<p>The youngest woman and the only South Asian-American ever to earn the title of Master Sommelier, Alpana Singh shares stories and insights from her trailblazing career.</p><p>From her humble beginnings as the daughter of Fijian-Indian immigrant parents to becoming a Master Sommelier, restauranteur, and host of a multi-Emmy Award-winning TV show, Alpana Singh has had an extraordinary career. Born and raised in Monterey, California, Alpana’s strong work ethic and ease with people of all ages stemmed from a youth spent working in her family’s ethnic grocery store. Later, while waiting tables in college, she fell in love with wine and discovered that it united her varied interests in traveling, history and food. At 23, she landed the Sommelier role at the world-renowned Everest restaurant in Chicago. At 26, she beat the odds and achieved her goal of becoming a Master Sommelier—an exam which only 3% of its applicants pass.</p><p>This distinguished accomplishment, along with her effervescence, experience and energy, was magnetic, and it wasn’t long before Alpana found herself in the local spotlight. For ten seasons, she served as the host of the Emmy Award-winning restaurant review television show, <em>Check, Please!</em> on Chicago’s PBS station, and returned in 2018 after a 5-year absence. Along the way, she opened several successful restaurants, including the latest, Alpana, in Chicago’s historic Gold Coast neighborhood.</p><p>Alpana shares the inspiring story of her journey to become a successful entrepreneur and television personality, all while navigating a male-dominated profession. She teaches audiences how to taste wines “blind,” purchase bottles like a professional, and pair with meals for any occasion, and she also provides invaluable advice garnered from her career, such as how companies can recognize, cultivate and retain talent in today’s competitive job market.</p><p>Alpana has received several awards, including the “Sommelier of the Year” Wine Star Award from <em>Wine Enthusiast</em> magazine. She is the author of <em>Alpana Pours,</em> a unique lifestyle book that shares her social observations of wine, contemporary women and relationships. </p>
Master Sommelier; Host of Emmy Award-winning show <i>Check, Please!</i>; Restauranteur
<ul><li><strong>Mentorship & Paying it Forward</strong></li><li>Alpana knows the value of mentorship; she wouldn't have achieved what she did without it. She has mentored dozens of wine professionals who have gone on to achieve their own success. She offers her insights on how micro-mentoring can be just as effective as macro-mentoring, how companies can recognize, cultivate and retain talent in today's competitive job market and why a pay-it-forward culture is the key to creating a lasting legacy.</li><li><strong>Alpana Pours</strong></li><li> Alpana Singh’s road to the top of her field was a whirlwind. Born to Indian parents who moved to California from the Fiji Islands, she discovered the art of wine while working as a hostess and found that it combined her varied interests of geography, history, and food. She achieved her goal of becoming a Master Sommelier (there are only 274 Master Sommeliers worldwide) at the tender age of 26. She conducts a series of discussions about the life of wine, its cultural importance, and how anyone can become an expert.</li><li><strong>Crushing the Glass Ceiling</strong </li><li>Alpana shares her motivating and inspiring story of going from the daughter of Fijian immigrants to becoming a successful entrepreneur and the youngest woman to pass the Master Sommelier exam and being just one of 27 women to ever do so. She shares her wit and wisdom of how she overcame adversities and navigated a male dominated profession and also went on to have a successful television career and own three restaurants. She inspires women to show up in the ring and the importance of knowing that we are worthy and that we are enough.</li><li><strong>The American Dream</strong></li><li> Alpana shares her story of how she overcame her modest and humble beginnings as the daughter of Fijian immigrant parents to becoming a successful restaurateur, Master Sommelier and Television personality. The valuable lessons she learned from the immigrant experience that helped her develop the grit, determination, and tenacity to achieve her high level of success. She shares stories of her childhood, navigating the expectations of her parents to become a doctor with wanting to pursue her passion for wine and why diversity and her role on television today is so important.</li></ul><p><br></p>