Staff, Collaborators + Partners

Pippa Sorley joined the PMCA team in the fall of 2021, after decades of admiring Peggy and her exquisite vision from afar. She is a social ‘entrepreneuse’ with extensive background in strategic development, financial strategy, communications, branding, and marketing for sustainable + conscious businesses.  She is deeply passionate about all things sustainable and exploring new economic systems that will help shift the paradigm towards a more regenerative world.

Originally from England, she moved to the US when she was young, but her international roots led to her wanderlust. After university, she spent several years living and traveling through Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Australia, Nepal, India and across Europe. More recenlty, she has relished exploring Guatemala, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Mexico and British Columbia, and joined Peggy to co-host her 2022 program to Morocco.

She currently lives in Boulder, Colorado with her 16-year old son & too-smart border collie. She is an eco-photographer, skier, e-biker, world adventurer and loves to laugh, hard.

Elena Valeriote is a storyteller – a novelist, journalist, documentary producer, and photographer whose work across all media is rooted in a strong sense of place. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Narrative Studies from the University of Southern California in 2015, Elena left her native land in California and spent the following decade living in Italy. She first moved to Milan, where she worked as cultural ambassador at the World’s Fair, interacting daily with visitors from over a hundred countries. From there, she relocated to Tuscany, where she spent several years living on an organic farm and working as their Communications Manager, and later moved to Florence, where she completed a master’s degree in Italian Studies. It was there that she met Peggy Markel for the first time. 

During her years in Italy, Elena reconnected with her Italian ancestry, traveled through all twenty of Italian regions, and became fluent in the Italian language. She also traveled independently through over two dozen countries. These experiences instilled in her a deep appreciation for cultural exchanges, a profound passion for good food and drinks, and a heartfelt commitment to caring for our planet. As a journalist, her writing focuses on agriculture, climate, culture, and travel. You can read her stories here and follow her travels here.

Aimée Knight, PhD, is a writer and educator a passion for exploring the ways stories connect people, places, and cultures. With a career spanning over two decades, her work bridges media, community engagement, and culinary storytelling. A lifelong traveler, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Poland before earning an advanced degree in European Studies from Jagiellonian University in Kraków—alma mater of Nicolaus Copernicus.
As a Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Saint Joseph’s University and the author of Community is the Way: Engaged Writing and Designing for Transformative Change (2022), Aimée has led storytelling workshops across the U.S., Italy, Greece, Canada, and New Zealand, supporting individuals and organizations in crafting narratives with authenticity and heart.
At Peggy Markel’s Culinary Adventures, Aimée weaves together narrative design, media strategy, and a deep appreciation of place to capture the essence of travel and taste. She’s currently searching for a dish that rivals the carbonara udon she recently had in Paris.

I was lucky enough to explore the world with my mother, father and sister from an early age. At five, I was eating kangaroo in Australia’s McLaren Vale, and at ten, I was already drinking Campari and soda in the Florentine palazzi (What?… We didn’t realize it had alcohol).

I learned how to cook at my mother’s Tuscan culinary school from some of the best chefs in Italy.  At 21, I got my first cooking job at The Kitchen back in my hometown of Boulder, Colorado. I moved over to bartending after a year and began learning about wine and cocktails. This is where the idea of crafting my own beverages was sparked.

I graduated from Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and got a job at Antica Terra Winery in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. For seven years, I worked under Antica Terra’s Maggie Harrison and Hiyu Wine Farm’s Master Sommelier, Nate Ready. I learned many things from those two, but the number one thing I learned was to think deeply about winemaking and how to add beauty to every step of the process. No matter how arduous or tiring, every action must be taken to make the best wine possible.

Many people say that if you squint hard enough, the rolling hills of The Dalles look somewhat like the hills of Chianti. It reminded me of some wild hybrid of the American West and Tuscany, two places near and dear to my heart. The opportunity was too excellent to pass up. It was time for me to make my wine available at www.buonanottewines.com.

I still love to cook, and I’m always looking to push the boundaries of creativity in the world of food and wine. I love to join my mother on trips, especially in Tuscany where I feel most at home, but also in Procida where I lived for 5 months working with Bluedream Charter. Cooking on the boat is challenging, but obviously a joy… but not as much fun as fishing for octopus by hand.

Photo: Making wine in Hood River, Oregon.