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Bios
Kimberly Charles, Founder
During her career, Kimberly has largely focused on the wine industry; however, she has also crafted cause marketing, co-branding and event programming for BMW, Ritz-Carlton, the Marriott and Hyatt Hotel chains, the Tony Awards® and the Harlem Jazz Hall of Fame. Kimberly's work has covered a good part of the globe. She began in New York at the premium importing company Kobrand Corporation, where she served as Public Relations Director for a portfolio of internationally recognized brands including Taittinger Champagne, Louis Jadot Burgundies, Taylor Fladgate Ports and others. At that time, she led tours throughout France and Germany, putting her language and travel skills to great use. She was part of the team that launched and nurtured the marketing phenom brand Alizé de France. Her next move was to Northern California to become Director of Communications for E. & J. Gallo Winery, directing corporate and internal communications as well as focusing on the successful re-launch of the Gallo of Sonoma brand. She then accepted a position as Senior Vice President of Magnet Communications in San Francisco, where she built an impressive roster of wine industry clients including Allied Domecq's Perrier Jouet & G.H. Mumm Champagne brands, St.Supéry Winery & Vineyards, Fetzer Vineyards, Fess Parker Winery and Robert Mondavi Imports among many others. In the spring of 2003, Kimberly launched her own company, Charles Communications Associates in San Francisco, specializing in strategic branding, corporate social responsibility with a focus on brand launches, reinvigorating and repositioning. This opened the world of client possibilities to her various social and cultural interests. Kimberly holds a B.A. in History & Government from Georgetown University and also successfully completed the Diploma course for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust in London, one of only 70 people in the United States who holds this title. She is a member of Slow Food and Les Dames d'Escoffier San Francisco. She is also a Trustee of the River Network. She served as Vice President of the Society of Wine Educators (2003-2005) and a board member for five years. When she has time to breathe, Kimberly loves to travel and live
it up. Her travel bug lead her recently to become passionate about saké, creating the perfect excuse for her to travel to Japan and sample some of the finest sakés in the world. The rest of the office is still jealous. Her travels to Russia, Lebanon, Iceland, and Greenland continue to quench her thirst for exotic locales. That being said, after her worldly exploits, she finds her recently restored Victorian home in San Francisco’s Mission District to be a great place to share her love of cooking and entertaining with a great group of friends and colleagues. Kimberly: A Snapshot Restaurant: Taylor's Refresher St.Helena, CA and Le Grand
Vefour, Paris Email: kcharles@charlescomm.com Kendall Rose Johnson, Senior Account Supervisor
Before moving to California, Kendall attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she graduated with a degree in Communications with an emphasis in multimedia production and a certificate in French. She spent a semester studying film in the charming city of Montpellier, in the south of France. It was there that she realized cheese, wine and a good baguette were enough to make her happy in life. Fresh from a move from the shores of Lake Michigan to the shores of the Pacific, Kendall started working for Appellation America, an online wine publication that allowed her to use both her degree in multimedia and her experience in wine. While there, she was given the opportunity to focus on direct to consumer eCommerce and marketing, and worked with over 200 winery clients across the country. After two years honing her skills in the quickly developing direct wine market, Kendall found she was able to provide a number of small wineries and wine start-ups with specialized online and eCommerce consultative services. She plays a supportive role in the Wine 2.0 movement and thanks to the onslaught of social networking, has reveled in her status as a millennial in the industry. Kendall joined the Charles Communications team, in hope that her background in media, her experience in wine and her hard-working restaurant upbringing would be a perfect fit. When Kendall is not drinking, writing or talking about wine, she is most likely eating. She loves dining out at new restaurants (and is a very tough critic), hosting friends and pushing the limits on the number of people she can cook for. Cooking is an obsession and one day she hopes to design her very own dream kitchen. If she's not in a kitchen you can most likely find her in Northern California's backcountry, hiking, backpacking or attempting to climb a mountain. Kendall: A Snapshot Restaurant: Chez Panisse Café, Canteen Email: kendall@charlescomm.com Susan Holden Walsh, Senior Public Relations Advisor
Since 1992, Holden McClure has been consulting for corporations, entrepreneurs, high profile individuals and non-profit organizations in many areas of marketing communications, including: overall media relations and public relations; marketing strategy; internet/new media; corporate/product image campaigns; business to business and trade relations; issues management and crisis communications; sports marketing; event creation and marketing; local, regional and national public relations; new product & new company introductions; newsletters, advertising (strategy, creative development and placement), writing, Internet marketing, and sponsorship package creation and evaluation. Holden McClure national and international clients have been leaders in the following industries: food and beverage, restaurants and microbreweries, natural products, the legal profession, family counseling, environmental organizations, sporting goods and sporting events, travel and hospitality, environmental fund-raising, and public events. Her love of the outdoors and desire to support socially responsible business, allows her to focus on clients with like interests and values. Susan and Holden McClure's client credits include: the largest law firm in the Rocky Mountain West, Holland & Hart (ten years); White Wave - including the successful launch of Silk™ soymilk (eight years); nationally-recognized land stewardship non-profit, Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (six years); Frontier Natural Products Co-op (five years); Z-Axis, Inc. trial presentation communications specialists (three years); Confident Living, Inc., action therapy for at risk teens and families in crisis; GRIP In-Line Speed Control - including the international introduction(three years); and event management and public relations for the BudLight Roostmaster Shootout Mountain Bike Races; Diners Club Sixteen In One Ski Challenge for Junior Achievement; Ride for the Rainforest Mountain Bike Festival, and the Toyota Trucks Pro Motocross National Race in Denver. While she believes that all of her work has been enriching and
rewarding, the highlight of Susan's career was managing media relations
for the Colorado visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1997. Susan: A Snapshot Restaurant: Q's restaurant in Boulder, CO Email: sholdenwalsh@charlescomm.com |
Kimberly
has worked her PR and marketing mojo all over the world
for over 25 years. On both the client and the agency side, she has tackled marketing issues large and small on behalf of brands great and small. She has generated buzz for wineries, gourmet food producers, nonprofit organizations,
museums, hotels, perfume, luxury cars and more. Kimberly’s work accentuates building a synergy with the various audiences of a client while imbuing their programs with meaning and 
As the daughter of restaurateurs, Kendall learned at a very early age that food and wine would play a big role in her life, she also learned the true meaning of "child labor." Put to work as soon as she could walk, she went from bussing tables after school to opening a brand new fine dining restaurant and building a 1500 bottle wine list. It's no surprise she later chose to pick up and move to San Francisco and walk right back into the food and wine industry. 
Susan
Holden Walsh approaches public relations and marketing consulting
with an eye on creativity, efficiency, and cost-conscious budgeting.
With a Masters in International Management and a B.A. in Economics,
she has more than 20 years of experience in marketing communications
on both the client and agency sides. She worked with international
businesses and agencies in New York City including: Y&R/Burson-Marsteller/Cohn
& Wolfe (Kobrand/Taittinger Champagne, Colgate-Palmolive, COMBAT);
Family Media Sports Marketing (World Tennis/Golf Illustrated Magazines);
and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. In Denver, Colorado, she
worked with The Wharton Group (Denver Grand Prix, Taste of the Nation,
Pepsi, Arrowhead at Vail), before launching her own consulting firm,
Holden McClure PR in Boulder, Colorado. 