EMILY HAY, MARKETING STRATEGIST / ACCOUNT DIRECTOR

Our resident South Australian, Emily lives & works in the beautiful Barossa.
Years in front-of-house hospitality management in Barossa and Adelaide honed her love of story telling, from there it was a stint on Kangaroo Island in tourism.

After returning to Barossa almost 15 years ago, she began an immersion into many sides of wine & tourism marketing. From a medium-sized family business, to the regional association (BGWA/Barossa Australia) and a national leadership role in one of Australia’s largest drinks corporations, she’s seen (& learned) a lot!

Emily has been recognised by Wine Communicators Australia as an emerging voice in wine communication, as a Finalist in the New Wine Writer of the Year category in the WCA Awards (2015) and was awarded the inaugural WCA Wine Media Cadetship in 2017. Her collaborative work with Barossa Grape & Wine Association received Best Wine Website, Best PR & Marketing Communications and Overall Wine Communicator of the Year in the same awards in 2019. She was also a finalist in the 2020 Australian Women in Wine Awards, Marketer of the Year (an award that was won by our very own Trish Barry!)

Alum of the esteemed Wine Future Leaders program, Emily has served as Chair of Australian Grape & Wine’s Diversity, Equality & Inclusion in Wine (DEIW) committee since late 2024.

Emily has an unabashed (geeky) love for all things strategic, developing a signature framework based on the three Cs; clarity, capability & capacity. She delights in building this flexible approach so even the least nerdy can get it, and importantly, use it in their businesses.

At heart, she is people-first and loves nothing more than connecting with people, whether that’s our clients, or to the digital communities of food & wine lovers out there.