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Alyssa Rapp

Founder & CEO

Alyssa J. Rapp, is the founder and CEO of Bottlenotes.com , the premier online wine community where wine enthusiasts come to learn about wine, share tasting notes and buy wine. Alyssa is also the author of Bottlenotes Guide to Wine: Around the World in 80 Sips. (Adam's Media, October 2008). Alyssa previously served as the sales/marketing manager for RO Imports, an importer of boutique New Zealand wines in New York and co-presided over a 300-person 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 also serves on the Board of Trustees for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Alyssa was named in Inc. Magazine's "30 Under 30". coolest entrepreneurs in America in September 2008 and one of Playboy.com’s “10 Sexiest CEOs” in American in May 2009. Alyssa co-resides in Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area but greatly enjoys traveling around 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.

Bayard Collins

Editor, The Daily Sip™ & Sr. Operations Manager

Bayard brings passion for wine, entrepreneurship, and technology to his role as The Daily Sip Editor
at Bottlenotes. After college, Bayard worked as a marketing assistant at the Bank of Georgetown. Bayard next went on to spend a year teaching English in Prague. Living in Europe deepened Bayard’s interest in wine. Upon his return to the States, Bayard worked the 2006 harvest at Fisher Vineyards, working directly with winemaker Whitney Fisher. Bayard graduated from Duke University with a BA in History.

Jonathan Wallace

Operations Manager

Jonathan brings a passion for wine, travel and languages to his role as Operations Manager. Jonathan’s interest in wine was first sparked while studying abroad in Chile. His adventures in travel and wine eventually lead him to a position of Marketing/Export Manager at Casa Marin Vineyards in Chile. After returning to California Jonathan spent one season in Beaver Creek, Colorado after which his travel addiction drove him back to South America for a four month stay in Brazil. Jonathan holds a BA in International Business from San Diego State University and a Licenciatura en Negocios Internacionales from the Universidad de Valparaiso in Valparaiso, Chile.

Leta Soza

Assistant to the CEO/Marketing 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 tacking her Sommelier Certification through the Sommelier Society of America.