Peggy Noe Stevens
| Author, Global Speaker, Whiskey Taster and Experience Maker
Peggy Noe Stevens in both career and personal life has devoted herself to 30 years of hospitality, entertaining and developing spirit brand destinations. A Master Bourbon Taster who is also a certified etiquette, image and professional speaker, she produces one-of-a-kind experiences for both people and places. Because of her signature style, expertise and creativity, she is retained by companies to seek out the strategic essence of image and brand culture and was inducted into the 2019 Bourbon Hall of Fame and 2020 Whisky Magazine Hall of Fame for those efforts. She is the only female in the world to be inducted to both Hall of Fame awards.
She began her career in hospitality and marketing with Hyatt Hotels Corporation, engaging in all aspects of guest services, professional event planning and the highest standards of culinary arts and entertaining. Peggy then moved to Brown-Forman Corporation to lead a newly developed travel and event planning department. As global event planner, she managed over 100 whiskey industry events annually, negotiated multi-million-dollar travel contracts and enhanced all aspects of travel, customer service, entertaining protocols and hospitality for executives.
While at Brown-Forman, she was also given the opportunity to move into the new frontier of experiential marketing, where she assimilated and directed an impressive portfolio of wine and spirit brand destinations and worked with such iconic brands as Jack Daniel’s, Woodford Reserve Bourbon, Southern Comfort, Fetzer and Sonoma Cutrer Vineyards. In this role, Peggy’s keen strategic direction and sense for establishing rich cultures positioned each destination to become a top attraction in its respective location. Directing all channels of destination management, she comprehensively fine-tuned experiential touch points with the consumer from retail and aesthetics to culinary and tasting programs, creating unique and memorable experiences. She simply mastered the art of engaging people emotionally through the senses.
Peggy’s career has allowed her to travel globally to observe the strengths and weaknesses of many brand cultures and she is an expert in consumer lifestyle behavior as it relates to the brand and its environment.
In many ways, Peggy has been a trail blazer for women, and yet has lived up to her heritage. She became the world’s first female Master Bourbon Taster in the industry and can trace her lineage back to some of the great bourbon making families in Kentucky. In 2011, she created the Bourbon Women Association, the first female consumer group in the industry to celebrate and support Kentucky’s signature product with a multi-city platform for women. Peggy was one of the originators for the conception and strategic development of the iconic Kentucky Bourbon Trail, which has become a global sensation for the spirits industry. Because of her accomplishments, she was given the prestigious “Networking Award” by the Kentucky Distiller’s Association in 2016 for making a difference in the industry for women.
She has been called the “Oprah of whiskey entertaining,” and a “Lifestyle maven.” She has represented Kentucky for such notables as Julia Child, Bobby Flay and the Prince of Spain.
Her executive leadership skills also immersed her talent in designing women’s research and strategy studies for corporations, and she has spoken to countless professional organizations on women’s issues in the workplace and strategizing careers. She has set an inspiring new standard by which corporations can attract and retain female executives.
Peggy has authored two books, Professional Presence: A Four-Part Guide to Building Your Personal Brand and the first chef-collaborative Bourbon and culinary book, The Culinary Cocktail Tour. Her new book, Which Fork do I use with my Bourbon will hit the bookshelves in May 2020 She is a contributing food and spirits writer for American Whiskey Magazine and former Entertaining Editor for Bourbon + Magazine. She also serves as a spirit’s judge for the American Distilling Institute and is on the faculty of Moonshine University.
Author, global speaker, whiskey taster and experience maker, Peggy brings a gracious, fresh and relevant approach to establishing image and creating experiences for consumers. She engages audiences with her dynamic wit and energetic message.