Elaine Chukan Brown, aka Hawk Wakawaka
Be the change you wish to see in the world. -Gandhi
Elaine Chukan Brown serves as a writer, speaker, and global wine educator working at the intersection of sustainability, climate action, and reducing gatekeeping in wine. Brown has served as the Executive Editor US for JancisRobinson.com, a columnist for Decanter Magazine, a contributing writer to Wine & Spirits Magazine, as well as the 4th and 5th editions of The Oxford Companion to Wine, the 8th edition of The World Atlas of Wine, and the compilations On California and On Burgundy from Academie du Vin Library. Brown currently reviews wines of Napa Valley for Wine Enthusiast Magazine, serves as a judge for the Texsom Awards, and a board member of the Wine Writer Symposium. Brown co-founded the Diversity in Wine Leadership Forum, and have advised diversity initiatives in multiple countries.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
In 2022, Brown was nominated for a James Beard Award in Journalism, and served as an advisor to the Women in Wine and Spirits Awards of China. In 2021, Brown gave the keynote address, “Risk and Self-Doubt as Opportunity,” for the Femmes du Vin event sponsored by the US State Department through the Paris Embassy. In 2023, Brown also spoke on international conceptions of sustainability for a reception hosted by the French Senate.
In 2021, The Hue Society created the Elaine Chukan Brown Award in Wine Education, awarded annually and named for Brown in recognition of their work in education and their effort to help open the way for others’ success. The Women in Wine and Spirits Awards (WINWSA) in China named them one of the world’s 50 Most Influential Women in Wine and Spirits in the world in 2021. In 2020, Brown was awarded Wine Communicator of the Year in the world by IWSC and VinItaly, and was named a Wine Industry Leader in the North American wine industry by Wine Business Monthly. In 2019, the Wine Industry Network named Brown one of the Most Inspiring People in Wine, and they were shortlisted for the IWSC Wine Communicator of the Year award.
PREVIOUS WRITING AND PRODUCTION WORK
Previously, Brown served as the Executive Editor (US) of JancisRobinson.com, working in collaboration with Robinson to help lead coverage on wine especially in the United States and to develop the future of the platform on sustainability, diversity and equity, climate action, and social responsibility. They also served as Executive Producer of the JancisRobinson.com podcast. Brown has been a co-producer, narrator, and host for multiple television episodes on SOMM TV.
Their writing has been in multiple books including Why We Cook: Women on Food, Identity and Connection by artist Lindsay Gardner. It has also been featured in Decanter, World of Fine Wine, the Robb Report, Lonely Planet, and others, and recommended by Food & Wine, Imbibe, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Vino-Joy and Lifestyle Asia out of Hong Kong, The Drinks Business and The Buyer out of the UK, Gourmet Traveller Wine in Australia, World of Wine in New Zealand, WinArt in Japan, Cuisine & Wine in Singapore, and more. They have also contributed to other books on various subjects including Central Otago Pinot Noir, Arizona wine, California wine, climate action, diversity and equity, personal empowerment, leadership, and women in food and wine.
SPEAKING AND APPEARANCES
Brown has been a celebrated keynote speaker for events worldwide, and serves as one of the world’s most celebrated educators of wine. Their illustration work can be seen in a museum installation in Belarus, a wine list in Hong Kong, decorating restaurants in London and Europe, tasting rooms in Oregon and California, on wine labels in Australia, and has appeared in wine and food pop-ups worldwide. Brown has been interviewed for radio shows and podcasts around the world, on international television, for documentaries and feature length films, in newspapers, magazines, and books in multiple languages. Brown is also known for their online interviews with producers and wine professionals from around the world, their skill as a discussion moderator, and their ability to create insightful and engaging seminars or webinars on topics in both wine and social justice. They have produced multiple webinar series on sustainable farming, ecological change, social justice, and wine regions or topics world wide. Their webinar series, Behind the Wines, done for the California Wine Institute in collaboration with Katie Canfield won particular acclaim, as did the series they led, Rooted for Good, on climate action and social justice, sponsored by Jackson Family Wines.
PRIOR TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE
Prior to their career in wine, Elaine served as the Charles A Eastman Fellow at Dartmouth College, and a Tomlinson Fellow at McGill University, where they did doctoral work in philosophy specializing in race and racism, as well as gender, women’s and sexuality studies. Brown was a full-time philosophy lecturer at Northern Arizona University. There they helped develop new teaching methods focused on making esoteric subjects like philosophy and ethics more understandable and relevant to everyday life, and also regularly moderated public discussions on controversial but essential topics in women’s health, social equity, global politics, and more. They were nominated for multiple teaching awards, served on the faculty development committee, were a mentor for multiple student groups, and a member of multiple national and international research groups working on Indigenous issues in an academic setting.
Brown’s previous work as an academic philosopher informs their views of wine, and people. They bring the rigor, thoroughness, and clarity demanded of their previous career forward to their work with wine, and their experience as an award-recognized university teacher into their wine communication. In traveling wine regions, and interviewing people, their primary goal is always to witness the life in front of them, be it in the person or the glass.
COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY AND EQUITY
Elaine Chukan Brown is Inupiaq, and Unangan-Sugpiaq, that is Indigenous, from what is now known as Alaska. Much of their time is spent mentoring young people and other Black, and Indigenous people, and people of color pursuing work in wine. They also advise multiple diversity initiatives, organizations, and committees in the global wine industry, and regularly speak, and write on diversity, equity, and social justice issues connected to the world of wine, food, beverage, and hospitality.
They previously served as an advisor and mentor for The Hue Society, a mentor for Vinica.ca, and on the scholarship committee for Canada’s Femmes du Vin organization. They also co-founded the Diversity in Wine Leadership Forum, now led by co-founder Maryam Ahmed, and proudly co-created in collaboration with Dr Akilah Cadet of Change Cadet the Do the Work DEI-training series offered by the Leadership Forum. As a board member of the Wine Writer Symposium, they led a sub-committee to create new mission and diversity statements, then ensure those were integrated into all policies and procedures, the application process, and fellowship program for the Symposium.
LIFE EXPERIENCE
They began life as a commercial salmon fisherman in Bristol Bay, Alaska, home to the largest wild salmon run in the world. At the age of 9, they began commercial fishing, started their own salmon fishing business at 13, and sold it at 23 before pursuing their life in academia. The rest of their family still operate their fishing businesses in Bristol Bay. However, their favorite job has been as an animal trainer and ranch hand, guiding physical therapy sessions for students with physical disabilities in their work with exotic animals, birds, and various hoof stock for River’s Crest Dragon Slayer’s in Aptos, California. Brown loved working with students, training camels and other exotic animals.
Brown uses WakawakaWineReviews.com to share more of the story, and is known online as @hawk_wakawaka. Elaine, their kid, Ellaita, and their pets currently live in Sonoma, California.
Cheers! Live Sincerely.
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