If you go by Instagram alone, the life of a liquor brand ambassador looks like one fabulous party after another. Can someone really get paid to host events and have fun? Yes, but what you don’t see on Insta are the 5 AM flights, the marathon days or the toll the constant drinks, travel and small talk has on a person’s body and mind.
One of the best in the business is Anne Louise Marquis who is the National Portfolio Ambassador for Campari America. (She was, in fact, named Best American Brand Ambassador last year at the Tales of the Cocktail conference.) The secret to her success may just be her commitment to her regular fitness regime, which gives some routine to her anything but routine schedule and provides a bit of balance to all the late nights.
I asked her to keep a diary for one week to understand how she squeezes in a variety of different workouts into her packed calendar.
“Whenever I’m in the Bay Area on a Wednesday or Sunday, I go to Ecstatic Dance in Oakland. The premise is simple: big open room, great music, no substances, respectful boundaries, and freedom to dance your heart out. It’s the most Bay Area thing possible—all ages, all colors, all sizes—and on Sundays there are even babies with those cute hearing protection things dancing in the arms of their free-spirited parents. I dance alone and also occasionally with friends. I studied contact improv throughout high school and college, and there’s nothing I love more than dancing with a partner, so this is very fun for me. If I’m lucky, I’ll find someone skilled who will flip me around in the air and make me feel like I’m flying. Two hours fly by there and I finish sweaty and tired. Active, social, fun. Ten out of ten. Highly recommend it.”
“6:30 AM is really early but this is a long day and I have a train to catch, so I’m up and out as soon as the day is bright enough to be safe. I run three miles around my parents’ neighborhood. Three to four miles is my average. It’s a distance where I can maintain my pace and also do in time to keep my day moving. I often try to talk myself out of it while I’m still in bed, but it’s only 30 minutes, and I can almost always spare 30 minutes I reason, so I get out of bed and do it. I hated running when I started. In fact, I didn’t start running until I was in my thirties. It helped me lose some weight, helped me learn to clear my head, and also trained me how to carve out time for myself in my rather hectic schedule. My body likes it, training my brain was the hard part because running was so boring. So, I listen to podcasts and if I can find a friend to run with I will schedule a date with them. I ran a half marathon this summer with my best friend. This fall, I’m running in the Bourbon Chase, which is a relay though Kentucky. Tonight, I’m hosting Espolon Cocktail Fights, so I pack up at home and take the train to San Francisco for the night.”
“I woke up in denial at 7 AM but that California sunshine starts early. Last night we went for a one and done post Cocktail Fights and I stayed out past midnight, which I try and avoid on nights with an early wakeup. A couple emails demanded attention but I made it to the gym, which can sometimes feel like a victory in itself on weekdays. My workout today is all interval runs on the treadmill and HIIT type exercises with weights. I do three sets of: half mile run/jog/sprint and five minutes of interval exercises on the floor. I use a simple app called Bit Timer to keep me doing different things every 50 seconds with a 10 second reset between exercises. It keeps it fun and confusing for my body. Once the gym is done, I eat breakfast, pack quickly and head to the airport for my flight to NYC.”
“I landed late last night, took a long cab ride home to Brooklyn, unpacked, did laundry, realized I was leaving the next day, repacked and went to bed. Today, I have meetings starting at 9:30 AM and with all that I need to get my apartment ready for guests while I’m out of town. I don’t have time to work out/shower/get to work, so today is my skip day—unless running through Grand Central with a suitcase at the end of the day counts? Train to New Haven, present a seminar at New Haven Cocktail Week, visit an important cocktail bar, Uber to Waterbury and finally get to bed late.”
“The alarm went off too early, I snoozed too late, half in denial I had to be at the airport in Hartford by 5 AM. The Lyft driver I got was a miracle worker and somehow I made it in time for my flight despite my subconscious trying to sabotage my travel plans. I get to Louisville, work from my hotel room, and take a nap because these long days are catching up with me. I wake up in time to do a 20-minute bodyweight workout in my hotel room before dinner. With quick workouts I do the harder plyometric moves like jump squats, burpees, mountain climbers, etc. I know I’ll only have to do this for 20 minutes, so I can push myself a little harder to maximize the time.”
“Today is a long day of hosting bartenders at the Wild Turkey Distillery, but I try and squeeze in a little gym time before I meet the team to drive out there. I do my standard run/HIIT routine while listening to NPR. I like working out to The Politics Podcast because the news makes me a bit mad and I’ll push myself in my workout fueled by that frustration. It also feels like multitasking that I can work out and also catch up on the news. Win, win. Today I do things like: push-ups on an incline, squat jumps, lunges with weights, setups, and a bunch of upper body stuff on the weight tower that I learned in physical therapy. I pick up moves here and there and stitch it together to hit all my muscle groups. I’m not a methodical ‘arms day’ or ‘legs day’ person. Maybe I should get a trainer and actually learn how to do this stuff. That might require holding still for a few days and that’s a bit tough with this job.”
“I don’t have the time or money to take classes all the time, but I love them, so I try and do one a week if I can. I use the MindBody app to find classes near me and prepay for them the night before, so I’m sure to get up and go. Today, I do a treadmill/circuit workout at a place called Shred415 or is it 415Shread? I don’t know, but it was great. The class ends up being an hour-long version of my gym workout, which is great, and also tells me I’m on the right track with my routines. I love treadmill classes because they coach me to run harder than I do on my own and show me how hard I can push myself within a safe container. I also like that I learn a bunch of new moves to add to my hotel routine. If a move is awful and unbearable, I know it’s a good one for me to do. If I’m not in a treadmill class, I love going to yoga. I got my 200-hour yoga teacher certification this year and it’s a bit unusual for me not to do any yoga in a week, so maybe I’ll go next week. Tonight, we host the Camp Runamok bartender campers for an Italian Family Dinner with our amaro portfolio (Campari, Aperol, Averna, Cynar, Braulio). I finally head home around 11 PM and wake up at 4 AM for my 6 AM flight to Portland in time to do it all over again.”
My Workout Diary features the fitness regiments of bartenders, chefs, distillers and brand ambassadors.
Interview has been condensed and edited.
