Marie has devoted more than 26 years to public relations and marketing for the wine and food industry. She began her career in the early 1980s, as the first in-house public relations director for Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards—where the message was strategically and singularly focused on Chardonnay. Part of the groundbreaking PR and marketing team that helped Sonoma-Cutrer Chardonnay become the number one selling white wine in restaurants across the country, Marie coordinated both the first Focus On Chardonnay and the first International Croquet Tournament sponsored by the winery.
Marie went on to launch the PR campaigns of Ferrari-Carano Vineyards and Winery, Bernardus and Gauer Estate Vineyards—where she planned the first Mountain Winegrowing Symposium. At the time, mountain winegrowing was just gaining recognition in California. Gauer was equally progressive in its goal of preserving its 5,500-acre estate above the Alexander Valley, which remains in agriculture to this day.
A love of the land and a desire to extend Sonoma County's reputation for high quality winegrapes to its other agricultural riches inspired Marie and her colleagues to work together in promoting the Sonoma County Chefs' Tasting in the 1990s. An original steering committee member, Marie remained on the board for seven years, working to establish the region as a destination for exceptional food and wine. Today, she remains active in her community. She supports the biennial Agstravaganza fundraising event to benefit the Santa Rosa Junior College and is serving a second term on the Sonoma County Harvest Fair board.
An experienced educator, Marie has taught marketing and PR at Santa Rosa Junior College since 1990. She also leads marketing and PR seminars throughout the country.
Also in 1990, Marie founded her own marketing and public relations firm with a mission to preserve agriculture as a way of life. She and her team share the belief that by planting the seeds of preservation through marketing campaigns that inform and inspire, the wine industry has an opportunity to show other farmers how to sustainably keep the land in agriculture for generations to come.
