Meet Guilherme de Macedo | General Manager, Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Guilherme de Macedo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Guilherme, how do you think about risk?
For me there is a correlation between planning and execution. The more you plan, less hard it will be the execution phase. However if you plan less, the time for execution tends to be higher and harder. Planning ahead allows you to mitigate some risks related to your business/life. Unfortunately you cannot avoid all risks, some will be indifferent from your actions. To grow, to challenge yourself, you need to accept some risks knowing that you always can learn from your actions and mistakes. I am a business man, worked in the chemical industry for almost 20 years as an executive, moving every 2 to 3 years to different countries. In 2016 I quit my job to open a Wine Academy together with my wife called Florida Wine Academy. Risk management; this move had a high risk. I was moving my entire family to United States, investing in a new company that we have never worked before, changing my situation as an employee to entrepreneur. I don’t regret it. We used all our skills, from my wife as a lawyer and Wine specialist and my as a business man. We could plan ahead and execute in the better way that we could. We did some mistakes, learned a lot and conquer our space in the American market. We have been open since 2016 with more than 6,000 students in all our courses and events so far. In the last 2 years we expand our business with a wine and sake store, 305 Wines, I invest my time learning about Sake and becoming one of the few Master Sake Sommeliers in United States.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I changed by career as an executive on a multinational company to entrepreneur and started to manage a Wine School. I also looked for something else that I could add value to my new business, differentiated ourselves to others. Thats when I discovered Sake. I noticed a huge potential for sake education and also to sell sake in Florida. In 2018 I took my first sake course with WSET. Since then I never stopped. Nowadays I am a WSET and SSA sake educator, Master Sake Sommelier and International Kikisake-shi (Sake Sommelier). I have one of the best sake collections available in the south of United States. Our customers are coming from far away just to find and learn more about Sake with me. My goal is to keep promoting Japanese sake education and consumption in Florida/United States and become a reference for Sake.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Miami has a lot of choices to be entertained, dinning, to discover new sites. From little Havana, to Wynwood, you have lot of options to experience Miami culture, definitely you need to visit Pérez Art Museum Miami. Key Biscayne is a very nice island near Brickell with a beautiful state park (Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park) and for dinning I strongly suggest the Rusty Pelican with gorgeous Miami skyline views. If you are there, ask Oscar Amaya to prepare one of his signature drinks. If you are a Sake fan like me, you should visit Hiden in Wynwood (book in advance) and Zuma in downtown Miami.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Alessandra Esteves is my wife and business partner. She always support me in my entire career, moving around the world, changing homes, language, her career. I am very thankful to have her by my side as my business partner and wife.

Website: floridawineacademy.com

Instagram: gmac_sake

Other: 305wines.com