Sponsored article: Celebrating influential women across the drinks industry
Sophie Birkbeck
Regional Sales Manager – Wine – C&C Group (Tennent’s Direct, Matthew Clark)
What has been your experience as a woman working in the drinks industry?
I have always enjoyed finding solutions to challenges – the drinks industry is a fast-paced environment, and no day is the same!
I love bringing a consultative approach to working with my customers, helping them achieve their aspirations for their venues.
It’s hard to know how different my experience might have been if I was a man in the industry, but it’s fair to say that when I started 15 years ago there were definitely more men specialising in wine than women.
Possibly, this has encouraged me to work that bit harder to build my expertise and knowledge, so that I have confidence in my own to voice to speak up despite being outnumbered!
What challenges and obstacles have you personally overcome?
I remember one of the first wine dinners I arranged for a customer – I had recently completed my WSET Level 3 award in Wine and was revising to start my Diploma.
The representative from the winery who came to host the event was – dare I say it – a traditional ‘mustard cords’ type of wine specialist. No matter how many questions I asked him regarding the wines and their production, every answer was directed to the male guest at the table; my husband, a telecoms project manager with very little knowledge or indeed interest in wine as a category.
This was an early reminder that there is still inequality out there in the trade that needs to be challenged.
How is female equality enabled at your own organisation?
C&C has a DE&I Strategic Plan in place covering three focus areas. One of those is championing gender diversity and this has led to 30% representation in leadership roles.
Our family leave policy has also been enhanced so that all colleagues taking Maternity and Adoption leave receive 26 weeks’ paid leave.
In addition, our parental leave policy means colleagues are also entitled to 7 weeks’ paid leave during the first two years of the child’s life.
What opportunities does your organisation offer for gender-blind career advancement?
Alongside having great agile working policies across the group, which are available to all regardless of gender, C&C also offers a series of leadership and development programmes to assist colleagues in taking the next step in their career.
We have also implemented diverse interview panels to improve the way in which we engage, attract and hire talent into our business.
Can you tell us about positive experiences where inclusivity has helped you in business?
We have developed our portfolio to highlight some incredible female wine producers.
A recent addition to our Scottish portfolio is the Inzuzo ‘The Big Picture’ brand from Journey’s End in South Africa. This new brand of Rhône inspired blends is headed up by a black, female winemaker, Kaylin Willscott, from the local township who won the Cape Winemakers Guild Protégé of the year in 2023.
The brand is 51% owned by Black Economic Empowerment works at Journey’s End, and 50% of the proceeds of the Inzuzo wine sales go directly to local community projects including an Early Stage Development Centre.
This project really gives back to the local community of Sir Lowry’s Pass and also responds to the clear indication from the trade that there is a requirement for more socio-sustainable wine brands.
Bringing these exciting and relevant producers to our portfolio and to the Scottish wine trade helps set us apart from our competitors; after all, selling wine is selling a story, and these compelling stories are hard to resist.
Can you tell us about any instances where a failure to be inclusive has impacted negatively on you or on your business?
Happily, I can say I’ve had little experience of this during my tenure with Matthew Clark, and latterly with C&C Group.
The business is very collaborative and as I’ve progressed through different roles I’ve found my own voice and grown more confident in sharing my ideas. I’m looking forward to the opportunities the next year will bring and to solving more customer challenges.
