Meet Our Writers
Founder and CEO of Azure Road, Lauren Mowery is a longtime wine, food, and travel writer. Mowery continues to serve on Decanter Magazine’s 12-strong US editorial team. Prior to joining Decanter, she spent five years as the travel editor at Wine Enthusiast. Mowery has earned accolades for her writing and photography, having contributed travel, drinks, food, and sustainability content to publications like Food & Wine, Forbes, Afar, The Independent, Saveur, Hemispheres, U.S. News & World Report, SCUBA Diving, Plate, Chef & Restaurant, Hotels Above Par, AAA, Fodors.com, Lonely Planet, USA Today, Men’s Journal, and Time Out, among others.
Pursuing her Master of Wine certification, she has also been a regular wine and spirits writer for Tasting Panel, Somm Journal, VinePair, Punch, and SevenFifty Daily. Mowery is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Fordham Law School, and she completed two wine harvests in South Africa.
Follow her on Instagram @AzureRoad and TikTok @AzureRoad
Karthika Gupta is a travel photographer, freelance writer, and podcaster based in Chicago but originally from India. Through her storytelling and photography, she aims to bring cultural narratives to the forefront. Her work has been featured in Vogue, BBC Travel, Conde Nast Traveler, Hemispheres, Travel and Leisure, and more. She was recognized as one of 12 female artists worldwide by Fujifilm. As an avid outdoor enthusiast, she enjoys writing about destinations, brands, and products in the outdoor, lifestyle, beauty, and travel space. Follow Karthika on IG @karthikagupta.
Amber Gibson is an award-winning journalist specializing in travel, food, wine and wellness. Her work has appeared in The Telegraph, Chicago Tribune, NPR, Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, Robb Report, Saveur, Bon Appétit, Fodor’s and Hemispheres. She graduated as valedictorian from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and received a fellowship to attend the 2017 Wine Writer’s Symposium at Meadowood Napa Valley. Follow Amber on IG @amberyv.
Bonnie is a Bali-based freelance writer specializing in a more eco-conscious brand of luxury travel, design, style and wellbeing. Her bylines to-date include Azure Road, Elle UK, BBC Travel, Artful Living, Upscale Living, BLLNR, Well + Good, The New Zealand Herald and many others. For more from Bonnie, you can subscribe to her Substack or follow Bonnie on IG @eco.luxury.bon.
Carrie Dykes is a wine, food and travel journalist living in the Hudson Valley. Besides wine and travel, her hobbies are finding treasures in thrift stores and forest floors. Follow Carrie on IG @lilmarzipan.
Travel writer, mountain guide, yoga teacher, trail runner and mother, Sarah Kingdom was born and brought up in Sydney, Australia. Coming to Africa at 21 she fell in love with the continent and stayed. Sarah guides on Kilimanjaro several times a year, and has lost count of how many times she has stood on the roof of Africa. She has climbed and guided around the world and now spends most of her time visiting remote places in Africa. When she is not traveling she runs a cattle ranch in Zambia with her husband. Follow Sarah on IG @sarah_kingdom_travels.
Carrie Honaker is a Florida-based food and travel writer who is not sure where she will land next, but it will involve messy eating, a spicy Tempranillo, and finding the local farmers market. She has hauled oyster cages off the Forgotten Coast of Florida, harvested indigenous crops with the Abenaki Tribe in Vermont, learned to make beef patties from a Jamaican auntie, made Guavaberry Liqueur with a 7th generation distiller on St. Maarten, and stomped cacao pods in Grenada. Follow Carrie on IG @writeonhonaker.
Kathleen Willlcox writes about drinks, travel and culture from her home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and from the road, while exploring. She is keenly interested in sustainability issues, and the business of making ethical drinks and food. Her work appears regularly in Wine Searcher, Wine Enthusiast, Modern Farmer, The Drinks Business, Wine Industry Advisor and many other publications. Follow Kathleen on IG @kathleenwillcox.
Rebecca Rhoades is an award-winning writer, editor and photographer who specializes in travel, architecture and design, art, and all things fun and exciting. Her travels include more than 30 countries which have informed her writing and my outlook on life. She has told stories about swimming with manatees, volunteering at a Thai elephant sanctuary, making cheese with Pennsylvania’s Amish community, and circumnavigating Iceland’s famed Ring Road. I’ve interviewed artists, celebrity chefs and rock legends. Follow Rebecca on IG @rlrhoades.
Summer Rylander is a freelance travel and science journalist covering positive-impact tourism and the conservation of our biodiverse planet. Follow Summer on IG @summeroutside.
Feride Yalav-Heckeroth has been writing about contemporary culture in Turkey since 2012. Her work has been published in Kinfolk, Wallpaper*, Brownbook, The Travel Almanac, CNN Travel, Conde Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure. She’s also the author of her own guidebook, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Istanbul. Find more of her work in her portfolio or follow Feride on IG @fyheck.
Magdalena is an international freelancer where wine, gastronomy and travel are integral in her life. While seeking experiences that express the essence of a place, she is drawn to those that benefit the planet. She makes tiny batches of wine herself for hands-on learning, is certified in sustainable tourism, judges wine at Decanter Wine Awards and has an affinity for retro cocktails. Follow Magdalena on IG @mkaiserwine.
Amy Bess Cook is a writer with deep roots in the wine world. As founder of a pioneering platform amplifying female vintners, her work has earned recognition from media including The New York Times, and from colleagues as Imbibe magazine’s “Wine Person of the Year.” Her essays and articles have appeared in trade and lifestyle publications, including Wine Enthusiast. Follow Amy Bess on her Substack and IG @amybessyes.
Katherine Lawless is a Minneapolis-based freelance travel and lifestyle writer. Her editorial specialties include wellness, boutique stays, destination guides, and all things related to lakeside living. Kate has contributed original and sponsored content to BBC Travel, AFAR, Spa & Beauty Today, Minnesota Monthly, and more and is a proud graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. See more of her work here.
Betsy Andrews is an award-winning journalist with more than two decades of experience covering food, drink, and travel. She is also a poet. Her books include New Jersey and The Bottom.
Rebecca is a freelance writer specializing in budget and adventure travel. She can often be found searching for the best tacos and cannolis in a given location, or hiking and bouldering in new destinations. She has been featured in Lonely Planet, The Independent, Stylist Magazine, and Time Out Travel. You can find her writing about her own adventures and sharing budget-friendly, sustainable travel advice on her site, Wandering and Wine. Follow Rebecca on IG @Rebekkiie.
Heide Brandes is an award-winning journalist whose’ work appeared in National Geographic Traveler, The Wall Street Journal, The Smithsonian, Cowboys & Indians, Southern Living, Fodors, BBC Travel, ROVA, Outdoor x 4 Magazine and The Washington Post, and others. When not traveling and writing, Heide is an avid hiker, a medieval recreation enthusiast, a professional belly dancer and kind of a quirky chick from Oklahoma. Follow Heide on IG @heidewrite.
Bridget Shirvell is an independent journalist based in Connecticut. Her food, parenting and environmental reporting has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Martha Stewart Living, Good Housekeeping and more. An environmentalist for as long as she can remember, her climate solutions work took on new urgency after becoming a parent. Bridget lives in an old house in Mystic, Connecticut with her daughter and dog. She can be found online at breeshirvell.com. Follow Bridget on IG @breeshirvell.
Zoe Baillargeon is an award-winning travel writer and journalist, writing about travel, food and drink, wine, wellness, culture, nature, and lifestyle for outlets like National Geographic, Travel + Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, Wine Enthusiast, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, and many more. Her love for adventure and trying new things has taken her all over the world from dogsledding across northern Sweden to hiking the coast of Japan to wine harvests in Oregon, with stints living in Chile where she fell in love with wine. Currently based in the Pacific Northwest, you can follow her adventures on IG at @zoebaillargeon.