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This week's WE RISE episode is featuring Sandra Paglione, owner of Paglione Estate Winery.

Passionate about hospitality and travel, Sandra has enjoyed an illustrious career in the industry for over 10 years, but despite having vineyards on a vision board in her early 20\\u2019s, she never would have dreamed she would be at the helm of a winery one day.

\\xa0She began her career with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, armed with a diploma in International Business and a specialized Finance degree in Hospitality and Tourism. Her first role was in Worldwide Sales at their corporate headquarters in Toronto, before moving into Sales and Marketing at one of their South Asian resort properties in the Maldives. It was actually during this time that her Dad, a builder and developer in Windsor Essex County, bought a vineyard on 37 acres as a retirement project to fulfill a boyhood dream he had growing up in Italy to one day own a winery.

\\xa0When she returned from Asia, she decided she wanted to take a different direction within the travel business, and landed her first role with American Express Travel & Lifestyle Services in Toronto where she managed strategic partnerships and marketing for their premium card products. During this time her Dad had broken ground and began building the winery. She leveraged her expertise to help with the business plan, while also focusing on growing her career with Amex, a company she loved.

\\xa0The winery officially opened in July 2013 and while her parents were growing the business, she took on various roles with Amex, the majority being focused on travel and lifestyle benefits in the luxury space, while also helping with the winery on weekends during large events and festivals. It was 2018 when the opportunity to take over the winery came to be. Her Dad had passed away from cancer three years prior and her Stepmom was ready to retire, so the option was presented to Sandra, her sister Becki and their partners as to whether they wanted to take it on.

\\xa0Sandra spent the next 8 months pulling together a new business plan, running numbers, and thinking about a growth strategy because she knew they would have to take the winery to the next level to make it work with the restructuring. In Feb 2019, Sandra and her partner Robin moved from Toronto, the four partners bought the business, and life hasn\\u2019t been the same since.

\\xa0Sandra now works virtually for American Express on the Global Premium Products & Benefits team, and when she\\u2019s not working her 9 to 5 she oversees strategic planning, finance, and marketing for the winery.

\\xa0In the last year, Paglione Estate Winery has become a well-known destination in the region, growing sales by 300%, and has just won its first three wine medals at the Great American International Wine Competition. Paglione Estate is also the official wine of Made it Happen Podcast!

We talk about:\\xa0
- How the winery got started & where the idea came from
- Deciding to take over the winery when she had the opportunity\\xa0
- Working a full-time job along with running the winery
- Creating a strong financial plan
- What has contributed to the massive growth of the winery in the last year
- How the pandemic has affected the business\\xa0
- Challenges of taking over a winery\\xa0
- Producing 3 award-winning wines
- And more!