About Liz Tagami

Overview

Liz Tagami is a merchant with nearly 40 years of professional experience, some of which includes 25 years in senior position with publicly traded, VC, or PE backed corporations. She specialized in sourcing, product development, and business management at that time. Liz has spent over 13 years as an entrepreneur running an International business, and 7 years as the owner/operator of a highly regarded boutique olive oil producer in Corning, California. A specialist in start up, turnaround, and high growth ventures with a consumer focus, she’s transacted business in 40 countries, including frequent travel to 30 of them, which has yielded powerful connections in commerce, government, and academia.

The Journey

Retail employment included Williams-Sonoma, Cost Plus World Market, Harry & David and the HomeChef Cooking School in California. She founded Tagami International, LLC in 2008 as an international brokerage for premium food and wine with a particular focus on extra virgin olive oil from all of the major growing areas in the world. After a short time as a food and wine generalist, her consumer brand experience and love of olive oil evolved into a consultancy for olive growers. Liz soon became the acting General Manager for her favorite client, Lucero Olive Oil, then a business partner and permanent GM. Today, Liz operates the Lucero Olive Oil brand and several others in a new shop called American Olive Farmer, which launched in beta mode March 2022 with a Spring 2022 roll out.

Olive Oil Bonafides

Here are a few examples of Liz’s involvement in olive oil in recent years:

• investing in over 200 hours of time in olive oil sensory evaluation and olive milling instruction and master classes around the world
• tasting for over 60 focused hours as an judge in olive oil competitions in Jerusalem, Napa, and Tokyo
• devoting three years as a member of an AOCS Tasting Panel
• delighting in three years as the Director of International Relations for the largest olive oil event in Asia, Olive Japan
• volunteering as a board member for the Extra Virgin Alliance and Olive Oil Commission of California, where she is a charter member of both organizations
• spending two years as an executive advisor on the UC Davis Olive Center board of directors
• reporting and writing for the Olive Oil Times and OliveOil.com
• presenting at olive oil conferences on five continents to professionals and enthusiasts
• managing a fully-vertical branch to bottle olive oil production company that experienced 4x tonnage growth

A Little More About Liz Tagami

Of course, there is more to her than her work. Liz is a 6th generation Californian, married to her high school sweetheart, enjoys playing and listening to chamber music, and jokes she fluent in at least seven words in every language. Read more about Liz Tagami and her professional profile on LinkedIN.

22 comments