About
Gary Vaynerchuk is a Belarusian American New York Times best selling author, entrepreneur, speaker, and internet personality first known as a wine critic and then for his work as chairman of the communications company, VaynerX.
Born in the Soviet Union, Vaynerchuk immigrated to the United States at age 3. As a child in Edison, NJ, he operated a lemonade-stand and earned thousands of dollars trading baseball cards. After graduating from Mount Ida College in 1998, Vaynerchuk took over his father’s liquor store, renaming it Wine Library and taking the business online. Incorporating e-commerce and pricing strategies, Vaynerchuk grew the business from $3 million a year to $60 million a year in just a few years. From 2006 to 2011, Vaynerchuk also hosted Wine Library TV, a video blog on YouTube which featured wine reviews, tastings, and wine advice. After 1,000 episodes, Vaynerchuk retired the show, replacing it with a video podcast called The Daily Grape.
In 2009, Vaynerchuk left the family business to launch VaynerMedia with his brother AJ. VaynerMedia is a social media focused digital agency which provides services to companies like General Electric, Anheuser-Busch, and PepsiCo. In 2016, VaynerMedia had grossed $100 million in revenue, and that same year it began a partnership with Vimeo to connect brands and filmmakers for digital content.
Vaynerchuk appeared in 2017 on Planet of the Apps, a reality show wherein judges including Vaynerchuk, will.i.am and Gwyneth Paltrow hear pitches from app developers looking for investors. He also appeared in DailyVee, a documentary series on YouTube which follows Vaynerchuks day-to-day life as a businessman. Also through YouTube, Vaynerchuk launched the #AskGaryVee Show, in which Vaynerchuk responds to questions about entrepeneurship, family, and business in his signature extemporaneous style. Following the show, Vaynerchuk released his book, AskGaryVee: One Entrepeneur’s Take on Leadership, Social Media, and Self-Awareness.
Vaynerchuk is regularly booked for corporate events, sought after for his intelligent and charismatic speaking style.
