A fresh voice joins the lineup as our Tea Keynote
An exciting addition to the conference programme: Rona Tison is announced the Tea Keynote speaker at the Women in Tea & Coffee Conference.
Rona is currently the executive advisor and tea ambassador for ITO EN North America. The parent company, ITO EN, based in Tokyo, is Japan’s number one green tea brand. A tea industry connoisseur with a refined approach to the US Japanese culture and innovative marketing, Tison started her career in the hospitality industry while attending University of California, Berkeley.
Being half Japanese and half American, she has a true passion and appreciation for the culture of traditional and modern cuisines, with a global approach to Japanese tea and cuisine. She received the 2017 John Harney Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Tea Expo for her educational contributions to the tea industry, the first woman to ever receive this prestigious award.
Fluent in Japanese, she worked as a tour guide for Japan Airline Tours (JALPAK) while in college. Tison embarked on her hospitality career at the San Francisco Hilton in the tour and travel sales department and later became catering manager. While working at the Parker Meridien in New York City, she was scouted to launch a four-floor lifestyle store, FELISSIMO, off 5th Avenue. During this time as managing director, Tison oversaw retail operations and the tearoom, which included various collaborations with UNESCO, the James Beard House, and New York Magazine.
In 2002, she joined ITO EN as executive vice president of public relations to help launch the company’s first flagship store in the United States and restaurant on Madison Avenue. The tea store subsequently was rated Top Tea Store for nine years in Zagat’s Marketplace with the restaurant, KAI, regarded as a Japanese culinary destination.
She has been a speaker at the Smithsonian Lecture Series in Washington, DC, at the United Nations in New York City, and showcased Japanese teas at the Flavors of Japan event at the Culinary Institute of Napa Valley in California with 50 Japanese visiting Chefs. Tison has also participated in the Shizuoka Tea Festival and in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Northwest Tea Festival.