Marika Vida-Arnold, Founder Vida Et Fils Wine Consulting and TheMomSomm (New York, USA)

Marika Vida-Arnold, Founder Vida Et Fils Wine Consulting and TheMomSomm (New York, USA)

Cathy Huyghe
Educator, Entrepreneur, Hospitality, Sommelier

Years in the Industry:
Since the age of 14, so 37 years!.
I got the ‘wine bug’ in Toronto when I was in University, working in restaurants to pay for school (my background was in media, broadcasting and Film & Television. I was working for a Film Director who was a big wine buff and we would drink ‘auction juice’. I didn’t really know what that was until I worked in Auctions, moving to New York, working for both Morrell & Company and Sotheby’s.

I actually became a sommelier after my children were born - initially it was part-time but when I became the Wine Director for the Ritz Central Park, it was full-time and I left in 2018 to pursue my own consulting company. Ideally I wanted to present and educate, but truth be known, I NEVER wanted to do inventory again! Today I’m the owner of Vida Et Fils Wine Consulting and TheMomSomm®️ with a focus on women and particularly Moms in the wine biz!

My Top 3 Challenges to Wellness:
1. A big one for me this past year has been to focus on being surrounded by people that ‘bring each other up’ ! There’s been a lot of desperation in our industry and while I keep reading ‘we’re in this together’ I’ve had some moments with people where it was all about THEM. I’m tired of it, it’s become ‘Lord of the Wine Flies’ so I’m now making a very exerted effort to be with people that inspire and support so I can equally inspire and support them!
2. Always trying to find balance between being a parent and work. I try to focus on quality because I can’t always do quantity!!
3. Our industry is very indulgent. We drink the best wine and have ridiculous dining experiences....giving our bodies a break is key...I have to constantly work on this!

How I keep it together to stay well!
1. EXERCISE I love to run (it’s my passion) but being sensitive to the fact that 51 isn’t 31 (and I would like to avoid knee surgery) I balance it out with HIIT workouts, yoga, Pilates and biking.
2. Meditation and guidance from my Guru Eknath Easwaren (who has since passed but whose books and quotes will touch me forever)
3. My DOG! One look in those ‘Thank you for rescuing me Pitbull eyes’ and I truly get unconditional love (particularly when I’m feeding him) but seriously animals are THE most therapeutic creatures...especially during a pandemic!

What Inspires Me:
My sons
Badass women
Amanda Gorman (yes I know I’m redundant but she’s needs her own line)
Great writing
Compassion and strength in leadership
Travel, travel, travel
Someone that can hold a room
Boots (sorry but if I’m being honest...)

My favorite quote:
“There is no good or bad but thinking makes it so” ~ Hamlet

You can connect with Marika on Instagram @themommsomm Twitter @Marika_Vida or online at marikavida.com

Cathy Huyghe
Educator, Entrepreneur, Hospitality, Sommelier
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Cathy Huyghe

Cathy Huyghe is a dynamic media professional with a special interest in wine and the spirit of hospitality. She is also an effective, engaging public speaker on subjects ranging from wine and gastronomy to digital media and entrepreneurship.

Cathy is the co-founder and CEO of Enolytics, a big data startup providing business intelligence for the wine industry. She also currently writes for Forbes.com about the business and politics of the wine industry, and for Inc.com about entrepreneurs with a special focus on women. She is the author of the award-winning book Hungry for Wine: Seeing the World through the Lens of a Wine Glass; she was a finalist for the 2016 IWSC Wine Communicator of the Year award; and she won the 2016 Innovator of the Year award from Diaz Communications.

Cathy's writing has appeared in print and online for both general-interest and wine industry publications including the Harvard Business Review network, The Atlantic, Decanter, Food52.com (where she was the "Wine, Unfussed" columnist), DailyBeast, The Boston Globe, the Washington Post, Wine Enthusiast, GlobalPost, Grist.org, and Daily Candy. She has also been featured on the BBC, WNYC, WGBH, and Nevada Public Radio.

Cathy is the founder of 365daysofwine.com and Red White Boston, a digital media company for the wine industry. Red White Boston produced daily content, monthly tasting events, and a location-based iPhone app of video wine recommendations from their network of 30+ local partner stores. While in Boston, she also managed the wine cellar at WGBH public broadcasting station and managed wine events for donors and the public.

Cathy’s restaurant experience started when she knocked on the kitchen door at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. She also has worked for Jean-Pierre Vigato in Paris (at Natachef bistro and at his two-star restaurant, Apicius) and for Thomas Keller at Bouchon in Las Vegas. She studied at La Varenne École de Cuisine in Burgundy, France; she completed the Wine Studies program at Boston University; and she received Advanced Certification from WSET (Wine and Spirits Education Trust). 

Cathy received a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard in 2004 and a second master’s degree in Journalism in 2010, also from Harvard. Before that, she received a master’s degree in comparative literature from the City University of New York in 1998 and a bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania in 1995. She is also a trained mediator, and worked for two years at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School on a project in the Middle East.

In April 2008 she founded the Harvard Alumni in Wine and Food special interest group, which provides educational and networking services to the Harvard alumni and current students. She has also served as the President of the Harvard Club of Georgia, and she has begun a term of service on the Board of Directors for the Harvard Alumni Association.

Her other non-profit involvement includes the Women's Solidarity Society at the new National Center for Civil & Human Rights (Atlanta), grant reviewer for the Food Well Alliance (an Atlanta-based organization that supports the local network of 350 urban farms and community gardens), Coach at GOTR (Girls on the Run) in Atlanta, Board Member at the Greening Youth Foundation (Atlanta), Board Member at The Food Project (Boston), and Mediator at the Neighborhood Justice Center (Las Vegas).

She lives in Atlanta with her husband, their twin boys, and their Bernese Mountain dog, Coco.

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