Alexi Cashen has had her work cut out for her these past couple of years. Between the stuck container ship in the Suez Canal, the pandemic, and the effects of the tariffs on European luxury goods (including wine), it’s all wreaked havoc on the freight forwarding and global shipping industries.
As co-founder of Elenteny Imports, launched in 2010 and headquartered out of New York, Alexi hasn’t backed away from a wide array of business challenges. In fact, she greets them with gusto! We were delighted to speak with Alexi to learn about her essential role in moving wine and spirits from one side of the planet to another in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible.
Alexi received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Education (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Colorado at Boulder. And with her strong entrepreneurial drive and business development interests, she landed in wine sales in New York, eventually serving in several positions as sales manager. But it was logistics that drew her to the lesser-known back end of the alcoholic beverages industry.
She thrived on helping clients navigate the complex world of importing, freight forwarding, compliance and managing the logistics of getting wine from here to there. Thus, Elenteny Imports was born, with her co-founder, freeing up her clients to do what they do best: source, introduce and sell those wines to new markets across the globe.
Tune in to the show to learn about this complex side of the wine business along with hosts what makes Elenteny different from most freight consolidators and other distribution service providers. We talked at length about what skills are needed to be successful in freight forwarding and logistics.
She also told us about what types of alcohol businesses can benefit from their services at Elenteny. Alexi had success stories about clients who have grown their business while working with Elenteny. But as a highly driven entrepreneur, it was no surprise to learn Alexi has a new business nearing launch, St. Hilde’s Botonica, featuring Spiked Tincture Tonics. (Watch for its launch this summer!) And she has her own podcast, filled with fascinating guests in and out of the wine business.
Learn more on this episode of the Wine Women Radio Hour!
Alexi Cashen Podcast: https://alexicashen.com/podcast-list
Podcast (ww): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:04 — 40.6MB)
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