Business
With everyone spending more time at home these days, we know many of you have been perfecting your cocktail (or just plain boozing) skills. So today we have an extra special spirituous episode featuring two ladies of whiskey - Naomi Leslie, East Coast Brand Ambassador for Balvenie, and Tracie Franklin, Brand Ambassador for Glenfiddich. Naomi LeslieAfter years of honing her skills in the bartending and craft cocktail industry in New York, Naomi Leslie joined The Balvenie as the east coast US brand ambassador in 2018.Born in Massachusetts, Naomi earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, then moved to New York to begin her journey in the spirits industry. Her career began at the highly revered cocktail bar Dear Irving, where she rose through the ranks and worked with the management team to open a new bar, The Bennett. During her time at Dear Irving and The Bennett, Naomi also trained at Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain where she explored food and Scotch-specific pairings, piquing her initial interest in single malts. Following, Naomi’s most recent role was at critically acclaimed bar BlackTail in lower Manhattan, where she led staff trainings pertaining to bartending technique and product and category knowledge, while taking courses on her own that focused on branding, social media and distillation. She took an active role in helping to develop the highly regarded, award-winning cocktail menu throughout her time at BlackTail. Naomi has taken part in a variety of cocktail training curricula across the country, including Tales of the Cocktail’s Cocktail Apprentice Program and Cocktails in the Country with Gaz Regan. Additionally, she has led tastings, workshops, seminars and dinners across the Eastern US, highlighting topics ranging from rare prestige variants, to new releases, to encouraging diversity and advocacy for women in the cocktail and whisky worlds. Her inventive cocktail creations have been featured in Forbes and Liquor.com, among others.In her free time, Naomi is an avid traveler and a photographer, specializing in beverage, food and travel.Tracie FranklinTracie Franklin’s path to the role of brand ambassador for Glenfiddich has been anything but linear. Growing up in a military family, she learned to love travel and admire the cuisines and cultures that came along with it. She was introduced to the dazzling world of theatre by her military father and followed her heart to the stage where her presence and melodic voice landed her leading roles. She has performed in productions from Thailand to London and New York City. While traveling, her adventurous spirit drove her to seek out unique food and beverages from around the world. This passionate pursuit was a powerful asset once she took the next turn on her path into the world of hospitality. Tracie has held nearly every front of the house position in the restaurant business, but she was able to shine as a bartender is some of New York’s cocktails bars. It wasn’t until she tasted her first Single Malt Scotch Whisky that she realized the next phase in her life was down the whisky rabbit hole. That taste of malt, saline, and fruity sweetness sent her to classes and trainings with the best teachers in the whisky community. After years of studying, internships and whisky work she founded Whersky, an organization bringing together whisky drinkers of all backgrounds to build a more diverse, inclusive whisky culture. Most recently, Tracie was awarded “Scotch Ambassador of the Year 2020” by Whisky Magazine.Tracie currently resides in Washington D.C. and is serving as the Glenfiddich Ambassador for the East Coast.