WBC Scholarship – America

Who doesn’t know Tom Wark? You don’t? And you’re reading this blog about the WBC Scholarship? Get out from under that rock. Tom Wark has been in wine PR since the early 90s and writes the foremost industry wine blog, Fermentation. He’s also a founding father of wine blogging and one of its biggest supporters and critics. That is not meant to be a fault in the least, we must often spend time evaluating the utility of wine blogging and Tom holds no punches when it comes to that exercise.

However, despite his constant questioning of the purpose and utility of wine blogging, Tom has been a strong and consistent supporter of the wine blogger community and the WBC since its inception. A long time participant and donor to the WBC, for the last two years Tom has offered a special incentive to donate to the WBC scholarship: he matches all donations up to $500 that come in during his challenge.  With every penny counting, the dollar for dollar match means more than you can imagine for our fledging scholarship fund.

We salute Tom for his unwavering commitment to wine blogging and hope to have his support for years to come.

“Will work for wine” those four words were the beginning of a journey for Allison Markin of All She Wrote. Allison uses her media and marketing skills at All She Wrote to create successful and meaningful social media campaigns. Her clients include those in wine, culinary, hospitality and tourism.

A resident of British Columbia Allison was a huge proponent of bringing the conference to Penticton. In addition to all the hard work she has been putting into the conference her donation to the scholarship allowed bloggers to attend and learn about those great Canadian wines.

A huge thank you to Allison for all her hard work behind the scenes, coordinating transportation for thirsty bloggers and her contribution that allows more bloggers to experience Penticton’s wonderful wine country.

You can follow Allison on Twitter and Facebook.

Wine industry veteran Mia Malm heads up Malm Communications a boutique public relations and social media firm specializing in wine, food and luxury lifestyle.

After a stint in dancing, singing and acting she traded in her Big Apple lifestyle to live among the grape vines in Napa Valley. There Mia’s passion for fine wine and food shines through.

Mia is well established in the wine community and is one of the very few in the US to hold a Diploma in Wine & Spirits (DWS).  Upon arriving in Napa she spent several years working with Constellation Brands, Robert Mondavi, Kim Crawford and many other powerhouse wineries. Mia truly has an innovative vision and a pulse on today’s wine consumers.

Please send a big shout out to Mia and follow her on Twitter and Facebook.