Beverage Expert
Julia Coney
Julia Coney is a Washington, D.C. and Houston, Texas-based wine writer, wine educator, and consultant. Julia is the Wine Consultant for American Airlines in partnership with the James Beard Foundation. Julia is the recipient of Wine Enthusiast's 2020 Social Visionary Award Winner for her work in writing and speaking on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the wine industry. Wine Industry Network has named her one of Wine's Most Inspiring People for 2022.
Julia is the Founder of Black Wine Professionals, a resource for wine industry employers and gatekeepers, professionals, and the food and beverage community. Their goal is to lift up the multifaceted Black professionals in the world of wine.
Julia is the Wine Columnist for Sweet July Magazine and a former Contributing Editor at VinePair. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Wine Enthusiast, Thrillist, The Tasting Panel, Plate Magazine, Forbes.com, WineEnthusiast.com, The Washington Post, Seven Fifty Daily, Wine Searcher, the Financial Times, JancisRobinson.com, Glamour, Essence, and numerous print and digital publications. Julia is a 2019 Fellow of the Professional Wine Writers Symposium at Meadowood Napa Valley.
Julia has spoken at conferences such as TEXSOM, SommCon, wine2wine, Assemblage Symposium, The Culinary Institute of Americas Summit for Sommeliers and Beverage Professionals, Jackson Family Wines Rooted for Good, and Bâtonnage Forum. Julia is an experienced wine judge and has judged wines at TEXSOM, FLIWC, Wines of Michigan, and the Portugal Wine Challenge.
She is a lifelong Francophile and hopes all her assignments involve French wine. You can find her on all social media at @juliaconey.
Prairie Free
Prairie Rose is Food & Wine's senior drinks editor. A trained sommelier, cocktail book author, and wine and spirits educator, in addition to Food & Wine she is also the senior editor of Liquor.com.
Founder and Editor of Bit by a Fox, winner of Saveur Magazine's Readers' Choice Award for Best Drinks Blog, Prairie also hosted the popular Bit by a Fox Podcast, which ran for four seasons. In addition to Food & Wine, her work has been featured in The Whiskey Wash, Men's Health, Self Magazine, and Design Sponge, among others. She is the author of the book Mixology for Beginners: Innovative Craft Cocktails for the Home Bartender.
Prairie earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Cornish College of the Arts. She also holds a certificate from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust for completing WSET Level 3.
Amanda McCrossin
Amanda McCrossin is a certified sommelier, wine personality, podcast host, and wine-focused content creator on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. With over 400k followers across platforms, Amanda has been called one of the most influential creators in the wine community creating wine-focused, relatable content to help consumers via her @sommvivant channels. A 10+ year veteran in the industry, Amanda spent the majority of her career as a sommelier in NYC and California. Perhaps most notably, Amanda helmed the wine list at PRESS Restaurant in Napa Valley as both sommelier and wine director, overseeing the world's largest, deepest restaurant collection of all Napa Valley wines in the world thusly earning her reputation as an expert on the region. She has been featured by Food & Wine Magazine, Decanter, Food Network, San Francisco Chronicle, on the cover of SOMM Journal and Wine Enthusiast who named her a Wine Star nominee for 'Sommelier of the Year.' Today, in addition to her career as a wine content creator and host of the Wine Access Unfiltered Podcast, Amanda is regularly sought out for media appearances and speaking engagements around the world including the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Premiere Napa Valley, World of Pinot Noir, and Wine2Wine in Verona, Italy.
Bobby Stuckey
As a founder of James Beard Foundation Award-winning and Michelin Starred Frasca Hospitality Group, Bobby Stuckey is one of the most decorated and respected operators and Master Sommeliers in the industry. A life-long hospitalian, Bobby has worked his way from busboy to award-winning restaurateur, winemaker and cookbook author. In June 2024, Bobby earned Food & Wine Magazine's second annual Mentorship Award for his tireless work in the industry (and after the first-ever award was given to legendary chef Jacques Pepin).
When he's not on the floor bussing tables or opening a bottle of wine, you can find him at home with his wife Danette, listening to vinyl and drinking a bottle of something great, running a marathon or advocating for a sustainable future for independent restaurateurs, their employees and communities they support as a founding member of the Independent Restaurant Coalition.
Ray Isle
Ray Isle is the Executive Wine Editor of Food & Wine and the Wine & Spirits Editor for both Travel + Leisure and Departures. For Food & Wine he writes the monthly "Wine Flight" and "Bottle Service" columns; he also contributes regular magazine and online features on wine, spirits, and wine travel to all three brands. His articles about wine, beer, food and spirits have appeared in a wide range of national publications. He has been nominated twice for a James Beard Award, has twice won the IACP Award for Narrative Beverage Writing, and his work appears in The Best Food Writing 2017. He speaks regularly on wine at live events and is a frequent guest on national media, appearing on programs such as Today, CNBC's On the Money & Squawk Box, NPR's "All Things Considered," and American Public Media's "Splendid Table," among others. Follow his wine exploits on twitter @islewine and on Instagram @rayisle.
Carlin Karr
Carlin Karr, Wine and Beverage Director of Frasca Hospitality Group, has been a member of the Frasca wine
team since 2012. She oversees the award winning wine programs at Frasca, Pizzeria Alberico, Tavernetta,
Sunday Vinyl, Osteria Alberico and Tavernetta Vail. After graduating from the University of Colorado in 2008,
Carlin moved to San Francisco, where she opened the restaurant Sons & Daughters as General Manager and
Wine Director. Under Carlin’s leadership, Sons & Daughters received a Michelin Star. Carlin is recognized as
an “Advanced Sommelier” by the Court of Master Sommeliers. Carlin has been recognized in Food & Wine’s
Sommeliers of the Year 2018, Wine Enthusiast “40 Under 40” in 2019, Forbes “30 under 30” in 2011, Wine &
Spirits Magazine “Best New Sommeliers”, and Eater “Young Guns”.
Carlin leads the Frasca Hospitality Group team of 12 full time sommeliers and is responsible for wine
education, purchasing and growth for the company. Carlin has been a hospitality mentor for women in wine
through Batonnage, is a member of Les Dames des Escoffiers and sits on the Board of Directors of the Somm
Foundation as Director of Applicants. In 2023, Carlin joined the founding team of Benvenusa, a small Italian
wine importer, alongside Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinon Patterson, in the role of Education Director.
Her greatest wine passion is sangiovese. In 2022, she launched the Festa del Chianti Classico, an immersive,
educational 2 day wine festival in Denver with 30 producers from the region.
Monica Samuels
Monica Samuels is the VP of Sake and Spirits for Vine Connections.
Monica's 15+ years of experience in the sake industry include working as a restaurant beverage director, overseeing the category for one of the country's largest wholesalers, and now directly importing sake and spirits from Japan. She has been recognized for her efforts in sales and education in Wine Spectator's "Sake's True Believers (2013)," Wine Enthusiast's "40 Tastemakers Under 40 (2014)," received the title of "Sake Samurai" in 2017, and as part of the IWSC and WSET's "Future 50 Awards (2019)." Monica's education in sake includes studying under John Gauntner and his Sake Education Council, where she received both Certified and Advanced Sake Professional distinctions; she is also a WSET certified Educator for the L3 Award in Sake. She has assessed sake for different competitions internationally and is currently a Panel Chair for the International Wine Challenge sake category.
June Rodil
Born in the Philippines and raised in Texas, June is the CEO & Partner of Houston-based Goodnight Hospitality founded 2019 consisting of retail shoppe and wine bar Montrose Cheese & Wine, Rosie Cannonball, a 2020 James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Wine Program and ultra-fine dining venture, MARCH which garnered accolades such as Best New Restaurants in Esquire, the No. 2 Restaurant in America in Robb Report's Best of the Best 2022 and a 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist nod for Best Chef Texas. They will open The Marigold Club, their fourth concept in 2024.
In her career June has opened twenty hospitality concepts with numerous James Beard Award winners and nominees and Food & Wine magazine's Best New Chefs. She remains a partner in the eponymous June's All Day, named one of Food & Wine magazine's Restaurants of the Year in 2017.
She is known as a leader in the hospitality community and her personal accolades include: Wine Enthusiast's Sommelier of the Year 2018; Wine Enthusiast 40 Under 40 2016; Key Panelist at Women in Wine Leadership Symposium and numerous Food & Wine Festivals across the nation; Food & Wine magazine's Sommelier of the Year 2014 (she is the only person to have received both the Restaurants of the Year & Sommelier of the Year accolade), Star Chef's Rising Star Sommelier 2012, Wine & Spirits Best New Sommelier 2011, TEXSOM Best Sommelier Winner 2009 and is one of 25 women in the Americas to earn the Master Sommelier credential.
An avid sparkling wine drinker and determined to find cause for celebration in day to day life, in 2017 she launched her own wine, the popular and thirst quenching, June's Brut Rosé.
Outside of her passion for restaurant operations, wine, and championing diversity & inclusion, June loves doing crossword puzzles with her husband, obsessing over her dog, admiring art, avoiding regular exercise, and laughing heartily with her friends.
Mark Oldman
Named "one of the wine world's great showmen" by the New York Times, Mark Oldman is known for his singular ability to unravel wine's complexities with a potent blend of entertainment, style, and humor. He is author several acclaimed wine books, including his latest, the IACP-award winning How to Drink Like a Billionaire. Mark's sold-out appearances at the country's top venues have been called 'hilariously entertaining' and 'must-see events in the world of wine and food'. Through his company Bevinars, he provides uncommonly enjoyable wine classes - both live and virtual - for individuals and corporations. Visit Mark at www.bevinars.com.
Anne Becerra
Anne Becerra is still shocked that she's been able to turn her love for great beer into a career. She was the first female Certified Cicerone in NYC and has been at the helm of some of the best beer bars and restaurants in Manhattan for over 14 years. With incredible attention to detail she's created strategic, comprehensive beverage programs, personalized training curricula and organizational systems, and helped build and develop hospitality brands while maintaining long term industry relationships that she uses to help foster a positive and professional culture in every project she takes on. In 2019, she was named one of FSR Magazine’s “32 Restaurant Stars on the Rise,” and is not only enthusiastic about great beer and food, but the people and community that surrounds it. With a distinct focus on hospitality and storytelling, she believes the best part about beer is sharing it.
In addition to her work in the bar and restaurant industry, Anne also has her hands in several other parts of the beer business, including creating and hosting the upcoming “Beer, Wine and Takeout.” In 2023 she launched annelikesbeer.com and “Quenched” - which focuses on beer and beverage-focused products and experiences. She has written for Serious Eats and Martha Stewart Living, and has been featured in The New York Times, CNN, The Rachael Ray Show, Food and Wine, TIME Magazine, Forbes, Marie Claire, NBC, Wall Street Journal, Viceland and countless others. She's a regular guest on Sirius XM, and was the seasonal co-host on Beer Sessions Radio on the Heritage Radio Network. Anne regularly curates and hosts dinners, tastings, and classes across the country, has helped organize major festivals and events, and has conducted seminars at The Women's Chef and Restaurateur Conference, Tales of the Cocktail, Glamour's Women of the Year Summit, the Japan Society, the Culinary Institute of America, and of course- the Food and Wine Classic in Aspen, amongst others. She’s also frequently a beer judge for multiple state and national competitions.
With a true passion for people and great conversation, she loves to explore the connection between beer, food, and pretty much anything delicious while using her platforms to promote and support the hospitality community, healthy living, and sustainable practices.