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The Society of Wine Educators has been in existence close to 30 years, created originally as a gathering of top quality educational offerings/seminars for the growing wine industry, which had a need for a forum for those interested in perpetuating quality education. Three years after it was launched by a group of New York and San Francisco based professional educators, its first professional certification exam was given called the Certified Wine Educator. As the wine industry grew and became more global vs. regional in focus, the SWE recognized that it needed to both expand its scope internationally in terms of its curriculum and constituency. In the last decade, the SWE has made its conference more international in scope, created the Certified Specialist of Wine Exam and has begun to offer its examinations throughout the country and the year, creating more avenues for education. Kimberly Charles was on the board of the SWE for 5 years from 2001-06 and became Vice President in 2003. In her capacity as marketing communications committee chair during that time, she spearheaded the evolution of the SWE image both in a literal as well as metaphoric fashion. The Society's logo, the same since 1977 was upgraded to reflect an image that was both contemporary and classic, much like wine education.
Wine education remains an undying focus for Kimberly. In 1997, she earned the prestigious Diploma of Wine & Spirits (DWS) from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust of London. She likes to say that education is a lifelong pursuit. |
