Who is Emilia Fazzalari and how is she related to Wyc Grousbeck and Michael Jordan?
Emilia Fazzalari is the CEO and one of the co-founders of Cinco Spirits Group and Cincoro Tequila. Business runs in Fazzalari's blood, being the daughter of Italian immigrants who were entrepreneurs. She graduated from the University of Michigan and made her name working in New York City.
Fazzalari was a Financial Product and Media Analyst for Bloomberg LP for more than 20 years. She founded Cincoro Tequila in 2016 and it was launched in 2020. The brand was among the three finalists for the Best Tequila Reposado at the 2022 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
The name Cincoro comes from the Spanish words cinco and oro, which means five and gold.
Fazzalari is also connected to the NBA through Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck and the great Michael Jordan.
Emilia Fazzalari is married to Wyc Grousbeck
Emilia Fazzalari and Wyc Grousbeck are two of the co-owners of the Boston Celtics. They are also a couple, having been married since 2017. Fazzalari is Grousbeck's second wife and the step-mother of his two children, Kelsey and Campbell.
Grousbeck was born in Massachusetts and attended Princeton University. He also has a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He founded and led the group that bought the Celtics for $360 million in 2002.
We're kicking off tonight with a toast from two of our co-founders, CEO, Emilia Fazzalari & Wyc Grousbeck.
Help us spread the #ToastYourTeam movement by celebrating the people in your life who you miss, inspire or bring out the best in you!
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Under Grousbeck's ownership, the Celtics won the NBA championship in 2008. They also made it to the 2022 NBA Finals but lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games. Their $360 million investment in 2002 is now worth around $3.55 billion.
In addition to being a married couple and co-owners of the Celtics, Fazzalari and Grousbeck are co-founders of Cincoro Tequila.
Emilia Fazzalari and Michael Jordan are business partners
As mentioned earlier, Cincoro Tequila comes from the Spanish words cinco and oro, which means five and gold. Emilia Fazzalari and Wyc Grousbeck are among the five co-founders of the brand. The other three are Wes Edens, Jeanie Buss and Michael Jordan.
Edens is one of the owners of the Milwaukee Bucks, while Buss is the controlling owner and team president of the LA Lakers. Jordan is a six-time NBA champion and is considered to be the greatest basketball player ever. He's also the majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets.
Michael Jordan of the Charlotte Hornets, Jeanie Buss of the Los Angeles Lakers, Wes Edens of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Emilia Fazzalari and Wyc Grousbeck of the Boston Celtics are partnering to launch Cincoro Tequila, a new ultra-premium tequila launching nationwide in 2020. https://t.co/VS15d3E58Y
Jordan was not only a co-founder, but he also helped Fazzalari when the company was enduring tough times. Fazzalari told Nasdaq in an interview last year that MJ gave her words of encouragement when Cincoro Tequila was just starting.
"At the beginning of the Cincoro journey, Michael Jordan said to me, 'Sit back, chill and enjoy the moment,'" Fazzalari said. "Sometimes you need to take a step back, slow down and be present because it is easy to get caught up in the day to day running a business. But taking time each day to appreciate successes, failures, and things we otherwise take for granted."