Carla Marina Marchese is the founder of the The AHTS and a certified instructor for the Italian National Register of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey, where she received her formal training as a honey sensory expert.​

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Marina is the author The World Atlas of Honey and HONEYBEE Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper. She co-authored The Honey Connoisseur with Kim Flottum and co-author Honey for Dummies with Howland Blackiston who invited her to write the honey chapter for Beekeeping for Dummies.

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In 2024, she was recognized with a WISE WOMAN award for her contributions to the Italian American community by The National Organization of Italian American Women (NOIAW). Marina is the founder of the brand Red Bee Honey, an artisan honey company.

A graduate of The School of Visual Arts in NYC. 

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Jason Wilson for The Washington Post

"Which is to say Marchese's palate is so finely tuned that she can literally taste the beekeeper's fear in a smear of honey."

Alysa Quitoriano began her foray into beekeeping 7 years ago in rural Oklahoma and has since expanded her apiary to the south bay of Los Angeles. What started as a hobby quickly turned into a passion to teach, mentor, and share her knowledge around bee focused beekeeping, supported with her Cornell University's Master Beekeeping Program certification. She is an elected official of the Texoma Beekeepers Association and facilitates the club's beekeeping courses, while her work in California has her managing hives, mentoring beekeepers, and working within the community to educate the public on how we can be pollinator stewards. She is certified by the Italian National Register of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey as a stage one honey sommelier and works with local beekeepers in elevating their product through flavor profiles and transparent marketing, in an effort to harbor transparency between the beekeeper and consumer.  She has most recently helped to create the guidelines and standards for Oklahoma's first Black Jar Honey Competition, emphasizing the objective judging of honey based on its flavor profile.

Christina Joy Neumann has been enamored with the diverse world of bees (superfamily Apoidea) since the early 2000s.  As licensed architect with a focus in sustainable design,  she is biomimetically inspired by the instinctual nest-building and food-making skills of Apis mellifera, the western honey bee.  After working as an organic beekeeper on Hawaii's Big Island from 2008 to 2009 with Volcano Island Honey Company (now Rare Hawaiian),  Christina established Apoidea Apiary LLC, a Good Food Award winning urban honey company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  As a Cornell University Master Beekeeper, she is a one-woman apiary managing 80-100 Certified Naturally Grown colonies within a 6-mile radius of Downtown Pittsburgh.  Christina is in advanced honey sommelier training with The Italian National Register of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey and is very excited to see the American Honey Tasting Society bringing this honey advocacy to the United States.  She believes the elemental honey crafting process, from bee colony to beekeeper, is an art form producing unique sensory experiences.  Her latest endeavor is CoNectar,  a pollinator-focused gallery and tasting space in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania opening in 2024.

Katie Flinn knew at the end of her military tenure bees were the next step. Tasting unique flavors of honey all over the world ignited a passion. It started with 1 hive moving quickly to 65 hives. Katie started her beekeeping adventure in 2020, and has been in the honey fast lane since. She gained her Apprenticeship in beekeeping through Heros to Hives, with Michigan State University. She swiftly enrolled in the "Taste Honey like a Sommelier" with American Honey Tasting Society. Shortly after, she whisked away to Bologna, Italy and completed the Sensory Analysis of Honey Intro course in December, 2022 and Advanced course in March, 2023 with the Italian National Register of Honey Experts. Katie is set to take the final exam in December, 2023. She has executed multiple honey presentations and tastings, focusing on the Honey Terroir of Iowa and introducing International honey standards. She has participated in honey judging in Oklahoma's first Black Label Honey Competition. Katie enthusiastically assisted with the Intro to Honey Sensory course held by American Honey Tasting Society in June 2023. Katie has debuted on local news and articles for her engagement as a Honey Sommelier. To further her sensory platform and academia, she has enrolled in the Gastronomy program (started by Julia Child and Jacques Pepin), at Boston University as a Graduate student. 

For 35 years, Donna DeFalco has been an innovator and influencer in the world of corporate wellness. Donna’s passion for wellbeing led her to explore the natural world for wellness alternatives as a forager, beekeeper, master food canner and now, Honey Sommelier. Donna has been keeping bees with her husband for 14.  years. She is currently working toward becoming a member of the Italian Register of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey and as a teacher and professional honey taster in NYC and the Catskills. Her passion project is identifying the botanical and flavor profiles of honey from the Upper Delaware Valley region of NYS.

Giulio Zavolta is the founder of Olivaia’s OLA, a small batch premium EVOO producer in Lindsay California. In short period of time Olivaia’s OLA distinguished itself through noted awards at regional and international competitions for its fruit forward EVOOs. After some training at the UC Davis Olive Center, Giulio leveraged his already established creative skills in an alternate career to begin crafting EVOOs that one might include in their pantry as flavor enhancers or elixirs. Simultaneously, Giulio trained with  the California Olive Oil Council as a taste panelist, tasted oils for EVOO certifications, and has since then joined Applied Sensory and participated in EVOO competitions in California. His interest in sensory analysis has now lead him to honey sensory analysis and he is currently obtaining training through the National Register of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey.