Ashley Whitfield Donovan

Ashley Whitfield Donovan is the Wine & Beverage Director for Amelia’s Wood Fired Cuisine and Restaurant Basque, both located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2004 with a B.A. in English and Creative Writing; interested in wine and aware that it might be years before she could afford itas a hobby, she got a job in the speciality department at Whole Foods Market, and transferred from Chapel Hill to the Wine Store at Manhattan’s Columbus Circle. From there, she worked as a server at Thomas Keller’s per se, Keith Macnally’s Pastis, and Tia Pol Bar de Tapas, before helping to open Tinto Fino, an all-Spanish wine store in the East Village, where she was manager for three years. While in Manhattan, she studied at the International Wine Center, receiving her WSET Level III certification. She left Manhattan to work a season at James Beard Award winning chef Melissa Kelly’s Primo on Maine’s midcoast, before returning home to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where she opened The Brine and Bottle with Chef Andrew Donovan in 2010. In 2014, the couple moved to South Florida, where Whitfield Donovan was a manager at Stephen Starr’s Steak 954 in the W Hotel Fort Lauderdale Beach. She relocated with her family to Tulsa in 2018, and previously oversaw the beverage program at The Reserve at Grogg’s Green Barn.