Balanced Bartender

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Amie Ward with Valentino Longo of Shoshin Art Club

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Amie Ward, with the founder of Shoshin Art Club Valentino Longo

Hello everyone! Welcome to our December Balanced Bartender pep talk! We're in South Florida this month to talk with Valentino Longo about his Shoshin Art Club.

Scroll down for the full article!

Tell us about your journey through bartending and hospitality.

I started my career 15 years ago in Rome, in a beautiful hotel called the Hotel de Russie. Then moved to London with the idea to do only 6 months, and I ended up staying for 3 years. From London, I got back to Rome for a few years and then moved to Miami, running the four seasons hotel surf club. Last year, in 2022, I left the company and proceeded with my very own adventure: Shōshin Art Club.

What was the inspiration behind Shōshin Art Club?

The concept and idea of Shōshin were born during the Most Imaginative Bartender cocktail competition. I wanted to create a physical place where bartenders could meet and exchange ideas, classes, experiment, and basically, just get inspired. Then the pandemic happened, and I decided to move the concept from physical to online. Right now, Shōshin is an online platform with videos and classes from award-winning mixologists, brands, and people that currently inspire our industry.

Tell us about your journey through bartending and hospitality.

What was the inspiration behind Shōshin Art Club?

What has been the impact of the Shōshin Art Club on the Miami hospitality community?

More than just Miami because Shōshin is an online platform that really aims to inspire the whole community, especially in North America. But we did several physical events in Miami, such as this one called “hospitality is Art,” where we showed photographs and paintings from local bartenders.

Every month I like to provide a movement challenge to our viewers, and I was hoping you would take the reins for this month. What have you got for us?

I think something that I really need to work on, and hopefully, more people will decide to embark on this challenge, is to leave our phones far from us when we’re going to sleep. In another room or a far chair. So we don’t check them first thing in the morning.

If people wanted to learn more about your work or Shōshin Art Club, how can they do so?

Online: www.shoshinartclub.com

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.

Get to Know

Valentino Longo

Shōshin was born as a visionary project from the creative mind of its founder, Valentino Longo.

Currently based in Miami, Florida, Valentino is an award-winning Italian mixologist and a compulsive daydreamer with a passion for photography. He created Shōshin Art Club while participating in the Most Imaginative Bartender 2020, a cocktail competition requiring the finalists to showcase three original cocktail recipes and an innovative business project incorporating the mixologist’s passion outside of bartending. Shōshin Art Club was presented in the final round of the competition and won Valentino the title of Most Imaginative Bartender 2020 and a creative grant allowing him to bring the project to life.

Shōshin Art Club’s ultimate goal is to offer to everyone what Valentino believes has shaped him professionally — the knowledge shared with him by the mentors he has had the opportunity to work alongside throughout his career.

Shōshin in Japanese means “Beginner’s Mind”; the mindset of the true beginner is free of preconceptions or any expectations and instead filled with curiosity and open to unlimited possibilities. This is an homage to Valentino’s love of Japan. A culture that he was able to experience and that he largely credits for helping to expand his mind. Japanese culture is the only one in the world with a word that describes this concept.
By choosing this name, Valentino hopes to evoke the idea that learning is constantly in process. In fact, Shōshin is not a reminder but a blessing!

Get To Know The Healthtender

Amie Ward

Amie Ward is a Veteran Bartender, exercise physiologist and has been outspoken on her fellow service industry members' health and wellness. When she is not pulling trucks and training for Strongwoman competitions, you can find Amie appreciating the finer things in life like Jägermeister.

IG: @thehealthtender

Website:  The Healthtender

December 2022