Antonia Allegra antonia@fcs.net   BIOGRAPHY

Antonia Allegra is an author, professional career and writing coach, editor and speaker. She is the founding director of the Symposium for Professional Food Writers at The Greenbrier and the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers at Meadowood Napa Valley. She is also a founder of C4: Culinary Coaches and Consultants Collaborative. She has spent 31 years launching programs in the wine and food writing, culinary and publishing worlds. She is author/narrator of the Napa Valley Expedition Guide, the first audio tour/book/CD-ROM of the Napa wine country, published by TravelBrains in 2002. She has been featured on radio and television, being host of the CBS/KPIX “Evening Magazine” weekly wine country segment 1998-1999. Allegra's 1993 book, Napa Valley: The Ultimate Winery Guide (Chronicle Books) is in its third edition and has sold well over 50,000 copies. It was nominated for the IACP Best Book about Wine in 1994. She has contributed articles to many periodicals, including Country Home, Better Homes & Gardens, Modern Maturity, Traditional Home, Victorian Home, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle. As a professional coach, Allegra works with food and wine professionals who seek direction in their writing careers and with those in transition in the culinary and wine fields. In 2002 she founded the Association for Culinary Coaches to strengthen the culinary industry one professional at a time. She is a past president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) and is a Certified Culinary Professional (CCP). In the early 70s, Allegra studied cooking extensively in Paris and then directed her San Diego cooking school for eight years. She was the award-winning food editor of San Diego Home/Garden magazine and the San Diego Tribune. In 1988, Allegra moved to the Napa Valley where she helped create and administered the School for American Chefs at Beringer Vineyards. She established the Napa Valley Culinary Alliance in 1988 and was a member of the launch team for the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Greystone school for professional chefs in St. Helena from 1991-1995. Allegra created the prototype and was editor-in-chief for Appellation magazine, a national wine country lifestyle magazine, and she was founding editor in chief for Vine Napa Valley. Both magazines won Maggie awards in the magazine publishing world. She has been instrumental in the creation of in-house magazines for Beringer Vineyards, Age Wave quarterly and A&P markets and Kings markets. Co-host of the Internet broadband Wine Valley Radio, based at Sally's Place. Since the mid-70s, she has taught demonstration cooking classes around the US, including La Varenne at The Greenbrier in West Virginia; Central Market Cooking School in Texas; Ramekins in Sonoma, CA; In Good Taste in Portland, OR; Great News! Cooking School in San Diego, CA; Rancho La Puerta, Tecate, Mexico; and aboard the Radisson, Seabourn and Crystal Harmony cruise ships.