{"id":10742,"date":"2024-09-24T10:25:08","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T14:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/?p=10742"},"modified":"2026-09-22T16:03:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T20:03:27","slug":"graduate-spotlight-lucy-almirudis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/2024\/09\/24\/graduate-spotlight-lucy-almirudis\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate Spotlight: Lucy Almirudis"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/em>We recently caught up with Lucy Almirudis (@lucialmirudis), a graduate of Boston University\u2019s Certificate Program in Wine Studies and a member of the 2022 “Urban Grape Wine Studies Award for Students of Color” cohort. Learn more about her story below.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I was born and raised in Sonora, Mexico where I studied architecture and worked as an architect for a couple of years. Seeking a life change, I decided to spend the summer of 2014 in Boston. That’s when I met my husband\u2014and it turned into the longest summer of my life. I lived in Boston for a decade and during that time I worked in the restaurant industry, building a career in fine dining and event planning. That\u2019s when I fell in love with wine; realizing that wine made every special occasion even more memorable and that people are willing to invest a lot in a good bottle.<\/p>\n

I found out about “The Urban Grape Wine Studies Award for Students of Color” through my best friend and decided to give it a shot to build a career in the wine world.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
The owners of \u201cThe Urban Grape\u201d store in Boston (a black- and woman-owned business) started the year long program to bring more color into the wine industry. If selected, you take “Wine Studies” Level 2, 3 & 4 at Boston University<\/a>, along with four (3-month long) sets of internships:<\/div>\n
    \n
  1. \u00a0At the Urban Grape<\/a> store to learn about retail<\/li>\n
  2. With MS Walker<\/a> to learn about importing and distribution<\/li>\n
  3. At Row 34<\/a> to learn about the restaurant industry<\/li>\n
  4. \u00a0At Jackson Family Wines<\/a> to learn about viticulture, sustainable farming, wine making, branding, marketing, production, direct to consumer, sales and more<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Going through the program has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I\u2019ve been through. Because I was working in the restaurant industry and handling wine so closely every day at work; it meant having more very useful knowledge while going through what sounded like a very dynamic experience. I would\u2019ve never imagined my life would end up taking such a drastic turn.\u00a0I’ve met so many amazing people, I’ve learned so much about the wine industry and\u2014the best part\u2014got an opportunity to combine both of my careers: wine and architecture.<\/p>\n

    My last internship at Jackson Family Wines in California, where I spent time with their Real Estate Department, was particularly formative. It felt truly full circle seeing everything I had been studying and reading about during class in person. I finally got to see the grapes in person, taste them (the Chening Blanc grape is incredibly delicious), witness the wine being made and visit wineries I had only heard of. It was really special!<\/p>\n

    At the beginning of 2024, I got a job offer that moved me, my husband and our cats to California. I am currently working as an Assistant Project Manager as part of the Jackson Family Wines design team. While interviewing to be part of the Urban Grape Wine Studies Award someone said to me \u201cWould you like to go back to work as an architect? The wine industry touches almost every other industry, your job could be designing wineries and tasting rooms\u201d and I thought to myself \u201cDoes a position like that even exist?\u201d<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    A year and a half later here I am, working with a team that focuses precisely on that, designing wine tasting rooms and guest houses. I would\u2019ve never imagined that through a wine program I would go back to architecture, but I absolutely love it!<\/p>\n

    I couldn\u2019t be more thankful for having the opportunity to be a part of this program and for my husband\u2019s support through all of it. Thank you Urban Grape and Boston University!<\/p>\n

    To learn more about “The Urban Grape Wine Studies Award for Students of Color” and how to apply, please visit this resource<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We recently caught up with Lucy Almirudis (@lucialmirudis), a graduate of Boston University\u2019s Certificate Program in Wine Studies and a member of the 2022 “Urban Grape Wine Studies Award for Students of Color” cohort. Learn more about her story below. I was born and raised in Sonora, Mexico where I studied architecture and worked as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21081,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10742"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11155,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10742\/revisions\/11155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}