Former television presenter and award-winning journalist Senay Ozdemir entered the wine world in 2013 with the founding of House of Red & White, an importing company dedicated to bringing high-end wines from her native Turkey to the Benelux market. Through this work, she forged close connections with inspiring women across the wine industry and became acutely aware of the lack of visibility, recognition, and structural support for their contributions.

Senay shared these insights in a widely praised TED Talk in Amsterdam, which became the catalyst for a broader movement. In 2019, she launched the inaugural Women in Wine Expo (WIWE), creating a distinctive international platform where female wine professionals could connect, exchange expertise, and build lasting networks. After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WIWE returned in 2022 at the historic Château Buera in Kakheti, Georgia—one of the world’s most celebrated wine regions. The third edition took place in London and Kent in 2023, followed by Porto in 2024. In partnership with renowned Port producer, Taylor’s Port, WIWE hosted one of the most successful wine events. The past year the fifth edition of WIWE was celebrated at the wine castle Grôf Degenfeld in mesmerizing Tokaj, Hungary.

Senay’s influence extends well beyond event curation and moderation. She is a judge at international wine competitions and has moderated hundreds of conferences worldwide. Notable highlights include moderating the inaugural Wonder Women of Wine event in Austin—where her own wine journey began while she was a journalism professor at the University of Texas. In 2019, she served as an associate judge for 5StarWines at Vinitaly in Verona, followed by jury membership at the Turkish Wine Challenge in Istanbul in 2021. In July 2023, she judged at the WineLovers Wine Awards in Budapest, the most influential wine competition in Central and Eastern Europe.

Currently a WSET Level 3 candidate, Senay continues to deepen her expertise, reinforcing her long-standing commitment to advancing excellence, diversity, and leadership within the global wine industry.

Nadia joined the Women in Wine Expo team alongside Senay as Co-Organiser of Women in Wine Expo UK 2023. Over the years, Nadia’s professional career in events management, PR, tourism, and education has shaped and deepened her passion for wine. Driven by curiosity, she embarked on a formal wine education journey, studying with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET).

As her wine journey evolved, Nadia put her knowledge into practice by writing wine blogs, further developing her PR expertise within the wine industry, and becoming involved in projects with the People’s Choice Drinks Awards, where she also served as a judge on the wine and spirits panels.

Nadia later came full circle by founding Drinks We Love, a consultancy dedicated to promoting boutique wine estates and wineries through PR and event-based activities. During this journey, she met Senay, with whom she shared strong values and a similar work ethic—particularly as women operating within the wine industry. Together, they joined forces to deliver the successful Women in Wine Expo in the UK in 2023 and Porto in 2024. Although Nadia was unable to participate in 2025, she is now fully on board for WIWE Düsseldorf.

Nelly Ward, a former banker, decided to pursue her passion for wine and transitioned into the wine industry. She holds a prestigious international WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines and Spirits and is a Certified WSET Educator. She has a wealth of experience across various sectors of the wine industry, including working for a top wine shop in London, a boutique importer introducing new producers from around the world to the UK market for both on-trade and off-trade, and managing private client accounts for a fine wine company. 

Nelly went on to establish her own business, specialising in organising private and corporate wine tastings through www.nellyward.com, with a commitment to demystifying wine and making it enjoyable for all. Her extensive travels to various wine regions worldwide have inspired her to design bespoke itineraries for wine travel. She also shares her expertise through a wine and travel blog. Nelly is a proud member of the Women in Wine Expo team since 2023, contributing to various organizational aspects alongside Senay to ensure the best experience for attendees.

Karin Rockstad is a wine educator and co-owner of Vine Lab Wine & Spirits Academy in Minnesota, USA, where she teaches WSET and Wine Scholar Guild classes to wine professionals and serious enthusiasts. She is also a freelance translator/editor specializing in wine, helping wineries worldwide showcase their content in English. As a devotee of both wine and words, she helps students and colleagues with correct pronunciation of wine terms and encourages everyone to learn foreign languages. She splits her time between the US and Spain.

This year, Karin attended the Women in Wine Expo for the third time. She believes this is a unique event that only gets better every year. The diversity of wine professionals that attend enable her to learn more about the wine industries of many countries than from any website or book, and especially that of the host country (Republic of Georgia, 2022; UK, 2023 and Portugal, 2024). The women’s energy and eagerness to share are an incredible source of inspiration and that’s what keeps Karin coming back to the WIWE again and again.

Joanna Pudo is a wine business strategist and coach, turning her wine dreams into reality. With a decade of experience in wine and spirits, she specializes in marketing, sales, PR, journalism, and enotourism. Formerly having managed ENOEXPO (the International Wine Trade Fairs in Cracow), she now runs her own business, SmartVino.

Joanna's passion lies in teaching effective wine marketing and crafting standout strategies for brands in the bustling wine market. Her courage, creativity, and market expertise generate buzz around brands, with a focus on the Central European market, particularly in Poland. Joanna: "I want to support women in the wine industry, encourage them to follow their dreams boldly. Balancing motherhood and a career in wine, I aim to show that creating a supportive space is possible, allowing women to thrive in both aspects of life."

Jodie Newman has been a graphic designer specifically for the wine industry for over 16 years and has had the privilege to work with some incredible people and brands including Freixenet, John Hegarty, Lisa Mcguigan and Jamie Oliver. She started her design career in London, working for a creative agency that specialised in wine and spirits design.

When she had her daughter she moved to Oxfordshire where she joined a wine importer and ran the in-house design studio as Creative Director. Today she runs her own design studio on the edge of the Cotswolds. A farmers daughter, she is passionate about the environment and is finding the recent growth of UK wineries and organic practice really exciting!

Everything she does is carefully considered and expertly crafted, whilst she does spend a lot of her day sat at a screen, she is a big fan of her trusty pencil and start all projects with sketches on good old fashioned paper! She illustrates a large proportion of her labels herself and has a background in typography and calligraphy which lends itself naturally to beautiful, bespoke branding. She has won awards for her work, including a Harpers Design Award for Champagne and a Drinks Business Award for new formats.

Csaba Bogadi is a Hungarian-born filmmaker and artist who has lived and worked in the Netherlands for over a decade. In addition to his freelance video work through his own production company, Lonely Film, he contributes to a variety of cultural events and serves as a Supervisor at Museum Voorlinden.

Csaba has documented all previous editions of the Women in Wine Expo, and he was thrilled when WIWE returned to his homeland in 2025. In Tokaj, Csaba joined us at WIWE, bringing his creative vision to the event while reconnecting with familiar faces and meeting new ones.