Paulo Costa Trio Entrevista - Destiny Burns

Paulo Costa Trio Entrevista

Paulo Costa Trio presents a new series of interviews with Brazilians, Latinos, and people connected with the Brazilian culture who live in Cleveland, Ohio. Our mission is to build a stronger community among Brazilians living in the city, telling their histories, promoting their work, and helping new members to feel welcome in Cleveland. We will post one new interview every week! Every guest will have an opportunity to sing a song with us. We hope you all enjoy it. - Paulo Costa, Felipe Brito, Davi Lira

Interview with Destiny Burns

February 21, 2018 | Cleveland, Ohio | CLE Urban Winery

Executive Director and Producer: Felipe Brito

Story by Felipe Brito, Paulo Costa, and Caio Mancini

She was born and raised in Cleveland, serving in the Navy, and she has been in many countries. After working at security companies in Washington DC, she decided to return to Cleveland, where she founded the CLE Urban Winery. 

Can you tell me a little bit about your history?

I'm a Cleveland girl. I was born and raised in Euclid, Ohio, East Side. Eastside girl. I joined the Navy right out of high school to see the world. I became a Russian linguist in the Navy. I worked in the intelligence field my entire career. I was 20 years in the U.S. Navy, and I became an officer halfway through my career. During my education, I did my bachelor's and master's degree at night part-time. And at the end of my 20 years, I went to work in the Washington DC area in big defense companies like Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, and when I turned 50, I just got tired of it.

You know, The corporate grind, I had gotten divorced, and my daughter was grown and through college, so I could do whatever I wanted basically, and I decided to come back to Cleveland. My family has always been here. Cleveland was still home for me even though I lived in Virginia for 17 years. 

When did you come back to Cleveland?

So I came back to Cleveland two and a half years ago, and I wanted to start my own business, so I looked at what kind of business I could create. I wanted to do something with food and wine in my military and civilian career. I traveled, and I lived overseas. I've been worldwide, but I have never been to South America, pretty much everywhere else. I looked at Cleveland’s food and wine industry and what was going on with beer, I wanted to find that little niche. I looked at maybe taking a restaurant and making it more wine-focused or perhaps a wine bar, but ultimately I decided to do this working winery, a craft brewery, except we make wine instead of beer. We are fermenting and making all the wine that we serve. We also make the bottles. We have our bottling equipment here as well.

And the grapes come from where?

The grapes we bring in pressed juice, so we don't handle the grapes themselves because that's a whole other set of equipment. I was not interested in that part of the business. We bring the juice from California, Oregon, and Washington State, and our riesling comes from New York State. It's the best quality we can get. So, if we can get good Ohio juice, we'll use that when we make ice wine.

That's fantastic! So you have seen the whole world but South America?

Yes, except for South America.

I hope you can go to South America, Brazil, especially for leisure. So, the winery is this fantastic place with arts and culture. Did it start when you created the business?

There are three separate parts of the business. The first part is all about good wine. We focus on excellent quality ingredients bringing something special for everybody's taste. We have white wines, red wines, dry wines, sweeter wines, wine slushies, pretty much we are always doing something fun with wine. We just started this new thing called doughnuts for grown-ups, where we take a donut hole, and we put a small pipette shoot of wine, squeeze it into the donut, and you eat it. It's delicious. We have that on Friday and Saturday nights. There is always something fun to make people comfortable with wine, so they just have fun with it and enjoy it. We will also start classes teaching about wine.

What is the second part of your business?

The second part is about art and music on Friday and Saturday night. We've had Paulo Costa Trio here several times, one of our favorites. There is open mic night on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month with spoken word, magic, rappers, and even a bubble guy that comes in and blows these giant bubbles. It's all about talent. There's so much talent in Cleveland; it’s fantastic. I always have pop-up groups that bring food or products. Yoga class once a month with a lady who brings her business here. Tango lessons twice a month. Our doors are open to the community to come and celebrate this artistic talent entrepreneurism of the city. Also, all the labels and the names of the wines have a Cleveland focus to them.

That is fantastic. Wine and art. What’s the third part of your business?

The third part is to drink wine and do good. I want my "retirement business”  to be more than a for-profit business. I have to pay bills and make money, but this is a community philanthropic platform. I want to bring people together to raise money for good causes and do good things for this community through my business. That's important to me, and it's a big part of how I operate the business. In 2017, for example, I donated over $21,000 to local charitable causes. By donating wine to events where fundraising was done or donating things to auctions. We have some very special key partnerships with nonprofits, like Graffiti Heart who is responsible for all of the beautiful graffiti this in this space. We have done two big fundraisers with them and we have raised enough money to send seven kids into summer college prep programs at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Another really special organization is Dobama Theater, a great resource in this community like the off-broadway black box theater that's right here in Cleveland Heights. We really want to be a place where the community can come together and we can do good things for Clevelanders.

That's amazing! Thank you so much for all you do for the Cleveland community. It's impressive that you decided to not have food in the winery. 

No, we decided early on that we didn't want a bar or a kitchen. We just serve wine and we focus on that. We are not a restaurant, but we serve some cheese, salami, hummus, and small snacks if you are hungry. There are so many great local businesses right here on Lee Road. Every food you can want, bring it in here and have a party here. Bring your food, have your wedding here, and bring your food.

I was going to ask you about it. So you had parties, corporate events, and weddings here as well?

Yes, two people have gotten married right in front of my wine display.

Did you cry? (laughs)

I did, that first wedding I think I cried more than the groom’s mother, you know. (laughs) Who is that woman over there? Oh, she's the owner, oh okay? (laughs). 

Everything sounds fantastic! You are proving that anyone can have a winery, and you're bringing the community together, new opportunities, that's amazing! For the last question, let's say fifty to a hundred years from now if someone reads this interview and they ask who is Destiny, what would you say?

When I'm no longer on this earth I want to have made a difference. I want to be some good in this world because I was here. I think I feel like I have a responsibility to do that what I have always felt all my life whether it's serving in uniform or working with nonprofits, volunteering as a firefighter for several years when I lived in Virginia. I have always been very connected to serving the community reinventing myself so I can find new ways to help and connect people. I want that to be my legacy, that I made a difference because I was here in this world too.

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Paulo Costa Trio
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