Missi Holle, CSS, CWE
The Society of Wine Educators (SWE) would like to say congratulations and welcome to Missi Holle, the new President of the Society’s Board of Directors.
Ms. Holle holds several of SWE’s certifications, including the Certified Specialist of Spirits (CSS), Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW), and Certified Wine Educator (CWE) as well as Advanced Level certification through Wine & Spirits Education Trust. She is very passionate about teaching and strives to make wine and spirits education easy to understand and, most importantly, fun!
Missi graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Marketing. She has worked in the various sectors of the hospitality industry since high school and started learning about wine and spirits while in a local distributor sales role just out of college. Her passion for beverage, as well as food and travel (the perfect trifecta!), has continued to grow through her own personal experiences and her professional pursuit. An experienced beverage professional with over 20 years of industry experience, Missi currently serves as a Senior National Account Manager and Educator for Kobrand Wine and Spirits—a family owned fine wine and spirits company founded in 1944.
Missi first became involved with SWE via Don Kinnan, CWE. In her own words, here is how she describes that auspicious beginning: “Don was the Education Director for Kobrand for 30 years and was one of my early mentors with regard to education. Don was very involved in SWE and encouraged me to become a member and seek certification through SWE. I attended my first SWE Conference in 2011 in Providence and was so impressed with the quality of speakers, the level of education and the overall value that I got out of my time spent there. I returned to work the following week with increased passion and knowledge and even with new tools that we still use at Kobrand today. From there, I’ve never looked back!”
When asked about her journey to certification, Missi tells us, “I am very proud to have obtained my SWE Certifications, especially the CWE, which wasn’t easy! It took me about 18 months of very dedicated self-study and tasting. It’s a very comprehensive exam! Today, SWE offers even more tools to aid in the self-study process, like the CWE Book Club, SWE Summits (in depth SWEbinars on some of the more obscure topics), Workbooks (designed for the CSW or CSS course, but I personally used the CSW workbook as a base for my CWE study), flashcards, practice quizzes and much more!
Studying for the CSW and CSS Certifications is a great way to stay current on the ever changing/growing world of wine & spirit as the materials are updated more frequently than other general wine educational courses in the industry. I buy the CSW and CSS digital study guides at each new release simply to have on my iPad as a current reference book. Having any of the SWE credentials shows a commitment to our industry and demonstrates professionalism.”
Missi’s goals for her time as SWE President include working with the SWE office and the SWE Board of Directors to grow the overall membership as well as the number of SWE certified individuals. As a final note, she adds, “It’s a very exciting time to be involved with SWE! If you’d like more information about any of the SWE products or services, visit our website at www.societyofwineeducators.org.”
Welcome, Missi Holle!