Inspiration Week: ONEHOPE Weddings

We are so excited to be featuring ONEHOPE Weddings today! You can find ONEHOPE Wine in stores here on the East Coast, but today we would like to introduce Megan Robinson, Director of ONEHOPE Weddings (the wedding division of ONEHOPE Wine). Something that inspires us more than women in business and small business owners is women who are in business and giving back to the community! Megan Robinson is all of those things! ONEHOPE Weddings boasts 5 different types of wine and also a sparkling wine, and 50% of each bottle of wine purchased is given back to the charity supported by that particular wine. Ex: Chardonnay gives back to Breast Cancer. When working with ONEHOPE Weddings you also have the opportunity to give back to your charity of choice, so with every bottle you purchase 50% will be given to the charity already associated with that wine AND and additional 10% to your favorite charity.

We have had the opportunity to work with ONEHOPE Weddings in our West Coast Market, and have  absolutely loved their product. We have sampling of their work in our studio, and our clients have jumped on board as well. They love the idea of serving their guests, as well as giving them as favors, and giving back to a good cause (all at the same time!). Their product looks stunning, and has won numerous awards. Here is a photo of their product at HammerSky Vineyards in California. 

Images by another inspiring woman in business; Allyson Magda Photography

1. What was your inspiration in the creation of ONEHOPE Weddings?

ONEHOPE Weddings actually developed fairly organically.  ONEHOPE Wine was in its third year of business when we started noticing that more and more brides were requesting bulk pricing for their wedding wine, favors, welcome bags, etc.  We had developed a really loyal customer base of people who loved both our wine and our causes so we were flattered and excited when our supporters started reaching out for bulk pricing for wedding wine.  Additionally, we started noticing that weddings with a cause were becoming the way of the future.  Couples spend so much on weddings so it's refreshing for a portion of those expenses to go back to causes that they care about - whether it's by wearing a pair of TOMS shoes under your dress or with your tux, asking your guests to donate in lieu of gifts or by serving our wine! 

2. Where is an unexpected place, that you have found new inspiration for furthering the vision of ONEHOPE Weddings?

Our customers have by far been my biggest source of inspiration.  We are constantly receiving emails from brides and grooms that are in Africa completing HIV/AIDS awareness and water projects, people that have just lost a family member to cancer and want to give back to a charity in their name on their wedding day, Veterans who honorably served our country, specialists for children with Autism... the list is endless.  I wake up incredibly grateful every morning for the opportunity to work with not only the ONEHOPE team, but with our undeniably game-changing customers who are out there bettering the world in their own way.  They have inspired me to develop new offerings through ONEHOPE Weddings from donating an additional 10% to the cause of your choice, to custom bottle neckers and wedding signage that explains the wine, causes and why the couples selected it for their day.  

3. What do you find most inspirational about the charities that you work with?

At ONEHOPE, we're committed to working with charities and organizations that have a direct dollar-to-impact ratio.  We expect, and our customers expect a high level of transparency with where their money is going and what their donation is able to provide.  Our charities know that the way to inspire their donors is to empower them with information and I really, really respect and admire that.  Not only do our charitable partners work tirelessly to create positive change in their respective causes, but they commit to a high level of transparency to allow their donors to feel the impact they are having at the time of the transaction.  We're constantly trying to integrate this philosophy further into our business model by creating things like giving reports for every couple - something that's being developed as we speak :-)

Here's some information about Megan, the marketing genius behind ONEHOPE Weddings:

Megan was born and raised in south eastern Michigan and attended Michigan State University where she majored in Political Theory, International Relations and Chinese.  After completing various college internships in Los Angeles in Public Relations (for ONEHOPE Wine) and entertainment (for New Line Cinema), she knew she had to get back to the sunny, warm west after graduation.  She made the journey to Los Angeles in January of 2008 in pursuit of a career as a Talent Agent at William Morris Agency.  When a life striving to become the "Female Ari Gold" proved to be less rewarding than she had hoped, she jumped on the opportunity to co-found a fashion tape company, ShowStoppers, with friends and fellow entertainment industry dropouts, Shannon Mattingly and Adriana McMahon.  There she got back in touch with her creative side - leading the way with packaging, design, branding and customer experience and decided to make a career out of design.  In October of 2010, she went back to school at FIDM Los Angeles to gain the skills necessary for a creative career and in the process stumbled across the concept of ONEHOPE Weddings.  ONEHOPE Wine had been near and dear to her heart since her summer internship with them in 2008 and upon learning of the increasing requests for ONEHOPE Wine as a wedding wine, she knew she had to help.  After some initial R&D proved that there was indeed a tremendous market opportunity for a cause wine brand in the wedding space, she took the plunge and launched ONEHOPE Weddings in January of 2012.  Megan currently lives in Hermosa Beach with her boyfriend, Jake and kitten, Lily.  She works in ONEHOPE Wine's El Segundo office.