Laurentia Panayotov Senior Sommelier & Restaurant Manager

What obstacles did you face and how did you overcome them in your journey to becoming a sommelier?

The learning path to becoming a professional sommelier is a difficult one and demands a lot of sacrifice in order to guarantee success. I had to rethink my goals, my time and my finances to be able to balance my family needs besides my professional career.

Could you tell us about your journey with Uniworld? What do you love most about your job?

I started in 2012 as a waitress onboard the River Ambassador. In 2014, Uniworld became the first company on the European rivers to implement the sommelier position and so I became the first Sommelier. I was recognized by senior management and colleagues as being hardworking, thirsty for knowledge, open-minded and having strong knowledge of food and wine. Since then, I’ve trained three generations of sommeliers and enriched thousands of guest experiences. I love to make wine an accessible subject of conversation by using everyday language and to expose the whole purpose of enjoying wine by associating it with food. Wine is still a notoriously intimidating subject, but I don’t think it should be that way.

What advice would you give to other women looking to pursue career paths that aren’t traditionally female-oriented?

In order to be successful, you must know who you are, have well defined goals, be open-minded, adapt quickly and learn something new every day. Knowledge is power. When a challenge presents itself, take it and push through the limits of your comfort zone and never settle for average.