Meet Stu Carnes

Stu began his career in 2005 as a Designer at Mercedes-Benz headquarters in Montvale, New Jersey, later working for a number of New York City marketing agencies before launching personal venture “Wine Guide,” a wine pairing app for the Google Assistant that earned him seats at tech conferences SXSW and CES as well as Google’s Developer Challenge Award for “Best Persona” on the platform in 2017.

After pitching his concept to serial entrepreneur, Gary Vaynerchuk in hopes to monetize the application, he joined Gary and his co-founders as Creative Director for Napa-based DTC wine startup, Empathy Wines in 2018 which sold to Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) in 2019. In 2020 he built a fully-remote creative department from the ground-up as part of Constellation’s cross-functional leadership team on the ASPIRA Fine Wine & Craft Spirits portfolio.

In 2023 he moved on from Constellation to launch Direct-to-Consumer brand, SKWOL Marine, where he combined his experience in boating and DTC consumer packaged goods to develop an innovative line of premium boat cleaning, protection and restoration formulas available worldwide