Victoria Pelletier, a remarkable corporate executive, keynote speaker, and author, who has taken the business world by storm. Victoria shares her incredible journey, including becoming a C-suite leader at just 24 years old and her passion for wine. Get ready to test your knowledge with a fun quiz format where Victoria answers questions about her life and leadership philosophy.
From her early beginnings managing a hair salon at 11 to her unique leadership style described as 'turtle shell outside, marshmallow inside', Victoria's story is both inspiring and enlightening. Discover how she balances her corporate life with her love for wine and why she values experiences over possessions. This episode is a celebration of resilience, passion, and the joy of wine, making it a must-listen for wine lovers and aspiring leaders alike.
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Welcome to the best five-minute wine podcast with Forrest Kelly!
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Hey there wine lovers, Rusty Sellers here.
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Your quiz master, your wine authority, and tonight, your movie concession stand attendant.
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That's right, Forrest doesn't pay me enough to just ask questions, so I'm also scooping
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popcorn, tearing tickets, and reminding you to please silence your phones before the show
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But before the feature presentation, we've got something better.
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It's Pop the Quiz, the wine and wisdom edition, starring today's guest.
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A corporate executive, a keynote speaker, an author, a wine lover, and someone who became
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a C-suite leader before most people figure out their coffee order.
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Two rounds, ten questions, all about what she shared on the best five-minute wine podcast.
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Round one, the opening credits.
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Question one, multiple choice.
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Our guest started working at age 11.
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What was her very first job?
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A, babysitting for $2 an hour.
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B, working the front desk at a hair salon, managing appointments, cash, laundry, and
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C, running the popcorn machine at a movie theater, which, now that I think about it,
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explains why I feel seen right now.
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The answer is A and B. At 11 years old, she was managing the front desk, handling cash,
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booking appointments, sweeping floors, and doing towel laundry at a hair salon.
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Child labor laws might have something to say about that today, but she says she learned
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how to run a place.
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At 11, most of us were still arguing about whose turn it was to take out the trash.
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Question two, true or false.
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She became a C-suite executive at age 24.
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By 24, she had already graduated university early, bought her first house at 19, worked
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multiple jobs simultaneously through school, and climbed into executive leadership while
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running on four to five hours of sleep.
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The rest of us were still figuring out how the laundry machine worked.
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Question three, multiple choice.
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She describes her leadership style with a very specific two-part metaphor.
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A. Steel on the outside, fire on the inside.
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B. Turtle shell on the outside, marshmallow on the inside.
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C. Popcorn on the outside, hard kernel until the heat hits, then suddenly everywhere.
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The answer is B. Turtle shell outside, marshmallow inside.
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Tough, resilient, and not to be messed with, but deeply empathetic and vulnerable underneath.
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She says she learned early that wearing a mask and being all business all the time wasn't
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leadership, it was armor.
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The marshmallow inside is what actually builds trust.
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And honestly, who doesn't love a marshmallow?
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Question four, true or false.
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She was adopted at age four after being born to a drug-addicted teenage mother.
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She shared this openly and directly.
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Her early years were difficult.
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She came into the world facing serious odds.
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Her adoptive parents were loving but modest.
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Mom was a secretary, dad was a school janitor.
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She says she was determined to create a better life not because she thought she was better
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than anyone, but because she knew she was born for more than the circumstances she started
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That's the whole story in one sentence.
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Question five, multiple choice.
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When given the choice between an unlimited wine budget for life or an unlimited travel
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budget but only house wine wherever she goes, what did she pick?
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A. Unlimited wine budget, she's not messing around.
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B. Unlimited travel budget, house wine included, no complaints.
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She picked both and then called her attorney.
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The answer is B, travel all day long.
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She said if she's experiencing different cultures, seeing different views, and watching
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the people, she will happily drink the house wine.
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The experience wins over the bottle.
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That's a perspective worth raising a glass to, whatever's in it.
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Round two, the feature presentation.
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Question six, true or false.
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Before her corporate career, she trained as a sommelier in Bordeaux.
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She went straight into corporate leadership, no detour through the French countryside.
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Though she has been to Sonoma wine country, loves a great glass of red, and would very
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much like a wine named after her.
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Sonoma Vineyards, if you're listening, she said she wishes.
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That's basically an invitation.
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Question seven, multiple choice.
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She is known among former colleagues by a very specific nickname.
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A. The Iron Curtain, B. The Turnaround Queen, C. The Woman Who Made Haar Very Nervous.
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The answer is B, The Turnaround Queen.
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She's been brought in repeatedly to fix broken companies, cutting 30% of workforce costs
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for a post-COVID global organization, navigating a company that rebranded, went public, and
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acquired six companies in 18 months.
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She's the person the board calls when things need to get unscrewed fast.
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And she gets it done.
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Question eight, true or false.
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She gave a TEDx talk, and she was the opening speaker of the night.
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True, TEDx Miami, opening speaker.
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The theme was resilience, and she spoke on what she calls healthy resilience, a five-step
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process for working through trauma, challenge, and adversity without hiding behind armor.
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Not just surviving hard things, processing them.
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There's a difference, and she knows it personally.
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Question nine, multiple choice.
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She graduated from university early.
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How old was she when she graduated high school?
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A. 17, B. 16, C. 14.
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At which point she also ran the school, restructured the lunch program, and mentored the principal.
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The answer is B, 16.
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She graduated at 16, had already been accepted to multiple schools, and had a scholarship
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Her mom talked her into staying close to home.
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She moved out her first semester anyway, which she admits means she really could have gone
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But she stayed, graduated, and got relocated to Toronto right out of university.
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The rest is a corporate legend.
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Question 10, true or false.
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If her I earned this reward dinner had a theme song, she'd choose Sia's Unstoppable.
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She said it herself.
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It's the title of one of her books.
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It's representative of who she is, and as she put it, you are certainly not going to
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stop her from drinking that amazing bottle of wine.
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Unstoppable, corporate executive, author, wine lover, TEDx speaker, turnaround queen.
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Started working at 11, C-suite at 24.
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She said she prefers the $300 bottle, but only if she gets to share it with friends.
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That, wine lovers, is the full pour.
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And that is a wrap on round two.
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Ten questions, two rounds, one extraordinary guest who proved that where you start has
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absolutely nothing to do with where you end up, especially if there's good wine waiting
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at the finish line.
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If you want more of her story, head over to the Best 5-Minute Wine podcast and listen
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to the full interview.
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It is worth every minute.
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And if you liked what you heard right here, do us a favor.
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Hit that like button, leave a review, follow the show wherever you get your podcasts, I've
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got a 9 o'clock showing to prep for, nachos to restock, and a candy display that is frankly
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Until next time, keep the glass full, the question's coming, and for everything that
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is good and fermented, please silence your phones.
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