Michelle Williams writes freelance about wine, food, and travel and on her award-winning blog Rockin Red Blog.
She is one of the 2017 Top 40 Wine Influencers on Social Media.
Michelle resides with her family in Texas and has an affinity for pairing wine with music. Michelle holds a master’s degree in History of the Christian Tradition from SMU. She enjoys traveling to wine regions all over the world and experiencing first-hand the connections between people, history, culture, cuisine, and wine. Rockin Red Blog is a blog meant to de-mystify wine through a casual, consumer based approach.
So you too can get to know Michelle, in a quick Q&A interview, I’ve asked her to tell us more about herself and her blog.
Meet Michelle Williams:
Q: When did you start your wine blog and why?
A: In May 2014, I had completed a Master’s program in History of the Christian Tradition at SMU. As a long time wine lover, I was already active in the Twitter wine community, and taking some time to decide whether or not to pursue a PhD.
These two worlds collided when I began receiving requests to review wine samples. Review? Where? How? Additionally, after three arduous years of graduate school, while in my period of discernment I needed to keep writing, like a muscle writing becomes flabby if not used frequently.
I haphazardly made the decision to start Rockin Red Blog to allow a space for wine reviews and to keep my writing muscle firm. Looking back it has all been a truly astounding adventure, I am so blessed.
Q: What topic(s) does your blog cover and how do you generally describe the angle to your writing?
A: Rather than focusing on one angle of the vast wine world, Rockin Red Blog seeks to explore it all through informative stories and insights beyond the glass.
Rockin Red Blog takes a conversational, consumer based approach to learning about wine from all over the world. Wine is communal, meant to be enjoyed with friends, family, and great food. Therefore, Rockin Red Blog features articles that are informative yet conversational with a focus on wine and food pairings, including links to recipes.
To keep it fun, wine is paired with music for a multi-sensory avenue to better understanding wine. Nothing stuffy here. Rockin Red Blog explores the world of wine in a manner of friends laughing and talking while sharing a glass of wine.
Q: What are your favorite wine events? In other words: if fans would like to meet you in person someday, where are they sure to find you?
A: I am a wanderlust. The world of wine is vast, I hope to explore every inch of it.
Furthermore, I love the stories behind the wine, the people, history, struggles, and eternal optimism. Wine is more than a beverage in a glass. Wine is life, hope, love, joy, friendship; wine is humanity. If you are looking for me look to the vineyards and tasting rooms of the world. I post photos of my wine journeys on social media (especially Instagram) daily so you will always know where in the world I am.
Q: What are your favorite social media channels, the ones you like most to exchange and engage around your content?
A: I don’t really have a favorite social media platform. I spend a lot of time engaging on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
I really like interacting with my readers and wine lovers on social media, wine people are all so nice! I share my content on all of these platforms and am always happy to share others wine content as well. Wine is a community. I have several dear wine friends in Dallas, we call ourselves the Dallas Wineaux, we all met on Twitter through our shared passion of wine. We get together regularly with our spouses over good food and wine for laughter and friendship.
Q: Finally, what do you do to relax outside of wine?
A: I am a wife and mother so I keep quite busy.
I enjoy listening to live music, shopping, eating out (I am a huge foodie), traveling, cycling, tennis, hiking, and sometimes binge watching The Walking Dead or The Crown.
My husband and I began playing golf together last year but I am not sure that counts as relaxing.
Read more about Michelle Williams on her website RockinRedBlog.com
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