While melodious jazz played in the background, Santerria McGilbra and TYTE Media sat down to a stunning view of the San Francisco Bay, fine wine and delectable finger food for an interview. The setting was the epitome of the Eat, Drink, & Be Merry Production founder’s idea for her events—good company, food, wine, and music.
McGilbra is the thirty-something founder of Eat, Drink, & Be Merry Productions—an event production company that organizes quarterly events where invitees can enjoy impeccable food and wine pairings from local businesses, while listening to live local jazz artists. The local focus of the events allows members to enjoy and discover food, wine and culture from the cultural powerhouse that is San Francisco.
McGilbra’s love for culture started at the age of 2, when she started dance. After she had mastered many of the African dances by age 12, she also started getting into ballet and modern jazz. Her early years of dance led her to spend her high school years practicing dance at the San Francisco School of the Arts.
After high school, McGilbra was offered a volleyball scholarship at Hawaii Pacific University, but soon discovered that she had a knack for event planning. She started with planning weddings and sports events before she starting building her own event production company.
The essentials of every Eat Drink & Be Merry event are great live jazz, delicious food, and delectable wine. After contemplating including different genres into her events, McGilbra decided that jazz was the best choice for the events. “I realized jazz is my favorite,” says McGilbra. “It allows me to sit and just be neutrally at peace and comfortable.”
Joining handpicked jazz musicians are wines supplied by wineries McGilbra chooses. The wineries then bring wines they want to feature at an event. Despite having an extensive knowledge of wines, McGilbra trusts the wines that the wineries choose to bring because they have good reasons for featuring a particular wine, whether it’s because it’s their signature wine or a new release they want to introduce.
After the wines are chosen, McGilbra brings a bottle and sits down with a chef of the restaurant she has chosen to cater the event, and together they create pairings. “It’s not a very complicated process if you know wine and you know food,” says McGilbra. “We choose exotic fruit, cheeses, and light meats.”
McGilbra prefers that her events have a local foundation, and considers her events t be a 
grassroots effort, with a focus on the community. She has been asked to bring her events to major cities such as Chicago and London, but she is not planning on expanding her San Franciscan event just yet. “I want to make sure when I venture off into the world it’s solidly bay area still,” says McGilbra. “I’m bringing a little bit of San Francisco, a little bit of Napa, a lot of our restaurants, and definitely our flair to the world.”
Although McGilbra is always dressed to impress, she makes sure the atmosphere at her events is relaxed and inviting. Eat, Drink, & Be Merry Productions is a mature and sensuous event that is grounded by the “come as you are” dress code, in which you can find partygoers in everything from stilettos and suits to flats and jeans.
“My life has come…. It’s just come full circle for me, I’ve always been that girl that cooked and hosted and took care of people and when we were eating dinner, you want water, more food, chicken,” says McGilbra.
“Some days you wonder where it’s all taking you.”
For more information on Eat Drink & Be Merry and its founder, Santerria McGilbra, visit www.EDABMP.com
Check out the TYTE Media Facebook Photo Ablbum for McGilbra’s First 2012 EDABMP Event
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