Mike DeSimone And Jeff Jenssen - The World Wine Guys - Writers, Authors, Presenters, And Hosts (USA)

Years In Industry:

Officially, 10—since our first big article put us on the wine writing map. As we ramped up our magazine, book writing, and speaking careers, we were each transitioning out of other vocations. A lot of people in the industry don’t know that Jeff is a chiropractor and Mike is a registered nurse, and that we both worked two full time jobs as our involvement in wine took off.

Our Biggest Challenge to Wellness:

Travel, a jam-packed schedule, and big dinners with lots of good wine. Between being on the road so much and having business contacts all over the world, emails and messages fly in pretty much around the clock. It’s hard to put the phone down and stop checking email and social media at a certain time, and it’s even harder to not jump back into it the moment we wake up. There is always just one more thing to do and another messaging app to check. And let’s not forget writing deadlines and wrapping things up before we’re out of pocket for a day or two while flying to Asia.

How We Keep It Together To Stay Well:

Exercise and meditation. We have been practicing transcendental meditation for about 10 years, and we get to the gym 4 or 5 days per week. We also ride bicycles and hike or walk as much as possible whether we are home or traveling. We know that dinners and lunches are going to be huge, wine-filled affairs, so we start the day with tea, yogurt, and fruit.

We also divide and conquer—we split our work load according to who is best at a particular task. Most important, we both love sleep and are really good at it. Sleep is vastly underrated by most people as a pillar of fitness and health.

You can connect with Mike and Jeff via Instagram at @worldwineguys and @wineanddandy