Erica Nonni runs the USA-based marketing agency Nonni Strategic Marketing (NSM). Her team of five is specialized in brand strategy, media relations, social media content creation, sponsorships, new product introduction, and trade marketing support for imported wine and specialty food brands that prioritize environmental and social responsibility in their practices and their communications. Current clients include Ferrari Trento, Salcheto, Catena Zapata, TILIA Wines and Taylor & Colledge. NSM has also served many international wine and specialty food brands on a project basis.

Before founding NSM in 2014, Erica served as Marketing Director for a British fine wine merchant and across marketing disciplines with agencies such as Torre Lazur McCann (print/television advertising), Six&Co (digital) and Colangelo & Partners PR (PR/events), working with leading brands like Häagen-Dazs, Diageo Chateau & Estates, Francis Ford Coppola Winery, Marchesi De’ Frescobaldi, Herbal Essences (P&G), Head & Shoulders (P&G), and Mucinex, and institutional marketing bodies such as Wines of Chile, Vinitaly International, Wines From Spain, Wines of Portugal and Wines of South Africa.

Erica has a Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University (cum laude), a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics (with Merit) and the WSET Level 3 Advanced Certificate in Wines & Spirits (with Distinction). She is a dual citizen of the United States and Italy.

Michele Bertuzzo was born in Valdagno (Vicenza) in 1974. He was raised in the family wine shop, and he graduated in Communication Sciences in Bologna in 1999 having as teachers – among others – Umberto Eco and Romano Prodi. Michele is an AIS Sommelier and a publicist journalist. He worked for a few years in TV, radio, and local newspapers specializing in food and wine culture and the typicality of Italian territories. In 2007 he founded the Studio Cru communication agency, of which he is now CEO and co-owner. The agency is organized in three sectors (Press Office Italy, Press Office and international PR, Digital Marketing) and deals with public relations and digital communication for about 50 wine companies and protection consortia. Working alongside him in the agency today are 17 communication professionals.

Riccardo Gabriele is a professional journalist with a degree in Literature and Philosophy from the University of Pisa, and a professional public speaker registered with Ferpi. He began his journalistic career in 1996 at the daily newspaper “Mattina,” a news insert of “L’Unità.” In December 1997, he joined the editorial staff of the monthly “30 Days.” After some experience in radio and internships in local television stations, since March 1999 he has been serving at “30 days” as editor-in-chief.

From February 2000 until 2002, he collaborated with the newspaper “La Nazione”. Other collaborations in specialized newspapers and in PR precede the opening – in December 2002, within the monthly “30 days” – of a column dedicated to wine. His passion for this sector pushes him to deepen his knowledge in the field with two levels of the Slow Food course and the qualification of Sommelier AIS. He collaborates, occasionally for a few years, with the specialized magazines Euposia, L’assaggiatore, and VQ. In 2005, he founded the company RG Communication and the online publication Corriere del vino (currently a daily newspaper), of which he is the owner and Editor in Chief. Since 2006 he has collaborated with the guide “I vini buoni d’Italia,” currently coordinator of the Lombardy region. In June 2006, his PR agency Comunicare il vino was born.

To date he deals with communication, public relations and strategy for companies and consortia throughout Italy (exclusively in the world of wine) counting more than 50 clients on the national territory as well as collaborations with a champagne maison.

First DJ, then TV journalist, and today Key Account Manager at fruitecom agency, Federica Morselli has been involved in PR for more than 20 years. Specializing in the management of complex communication projects, she follows companies and develops strategies aimed at both trade and consumers, with an integrated perspective of traditional and new media marketing. As head of Media Relations and Press Office, at fruitecom she follows media and journalist relations for companies in different sectors, especially in food and wine. She organizes press conferences and events.

Her long experience as a journalist has enabled her to know the dynamics of the media, relating to them more effectively. She loves challenges and unpublished projects, innovative technologies and relating to people. He supports clients in the design and implementation of advertising campaigns, videos, websites and in the different communication tools, coordinating the intervention of creative agencies and suppliers (as well as the search and negotiation of the same in a quality/cost controlling perspective), often dealing personally with the content part. Words in fact are her passion. As a girl, she was a “geek,” as she herself likes to recall: she in fact graduated from high school with top marks and in Philosophy with 110 cum laude. After much study, she has now learned to enjoy life more: she dances, plays padel and often goes out to dinner, if managing her turbulent 15-year-old son permits. Thanks to her bubbly spirit, she enjoys working in groups: creating synergy is her specialty.

Stevie Kim was born in Korea and raised in the United States. Today, she lives in Verona, Italy. At first she attended the NYU – Leonard N. Stern School of Business. After settling in Italy, she obtained an MBA at Bocconi University, School of Economics and Management. Later, she achieved a postgraduate specialization in Wealth Management at the University of Pennsylvania – The Wharton School. Stevie is currently working on her WSET Diploma, from the Weinakademie Österreich in Rust, Austria.

As Managing Director of Vinitaly International, Stevie has launched and now coordinates a series of new initiatives connected to the Vinitaly brand. As Professional Wine Groupie, Stevie is always seeking innovative ways to communicate Italian wine – with a strong creative emphasis on social media and educational platforms. In 2017, Stevie produced the Italian Wine Podcast, the first podcast in English dedicated exclusively to Italian wine and its personalities. In June 2022 the show reached three million listens and officially hit the 1000 episode mark; the show now airs 7 days a week, 365 days a year and features some of the best known voices in the international wine community. Along with books, maps, and videos, the Italian Wine Podcast is part of the “Mamma Jumbo Shrimp” project, an umbrella brand conceived during the COVID lockdown of 2020. The brand represents an ethos, taking big concepts and making them accessible in smaller bites. It also strives to harness emerging social media platforms and bring together a global community of wine enthusiasts. Every week, the Mamma Jumbo Shrimp YouTube channel airs Stevie’s “On The Road Edition” travels to wineries and regions across Italy.

Being a bit curious, a bit sociologist, and a bit digital geek, Stevie regularly creates new opportunities to engage the wine community and help wineries – even during the COVID-19 pandemic. She’s currently a Clubhouse addict: if you are a wine lover or a wine professional, you would want to keep an eye on the two clubs she created on this new platform, Italian Wine and

Massimo is an expert in communication and territorial marketing. Over the years he has specialized in communication and marketing in the wine & food sector in general, with more than a decade of experience in promotion and enhancement events in the agri-food sector.

Studies, consulting, design, and implementation of strategic communication and territorial marketing plans, along with the study of brand positioning and development, are his daily bread along with his great passion: the sea.

A sailor and owner of his Chest’è, the Este24 with which he grinds nautical miles especially in regattas, he firmly believes that the boat is, as Vicinio Capossela narrates, “the embodiment of that sense of adventure that sets our existences on fire.”

Cecilia Zanasi has been working for nearly four decades in the world of communication. Her career began right after graduating as a contact person in Italy for a leading international trade show company. She then held the position of Marketing and Communications Manager for the leading U.S. publishing group specializing in optics and optometry. She began her entrepreneurial career in 1998, when she opened her consulting firm in the areas of press office and public relations, marketing and promotional initiatives, event organization, media planning, and media buying. Over the years she has been invited to teach courses and conferences on the subject of communications.

Today, she runs her agency Zed_Comm – with offices in Verona and Milan – with a team of nineteen professionals and about fifty international clients to whom she offers 360° consultancy for the development of strategic communication plans. Zed_Comm has a division dedicated exclusively to the world of wine with about twenty clients, including Italian wine producers and Consorzi di Tutela. For these clients, the Agency carries out PR activities in Italy and the rest of the world, including press office, press events, and B2B events in the wine sector.

Michael Wangbickler is President of Balzac Communications and Marketing, a specialist agency supporting the food and beverage industries. With nearly 30 years of experience in marketing and public relations, Mike is a trusted advisor and strategic consultant to his clients. His agency delivers tailored solutions for clients with values that align with his own.

He guides clients through the process of achieving their vision and transforming their business through sustainable growth, teamwork, transparency and inclusivity.

As a studied disciple of Walt Disney, Mike thinks it’s fun to do the impossible. He believes leadership, imagination, and innovation require a certain level of fearlessness and he encourages his team to step off the worn pathways and break new ground. He leads a team who are driven forward by the stories that inspire people to share in a dream. It is with this philosophy that he’s guided successful marketing and communications campaigns for more than 70 global companies and trade associations from a dozen countries.

Mike earned his Level 4 Diploma in Wine & Spirits from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) in 2006; passed the rigorous Certified Wine Educator (CWE) from the Society of Wine Educators (SWE) in 2008; and became a WSET Certified Educator in 2012. In addition to his duties at Balzac, he also teaches wine classes at Napa Valley College (NVC). In 2021, Mike was appointed the President of the American Wine Society (AWS), the U.S.’s largest consumer wine appreciation and education organization in the United States.