Meet Christophe Pienkowski

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christophe Pienkowski a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Christophe , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

Probably from my grandfather who was a fisherman all his life, on a small island in Brittanny, France. He started to work on a fisher boat when he was only 8 years old. His mother was a widow, and he had a little brother. They were very poor. He had no choice but to leave, work, and help his family! All his life my grandfather worked very hard. He actually stopped working on his boat when he was 90 years old! He showed me that in life you should never, ever, give up !

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Funny enough, I decided that I wanted to be a chef when I was 8 years old. At 17, I did 4 years of French culinary school then I started to travel the world and work in the best places, to improve my skills as a Chef, but also to learn about new cultures and make friends anywhere I would go. After a really nice career as a Chef (almost 20 years), I became an ambassador for a Cognac brand, a very different role, travelling extensively in Europe and Asia. It was a new challenge for me, but with all the passion and hard work I put in, I found myself fully enjoying what I was doing, and most importantly, be good at it. Afterward, I was sent to the US by my company to become their national brand ambassador. As a former Chef (well, you are never a former Chef, but simply a Chef), I became an enthusiast and later on, a top specialist on the liquor and food pairing. This is an exciting part! Gastronomy is a fantastic way to engage customers and consumers! A few months ago, I was recruited by William Grant and Sons as the Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky ambassador for the West Coast. It was once again a new and exciting challenge for me. But I embraced it, learned a lot, worked hard, and most of all shared the passion I have for the brand with the markets and our customers. As when I was a Chef, at the end of the day, it’s all about sharing with deep care, commitment and empathy. Working with a family-owned company is amazing! Their know-how in Single Malt Scotch making is outstanding! It has been a fantastic journey since I started with the brand, whether traveling for Glenfiddich in our markets or working on our brand new partnership with Aston Martin Formula 1 Team!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Looking back at my career, those 3 things really helped me a lot:

-Having a great work ethic,
-Be passionate about what I’m doing.
– Stay curious and eager to learn.

Obviously, in my field, you also need to ”love” people, understand them, and most of all be an empathetic person.

I always also say the same thing: follow your gut, work hard, be open-minded, and stay positive. Trust in what you’re doing, accept your mistakes, and embrace even the smallest success.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

I would say people in general. Since I started my career as the Chef and later on as an ambassador, I always feed on people’s lives and experiences. Once again, the empathy plays a big role there. I could talk hours with people from all walks of life. Through all the people I met in my career, I’ve learned so much about life. I never take anything for granted. The people I met, the experiences I lived with all the challenges I also had to face in my life made me the person I am today. And I’m happy about it 🙂

Contact Info:

• Instagram: christophepienkowski
• Linkedin: Christophe Pienkowski Glenfiddich Brand Ambassador

Image Credits

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