That’s the compass. Everything we build, every platform we launch, every piece of content we publish points back to that singular purpose. We believe the hospitality industry deserves an ecosystem of resources that respects the intelligence of its professionals and the curiosity of its enthusiasts — one that delivers genuine value, not noise. An ecosystem where the wine student, the restaurant operator, the spirits enthusiast, and the career sommelier all find something built with them in mind.
The Founder
Derek Engles
There’s a moment that happens in a great restaurant — somewhere between the first glass of wine and the last bite of dessert — where everything clicks. The food, the service, the conversation, the room. People lean in. They laugh a little louder. They stay a little longer. That moment is the whole point. It’s why hospitality exists, and it’s the reason Derek Engles has spent more than twenty years trying to help people create more of them.
Derek’s career started on the floor — not in a boardroom, not behind a screen, but in the dining room, face to face with guests, learning what it actually takes to make someone feel something. Over more than a decade as a sommelier and wine director at Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts International, he personally served more than 200,000 guests across some of the most recognized fine dining rooms in the country. He earned his Advanced Sommelier certification from the Court of Master Sommeliers. He completed Harvard Business School’s Leadership Program. He studied the business of hospitality at every level.
But what drives him has never been the credentials. It’s the look on someone’s face when they taste a wine that changes the way they think about wine. It’s the server who finally understands why the details matter and starts taking pride in getting them right. It’s the team that goes from good to genuinely great because someone gave them the education they deserved.
That’s what Informative Media is. It’s Derek’s belief — built from years of experience and carried by genuine conviction — that the world of wine, food, beverage, travel, and hospitality is one of the most beautiful and exciting things human beings do together. Sharing a meal. Discovering a new region through its wine. Sitting at a bar in a city you’ve never been to and letting the bartender surprise you. These aren’t small things. They’re the moments that make life richer.
Informative Media exists to help more people experience those moments — and to give the professionals who create them the knowledge and tools they need to do it at the highest level. Every platform, every article, every recommendation is built with that purpose. Not because it’s a business strategy, but because it’s the only thing worth building.
