January 17th – Napa, Calif.—Now in its second year, the Bâtonnage Mentorship Program is currently accepting mentee applications for Level One through January 20, 2022. Level One will run from end-January through March 2022, welcoming candidates interested in pursuing a career in the wine industry who will benefit from networking and communication with seasoned professionals.
The first of the three progressing levels, Level One aims to create an inviting space for mentees to ask questions and learn from the experiences of participating mentors. Instead of matching mentees with one specific mentor, mentees are offered the flexibility to read through mentors’ bios and experiences, then approach mentors based on interest in and questions around that possible career path.
New in 2022
This year, the program features an additional Industry Area of Focus (IAF) to offer mentees more focused access to experienced professionals in marketing, communications, wine writing, sales, and distribution. Two IAFs—Marketing & Communications, led by Katie Canfield of O’Donnell Lane, and Sales & Distribution, led by Anitha Gandhi of David Bowler Wines—replace what was formerly one combined Sales & Marketing IAF.
Also new to the core committee this year are Annette Alvarez-Peters, founder of annette a.p. Wine and Spirits Inc and former Vice President/General Merchandising Manager at Costco Wholesale and Terah Bajjalieh of Terah Wine Co. and one of the program’s 2021 mentees. Annette will serve as Program Lead for the Retail IAF and Terah as Mentee Liaison Officer. The four of them join returning core committee members Mary Maher, Priyanka French, and Tonya Pitts.
This year’s mentor roster includes 56 talented, dedicated, and generous individuals across six IAFs—Cellar/Production, Viticulture, Marketing and Communications, Sales and Distribution, Retail, and Hospitality. See the full list of 2022 Level One mentors here.
In addition to connecting mentees with mentors, Bâtonnage provides program participants with educational resources, job search resources, reading materials, and exclusive access to different events and workshops created through partnerships with other renowned industry organizations. They will also receive the support of the mentee liaison officer for the duration of the program.
To be a mentee, candidates must complete the application and submit a resume. Deadline to apply is January 20, 2022.
Apply: bit.ly/batonnage-mentee-application-level-1-2022.
About the Bâtonnage Mentorship Program
Launched in 2020, the Bâtonnage Mentorship Program serves to create a pragmatic, positive, inclusive course forward wherein individuals who have traditionally been overlooked or spoken over achieve equal opportunities, equal representation and especially equal leadership positions within all sectors and tiers of our industry. The program offers three progressing levels of mentorship in six industry areas of focus (IAFs): Viticulture, Cellar/Production, Marketing and Communications, Sales and Distribution, Retail, and Hospitality. For more information, visit batonnageforum.com/mentorship-program
About Bâtonnage Forum
Founded in 2018 by Stevie Stacionis and Sarah Bray and now produced by O’Donnell Lane, LLC, Bâtonnage is the brainchild of all those who identify as women working in all the different facets of the wine industry. The forum serves as a platform to educate wine professionals as well as wine industry supporters on the unique challenges and opportunities that women in the field—winemakers, vineyard workers, writers and marketers, salespeople, sommeliers, collectors, and drinkers—have faced both historically and present-day. Bâtonnage extends well beyond the one-day forum to a community who strives to investigate and implement pragmatic solutions for charting a positive, inclusive course forward. For more information and to join the conversation, visit batonnageforum.com.
