I am a PhD Candidate in Socio-Cultural Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

I hold a Bachelor’s in Russian Studies from Grand Valley State University and a Master’s in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago (MAPSS).

For over two decades, I have been involved in the hospitality industry, working throughout college at a small mom-and-pop restaurant in West Michigan — Turks — then in Chicago. My experience in Chicago started with a popular small plates restaurant on Michigan Avenue that boasted an extensive wine list. There, I worked in multiple front-of-the-house positions, including assisting the sommelier in building a more robust and well-rounded wine list. I also co-founded a supper club, and helped open an Eastern European-themed restaurant one of Chicago’s West-side neighborhoods. Prior to the pandemic, I worked in a wine bar and bistro in Santa Cruz, California.

During my time in Chicago, I became interested in wine, discovering oddities from non-hegemonic countries such as Turkey, Croatia, and Slovenia. It was here that I was reminded of the Georgian wine I encountered during my studies and travels in Russia in the early 2000s.

After working Eastern Europe and Central Asia in 2018, I landed in Georgia, where I spent seven months exploring the wine industry, studying Georgian, and interning at wineries. Georgia’s historical complexity and its cultural focus on gastronomy — the ubiquitous intersecting of food and wine — led me towards the topic of my dissertation project.