not overly forceful.

Anggie: And that's awesome because I also applied that when I started in networking, I started online and I was able to create a lot of amazing things like clients for CROING, but also amazing women that I met through organizations online. And then move forward with an in-person meeting, like for example, what we're doing right now. Because we met through a common friend, Regina Gwynn, that is also going to be on our newsletter and podcast. And then we met online and now we're meeting in person and we're going to continue nurturing the relationship moving forward because it's also important to meet, but also following up and staying on top of the project that Marvina is doing and my project as well, and move forward with the connection, you know, because it takes time to build a connection as well.

Thank you, Marvina, for sharing your journey with me and for being my first in-person interview. I really enjoyed our conversation and loved your energy. I am sure you will be an inspiration to our community and I hope more women will be encouraged to grow.

At CROING, we echo this sentiment and have developed our Referral Program as a powerful networking and business tool. It’s a great way to connect, collaborate, and grow together.

Don’t forget your network is your net worth.

Stay tuned for more inspiring stories in our next edition of Women Who Network: Stories of Connection and Success every Tuesday and Thrusday.

If you want to be part of or propose someone for this space, please email me at [email protected].

Until next time, keep networking and growing!

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