WINE PAIRING FOR THE PEOPLE

On Thursday December 4th, join us at The Africa Center for an engaging conversation celebrating the release of WINE PAIRING FOR THE PEOPLE: The Communion of Wine, Food, and Culture from Africa and Beyond. Featuring authors Cha McCoy, and Layla Schlack in conversation with Stephen Satterfield, and Layla Schlack. This book talk honors the rich culinary traditions of Africa and its diaspora, exploring how flavor, culture, and history come together to shape the way we experience food and wine.

Books will be available for purchase from BEM, the Black food bookstore.

Speakers:Cha McCoy is an entrepreneur, educator, and event producer. As a certified sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers, she developed The Communion, a wine dinner series that offers an inviting, accessible approach to gathering and enjoying wine. This experience inspired her to open her first brick-and-mortar store, The Communion Wine & Spirits. The dinner series was profiled in Food & Wine, and Cha was named one of Wine Enthusiast’s 40 Under 40. Cha has held coveted industry positions, including Cherry Bombe’s first beverage director, the head of beverage for the Charleston Wine + Food Festival, and sommelier at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Portugal. Passionate about education, she spends her spare time mentoring and teaching at her alma mater, Syracuse University, where she served as an adjunct professor, educating and inspiring new wine drinkers. You can find Cha in Harlem, New York—or on one of her international adventures.

Layla Schlack is an award-winning writer and editor with more than fifteen years of experience editing wine, travel, and food publications. A former senior editor and wine reviewer for Wine Enthusiast, she has also served as editorial director for Whetstone Media. She holds an MFA in creative and professional writing from Western Connecticut State University.

Stephen Satterfield since 2007, has redefined food and beverage as powerful tools for organizing, activating, and educating communities. He is the founder of Whetstone, a groundbreaking magazine and media company dedicated to exploring food origins and culture around the world.

Before launching his media career, Satterfield worked as a sommelier and social entrepreneur, promoting wine as a catalyst for socioeconomic development among Black wine workers in South Africa. Described by Eater as "among the most prominent and respected voices in U.S. food media," he is the host of High on the Hog, the acclaimed Netflix docuseries that has earned two NAACP Image Awards and a Peabody Award.

In 2025, Satterfield transformed his vision of cultural reclamation into reality by founding COMOCO Cotton—a textile manufacturing and apparel company building a market for Black-grown garments and goods while establishing the first Certified Black Grown supply chain.