March is Women’s History Month, so we decided to sit down with Amanda Kimbrough, a wine sales representative and coordinator of a local women in wine collective, to discuss the importance of community in not just our careers, but in our individual lives as well.
Your community can be the city you live in or the people who live in your apartment, but a sense of belonging is a necessary part of human engagement. Amanda acknowledged the need to “love and be loved” and how this urge leads to humans surrounding themselves with like-minded people.
“Atlanta has fostered a community in the wine world that is unique to other cities,” she says, noting that it’s not uncommon for a group of wine buyers and sommeliers to meet up for bottle shares and networking.
Also unique to Atlanta is the abundance of women in the field. Not only are numerous wine stores women-owned, but restaurants across the city have buyers and sommeliers who are female. In the distributor arena, we have countless numbers of women out in the field selling wines and spirits, but leadership has mostly remained male-dominated.
Amanda has worked in both restaurants and retail and is among those who spend their days selling wine and spirits. She also helps bring together a diverse, inclusive set of women who meet up quarterly to share bottles, camaraderie, and fellowship.
Her goal is “to provide an opportunity for all the women in the Atlanta wine industry to learn each other’s names and faces.” She knows, too, that “community isn’t all bottle shares and fun. It sometimes can require uncomfortable conversations and sacrifices. We have to bend to be in community with people.”
Amanda spoke on the importance of networking, saying “It forces you to be around those who might not be ‘your people’ but also the next step is looking to find common ground. We all have our unique contributions.”
For the young professional, this helps to develop…
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