Katie (Kah tee) has devoted her entire career to the wine and spirits industry and brings over 20 years of public relations expertise to Calhoun & Company Communications. Prior to founding her own agency in 2003, she worked with pr veteran Edwin J. Schwartz Public Relations for 15 years, where she managed both wine and restaurant clients.

Through her work with a wide variety of wine and spirits companies, Katie has developed a broad perspective on the industry and built strong relationships in the press. She travels frequently to meet with the media and track emerging trends so that her firm can provide the press with individualized and meaningful story ideas.

Katie's industry knowledge has earned her a place among the top wine and spirits professionals as a national competition judge. She currently judges the San Francisco International Wine Competition, Monterey County Wine Competition, San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and is a frequent taster at Wine & Spirits magazine.

A year spent in Paris and France’s celebrated Burgundy region, introduced Katie to the world of fine wine with its ancient traditions and rich history. Upon her return to the United States, she published her college thesis on Women & Champagne in 19th Century France.

For more practical experience, Katie took a marketing internship at Wine Warehouse in Los Angeles, promoting top brands to the trade. In the Bay Area, she worked as a sales representative for wine and spirits distributor, Redwood Vintners/House of Daniels. She joined Edwin J. Schwartz Public Relations to return to her interests in writing and communications.

Katie's wine industry affiliations include membership with Wine 2.0; The Academy of Wine Communications; Family Winemakers of California and the Society of Wine Educators.

Katie lives in San Francisco with her husband and two teenage children. She feels lucky to have traveled throughout South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Europe—most recently with her kids in Spain. She loves to host dinner parties and cook, rejoices in electronic-free annual backpacking trips, and has been a longstanding volunteer in the community.

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Melanie has dedicated her entire professional career to the wine industry where she combines strong public relations skills and extensive media relations with a passion for the business. At Calhoun & Company, Melanie works with Clos du Bois, Premium Port Wines and Chateau Montelena Winery.

Previously, Melanie worked at Jackson Family Wines where she managed Public Relations for the Artisan Estates Vineyards and Wineries portfolio, focusing on Cardinale Estate, Hartford Family Winery, La Crema Winery and Stonestreet Alexander Mountain Estate. Responsibilities included development of strategic public relations plans, media communications and the creation and execution of public relations events.

Melanie came to Jackson Family Wines from the Jean Arnold Group where she worked closely with winery clients, national distributors and key trade accounts covering many facets of the business including sales, marketing and public relations. An internship with Mark West Winery in the Russian River Valley introduced her to the industry, where she began her career as Marketing Coordinator for the Associated Vintage Group.

Melanie’s focus has kept her closely involved with the wine community, having worked with organizations including the Sonoma County Vintners Press Committee, Zinfandel Advocates and Producers, Family Winemakers of California and the Imagine and Sonoma Paradiso charity wine auctions.

A Bay Area native, Melanie moved to Sonoma County to immerse herself in Wine Country. It is here that she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies from Sonoma State University. In addition to her love of wine and food, Melanie enjoys traveling, spending time with family and friends and exploring the Sonoma Coast, Russian River and regional parks of Sonoma County, the place she now calls home.

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Kylie combines her marketing background and passion for writing and design together at Calhoun & Company where she works on Casa Silva, Familia Camarena Tequila, Matchbook and the 21st Century Spirits portfolio, including Blue Ice Vodka.

Before joining Calhoun & Company in 2007, Kylie worked at Ruder Finn Public Relations where she was active on four accounts including Sony VAIO and Microsoft Healthcare & Life Sciences. Responsible for media relations, event coordination and daily correspondence with the New York office, Kylie’s work at Ruder Finn jumpstarted her professional passion for consumer PR.

Prior to her transition into agency PR, Kylie spent two years immersed in the real estate and mortgage industry where she coordinated the marketing efforts for one of the top producing mortgage teams in the East Bay. It was in this arena that Kylie fine-tuned her skills in the areas of event planning, database management and graphic design.

A native Texan, Kylie graduated Summa Cum Laude from Centenary College of Louisiana with a degree in Communication. In addition to attending Centenary on a full, four-year soccer scholarship, Kylie was also Sports Editor of the campus newspaper and a member of the Alpha Chi Academic Honor Society.

Kylie makes it a priority to take full advantage of all Northern California has to offer from weekend wine tasting jaunts in Napa and Sonoma to her daily runs up to the Golden Gate Bridge. A self-proclaimed sports fanatic, she manages to balance her penchant for following college and professional sports amongst her insatiable thirst for reading and learning. Whether discovering a fantastic new dining nook in San Francisco or planning next week’s hiking adventure, Kylie approaches her professional endeavors the same as her personal ones – with an open mind and a positive attitude.

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Annie has always had an affinity for people and telling a story.  She has channeled this enthusiasm into her passion for public relations as well as her work in journalism and marketing.   At Calhoun & Company Annie provides valuable support across all agency accounts.

Annie comes to Calhoun & Company from the San Francisco office of national public relations agency Fleishman-Hillard, where she coordinated all aspects of media monitoring, outreach and account service for clients including Chevron, AT&T, Visa, and Burgundy Wine and Chablis. Annie also achieved media outreach to national and regional outlets, building relationships with reporters across the country.

In 2007, Annie moved to San Francisco and joined Decorati Inc., an online resource for interior designers. At Decorati, Annie managed the consumer sales department, established relationships with showroom clients and vendors, and handled press releases, articles and blog entries for the online magazine “Access”.

Prior to her move to San Francisco, Annie worked in advertising in Reno, Nevada, where she served as a primary liaison between the creative team and clients including Reno/Tahoe Visitor, Nevada Women’s Fund and Dolce Salon. In addition to helping carry out full-spread marketing campaigns in print, broadcast and online, Annie also coordinated photo shoots and communicated with clients, models, photographers and art directors.

Annie received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Santa Clara University, with an emphasis in Journalism. While in college, she worked for the San Jose Mercury News, and published an article on one of her favorite subjects, salsa dancing and fashion. From 2003 to 2004, Annie lived abroad in Madrid, Spain, where she traveled and tutored local students in English.

In addition to her passion for public relations, Annie loves hosting dinner parties, taking long runs in the park, instructing an 8th grade cheer and dance team at Holy Name School, and experimenting with Latin-based recipes handed down by her mother and grandmother.

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Kristen has been in luxury and wine public relations and marketing since 2002.  Based in New York since 2006 she has managed the branding and communications for clients such as Italian Wine Merchants in New York, The Estee Lauder Companies in London, EcoWineFest (the first all organic wine festival), City Winery in Manhattan, St. Supéry Vineyards & Winery, Premium Port Wines, Champagne Perrier Jouët and Champagne Mumm.

Most recently, Kristen held the position of Marketing Director for Wine & Spirits Magazine where she lead the development, marketing and production for the magazine’s national event program including the Top 100 Event and the Hot Picks Event series. In 2009, she conceptualized and launched the magazine's newest event: Top of the List, an event based on the magazine's best selling edition, The Restaurant Poll Issue.

In addition to events and public relations, Kristen is experienced in online marketing and web site optimization and is an accomplished writer, having designed and developed newsletter and web content for a number of clients.

Her public relations consulting work includes Calhoun & Company Communications, A Razor, A Shiny Knife—the popular super club social experiment based in New York— and the new Tcherassi Hotel and Vera Restaurante property in Cartagena, Colombia, where she is the U.S. media and hospitality contact.

Kristen and her financé, Chef Daniel Castaño, share an apartment with their dog on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.  They enjoy all things wine and food together.

Judith is the former managing partner of Sequoia Law Group LLP in San Francisco. After 20 years of practice, Judith decided to change careers and is excited to be at Calhoun & Company Communications.

She is married, has two daughters, lives in San Francisco and enjoys traveling, backpacking, yoga, piano, cooking and gardening.  She feels fortunate to live next to Golden Gate Park.  She completed her undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Southern California (Go Trojans!) and her law degree at Pepperdine University.