While at Honig, she learned about vineyards and winemaking and traveled around the country hosting wine dinners and teaching about wine. Inspired by a playful conversation with a friend, she coined the "fine art of wine and shoe pairing." A year later, she founded Wine, Women & Shoes, which unites fundraising with wine and fashion in a fun and supportive atmosphere. Now in its fifth year, WW&S events occur in 20 cities, have over 15,000 attendees per year, and have raised more than $4,000,000 for women's and children's causes.

In addition to her business interests, Elaine is also actively involved in the Napa community. For 7 years, she has served on the Board of Trustees of the Napa County Land Trust and most recently has served as Chairman of the Board. Elaine has also served on the Planned Parenthood-Shasta-Diablo's Napa Valley Board of Advocates, the Board of Directors of the Napa County Farm Bureau, and the Napa Sierra Club. Elaine has been honored for her professional and community contributions, including having received the Common Threads Award for Outstanding Women in Agriculture.

Katie
Katie Hamilton Shaffer moved to the Napa Valley to pursue her passion for food and wine. While managing events at Cuvaison Winery, her mentors’ daughter was diagnosed with a rare disorder called “RETT Syndrome.” Never one to sit on the side lines, Katie co-founded a foundation, created an annual fundraiser to support it, and established a clinic at the Children’s Hospital in Oakland. Today this clinic serves girls afflicted with Rett Syndrome from all over the Western United States.

Having managed events for a large Napa Valley catering company and served as the fundraising manager of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the North Bay, Katie is well versed in fundraising and event management. Katie considers joining Wine, Women & Shoes a “dream realized”, and Elaine is very grateful to have her on the team.

In between her commitments to Napa Kiwanis, Napa Valley Conference and Visitors Bureau and acting as founding VP of Communications for the Napa Valley Chapter of the International Special Event Society, she somehow manages to find time to enjoy her backyard with her husband Ethan and her dog Toomey.

Kimberly
A professed shoe addict, Kimberly joined the team in April of 2010, bringing her extensive experience in fashion design, public relations, special events and journalism to Wine, Women & Shoes. After cutting her teeth in the fashion industry at Gap, Inc., Kimberly worked as the Assistant to the Director of Design and Merchandising for St. John Knits. From here she shifted to the world of fashion PR as Special Events Manager for Macy's West. During her three-year stint, she produced hundred of events for the retailer's West coast stores. Kimberly was then offered the coveted position of San Francisco editor for Daily Candy, Inc., where she began a new career in journalism writing for her Bay Area audience and freelancing for media outlets such as Town & Country, American Express Publishing, Conde Nast and Haute Living. In the interest of reaching a larger audience, she became Managing Director of Vivanista, an online community and content platform for philanthropic women.

As the newest member of the WW&S team, Kimberly develops and cultivates relationships with wineries, vendor partners and sponsors for the various events as well as assists in growing and managing the charity and corporate events. She will also be responsible for the creation of a monthly WW&S newsletter, the boutique and creating a WW&S online community.

Kimberly lives on Blackbird Vineyards in Napa with her boyfriend Michael Polenske and her beloved Yorkie, Duke, and is Head over heels happy to be part of the Wine, Women & Shoes team.

Lu Ann
During her 20 years in the industry, Lu Ann Chillemi has worked in every aspect of the wine business. She started out in retail, owning a successful wine store in downtown Cleveland. She sold the store, which still operates today, when she decided to move to California to be with her new husband, a wine industry executive. Since her 1998 move to the Napa Valley, she has worked for the small, family run Von Strasser and Volker Eisele wineries as well as a small wine distributor.

Today she oversees all winery communications and logistics, applying her amazing sense of detail to what we call WW&S Air Traffic Control.

A lover of the outdoors, she has biked 625 miles on the Southern Island of New Zealand, ran 17 marathons, done 2 Tin Mans (half Iron Man triathalons). While her pace is a little slower these days, she is still out and about in Napa walking her dog Buster.

Kate W
Kate was bitten by the wine bug early in life. Her father collected prime-vintage Bordeauxs, super-Tuscans and nectar-like Rieslings, which they drank every evening with dinner. In college, while pursuing a psychology degree at Arizona State, Kate spent a semester at the University of Burgundy in Dijon studying wine. After graduation, she set out for the Napa Valley and worked for a small, family-owned and female-run winery doing cellar work, tastings and learning everything she could about wine.

Kate has always credited wine with bringing people together and bringing out the best in them once they get there, so WW&S was the perfect fit. In late 2009, she joined WW&S as Webmaster and helps with events, marketing and customer relationships. She loves walking the dogs to the beach, painting and practicing yoga. In addition to wine, her father taught her all about football, and she is a huge football fan (go Colts!). A self-proclaimed cupcake connoisseur, Kate lives in her favorite city in the world, San Francisco, with her Pom-Sheltie rescue, Bear.