The Barefoot Wine Founders

Inspire, Encourage, and Empower

Barefoot Wine, now America’s #1 Wine Brand was created by Michael C. Houlihan and Bonnie M. Harvey who started in their laundry room with little wine industry knowledge and even less funds. They built an unknown label into one of the fastest-growing brands in America. They have demonstrated success in sales-oriented team building, product distribution, and building a national brand on a shoestring. Now they are sharing their experience and business principles to help start-ups and established businesses build winning brands.

Ideal audiences are small business owners, entrepreneurs, and business and marketing college students, with an emphasis on producers of products that go through wholesale and retail distribution.

“The International Council for Small Business (ICSB) held its World Entrepreneurship Conference in Dublin in June 2014 and it attracted an audience of 876 delegates from 61 countries. Michael and Bonnie were Keynote Speakers at the conference but they also gave talks at dedicated workshops for Irish Entrepreneurs and at the Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum. While each talk needed to be tailored to the specific audience that they were addressing, their professionalism, practical advice, and excellent communication skills ensured that they enjoyed a rapturous response on every occasion. They have an ability to speak to any group of people in a way that resonates with their particular needs and through their stories the hard lessons of business are understood in an entertaining fashion. Because of the success of their talks, they have already been invited back to Ireland for other speaking engagements and I understand from international colleagues that invitations to other countries are also likely to happen.”

— Professor Thomas Cooney, Chair of the ICSB 2014 Organising Committee, College of Business, Dublin Institute of Technology

“…Entertaining, timely, inspirational, and poignant. Our attendees were electrified with his candid real-world appraisal and practical recommendations for entrepreneurial success.”

–Becky Gann, MBA | Executive Director USASBE |

“Michael and Bonnie were great! They really are connected on a very special level. Well done!”

— Pat Murphy, CEO, The Institute for Social, Search, and Mobile Marketing

“Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey provided an engaging, down to earth account of how they created America’s best selling wine brand from nothing in an entertaining and educational way. Students were at the edge of their seats and left with the feeling that they too could build a successful business with hard work and grit as Michael and Bonnie did.”

–Michael Luchies, National Growth and Programs Manager, CEO

“Bonnie and Michael are a captivating force in the classroom, relating real-world experience in a delivery method that both engages and captivates any student in an entrepreneurial learning environment. As presenters, they do not shy away from connecting on a deeply personal level with their audience, and their ability to make their story applicable to a start-up venture made them the perfect fit to inspire our 2013 Syracuse University Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) students. I am honored to count Bonnie and Michael among our go-to group of world-class speakers for the EBV program.”

–Jared S. Lyon, National Program Manager, EBV & EBV-F

“I highly recommend Bonnie and Michael as speakers both for students and experienced entrepreneurs.”

— Madison Pedigo, Associate Director, Naveen Jindal School of Management, University of Texas