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Next On Scene: The Human Behind The Brand
Lights, Camera, Sake: The Dual Life of Marina Giordano
00:22:57
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- [00:01]
Host
Welcome back to becoming Next on Scene. Everybody. I'm so excited to be back here today with the amazing Marina Giordano. Today's guest is no stranger to our show and no stranger to making an impact. By day, she's an Emmy Award winning director at Channel 7, and by night, she's one of the most sought out sake and wine experts in the country. Marina Giordano travels coast to coast, educating audiences on the art, culture and tradition of sake. Five years ago, she saw a gap here in New England where saki wasn't widely known. She set out to change that. The result, Saki Day east, now entering its fifth year as one of the region's most unique and cultural celebrations. We are so excited to have Marina back on the podcast. Talk all about what's in store for year five, what goes on behind the scenes to plan such a huge event like this, and so much more. So stay tuned for the amazing Marina Giordano.
- [00:59]
Narrator
The ups, the downs, and all the in between. What it takes to become next on Scene. Are you next? Follow us at Next on Scene.
- [01:18]
Host
All right, Marina, welcome back to the podcast.
- [01:21]
Marina Giordano
Hi. Thank you so much for having me back.
- [01:23]
Host
So excited to have you. So, okay, we need to first talk about, like, how did you even stumble into the world of saki? Like, let's think about that.
- [01:31]
Marina Giordano
It takes a couple steps to get there, but. So I work in TV and my job will eventually be taken over by automation, probably like everyone's, but, you know, 20 years ago I came to this realization, my job's going to go away. And I started searching for other things I. I liked as much as TV that I was passionate about, and I found wine and I started thinking, oh, maybe I could teach wine classes. So I was studying wine and I was doing pretty deep. I was in Level 3 for WSET Wine Spirit education Trust. And I was at lunch with a friend and he was like, here, try this sake. And you know, it's in a little shot glass and it looks like vodka. And I was like, you know, I don't like spirits. You know, I don't like vodka. It's lunchtime. I'm not gonna try it. And he was like, just try it. And I'm like, no, I'm not going to try it. You know, I don't like it. And he's like, just try it. I go, fine, I will pick it up. And I was like, oh, okay. And I took a little sip and I was like, wait a minute, what is this made from? You said this is made from rice like, how is. How can it taste like fruit? It tastes like banana. It tastes like melon. It smells like flowers. Like, how are they? He's like, I don't know. I have no idea. And so I went home from that lunch and I googled sake class. And two months later, I was in Dallas taking a saki course. A three day saki course. Not just like a half hour thing, a three day saki course. And then four months later, I was in Japan and studying the second level of that class. So I spent a week in Japan, and then when I came back, I was telling my wine teacher about my experience and how I was amazed with sake and just loved it. And he said, well, you know what? WSET is bringing on sake in their program. I'd like you to be my sake teacher, apply for this to go back to Japan. So six months later, I was back in Japan and got my certification to teach sake. And it's been just crazy since then. So I. I still teach wine classes, I still work in tv, I still teach wine classes, but I really love teaching sake. It's really my passion. And what just, it's thrilling to get people to understand and love sake. So that's.
- [03:36]
Host
And I just want to commend you because I don't know if a lot of people know this about you outside of in the world of sake, but like, you're traveling across the country to te classes. Like, it's not just. It's really amazing. I just want to commend you. I think it's so cool.
- [03:49]
Marina Giordano
Thank you. Thank you.
- [03:51]
Host
Now, let's talk about. Why did you bring Sake Day east to New England? How did this all go?
- [03:57]
Marina Giordano
Okay, so this is our fifth year. So when I started in Sake in 14 in 2014, there really weren't great sakes in Massachusetts. They were okay. And I'd go to California and I taste these sakes. I was like, oh, why don't we have these here? I'd go to New York, like, why don't we have these in Boston? And there's a large sake tasting event in San Francisco called Sake Day. This is their 20th year. And I thought, well, they have like 500 sakes at this event. We could have maybe some of them here. What if I did an event like that here? And the wine school that I was working for was just opening. This was right. And during 2020, so just at the head of the pandemic, she was just about to open, and I started formulating this idea. By the time that she was open as A physical space. I thought, well, maybe I could do a walk around tasting with maybe get three people and three different vendors and we could have sake. And that's how it started. It was supposed to be maybe like a 30 person event, 30 guests at the event. I connected with Alyssa De Pasquale from the Koji Club, who had her bar, which she wasn't quite open yet either. She was doing virtual events, but there was a large space there where she was. And so that first year it went from what I thought was gonna be a 30 person event to a 200 person event with about 60 sake and just kept growing from there. So this year, hope to have over 250 guests. We're looking at almost a hundred sakes at this point. I don't have all my list yet, but I'm over 80, so we'll have a decent amount of sake growth like that.
- [05:32]
Host
My next question, like year one to year five, like, what have you seen the changes of outside of more sakes, but as the event itself has evolved, like, what has changed over the. Have you found?
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Marina Giordano
Yeah, so the first couple years, you know, I was doing the outreach, I was reaching out to people I knew in the industry, asking, do you want to be a part of Saki Day East? It's, you know, this is what it is. And you know, I'm looking to build the sake environment in Boston. You know, the, just the sake scene here. You know, see, get more interest both on the consumer side and the industry side. So that first year was really me outreach and second year was still a lot of me outreaching, outreaching. Now this year I've had, even in the last month, I've had people reaching out to me, can I be a part of Saki Ds? Can I pour my sake there? You know, here's what we distribute in Massachusetts. Can we pour our sakes? And so that's been really fantastic. It was just having people come to me looking to, to share their. Their sakes with Boston. So which is what the goal was, was to just bring better sake here. So it's happening.
- [06:34]
Host
I also want to talk to you about the people that are actually showcasing on site because you have people come California like other places, like, can you talk about that too? It's so cool.
- [06:43]
Marina Giordano
Yeah, let's see who I can remember. We've got a whole. We've got everything from local sakes. We have a sake brewer here in Massachusetts, Father Star. So he'll be pouring his sake and we'll be pouring Brooklyn Kara sake too, which is out of New York. But in addition to that, the majority of our sake is Japanese sake. So we have everything from. We have a contingency coming from Japan to pour Kanagawa sake. We have distributors from New York, from California, from Massachusetts, and then importers. So the way that the alcohol industry works, you have importers and you have distributors. And so I've got a lot of small importers that maybe have a portfolio of 10 to 15 sake that are coming in. Sake Suki Komai Collective will be here. Kikusui sakes are pouring, Mutual trading is pouring. Hakki san will be here. That's just like, a few. We have tons of them.
- [07:40]
Host
I just want to commend you because you're getting people from all over. And I think. Amazing. Like, exactly. You said to remember all 100 names. Like, I don't expect. You know what I'm saying? But I just. I was also thinking about this, like, psychology behind it. But how saki ages. Like. Like, I feel like your event has evolved so much. It's so cool. It's really cool to see the girl. So many for that. I think it's amazing.
- [08:02]
Marina Giordano
Thank you.
- [08:03]
Host
I want to talk about the things, like, behind the scenes, too, of what actually goes into planning an event like this. Like, what have you experienced? Like, real talk here, like, moments you want to pull your hair out to, like, actually, like, flow. So can you share some examples with us?
- [08:17]
Marina Giordano
Yeah. Well, it's actually kind of interesting because when I planned my wedding, like, after that, I thought, oh, I want to be an event planner. This is really cool. And I took like, a class or two about it and it just never really happened. I just ended up too busy with work and kids and whatever. And so I occasionally think, like, oh, I'm actually doing event planning now. And I don't know that I like it. I enjoy the outreach to the sake brewers and the sake community, but it's the little things, like, you know, you have to build people. You have to, like. Actually, I think, like, the harder part is doing, like, social media and trying to keep up with emails and, like, the marketing part of it. You end up, you know, you're wearing every single hat, so you're not just planning the event and visualizing what it's going to look like and, oh, it'd be cool if we had, you know, uplighting, or it'd be cool if we had this or that or whatever. Like, what can you do to make your event different? But you also have to think about the stuff that nobody wants to Think about like, you know, like applying for a liquor license, you know, so. And finding a great venue and things like that. So I think like just the things, you know, it's, it's the everyday aspects of running the business of trying to figure out the budget and marketing and you know, am I keeping up with, you know, with what's happening with our sales and stuff like that. So it's, it's. And then, oh my gosh, did I order the glasses yet? And what are we doing for bags this year? And like it just, it's all the things and really a one man show at this point. So it's all me, so. And I love when it's, when somebody reaches out to me, it's like, can we speak to someone from your team? And I'm like, you are, you're speaking to me? I am the team.
- [10:01]
Host
You have a great group of volunteers. Like I feel like they've been consistent every year, right?
- [10:07]
Marina Giordano
Yeah, actually. Yep. I just did my securing my workers for this year and so both my children help with the event and in the past they've helped more leading up. But they're both in school right now and so it's, it's way too much for them to like, can you help me with the floor plan? You know, my son was like, yeah, no, I don't think so. Thanks. I like that.
- [10:27]
Host
It's like a family event. Were they interested in saki prior to even teaching this? Had they evolved to become sake lovers or.
- [10:37]
Marina Giordano
One like sake, the other one, he likes it, he doesn't. My children really aren't drinkers, so they're kind of like, I think they humor me a long time ago when I was, you know, in classes and stuff. And after that I would say to them like a dinner or something like, do you want to sip or do you want to smell this? Or whatever. And if they ever said no, I was like, look, if I'm offering you a glass of something, you should probably have a taste of it because it's probably really good. Otherwise I'm not going to offer it to you because I know you're not going to drink it. So. So they've learned to kind of humor me. And when I say, oh, here, try this. So my oldest enjoys sake, my youngest, he'll drink it, but he's not like, oh, I want a glass of sake. But he doesn't. Neither of them really drink, so it's a little weird. But both of them help me out tremendously. My niece helps me for the event too. She'll be back again this year. She's a. She's from Iowa, but she's a student at Emerson College, which is my. My alma mater. So she comes and helps with the event too. But then I have three other workers that have been with me from the first year, so. So, yeah. So really exciting.
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Host
So I love that things. I just want to throw this in too because outside of even the sake vendors, you have other things there.
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Marina Giordano
Oh yeah.
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Host
What can people expect if they attend?
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Marina Giordano
Yeah. So in addition to being able to taste a whole bunch of sake, we have two food vendors for food for purchase. So we've got Yagi Noodles coming back. They're from Newport. This is their fifth year with us. We have a new food vendor, Smokin Pans. It's a guy that I work with who works at Channel 7 with and he'll do barbecue. And then we have a potter that has been with me from day one too, Koko Tsua. So she makes amazing pottery. Some of it is sake cups, but it's not all cups. She does plates and decorative items and stuff. Just some really great pottery. She's been with me from day one. High Tea Skincare will be back. She was with us last year and Marika and she makes products that are made from fermented rice. So sake basically, plus green tea products and stuff. Some really great skincare. Love her moisturizers and stuff. So she'll be with us again this year. Your husband will be joining us as a real estate lawyer so he can talk to people a little bit about real estate law. And then we have some complimentary stuff with our VIP tickets. So Nigomi Bento will be back giving us bento boxes and then Boards for Days is going to provide charcuterie cups for our vip and then we'll have some complimentary charcuterie from. From Words for days too. I love it.
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Host
And even we gotta back up because even before the event starts, you have like tasting.
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Marina Giordano
We do. We do.
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Host
So classes. Classes, right.
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Marina Giordano
Yeah, they're like guided, guided tastings. So they're small group tastings. They last a half hour. They're led by a sake expert and they'll present. Typically they present four sakes. Some do three, some do five or six, depending on how good they are. Time management, because a half hour isn't a ton of time. But their focus tasting is we only allow 16 people in the to attend. So you get kind of like a one on one interaction. And then there's different focuses. We have a pairing one this year. We have one on yeast. We have one that kind of focuses on different regionality. We have one featuring Heiwa Shuzo, which is a fantastic brewery. And then I've got one more and I don't remember what it is. Oh, Farther Star, our local brewery will also be doing one of the guided tastings and Todd's a lot of fun. So those happen before the VIP hour even starts. And people can buy that as a separate ticket and just do that if you, if you're not available the evening of the event or you can do that as an add on to your VIP ticket or your regular admission ticket.
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Host
Amazing. So those start at three, I think I remember.
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Marina Giordano
Yeah. The first one starts at three. Yeah.
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Host
And then VIP starts at five.
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Marina Giordano
Right, five for vip. So that's early access. You get an hour extra of tasting and there's only 75 tickets. So with. Well, now we have 18 tables. So now your, your ratio is really good. You know, you really get like one on one interaction. Everyone who pours for me is a sake expert, so you can ask questions and they're so happy to talk about sake. So you get a little bit one on one interaction, beat the crowd, get, get in and taste all the good stuff. And then when everybody else shows up, you've already tasted the good stuff and you can go around to the other tables or you can go back and taste again. And we have specially featured sakes during that hour that aren't available during general admission. And then general admission starts at six and you have six till eight o' clock to taste, to have food. We're also working with high street food place downstairs the food hall to offer a discount for the food that's down there. So you could eat after the event, go down and, or grab something in between. You know, go down for a little bit, take a little break and come back up or whatever it's worth.
- [15:18]
Host
It's so much fun, like just telling everyone that's going to watch this. It's worth traveling for. It is a great event. I'm so Marina. Okay, so we talked about what to expect. Do you have any, like traditions that you do every year? That's interesting. Now that I thought about that question.
- [15:35]
Marina Giordano
Let's see.
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Host
Even for yourself, it could be a personal ritual.
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Marina Giordano
Oh, for me it's so. I'm not usually nervous leading into the event. You know, it's that you're going on your adrenaline of like getting everything ready. So we pack up everything. My kids help with that and unloading and stuff and getting everything set up. Once we're set up and we're close to admission, I kind of go to, I go change because I've been wearing a T shirt and jeans or whatever. I go change and I kind of take like a second to sort of center and just bring myself down from this, like frenzied and just like, okay, now the event's gonna start and you just gotta, it's gotta go. It's kind of like doing a show where it's just once you're on, you're on and there's no going back. So once we're actually, once the event has started, it's just fun to just walk around and talk to people and see how they're doing. I, I take some time to go around and taste really quick. Some hit some places. Usually I have to sneak behind the tables because sometimes there's a little line in front. So sneak behind, grab something.
- [16:33]
Host
They're like packed so busy. It's awesome.
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Marina Giordano
So, so I'll usually grab a sake and then I go and try to touch base with my former students that are attending the event, see how they're doing, where their sake knowledge has, has benefited them being there. But then touch base with people that I haven't seen before and ask how they are enjoying the event, get feedback. That's just a really important part to me is thinking, you know, are people actually enjoying this event? Did they find it worth it to spend their night, to come into Boston, spend the money, whatever, making sure they're having a good time, see what we can do to change and improve for the next year?
- [17:09]
Host
So cool. And then for somebody who's been on the fence, maybe followed, not a huge sake fan, but curious, like, what advice would you share with them?
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Marina Giordano
Okay, so, because I get that one. Well, I don't know if I like sake or I've only had a couple. I'm not sure what I like with over 100 sake at this point. There's. There is a sake for you. Honestly, you think you don't like sake? You had hot sake. You had a sake bomb. Hopefully you didn't, but maybe had a sake bomb or you just had bad sake. That's not what sake is. There are so many different styles of sake and there's always something for you. I always use my sister in law as an example. She, she's tasted a lot of sake. She's been very tolerable, tasted a lot of sake. She's like, I don't think I like sake. I don't think I like sake. She's been three times and she's always come out with, I found four this time. I found 10 this time last year. She did really well. So there's, there are different styles of sake. There's everything from really delicate, what I like to call like infused water, to really funky, almost sour. More beer. Like some that are wine. Like, there's just a whole range of sakes. So there's something out there for you. And there's, there's food, there's fun. So there'll be a little bit of music this year. That's one of the new things we're adding this year. So not exactly sure how we're doing it, but I'm going to have some live entertainment. So we're working out that next week together.
- [18:29]
Host
Right. That's the best. Right? Things happen and then at the end it just like works itself out. I think that.
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Marina Giordano
Exactly.
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Host
That's definitely a takeaway. I want to play some rapid fire questions. I have like three fun and I ask you. So. Okay, first question. What is your favorite sake and food pairing right now?
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Marina Giordano
Oh, my favorite sake food pairing is this is like people always like, roll their eyes and go, what with brunch? Sake with brunch is like, so like a daiginjo. And it goes really well with egg. It goes really well with toast. It goes well with fruit, which fruit is always a really hard pairing. The sugar levels are too high, the acid levels are too high to drink a wine unless you're having sparkling wine. It also goes with coffee, so it just tastes really good with coffee. So that's. That's probably. That's always my favorite. Even when I find other things that I like, that just. I come back to that all the time.
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Host
I love that.
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Marina Giordano
Yeah.
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Host
What do you hope your contribution means to the Boston cultural scene?
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Marina Giordano
Oh, well, I guess a few things. Like, first of all, it's raising the awareness of sake, like, to the Boston community, like, making sure people understand it, know what it is. That's like the biggest goal of the event is it's an educational event. It's a fun event, but it's also an opportunity to learn a lot of stuff about sake. But it's also bringing cultural awareness to the Japanese community, to just external communities. It's not like we're spending tons of time talking about what the Japanese do and stuff, but in talking to these experts about sake, you learn so many little cultural things about sake and about the Japanese culture. So it's a little bit of both of those. Mostly it's bringing really good Sake to Boston.
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Host
I love that. If you could toast any with anyone in the world with sake, who would you toast with and why?
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Marina Giordano
Oh, geez. Oh, wow. Let's see. That's a tough one. Actually, you know what would be really cool is. So when I did my. When I. I got my certification for teaching sake, there was like, I think six of us that passed. It would be. And the educators. It would be so much fun to come back together with that group. We've talked about it in meeting up again because I was brought back on a study tour and I said, you know, we really all should try to get together sometime, like maybe around a sake day or something. And somebody had commented, but we're all so busy around around Sake Day, we can't get together because we're all over the world. It would be so cool to be able to get those people together again for a kampai to celebrate sake.
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Host
I love that you got to do that. I hope.
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Marina Giordano
Absolutely.
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Host
Make it happen. I love it. Okay, last question. When this event is over, what is the first thing Maureen is doing?
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Marina Giordano
Sleep.
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Host
Sleep.
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Marina Giordano
But besides sleeping, I'm packing my house. I bought a house. In this process, not the best thing to do when you're trying to plan a huge event. Not within a month or two. So, yeah, there's boxes around me right now. I've put as many of them I can in the basement. I have to unpack. I can't find anything.
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Host
It always comes. Exactly. The event comes together when you need it to come together. So it's going to sit in the back burner until you need to focus on it, Right?
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Marina Giordano
Yep. Or in the basement.
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Host
Exactly. Or that it all works itself out. So you are amazing. This was so much fun. How can people, you know, find out about the events or follow you on socials? All the things.
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Marina Giordano
Yeah. For the specific event. Saki Day East. Where? Sake Day east on Instagram. Saki Day East.com is our website. The tickets are on Eventbrite. You can search up Saki Day in Boston and that'll come up on Eventbrite. If you can't remember sake day east.com and then I'm on I'm Wine Sakichick on Instagram. Marina Giordano on Facebook. So. And so we have classes. Sake class. We have a couple coming up after the event, Intro to Sake. And we'll have some certification classes coming up so you can follow me in any of those places.
- [22:22]
Host
Do it. It is so worth it. And we will see you at Sake Day East. Thanks so much, Marina.
- [22:28]
Marina Giordano
Thank you. So.
- [22:37]
Narrator
The ups, the downs, and all the in between, what it takes to become. Next on scene. Are you next? Follow us at Next on scene.