Susan Brink Oflaherty

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT SUSAN BRINK OFLAHERTY

I have loved working in the food and wine industry. It was an accidental career that started when I was a catsuit-wearing cocktail waitress at The Whiskey at The Paramount Hotel in early \'90s New York and finished as a Wine Broker for Revel Wine in California (sadly, catsuits went out of fashion, and where would I stash my wine opener?) In those years between, I had the honor of working alongside a duo of James Beard-winners at A.O.C in Los Angeles as a Manager, where my mind and my palate were opened to all things wine and food, I am forever grateful. I was given my first list to curate by the owners of Dominick\'s and Little Doms, who sent me to wine school. I received Level II certification and began a new branch of my career as a Wine Director, a title I also held at Soho House West Hollywood. And I opened a wine and gift store with my sister and sister-in-law called Venokado (a play of words for \"wine\" in Italian and \"gift\" in French.) We operated two brick-and-mortar locations for almost a decade in West Hollywood and Santa Monica, curating beautiful bottles of wine and pairing them with objets d\'art for gifts. Exhausting, I know. But also exhilarating. To think I started my post-collegiate adult life in New York City as a Merchandising Editor for Bride\'s Magazine, traveling the country as a spokesperson, talking bridal trends and fashion, only to quit to wait tables and be groped by men before Me-Too. What in the world was I thinking? But it worked out beautifully. And now, another change! My husband, two scruffs, and I moved to the East Coast - back to New York for a new adventure. I recently completed my first novel and am currently writing my second. There is not enough time in the world for the careers I would like to try. But I won\'t let that stop me. In the meantime, I\'ll be writing and paying for wine.