Blog

Bonjour et bienvenue to my new and improved portfolio site!

It’s. . . well it’s summer, and I figured, better late than never in updating my website this year. I am hoping that you all will find some nice things to look at, ideas for your next cocktail hour and, if you are so moved, purchase or commission something just for you!

I have, up until 6 months ago, always been a bartender. I began at my first restaurant job in Chicago, where I had absolutely NO experience, other than my previous serving experience, by begging the manager to pleeeease let me behind the bar. He eventually gave in and so began my illustrious career as a world renowned (my word, not theirs) mixologist (their word, not mine)! Cue trumpets aaaaand. . . I am kidding.

Well, not about how I started bartending but, you know. So from that first bartending job, I managed to get another one that I did on weekends during the same time period. This turned in to, in the years to come, a trend in my application status in the Hospitality Industry. From then on, I only applied for, and refused to accept a position that wasn’t, behind the bar. This included opening up a couple cool spots like Jilly’s Too (now closed), ROOF@TheWit Hotel and The Florentine, to reopening the new and improved Sports Corner in Wrigleyville, to amazingly life-changing opportunities like The Aviary.

Upon moving back to Florida, I REFUSED to apply for hospitality jobs. After all, I was an Art Historian now! Surely, an Art History degree from CHICAGO will guarantee me a museum job in Tampa Bay, Florida!

Oh no, my friends. It most certainly does not. It took two months and a 5-day stint at a temped desk job for me to break down and start applying for bar positions. And wouldn’t you know it, I got the first one that I applied for.

This establishment had just transitioned over from being a wine bar with a few choice beers, to a full liquor establishment. It was the perfect opportunity for me to pretend that I knew what I was doing and offer to help create the cocktail list as well as inform them on the spirits that we should be bringing in. It was amazing. Out of our first ten featured cocktails, I had created eight. Not only that, but I got to tag along for the photo shoot of those drinks and do the drink styling for them as well. This is when my realization of my dream job started to come in (more on that later). In the next couple of years with this group I basically absorbed every responsibility that presented itself. Train the bar staff of all of the new, opening stores? Yes! Continue to develop seasonal cocktail updates? Yes! Take on the role of branch Catering Manager? Well, no one is going to do it as well as me, so yes. Become Key Bar ‘person’ and do the inventory and ordering? Well, I am never leaving here, so I don’t see how it makes a difference on my resume, but sure! At this point, I had convinced myself that I was going to be their Beverage/Bar Quality Assurance person and go to all of the restaurants, like a corporate chef, to make sure that people were following their recipes to spec. Aaaand it was not a thing that they were interested in exploring. But before I left for another bar job, I accepted the position as FOH manager and even went through a couple solid months of kitchen training/managing (cooking, ordering, inventory, assigning prep and prepping myself) just for good measure!

Enter the next bar position, which really got the ball rolling for me. Our Chef/Owner had multiple Michelin nominations. The wine list had Spectator accolades. And the bar program was featured regularly in local write ups and on TV. I interviewed for the ‘Bartending’ position and went home with the ‘Bar Manager’ position. Fake it til you make it, all! In this position, I was bartending, but I was also developing all of those cocktails that got all of that attention, doing inventory and ordering to build my beverage program and back bar. Which meant that EVERYONE wanted to be my friend so that I would bring in their wine and spirits. I was so popular! And within six months, I was the Beverage Director. And that Wine Spectator nod that I mentioned earlier? I am incredibly proud to say, that the restaurant received it again while it was on my watch.

This gets us to my current position. I am a Beverage Innovation Director for Monin (the international gourmet flavorings company). What exactly does a BIM do, you might ask? Well, myself, as well as a few other lucky people around the world, are sourced to create beverages for our international clientele. We spend our days doing the R & D required to create ‘on trend’ cocktails, mocktails and other non-alcoholic beverages for them to feature in their establishments. The ‘R’ in ‘R & D’ is reading a lot and, in my case, getting as many wine and spirits certifications as I can get my hands on. But the biggest part, is literally eating and drinking as much as we can for inspiration and ideas on trends. I’m not gonna lie. It’s pretty freakin’ great.

So here we are. I was actually able to find a company that had turned bartending in to a real, live ‘grown up’ job, and then, somehow, hide my crazy long enough for them to offer me a job.

The moral of the story: Dreams CAN come true!

Well. First you have to have a steady day job. And then put in 17 years of relevant experience. But not before spending a year or so being turned away, or not even hearing back from 100 (true story) establishments in one summer. Then spending the most recent 5 years busting your ass, climbing and learning how to make yourself not only a more well rounded employee, but among the top in your field in your area, and not letting it crush your soul too much when you keep repeating to yourself that you want to grow out of the ‘lower half’ of your current job (bartending) and grow to the point where the ‘upper half’ (R&D and drink development) exists as it’s own job. AND BY GOD IT DOES!

Because, like I said, dreams can come true.