The story behind the vision

It Started with a Conversation.
It Always Does.

A Noble Family, a Wine Cellar, and a Life That Changed

I was organizing events for a noble family in Treviso when I walked into a winery looking for sponsorship. I wasn't looking for a career in wine. I was looking for bottles for a party.

But the commercial director saw something else. At first, it was my Romanian origins that caught his attention. Many Italian producers were looking to export to Eastern Europe and were curious about the cultural landscape. We talked. And that conversation turned into an offer that changed everything.

My first job in the wine world was speed dating between Asian importers and Italian wine producers. Not organizing it. I was there on the ground, helping producers find the right importers. I prepared each profile card, researched every detail, identified everything that could give a producer the edge. It was fast, intense, and deeply human.

Then I started traveling. Asia Pacific first. Then everywhere. Over the years, I've set foot in more than 120 countries across 6 continents. And I never really stopped.

Easy to Enter. Hard to Stay.

There was no single moment when I knew this was it. There were many. That's the thing about wine. It pulls you in slowly, then holds you.

I fell in love with the diversity. No two days are the same. No two wines are the same, even when they come from the same year, the same vineyard, the same producer. I love the people, the culture, the constant possibility of trying something new. Wine is one of the few industries where curiosity is not just welcome. It's required.

It's easy to enter the world of wine. It's hard to stay. I stayed.

I stayed long enough to judge wines at Mundus Vini for over a decade, eventually chairing the jury. Long enough to be invited to judge in Serbia, Armenia, Bulgaria, South Africa, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, and beyond. Long enough to visit wineries in Australia and Chile, attend wine fairs in Brazil, Peru, and Singapore. Long enough to be named Dame Chevalier in the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne and Regional Expert for the Sommeliers Choice Awards. Long enough to earn a PhD in Marketing, an Executive MBA in Wine, a sommelier diploma from Milan, and tasting certifications from Bordeaux and Los Angeles.

I gave TEDx talks. I hosted wine tastings at 30,000 feet and in the heart of New York. I wrote seven books, from the first comprehensive guide to the wines of my country to an award-winning pairing with Italian fine cuisine.

None of this was planned. All of it was earned.

What It Cost

Friendships. Most of them. The kind of social life that other people in their twenties and thirties take for granted. I love to travel, but when you're catching flights while others are going to sleep, and waking up while others are still out, the romance fades.

I held two, sometimes three jobs in parallel. I never stopped studying. Courses, certifications, competitions, schools, one after another. Sommelier contests, second place as Champagne Ambassador in Italy, always pushing to be better. I finished my doctoral thesis in 2021. Years of late nights and early mornings, and very few people who understood why.

All of this while being a woman in a business where women were still rare at the table. I didn't wait for a seat. I built my own.

I didn't choose the easy path. I chose the one I could stand behind.

Why Romania

Because it's where my roots are. Because it's the source of my values. And because I believe, with everything I have, that Romanian wine represents the future.

The success of European wine includes Romania. I wrote it on the back cover of my book in 2016: Romania will be in the top three alongside Italy and France within twenty years. I believed it then. I believe it more now.

So everything came together. A desire to reconnect with my origins. The values and roots I carry with me everywhere. And a vision I believe in with my whole being.

Romanian wine doesn't just need better quality. It has that. It needs communication, lobbying, unity, human resources, and a country brand that lifts it up instead of holding it back.

What Comes Next

The wine industry doesn't have a quality problem. It has a communication problem. Too many countries competing against each other when they should be telling one story together. Too much complexity where simplicity would sell. Too much tradition used as an excuse not to change.

I believe the future of wine is European. Not French, not Italian, not Romanian. European. We will sell wine from Europe, and we will market it as such. The same way Champagne became bigger than France, European wine can become bigger than any single country.

I've already started proving this with Romanian wine. I took something most of the world had never heard of and gave it a voice, a stage, a story. The approach works. Now I want to apply it at a larger scale. Rethink how wine is communicated, branded, and sold across Europe. Sometimes the answer is simpler than the industry wants to admit.

I want to build the stage for the dialogues that reshape this ecosystem. Not another conference. A real space where the people who can change things actually sit together and think differently.

Same vision. Bigger stage. The best is still ahead.

Bring Me Your Boldest Idea

I work with people who think big and move fast. One conversation can change everything. Let's have it.