Melissa Del Savio is the Director of Sales and Co-Founder of Curamia Tequila, a women owned and operated venture, rooted in Jalisco, Mexico. Born and raised in Johnstown, a small town in Upstate, New York just outside of Saratoga Springs, Melissa dreamed of a career in sales working for one of New York City’s numerous fashion houses. From a young age, Melissa displayed an incredibly artistic, creative and passionate mind that drives her today.
Following high school, Melissa dreamed of the “big city” and working in the fashion world, but her mother made college non-negotiable. In order to pay her way through Marist College, Melissa took up residence at local bars and honed her bartending skills working on beverage programs from the Hudson Valley to New York City. During her time at Marist, Melissa was awarded the prestigious Silver Needle Award at the Silver Needle Runway, a show held every spring to showcase the collections of Marist’s senior fashion students, which brought her to
New York City to work with the teams at Rock & Republic and CK Bradley.
While serving her time behind the bar, and working on various beverage programs, Melissa fell in love with the world of wine and spirits, where her creativity and flair for the arts were on full display in the programs she wrote. She always envisioned a return to the world of hospitality, specifically in sales, her other early passion, by way of sales in wine and spirits. Melissa left New York behind to begin her new endeavor as a Sales Representative for a wine and spirits distributor, Colony Liquor and Wine Distributors (known today as Empire) in Upstate New York where she built the foundation for what has been an unbelievably successful sales career.
After a period of time in the distribution world, she left to launch St. Germain in New York, her first dive into the supplier world and into the day to day grind of building a brand. Here, along with the New York team, she helped build the brand into the powerhouse modifier we know it as today. It was eventually sold to Bacardi. Melissa then moved back to New York City and working with the Cooper Spirits Company team turned her time and attention to the launch of Slow & Low, Lock Stock & Barrel and supported the rollout of Ilegal Mezcal.
After giving birth to her beautiful daughter, Melissa returned to her Upstate New York roots to work with Brown-Forman at a larger distributor, where she was responsible for brand growth and development of an extensive portfolio of products, including Woodford Reserve, Jack Daniels and Herradura Tequila. Working on the Albany Food and Wine Festival as the head of the cocktail competition, which she structured, became a passion project for her. In this role Melissa was also responsible for several live feed and television appearances to showcase cocktail programs, spirit competitions, and large spirit brands.
After reaching the pinnacle of the distribution and supplier world, Melissa was approached by her fellow Curamia co-founder Dafna Mizrahi, and starting from scratch they paved the path forward to build a brand, and share with the world an authentic spirit from Jalisco and the legacy and craftsmanship behind hard work. With Dafna’s Mexican roots in Jalisco–the birthplace of tequila–and Melissa’s background in the spirits business, they created the perfect team to launch Curamia Tequila.
Melissa is passionate about the people of her industry. From her own humble beginnings behind the bar she learned a tremendous appreciation for every aspect of the business. From the in the field production, to the warehouse staff, to the hardworking distribution teams, the delivery drivers pumping the liquid into the market and to the stores, beverage directors and bartenders that bring the goods to your palate, it's all an ecosystem she greatly appreciates and values.
Curamia is allowing her to travel the country and do what she loves. Telling the story of authenticity, hard work, and highlighting all of the incredible people she meets along the way.
