A bit about me!

I am sure some of you are wondering “Who even are you?!” So, I suppose I should introduce myself… I am Kiara, although that feels like a given at this point. I am an art school graduate who stumbled into the wine world. My journey feels so long and windy, but I am so fortunate to have gone through it while still being relatively young in my career. Bear with me while I tell you the short(ish) version. After spending my first few post college years working as many design jobs as i could get my hands on, I had finally made it. I was a Creative Director, I had done it! I had breached that general “designer” title and next thing I knew, I was in the boss’ office hearing I had to be let go. I had NO IDEA what to do from there you guys, I didn’t have enough experience to go directly into another director role, but too much to move backwards. I literally couldn’t get an interview to save my life! Almost an entire year later, the universe finally pointed me in the right direction and I got a job at a local brewery. I immediately took to being behind the bar and talking about beer. I really should have known I would end up pursuing a career as a sommelier, because suggesting a beer to a customer that they end up loving was a high like I had never known. I absolutely loved the feeling I got when somebody came in not knowing what to drink, but I had guided them to their new favorite beer. Unfortunately, that amazing brewery ended up selling and I was on the job hunt again. At this point I was so torn, I thought I had to go back to design since that was where I was trained but I just didn’t want to. I was so miserable doing graphic design in comparison to what I felt behind the bar. Then I got my first wine job, I was a wine consultant doing personalized private wine tastings. Getting paid 100% commission was not ideal for someone who had never had to sell a thing, especially wine, in her life. To be fair, I am Italian American and my poppa made wine in his basement in upstate New York, so I had been around wine for my entire life. I had a decent base knowledge, but I didn’t know regional information, let alone varietal by country at the time. As you would imagine, it did not go well. While I was starting to feel discouraged, I heard a rumor that a local winery I often frequented with my parents was hiring! I started in the tasting room 2 weeks later and have been there for about 2 years now. About a month after I started at Orfila, I finally saw the movie Somm and of course, being as competitive as I am thought to myself “I can do that.” I looked into how many female Master Sommeliers there were and was absolutely appalled at the low number. So, I signed up for the Level 1 exam through the Court of Master Sommeliers the next day and haven’t stopped studying wine since. My Certified Sommelier (Level 2) has been a challenge thanks to COVID-19. Well, I didn’t quite pass my first attempt in March, I was SO annoyingly close, I passed 2 of 3 sections, but now my retake has now been changed 3 times, so one of these days the title Certified Sommelier won’t just be dangling in front of me. In the meantime I started studying beer as well and passed my Certified Beer Server exam, which is the first level of the Cicerone program! Now I am really starting to ramble on, I will give you guys a break and we will talk more about it soon. Cheers!