June Smith

I am the retired owner of a Northern CA winery and a freelance writer with dozens of food, wine and travel feature stories to my credit.

I have always loved to write. My first memory is of writing and reading an ongoing saga to my classmates in grade school class. I attended the same high school as Ernest Hemmingway in a suburb of Chicago and that, combined with the fact that my grandfather wrote a newspaper column, may be what motivated my passion for writing.

While in the wine business, I met a variety of interesting people who offered out-of-the-ordinary opportunities for feature stories, like working as an extra in over 20 movies and commercials filmed in the Bay Area. In our semi-retirement years, my late husband Jim and I were able to travel, giving me more material for stories, like swimming with wild dolphins on the big island of Hawaii.

My community service has presented the chance to provide my writing and editing skills to some of the non-profit groups I am involved in, such as my church, my Rotary club and CASA. (Court Appointed Special Advocates) I have served on the Boards of the Scotts Valley Rotary Club, Shakespeare Santa Cruz and the Responsible Hospitality Council of Santa Cruz..

I was a Scotts Valley (Santa Cruz, CA) Woman of the Year and have been listed in “Who’s Who in California,” “Who’s Who in the West” and “Who’s Who in the Media and Publications.” I recently won the 2009 California Writer's Club Writer's Challenge for my essay, Gift from Beyond.

Other writing credits include: Miami Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, Guideposts, Writing for Dollars, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Good Times, Santa Cruz Small Business Monthly, Pure Inspiration, Affordable Travel Tours and a dining column for Times Publishing Group.

As of May, '09 I am the Santa Cruz Wine Examiner and thanks to my credentials with Suite 101, scored a press hour with American Idol finalists when they performed on their live tour in San Jose, CA.