At age 18, while studying in France Sharon watched a woman in a Paris supermarket take the lid off every box of Camembert in the fridge, poke their middles, then select one to purchase. Mystified, Sharon lifted the lids, poked the cheeses, and – voila! – discovered that they felt different from each other. But why? Which is better? And what makes them smell so…funky?

A lifelong passion for artisan cheese was born that day, and Sharon has spent the following decades pursuing and presenting cheese to audiences while living and working all over the world. Founding the Beijing Cheese Society in 2004 during her family’s decade in China, she led thousands of turophiles through creative, fun tastings in embassies, Michelin-rated restaurants, on television, and even held a Cheese Olympics. Now based in the New York City area, she continues to lead dynamic tastings and classes while studying with the aim of to becoming one of the world’s first Masters of Cheese with the Academy of Cheese.

In parallel with her intensive cheese study, Sharon had a long career as a senior executive at a range of multinational companies, leading businesses through market entry, new product launches and strategic transformations. As a certified executive coach for over a decade, her coaching practice supports business leaders to grow their skills and companies. A significant focus of her coaching is offering business-building support to professionals in the artisan community as Cheese Coach, offering very low rates to make world-class support accessible to anyone in the cheese-industry chain, from makers to mongers, distributors and shop-owners.