Jirka Jireh

Years of Participation

2023

Jirka Jireh
Wine Consultant, Educator and Advocate based in New York City.

Jirka Jireh makes it a point to challenge the status quo and encourage marginalized folx to take up space in whatever industry sparks passion for them, including wine & spirits. A few years ago Jireh left New York for the West Coast in order to connect with what she saw as the inception of a grassroots push to increase BIPOC & LGBTQIA+ representation amongst domestic natural winemakers and the reclaiming of Black and Brown farming practices. In 2020, Jirka would become the Co-Founder of Industry Sessions, a digital wine education program exclusively for marginalized people that spans 14 cities in the US and Canada. Behind the scenes, Jirka uses her network as a tool to advocate for BIPOC in the winemaking sphere and connects like-minded professionals with business opportunities. Her leading voice has become associated with interrogating misogyny and white supremacy within our industry with a focus on restructuring the ways in which we activate & influence change throughout beverage spaces.

Her work has been celebrated in the pages of The San Francisco Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, Imbibe Magazine, Cherry Bombe Magazine, Pipette, Forbes, Eater, Punch, VinePair, and Wine Enthusiast. In 2021she hosted an episode of “Mind of a Sommelier”, a spin-off to PBS’ “Mind of a Chef”.

She is currently based in NYC where she runs Industry Sessions and consults on a variety of groundbreaking projects geared at reclaiming wine spaces for all people.