Joanna Wyzgowska, CWE, CSE
Joanna Wyzgowska, WSET Dip, CWE, CSE, was born in Poland but grew up in the Los Angeles area. In 2007, she completed two BFA’s from California State University in Long Beach, then moved to the east coast for graduate school, obtaining an MFA in Visual Arts from Rutgers University in 2009 in the midst of the recession, when jobs in her field were scarce. Initially Joanna began her career in the wine/spirits industry as a server just to get by, then shifted her focus, moved on to being a bartender, and has since progressed into the sommelier position. In the course of that progression, she found that she wanted to know more about the products she was selling, so she became increasingly interested in learning about wine and spirits and found that “the more I learned and tasted, the more I wanted to learn more and taste more.” Her interest continued to grow and steadily developed into a vocational passion which has spanned over a decade of working in the restaurant industry. She currently lives in New York City and is the Senior Sommelier at Kappo Masa on the Upper East Side.
Joanna has an abiding interest in all things that have to do with beverages—whether wine, spirits, beer, sake, you name it. She has found the study of them to be a consistent challenge and source of enjoyment, for there is always more to learn about a category of products, a producer, or a region. Thirst for knowledge is what drives her, and she particularly loves to travel and learn about local beverages and production techniques first-hand. Accordingly, as her career in the wine/spirits industry evolved, Joanna set for herself the goal of gaining a well-rounded beverage education. In 2014 she became a Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers, and in 2016 she completed the WSET Diploma and also became a Certified Sake Sommelier. Recently she has embarked on a Cicerone Certification to explore all things beer.
She became acquainted with the Society of Wine Educators through a friend who mentioned to her the SWE quiz app, which she thought might be useful in studying for the WSET diploma. She liked it, and searched out other educational opportunities offered by the SWE. She gave the Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) course a try and was impressed: the information was always up to date, and the regions and wines were presented in a clear format, so among other things it became a way to just stay current with the changes in the wine world. Next, she decided to take the Certified Wine Educator (CWE), and found the online flashcards, quizzes, and other study resources helpful to her progress. She recently passed the Certified Spirits Educator (CSE) with a nearly perfect score; her preparation included studying the Certified Specialist of Spirits (CSS) Study Guide in depth, and supplementing theory studies with comparative tastings, which helped her bring the theoretical concepts to life and deepen her understanding.
For someone as manifestly talented and skilled as she is, what is next for Joanna? Her principle goal at the moment is to get into the Master of Wine program. She articulates her dream beautifully: “I really want to take all that I’ve learned and take it to the next level and expand my horizons. I’m also strongly interested in education. I love sharing what I know with others and I hope I can find a way to be involved in beverage education in some way in the future.”
Guest post written by Reverend Paul Bailey
If you are a SWE certificate holder and would like to be featured in our “On the Radar” series, please contact our Director of Education and Certification, Jane A. Nickles: jnickles@societyofwineeducators.org