Econ alum finds contentment tending Napa vines
Vineyard owner Jody Harris did not begin his studies at CU-Boulder knowing what he would do with his career. He toyed with the idea of opening a brewery, but had a few light-bulb moments that led to success in two market niches of wine.
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‘Buffalo whisperer’ brings tasty bit of Italy to U.S.
Until recently, if you wanted silky dairy products made from the butterfat-rich milk of water buffalo cows, your best bet was to fly to Italy. But after traveling a long road that led from Boulder through life on a houseboat, shacking up with poets, and an accidental career as a dairy farmer, Curtis Fjelstul and his business partner have brought the delicacies to America.
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Grad’s aim: engineering the perfect brew
During his years at CU-Boulder, Rick Blankmeier fully embraced both arts and sciences, studying engineering and playing in the Golden Buffalo Marching Band. It’s a marriage that has served him well in his roles as quality assurance manager and sometime-brewer at San Diego’s Stone Brewing Co., the 10th-largest craft brewery in the United States.
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The art & science of winemaking at Kanzler Vineyards
Alex Kanzler took a post-college “ski year” in Lake Tahoe after crushing grapes in the Napa Valley. That experience and others prompted him to make wine-making his career. After taking a job as a cellar master, he was able to work his way up to associate winemaker in two and a half years. Now he works in that role while managing the Kanzler family’s wine-making operations.
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Susainability in winemaking is key for econ alum
As Yogi Berra said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.” For Jess Havill, that “somewhere else” turned out to be Bella Grace Vineyards in the Shenandoah Valley of California, a winery owned and operated by his parents.
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Getting scrappy: alum keeps a lid on food-related methane
At a national historic landmark and state park on California’s Monterey Peninsula, Jill Heymsfield’s job includes teaching her colleagues why it’s important to divert food scraps from the landfill. Result: 40 percent of waste diverted from the landfill is food scraps, which are then used to create biogas, a relatively clean source of energy.
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CU alumna goes from theater lines to grape vines
As a student at CU-Boulder, Gigi Benson had dreams of becoming an actress on Broadway in New York City or on the silver screen. “Fortune found me falling in love with a wine-maker, and now here I am crushing grapes, pairing wine and designing labels.”
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The world changes; how do you like them apples?
Peter Verbrugge grew up in the family fruit business in Yakima, Wash., but by 14, he started planning to become an aerospace engineer. At CU-Boulder, he switched to economics, a discipline that served his family business well as it adapted to rapidly changing market conditions. “The whole retail industry changed almost overnight,” but the Verbrugge family was ready.
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Today’s lesson: The dirt made my lunch
When young students told teacher Nancy Ceridwyn that their food came from “a factory” and “nowhere else,” the experience underscored the fact that many urban kids honestly don’t know the origin of their meals. And it underscored why she works with Sustainable Agriculture Education.
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CU alum faces unique challenges making cool-climate wines
As he learned the art of winemaking, aspects of Michael Harney’s broad CU-Boulder education, especially his chemistry and biology courses, helped him more than he expected. Having studied the politics of water allocation at CU, Harney might have landed on the West Coast, but he has embraced the opportunities and challenges that come with running a winery in Connecticut.
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More alums in the food, beer & wine industries
Being a winemaker definitely isn’t for everyone
It sounds like a dream to many people, a back-to-basics, earthy escape from the high-wired hubbub of modern life: planting a vineyard, stomping grapes and making wine. Of course, wine growers are farmers, and the farming life is rarely as bucolic or relaxing as many city slickers imagine. Larry Londer knows this first-hand but fell in love with the work anyway.
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In Vietnam, a life-changing trip to the market
A Vietnamese food market helped set the course of Jessica Farlow-Sibila’s life. When she was on Semester at Sea, Farlow-Sibila was near the end of her CU-Boulder career. She wound up in a food market with fascinating food she’d never seen before. She was hooked and knew her career would be in food.
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CU grad continues family winery in Palisade
When Jennifer Christianson married her husband, Jay, four years ago, she also married into the family’s Colorado winery. While her husband had been learning to tend grapes and make wine from a young age, she had not. Before meeting him, she estimates, “I had probably had six glasses of wine in my whole life.”
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Alum creates rustic French food truck in Boulder
After 30 years working in the travel industry and university recruiting, CU-Boulder alumna Hilary Boslet left the corporate world to follow her passion: organic, local food. “Life’s too short for crappy food,” Boslet says. Thus was born her food truck—the Bon Appetit Mobile Bistro.
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Honors thesis leads CU grad to probe organic farming
Cody Jaffe didn’t attend CU-Boulder so he could work for an organic apple orchard, but that’s where his education led him. He wrote an undergraduate honors thesis comparing fair trade and organic standards, both of which he came to see as marketing tools. Near his hometown, he’s worked at an organic orchard and plans a career in the cultivation of stone-fruit trees.
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Aspiring attorney presses case for backyard farms
Brittany Arsiniega has any number of career options. But she’s taking an earthier path: urban homesteading. She could join the world of corporate law, but she pursues a particular passion: food. In addition to teaching at the college level, she hopes to help show city dwellers how to grow much of their own food.
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Alum channels passion into school-lunch program
While using her education and history degrees in a poor school district, Barbara Belmont notices something. “Hungry and malnourished children can’t learn. It wasn’t until after lunch that many were able to focus.” That helped launch a career with the School Nutrition Association.
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With a spirit of service, a life in hospitality
Susan Kaiser Yurish started her work life as a ‘bus girl’ and now teaches hospitality and culinary arts management at Front Range Community College. She says the one constant in her career is a focus on helping others develop.
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‘I have always been drawn to restaurants’
Brian Campbell, director of culinary research & development at On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina, has a lifelong fascination with food and menus. His success is not surprising, but he notes that he did not have a career path charted out from the beginning.
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Farming in Colorado with an eye on the world
Lilia Justman graduated summa cum laude in international affairs in 2009. She’s chosen to work on the family farm in a rural valley on Colorado’s Western Slope, and she says this work reflects her deep passion for local food systems and sustainable agriculture.
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‘You will fail, and that’s OK; fail at everything’
Dante Treglio began life in college pursuing engineering. It didn’t work out, but he kept searching for a career that fit. Now at Heineken USA, he preaches the value of persistence.
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Economist finds niché in market-based conservation
Francis Vorhies has made a career out of bringing market-based approaches to the field of global habitat conservation. He credits his training in economics with helping him do so.
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‘After you find your place, spread the wealth’
Abby Parsons has gone for “test drives” in a few careers, including marketing for food companies. She counsels younger people to use every opportunity as a stepping stone and never to think they’re above trying something.
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Interest in healthy food led to naturopathy
Kaycie Rosen Grigel has always loved cooking, eating good food and nature. Those affinities led her to her career in health.
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Economist finds niché in market-based conservation
Francis Vorhies has made a career out of bringing market-based approaches to the field of global habitat conservation. He credits his training in economics with helping him do so.
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