We recently had the chance to connect with Robin Burr and have shared our conversation below.
Good morning Robin, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
I installed a pool at my home this year and I am really loving it. I can go outside in my own backyard and swim, do water aerobics as well as teach scuba diving.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am a very energetic person who really can’t stop working, probably because I very much enjoy what I do. I am responsible for managing a very large annual rum festival from start to finish with over 1,000+ attendees and 46 vendors. Not only do I sell all of the exhibit space to vendors, I oversee the marketing of ticket sales. The event is entirely organized, planned and executed by me from start to finish. I managing and coordinating the venue, seminars and speakers, overseeing event personnel, operations, food catering, budget and security. I am blessed with the skill of excellent time management and problem solving as well as great interpersonal and communication skills. I have been producing this event for 16 years now.
I learn very quickly and am great at setting up procedures. I have learned how to manage social media and email marketing skills.
The rum festival came about from scuba diving all over the Caribbean and the world. During our travels we discovered that all the best rum is made where you find the beset diving. In 2007 we realized there would be a “renaissance of rum” and therefore, with our knowledge, we started our festival which grew over the years and at one point we hosted over 16,000 attendees.
After COVID in 2020, we decided it was better to keep the festival smaller for the true enthusiasts and it has stayed as such since that time and people love it as it exists today.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
My husband, Rob Burr, helped me to see early on in our relationship, that if I quit my job working for someone else, (I was an insurance adjuster at Allstate at the time), I would be able to apply my talents along with his to create our own company and work for ourselves. Not only could be earn a living together, but we would have the added value of making our own schedule and controlling your time has become an important part of my life. Working together with Rob for over 40 years now, we have had some very interesting times and the ability to travel when we were young. At one point we published the first all -digital magazine which was for scuba divers, called Fisheye View. As publishers, editors, writers and photographers we traveled the world writing about scuba resorts and liveaboard dive boats during the 80s and early 90s. We sold that magazine to Rodale Press who started Rodale’s Scuba Diving to directly compete with Skin Diver Magazine. During our travels as divers, we learned about rum, which was produced on all the islands we visited because they all grew sugar cane. From there we began visiting distilleries and became rum experts, which lead us to starting the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival back in 2008. Rob and I have had many businesses and accomplished many things together due to our complementary talents. We still continue to do so to this day, by staying on top of technology and producing content. We also publish the Great Gables Guide and the Redland View which are weekly event based enewsletters delivered to thousands of people in South Florida.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Do exactly what you have done. Don’t change a thing. You will have a wonderful life experiencing many things most people dream about.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
I believe in volunteering and giving back to the community. I was a volunteer in the Boy Scout program for 17 years from 1994 to 2011, serving as a Committee Member and eventually as the first woman Scoutmaster of Troop 7 of Coral Gables. During my work for the Boy Scouts I earned several awards, the one I am most proudest of is the District Award of Merit. I was a member of the Kiwanis Club of Coral Gables from 1994-2011, I am an active member of the Coral Gables Woman’s Club since 1999 and was responsible for installing their State of Florida Historic Marker. Our Woman’s Club provides FREE dental care for kids who cannot afford it ages 5-18. I have olunteered teaching swimming lessons to children at Coral Gables Venetian Pool, Venetian Aquatic Club since 2007 and served as their President from 2015-2017 overseeing hundreds of swimming lessons while supervising over 100 volunteers. I have sat on the George Merrick Foundation Board of Directors since 2000. I am a member of the Fraternal Order of the Moai since 2013, who provides scholarships to students from Easter Island and preserves Tiki History. I also sit on the Board of Directors for Miami-Dade Reef Guard, responsible for installing mooring buoys to protect Miami’s coral reefs. I served on the Board for the FNGLA (Florida Nursery Growers & Landscape Association) from 2022-2025. I support the Homestead Center for the Arts since 2013, whose mission is to bring culture and art to the Redland area and Homestead. I love to volunteer as I feel it makes you feel good as well as makes you a better person by giving your time to and energy to raise money for those in need, or for things that are important in the community.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
Yes, absolutely. I have always given 100% to our Coral Gables Woman’s Club yet received very little recognition or thanks in the process. Although recognition and thanks makes you feel good, it is not necessary as you know what you are doing is important and benefits those in need. I will always continue my volunteer work as it makes ME feel good about myself. I have been blessed with a good life and I want to give to those who are not as blessed.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/robinvburr
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinvburr/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-burr-63066932b/
- Twitter: https://x.com/RobinVBurr
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/RobinB
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RumMinute
- Other: https://www.rumrenaissance.com/
https://greatgables.com/
https://www.redlandview.com/
https://personalscubainstruction.com/
https://quantumleap.net/
Image Credits
Franklin Viola
Robert A. Burr
Rob V. Burr
