Sharing our enthusiasm and commitment to the region are our Experience! The Finger Lakes team. These are the best in the business. Our tour guides and office staff are highly-trained hospitality professionals – but they’re also enthusiastic locals, our friends and neighbors who have made their homes here. Even when they’re not guiding tours, our employees are the people in town who give the best directions, recommend the best restaurants, and generally know where the fun is happening around Ithaca and the region.
Our Tour Guides
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Chris, our veteran E!FLX tour guide, is Mr. Hospitality. With over 5 years of touring and 10 years of fine dining expertise, and holding a WSET2 wine credential, expect him to provide fabulous insights about everything food and wine on all our tours. He is also an fabulous artist. Check out his work at Loomisart.
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Samantha is a perfect match for Experience! The Finger Lakes. She holds a BS in Geology and is also a Sales Associate at Triphammer Wines and Spirits working towards her associates degree in wine marketing. As a result, you will see her guiding both our natural history tours of the gorges and our wine tours.
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Emma is one of the most recognized faces in the Finger Lakes. She has been in the FLX wine industry for years both as Tasting Room Manager at Hector Wine Company and as a sales associate at the ultra hip Red Feet Wine Market in Ithaca. She also has years of experience in leading tours as a docent for Corning Museum of Glass. Emma has passed her Introductory Sommelier Course and is currently working towards her certification with the Court of Master Sommeliers.
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Angela, with her love of wine, local food and teaching make her a natural tour guide. Angela serves as our Tour Ambassador to the Corning community for our satellite office, and also guides our wine tours and Corning downtown history and culture tours. She is a tenured professor of Political Science at Keuka College a former Transylvania teenage expat, and hip hop fanatic.
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Tammy has recently joined the E!FLX tour guide team and was immediately a natural! She has been working in hospitality since she was a teenager, just finished a culinary degree, has lived all over the Finger Lakes and knows so much about the area. She also knows her wine after taking Laura’s wine course at Tompkins Cortland Community College. You’ll love her fun personality along with her extended knowledge about everything Finger Lakes!
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As owner and President, Laura doesn’t tour as much as she used to, but you’ll find her stepping in periodically to host a special group or fill in for her awesome staff. Laura is a Certified Sommelier and Professor or Wine at Tompkins Cortland Community College, so get ready to learn a lot when she tours.
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Rachel, while having relocated to Louisville, Kentucky, is one of our two special tour guide emeriti. Rachel is a yoga instructor in Ithaca, and runs a Yoga retreats in Ithaca, Costa Rica, and other fabulous destinations. So, expect to see her when she is in the region. Learn more about her Yoga at Heart Thread Yoga.
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Steph, while relocated to Switzerland, is our tour guide emeritus, and permanent member of the E!FLX family, and can at anytime show up back in the FLX for a pop-up tour or event.
Our Office Team
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As owner and CEO, Alan stays mostly behind the scenes taking care of the big stuff, but can be found occasionally doing a pop-up waterfalls and gorge hike, as our company’s original natural history guide.
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Je is our Tour Coordinator, so when you give us a call, chances are you will get to know her. Je helps you plan your perfect visit, and sets the stage for the level of quality service you will receive from start to finish with E!FLX. Je comes to us with over 16 years in hospitality, so you know you will be treated well.
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Aidan, Jackson and Chris make up our team of Tour Office and Tour Prep Assistants. These are the young men who keep our vans spotless and prepare all the extra little details that help make E!FL tours so special.
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Anissa is our business manager, handling the financial side of our biz, but can always be counted on for joining our team tastings for ‘quality assurance’ purposes.