Shefali Sharma

I value a good brain and kind heart. I have an obsessive passion for wine and food and love to learn new things and grow.

Within hospitality, I was part of multiple leadership teams that believed a 360 approach to running restaurants / cafes is what would best achieve the community vision of the place - high quality product, excellent customer service, organized management and leadership led by example. At Di Ghent cafe and Camber cafe, I learnt and grew in various roles such as a wine curator, barista, recipe developer, manager, event producer, social media content creator and business development and in my time of working, contributed to these businesses profits 3x-4x times. 

On account of the pandemic and subsequent closure of Camber, I took up a few roles in hospitality in my second home India - as senior Events Manager at a private members' club and Business Development for two cafes. Picking up more experience and diversity - I've curated, hosted, marketed, and implemented start-to-end events encompassing food events & tastings, bar takeovers, author conversations, workshops, children's activities, culture, and wellness sessions. I managed approximately 31-34 events every month, and developed a social, yet community focused network of entrepreneurs, commentators, and artists. This required me to balance competing priorities and hone my capacity to manage a heavy workload whilst also producing high quality outcomes for the organisation.

My goal is to be in wine marketing & business further down in life; that being said I am grateful for every opportunity right now where my personal and professional sale skills are utilised well and that I’m able to expand my wine knowledge. Though I’ve been wine curating, tasting for the past 8 years, getting an accreditation - WSET level 2 and 3 to give this year in 2024 is my focal priority and pivot into this line of work. Currently a wine manager shadowing sommelier and working front of house at a Michelin mentioned restaurant in Newcastle.

WSET Level 2 underway