Inspiring Women Magazine May 2023
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
profile<br />
Revisiting 2017...<br />
Bella Paola Guerrero De Cohen<br />
Liz introduces us to her <strong>Inspiring</strong><br />
Woman of 2017, wine maker<br />
Bella Paola Guerrero de Cohen,<br />
AWC Finland.<br />
"W<br />
hen we first started<br />
<strong>Inspiring</strong> <strong>Women</strong> in 2016 we<br />
had no idea if anyone would<br />
be willing to share their<br />
inspiring stories with us. The first nine profilees<br />
therefore have a special place in my heart.<br />
They were willing to trust us, even though we<br />
were completely untested, to tell their story.<br />
Paola’s story is one that I really remember. Here<br />
was the story of a woman who had been sent<br />
away from home in Ecuador (language and<br />
culture number one) by her parents to study<br />
in the USA (language and culture number two).<br />
While there, she met the love of her life, David,<br />
and subsequently moved with him to Finland<br />
(language and culture number three). The<br />
courage and strength to make all those moves<br />
is impressive to me, especially since, even with<br />
my limited knowledge, I know they are<br />
culturally and linguistically rather different!<br />
Then while she was living in Finland, as well as<br />
caring for her young family, she decided to start<br />
a winemaking business, Ainoa Winery; she had<br />
previously made wine as a hobby while in the<br />
US. Wine is not something many of us would<br />
associate with Finland and indeed Paola found<br />
it would be a challenge to grow grapes there<br />
so had to learn about how to make it from<br />
berries instead.<br />
Paola Guerrero de Cohen<br />
After many ups and downs, the business she<br />
and her husband have today is thriving and<br />
their wine has won more than 50 international<br />
medals. In 2017 Ainoa’s 2015 wine Vaapukka<br />
was placed on the list of the best produced<br />
wines in the world by Œnologues<br />
de France and the wines have<br />
been on the best produced<br />
wines list every year since." Paola tending<br />
to her fruit.<br />
8 INSPIRING WOMEN INSPIRING WOMEN 9