Julie Milroy, VP On Premise, Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits of America (Miami, FL, USA)

Julie Milroy, VP On Premise, Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits of America (Miami, FL, USA)

Cathy Huyghe
Sales

Years in the Industry:
I have been in the beverage alcohol industry for over 15 years, and my family owned restaurants when I was growing up. I started my wine career when Dominique Nocerino of Vinifera Imports gave me a chance, and I moved to Miami. The role required fluency in the Italian language and expertise in Italian wine. I told Dominque that I had neither, but I know how to sell and can learn anything. He told me that he can’t teach me how to sell, but he can definitely teach me about wine. And that was my golden opportunity into this incredible industry.

One of my customers, Aniece Meinhold, referred me to SGWS 12 years ago and I started my first role as an On Premise Wine Consultant, calling on the top restaurants and hotels in Miami Beach and surrounding areas. I then moved into Wine & Spirits Territory Management, then a leadership role where I founded our first state-wide sales development program called DREAM. Following a merger of Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, I became Regional Marketing Director of Fine Wine & Top 7 Spirit Suppliers. I am currently in a national role in on premise sales and marketing for the Beam Suntory Portfolio.

My Top Three Challenges to Wellness:
My number one culprit is FOMOO, Fear of Missing Out on Opportunities! I have so much enthusiasm for things that I am passionate about that I have a hard time letting opportunities slip by. This causes me to burn out either physically by getting sick or injuring myself, or else full on mental shut down. It’s not a good feeling and I’ve tried to recognize the signs early on. They involve stress, grinding teeth, thinking in the middle of the night and losing my patience.

My second biggest culprit is Food & Water and lack of! I am so bad with drinking water and I’m not a breakfast person. I will drink coffee with full cream through lunch. Then I’ll skip lunch because I’m too busy working, which causes me to binge on chips until dinner time.

Lastly, I have a hard time saying No. Not because I’m worried about hurting people’s feelings or letting them down, but because I genuinely want to do everything! I have a lot of energy and a knack for multitasking and efficiency, which allows me to produce a lot. This has gotten the best of me many times, and it’s another time when I needed to recognize the signs early on.

How I Keep It Together to Stay Well:

  1. My number one is to connect with my body and spirit, through aromatherapy, restorative yoga, acupressure, spinal therapy, a spa day.

  2. Nature and the outdoors. I listen to podcasts while I run, or I walk and reflect, or sit outside and watch the birds.

  3. Read! Paper books, historical timepieces, women’s journeys, the Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley.

What Inspires Me:
I’m inspired by different perspectives and experiences, and I am inspired by my passion. Also, challenges inspire me because I am a master problem solver. I will find and use every tool in the toolbox. Usually I find the right one by the third attempt!

A Quote I Love:
“You have to teach people how to treat you, rather than expecting them to know.” Viola Kaye Smith, the first Black woman in a leadership role in flight manifest, coordinating with pilots. Also my best friends’ mom.

You can listen to the ServedUp podcast here.

Cathy Huyghe
Sales
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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.

Website

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