Alyssa Rapp
Founder & CEO

Alyssa J. Rapp, is the founder and CEO of Bottlenotes, Inc., the leading resource for new to intermediate wine enthusiasts interested in learning about wine, sharing tasting notes, and tasting wine. Alyssa is also the author of Bottlenotes Guide to Wine: Around the World in 80 Sips (Adam's Media, October 2008). Alyssa's first formal foray into wine included co-presiding over the wine club at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Alyssa earned a B.A. in Political Science and the History of Art from Yale University in 2000 and an M.B.A. from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business in 2005. She serves on the Board of Trustees for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and was named in Inc. Magazine's "30 Under 30" coolest entrepreneurs in America and one of Playboy.com’s “10 Sexiest CEOs” in America. Alyssa co-resides in Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area and greatly enjoys traveling the world in search of today's best wines.

Kimberly Donaldson
Co-Founder and Managing Director

Kimberly Donaldson founded the Donaldson Design Group, a corporate branding, graphic design and marketing firm based in New York, in 1994. The firm's clients included companies from the financial, fashion, entertainment and wine industries. She has worked as a consultant to Kobrand Corporation, creating marketing programs for various wineries including Cakebread Cellars. Kimberly received a B.A. from Yale and a Master of Fine Arts from Boston University School for the Arts.

Andy Anderson
Chief Operating Officer

Andy joined Bottlenotes after completing his MBA at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University where he majored in Marketing and Management & Organizations. After working in management consulting for almost six years in Chicago, New York and San Francisco, Andy decided to follow his passion for wine. In between consulting jobs, Andy spent three months working at Villa Monteleone, a winery in Italy’s Valpolicella, and was exposed to many aspects of the wine production process. Andy also did his undergraduate studies at Northwestern, majoring in Economics and Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences.

Karen MacNeil
Acting Editor-in-Chief

In knowledge, skill, style, and presentation, no one in America tops Karen MacNeil when it comes to wine. The preeminent wine educator, wine consultant and author of The Wine Bible, Karen has won every top wine award in the English language. With her extensive wine knowledge and uniquely creative viewpoint, she knows how to captivate audiences large and small, and how to present wine in an engaging, real-world, American manner. For Karen, wine is more than a beverage; it’s a communal passage into the culture of living well.

Michelle McCabe
National Events Manager

Michelle’s passion for event planning and love of food and wine made the decision to join the Bottlenotes team an extremely easy one. She has been planning events since childhood and more recently has been actively creating fundraising events for non-profit organizations like the Junior League of San Francisco and planning the perfect day for soon to be brides (including her own in Sonoma) as a wedding coordinator for Dream a Little Dream Events. Michelle received her MAS in Communication and Business from the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU).

Leta Soza
Marketing/Social Media Manager

Leta’s love of wine was cultivated at an extremely young age. Her family are serious wine enthusiasts who have been making and bottling wine in their driveway since 1981. Leta has bounced across the country from Chicago, to Rome, to New York before finally landing back in the Bay Area with Bottlenotes. She received a BA in Marketing from Loyola University of Chicago and danced professionally in New York for 3 years before tackling her Sommelier Certification through the Sommelier Society of America.

Ryan Lieberman
Jr. Operations Manager

Ryan is a recent graduate of Stanford University and former member of the Stanford Men's Gymnastics team. At Stanford, he earned a bachelor's degree in Economics and was part of the 2009 and 2011 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championship team, along with being a three-time NCAA All-American and an individual event champion. Outside of the gym, Ryan has assisted on a research study that analyzed NCAA coaching salaries, produced athletic training videos, and marketed and sold music instrumentals. Currently, in addition to his role as Junior Operations Manager at Bottlenotes, Ryan is training in pursuit of qualifying to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Abigail Purcell
Marketing Associate

Abby’s love of great food, wine and keen sense of adventure brought her to Bottlenotes. Travels throughout Europe and the United States piqued her curiosity in the food and beverage industry, landing her on the social media team at Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises upon her graduation from Indiana University. Abby is most excited to learn all she can about food and wine, and help the Bottlenotes audience do so, in her role as Marketing Associate at Bottlenotes.