Faculty Bios

Judy Creighton is a cheese educator and former owner of cheese and wine shops in San Francisco for 25 years, as well as a consultant for retailers, distributors and importers. She served as a judge in the 2003 and 2006 American Cheese Society competitions. She is a guest lecturer at City College of San Francisco Hotel & Restaurant Program and also presents cheese and wine seminars for wineries as well as corporate and non-profit events. She has presented cheese tastings for Bon Appetit magazine and writes a cheese column for the Calaveras Enterprise in Murphys, CA.

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Jaimie Casey is a graduate of the California Culinary Academy and former pastry chef with roots on a cattle ranch in Boonville, CA. She now works with cheese on a daily basis at local specialty Italian food retailer A.G. Ferrari Foods.

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Ariel Clute is the Assistant Director at The Cheese School. Ariel spent several years as a professional cheesemonger at Cheese Plus as well as at The Pasta Shop in Market Hall. She is also a student at the California College of Arts and Crafts, where she is earning a BFA.

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Sheana Davis of The Epicurean Connection is a native of the Sonoma Valley. Sheana celebrates 20 years in the culinary world focusing on organic non-GMO foods, recipe development, cooking classes and seminars featuring craft brews, artisan and farmstead cheese, and hand-crafted foods.

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Lynne Devereux brings a background rich in culinary expertise and food education, developing engaging educational programs for both professional and consumer audiences. She is a specialist in California artisan cheeses and enthusiastic supporter of the American artisan cheese industry who also coordinates the enormously successful Artisan Cheese Festival in Petaluma, California.  For Context Marketing in Sausalito, she served for over six years as Cheese Educator for the California Milk Advisory Board. Prior to joining Context, she served for seven years as Director of Teacher Training for HomeChef Cooking Schools, and prior to that, Lynne worked as a product specialist for KitchenAid portable appliances. Lynne has led spirited lectures, seminars and demonstrations at the Culinary Institute of America, the Copia center in Napa, the Food & Wine Show in Aspen, and many other forums and venues. 

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A native of New York City, Wil Edwards got his start as a dairy professional at Harley Farms Goat Dairy in Pescadero, CA, where he remained for almost eight years before moving on to follow his passion for culinary education. He is currently creating his own venture, designed to bring the public into the intimate world of a variety of artisan food producers, allowing participants to discover the heart and soul of the people behind the food we eat. Wil teaches classes and gives demonstrations at Draeger's Cooking School as well as at other venues throughout the Bay Area.

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Janet Fletcher is the author of Cheese & Wine: A Guide to Selecting, Pairing, and Enjoying, just published by Chronicle Books; The Cheese Course (Chronicle Books); and several other books on food and wine. She writes a weekly syndicated cheese column for the San Francisco Chronicle, where she is a staff food and wine writer; her work for the Chronicle has won three James Beard Awards. She also authors the “Cheese Focus” column for Specialty Food, a trade publication, and writes frequently on wine and food for numerous national publications, including Metropolitan Home, Bon Appétit, Fine Cooking, Saveur and Food & Wine. Fletcher trained at the Culinary Institute of America and at Berkeley's celebrated Chez Panisse restaurant. She lives in Napa Valley with her winemaker husband.

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Colette Hatch is an internationally known authority on food and wine whose career spans more than three decades and covers all aspects of food and wine marketing and management. After earning a degree in Hospitality Management from the Lycee d'Etat Poligny in Jura, France, Colette managed several fine hotels in France, England and Corsica and later completed a presitigious apprenticeship at the Michelin three-star restaurant Jeunet. Upon moving to the US, Colette combined her front-of-house management experience with her food and wine expertise as sommelier and service consultant at Restaurant du Village, a four-star restaurant in Chester, CT. She also founded and managed the catering operation at Au Musee restaurant, part of the Wadsworth Athaneum in Hartford. Since moving recently to the emerging culinary mecca of Sonoma County, Colette has established a consulting practice serving specialty food retailers, wineries and restaurants throughout the Bay Area.

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Karletta Moniz is a San Francisco-based chef, food stylist and consultant with a particular expertise on chocolate. She is well known for leading fun and interesting classes about the cacao bean and the wonders that come from it. Her client list includes Disney, Neiman-Marcus, Jamba Juice, Seeds of Change and many others. She is also the author of two celebrated blogs, The Art of Tasting Chocolate and Culinary Muse, where she shares all things chocolate as well as her favorite places to eat, the best morning walks, the perfect cup of hot chocolate, the driest Martini and the best French 75 in the Bay Area.

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Michael Richey, Assistant Director at The Cheese School, is passionate about the educational side of hand-crafted foods and helping people understand and enhance their awareness of how our food is made, who is making it, and where it is from.  He first found his taste for artisan foods while working at Cocoabella Chocolates, and later developed an interest in the complex world of hand-crafted cheese.  A graduate of the University of Michigan, Michael is relatively new to cheese and is learning right along with our students.  Cheese always brings a smile to Michael’s face.

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Traveling the world, Melissa Schilling developed a passion for food and wine. She lived within striking of Rioja when she was just 20 years old. While earning her Master of Science in Agriculture she began working in a tasting room in the Edna Valley. Next she spent time in Napa amongst historic vineyards such as BV Vineyard 1, Beckstoffer, To Kalon and Winery Lake - working for several wineries. Now at home on the Central Coast she organizes cheese and wine tastings, waxes poetic on farming organically and adores Pinot Noir and Albarino. Melissa lives at the beach with her pooch, Freddie Mercury.

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Tabitha Stroup is not fond of rules and finds them especially odious when it comes to food, wine and enjoyment. Having earned her Bachelor of Science in Social Anthropology and Food Science at Cal Poly and then going on to the California Culinary Academy – the girl knows her stuff. A bonafide fromage expert, she will guide you on a journey of pleasure and leisure. She has served as pastry chef at Theo’s and the Dream Inn and knows every vine, wine, nook and cranny in the Santa Cruz Mountains. She lives on her own private vineyard with her kitty, Oscar Wilde.

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Mark Todd has worked in wine and cheese for over 15 years. He has worked professionally with such vintners as Robert Stemmler and Keith Mietz and is also an accomplished home brewer. Mark has been a consultant to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board and the United States Dairy Export Council, and has travelled, spoken, and written extensively for both organizations. A founding member of the California Artisan Cheese Guild, Mark has made beverage and cheese pairing a major focus of his professional life and is commited to bringing these simple pleasures to the widest possible audience.

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Juliana Uruburu directs the cheese selection, merchandising, education, and promotions for the Bay Area's renowned Pasta Shop. Working with cheese for over 20 years, she is a frequent panelist and cheese judge at industry conferences including the American Cheese Society and is the head cheese judge for the California State Expo.  Recognized as an individual dedicated to promoting quality cheese and consumption, Juliana was recently inducted into the Guilde des Fromagers, dedicating her life’s work to promoting the consumption of cheese. 

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Sara Vivenzio, the Founder and Director of The Cheese School of San Francisco, is just plain crazy about cheese. Prior to opening The Cheese School in July 2006, she was a professional cheesemonger and the primary cheese buyer at Cheese Plus, a leading specialty cheese retailer in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood. Before moving to San Francisco to pursue her passion for cheese, Sara was an award-winning advertising executive in New York City.

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Laura Werlin is positively passionate about cheese and has written three highly acclaimed and pioneering books on the subject: The New American Cheese, (Stewart, Tabori & Chang 2000), The All American Cheese and Wine Book, (Stewart, Tabori & Chang 2003), and Great Grilled Cheese: 50 Innovative Recipes for Stovetop, Sandwich Maker, and Grill (Stewart, Tabori and Chang 2004). Her passion and expertise on these topics have landed her on The CBS Early Show, the Television Food Network, Martha Stewart Living Television, and numerous local television and radio segments from coast to coast. She also writes for national magazines including Food & Wine, Fine Cooking, Saveur, Cooking Pleasures, Cooking Light, Country Living, and several others. Laura is on the board of the American Cheese Society and is an active member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Women Chefs & Restaurateurs, the James Beard Foundation, and the San Francisco Professional Food Society. She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley.

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