Wearing many hats. Five extraordinary women who are forging their own paths in the wine business.

From our earliest childhood memories, we’ve been encouraged to discover our unique calling in life with the familiar question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. I recognize this is asked with the best of intentions to spark a child’s imagination, but some of us who didn’t have a clear answer may have felt either pressured to go find one, shame for not having one or both. What about those of us with a wide range of interests? How do we choose just one thing to build our future on? And who says we have to choose?

Way cooler and more positive than ‘jack-of-all-trades’, I recently discovered a term that I think beautifully captures the essence of people who enjoy and are good at more than one thing but whose professional history doesn’t fit into a tidy little category: multipassionate*. Like some of us, the five women featured in this post have forged their own, often winding, paths. This is not a weakness. It’s a strength. A strength that gives them a unique perspective, greater empathy, an expanded vision of the world and a distinctive edge. I really love the way renowned Catalan winemaker Sara Pérez put this idea into words in an interview she gave several years ago: “It’s hard to describe my professional trajectory in the world of wine without also taking into account my family, education and personal development. It’s difficult to explain because it doesn’t follow a straight line or a clearly defined course, but is more like a path that has diverged a thousand times, taking root in different disciplines along the way.”

Let me introduce you to her along with four other multitalented, multipassionate women in wine whose stories are refreshingly unconventional. I don’t doubt you’re already familiar with some of their work.   

Clara Antúnez — a licensed nutritionist with a master’s degree in gastronomy and communication, professional sommelier, business owner, experience manager, teacher, consultant, mother, author of four books and an industry expert regularly featured in the Catalan media, Clara’s background allows her to design creative sensorial experiences that tap into her deep understanding of gastronomy, wine, wellness and culture.

Laura Catena — a fourth-generation vintner, businesswoman, practicing physician, author, mother of three, global ambassador for Argentinean wine and founder of an institute dedicated to high altitude climate research in Mendoza, Argentina, Laura is a tireless visionary devoted to her mission of making an Argentinean wine that will age beautifully for a hundred years and elevate the status of Malbec on the global stage.

Sara Pérez — a biologist, philosopher, award-winning enologist producing wine in Catalunya’s Priorat and Montsant regions and mother of four, Sara once described a realization she made when she decided to devote her life’s work to her family’s winemaking heritage in this way: “it is in the search itself that we discover our paths, and both the search and the path are already present deep within our souls”.  

Madeline Puckette — a self-described musician and graphic designer gone wine geek, Madeline started washing glassware in a wine bar after losing her job in graphic design in 2008. She is now a certified sommelier, co-founder of Wine Folly launched in 2011 and best-selling creator of the book of the same name, including its recently released Magnum Edition.

Ruth Troyano — an award-winning wine journalist and professional sommelier with a master’s degree in wine tourism, prior to devoting her career to the wine industry, Ruth worked as a local news editor and presenter at a radio station in her hometown of Reus, Catalunya. Other roles held during her early career include press secretary and head of the department for the Generalitat de Catalunya in Tarragona and cultural management for the Tarragona city council.

On a personal note, I also want to honor the legacy of strong, independent women who taught me to dream big and work hard. My grandmother, who did not have a formal education beyond elementary school, was a woman of many talents. She picked tomatoes and carrots during the Great Depression of the United States in the 1930s and 40s and took on all sorts of jobs to make ends meet, from being a short-order cook, to working in a clothing factory, to eventually running the family’s curios shop in a busy tourist district, all while raising five children almost singlehandedly. She was smart, good with money and extremely resourceful. More importantly, she was confident in her ability to overcome obstacles and refused to believe she couldn’t do anything that she set her mind to. She was truly a force to be reckoned with.

I’m thankful for multipassionate women like Clara, Laura, Sara, Madeline, Ruth and my grandmother whose stories inspire us to color outside the lines and confidently embrace what makes each of us unique.

*multipassionate | : a term coined by the fabulously multitalented Marie Forleo, thought leader, marketing expert, best-selling author and owner of one of Inc’s 500 fastest growing socially-conscious companies of 2014, who describes herself as an obsessive learner and has worn so many hats it would make your head spin (including NYSE floor trader, copywriter, hip-hop dance instructor and instructional fitness video producer to name a few), Marie reaches audiences in nearly 200 countries through her digital media company’s channel MarieTV.

By Carla Gordillo @polyglotsomm