Meet Marianna Caldwell | Sommelier

We had the good fortune of connecting with Marianna Caldwell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marianna, can you share the most important lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?
The biggest lesson I learned in my career is that a career does not define a person, and it’s good to know when to move on. Shortly after moving to L.A. to further my acting career, I landed a job at a new restaurant opening in Brentwood. By this time, I had worked every position in the front of house and was looking to expand my experience. I was getting interested in wine and was curious about what working as a sommelier would be like. Somehow, I convinced the opening General Manager & Executive Chef to hire me as a floor sommelier, and within eight months, I found myself running the entire beverage program and taking WSET (Wine & Spirits Educational Trust) classes in pursuit of my sommelier certification. I had never worked harder in my life, often working 6-to-7-day weeks, but the more I learned the more I realized that this was what I wanted to do with my life. I called my acting agent and told him I was thinking of quitting acting to pursue wine. He was incredibly supportive and perhaps even a little jealous. “Acting will always be there” he said and told me to give him a call if I changed my mind. That was the last time I spoke to him. I never looked back. It felt like the right time to close that chapter of my life and I still utilize skills I gained while I was pursuing acting.

In changing careers, the biggest challenge I have faced is being a woman in a historically male dominated industry. I can’t tell you the number of times a guest has asked me to send the sommelier over, assuming it is a man. Or how difficult it is to work up into a management position. A lot of progress has been made over the years in our industry, and in fact, I now lead of team of managers who happen to be mostly women.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
After earning my sommelier certification and working as a Beverage Director for a while, I happened upon a restaurant while on a trip to Savannah, Georgia called Elizabeth’s on 37th. When I ordered a bottle of wine off the wine list, the gentleman taking my order seemed to have a twinkle in his eye. He asked if I worked in the wine industry, and I responded that yes, I was a sommelier. He suggested I check out the framed photo by the bathrooms. Curious by this strange suggestion, I did later during the meal. The small, framed photo was of the man I was speaking to next to the Dalai Lama as a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize (the winner that year was a young president named Obama). When I asked him about it, he explained that he has utilized his talents as a sommelier and restauranteur to fundraise for charitable causes. He smiled and said, “you can do a lot of good with wine.” This moment has stuck with me since and was also a memorable experience in the meaning of hospitality. This humble man, who was dressed simply as all the other waitstaff, was the owner of the restaurant I was dining in, and he held himself no different than any of his staff.

This experience stuck with me for many years and was part of why I chose to come work at Cassia. Chef Bryant Ng and his wife Kim Luu-Ng are some of the humblest restaurant owners I have ever worked for. They, too, utilize their culinary talents for good and have fundraised for many charitable and socio-political causes with their fundraising platform, LA Chefs for Human Rights. As owners, they treat their staff as family, and will go above and beyond for them.

Besides the opportunity to help in doing good for others, I love being able to curate an eclectic list and introduce people to wines they might never know otherwise. Just as the cuisine at Cassia is a unique blend of flavors and crosssection of Southeast Asian cultures, the wine list reflects that with wines from all over the world and varieties even I had never heard of before. When I get to introduce someone to a wine they have never heard of before, it just fills my heart.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My best friend did actually come visit for a week, and being that they are a chef, I brought them to the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market (the best in the world) and we dined at Cassia, Rustic Canyon, Esters Wine Bar, Pasjoli and Scopa. We hiked in the Santa Monica mountains (with a cheese and charcuterie plate in my backpack), and caught the sunset at the beach. We spent an afternoon at the Getty center and a morning at LACMA. I think the food scene in LA is one of the best in the country, if not the world.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would not be where I am today without the strong women who have paved the path ahead of me. In particular, my good friend Mary Thompson, a sommelier, winemaker and hospitality goddess, whose advice and counsel I use daily, and my friend Nicole Mparmperis, who encouraged me to keep studying and helped me pass my Diploma in wine through WSET. And I would also like to shoutout to two of the best General Managers in the business, Mishel LeDoux and Laurie Pesce, whose mentorships I have greatly valued.

Website: www.mariannacaldwell.com

Other: www.cassiala.com

Image Credits
Carol Bax Photography