This feature is part of our 2024 Next Wave Awards.
It’s hard to think of a job in wine that Lee Campbell hasn’t had. From retail, to restaurant manager and sommelier, to wine director, winemaker, and more, she’s pretty much done it all. But it wasn’t always the career she envisioned for herself.
While an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, Campbell thought she would pursue a political future and completed several internships on the Hill. Following her graduation, she was contemplating attending law school when she had a meal at the trailblazing Restaurant Nora in Washington, D.C. that would change her life. The food was phenomenal, the energy in the space welcoming, and Campbell wanted to be involved. So that same week she inquired about a job and became a personal assistant of sorts to then-head chef Nora Pouillon.
Having decided to pivot to hospitality, she knew she needed clear direction in her professional life to continue climbing the ladder. But the wine realm still felt mysterious to her.
It wasn’t until she was maître d’ at the now-shuttered NYC restaurant Verbena, where wine director David Gordon had compiled a small yet highly intentional selection of bottles, that she thought wine was a feasible path forward.
Years later, while working as a floor manager at Gotham Bar and Grill, her excitement for wine — and her desire to make it the focal point of her career — swelled further. And as she continued to immerse herself in her studies
