What you probably already know: Women have long been the backbone of food, wine and hospitality — as chefs, winemakers, restaurateurs, farmers and educators. Yet historically, they've received less visibility, fewer opportunities and less access to the mentorship and funding that helps the next generation succeed. Women make up nearly 60% of the hospitality industry but hold only about a quarter of the leadership positions.
Why it matters: Formidable Member Jamie Peha is seeking to change that. Peha, who has had a long career in wine and hospitality, is the co-creator of The Dames Table, a new intimate dinner series launched through Les Dames d'Escoffier Seattle that she’s built along with a team of hospitality professionals. Held in private homes, acclaimed restaurants, culinary schools and working farms across the Pacific Northwest, each dinner seats just 8 to 12 guests alongside the accomplished women who created the menu, poured the wine and built the experience from scratch. Every seat sold funds scholarships, mentorship and professional development for women in food, beverage and hospitality.
The response has been swift. Several dinners sold quickly after launch, and at least one concept was purchased multiple times. Peha wasn't surprised. "My career has taught me that people will invest in experiences that are authentic, exclusive and impossible to replicate," she says.
What it means: For Peha, the series is also deeply personal. "What makes the Dames Table Dinner Series meaningful to me is the generosity and uniqueness behind them. Talented women are sharing their craft, food, wine and hospitality to create an extraordinary evening for guests while helping open doors for the next generation of women in food, beverage and hospitality. One night, one menu, one purpose — that's a table I'm proud to invite people to."
The intimacy is the point. Guests aren't observers. They're participants, perhaps cooking alongside a chef at Hot Stove Society, hearing a winemaker tell the story of her harvest from directly across the table, or dining in a chef's home surrounded by the stories behind every dish. "You aren't simply attending an event," Peha says. "You're part of the experience." Seattle's remarkable food, wine and agricultural community — and the women who built it — makes this kind of access possible in a way that couldn't be replicated anywhere else, she says.
What happens next: Peha envisions The Dames Table becoming a signature annual series that continues to evolve, pairing established Dames with emerging women in the industry, creating unexpected collaborations between chefs and winemakers who haven't worked together before, and unfolding across vineyards, farms and extraordinary settings that tell Washington's food and wine story in new ways. "The model is almost limitless," she says, "while the purpose remains very simple: Bring people together around a remarkable table, celebrate women, and use that experience to create opportunities for the women coming next."
