About Us

Artisan Cheese Marketing (ACM) is a unique cheese public relations, education and marketing company designed to meet the education needs of the growing North American cheese industry. Our goal is to expand appreciation and product awareness of cheese through communication, courses and tasting events with consumers, the culinary and retail trade, culinary schools and media.

Cheese Education Guild is the first cheese school dedicated to cheese appreciation in Canada. Since 2005, this in-depth, certificate program has raised the level of cheese knowledge and inspired cheese enjoyment for all levels of caseophiles (cheese lovers).

Throughout the series of three Cheese Appreciation courses, students explore and compare hundreds of cheeses so that they can experience the artistry in a truly great cheese and understand the challenges facing cheesemakers. Our graduates are the cream of the crop in the cheese world, the sommeliers of cheese if you will. There is no better place to train your palate and your staff to the intricacies of cheese than at the CEG .

Kathy Guidi

Kathy Guidi is Dean of Cheese Education Guild (CEG) and the founder and president of Artisan Cheese Marketing (ACM). With over 35 years of experience working with cheese mongers and producers across Europe, Canada and the United States, Kathy is known as a cheese industry leader and innovator with well established relationships, particularly in Canada and the US. She has worked in many facets of the cheese & deli industry. Some highlights include:

• Founder / Owner / Operator of a cheese and deli products brokerage company in Chicago

• Business development consulting for numerous cheese producers and cheese agricultural agencies

• Director of National Sales Training & Development at Ault Foods Limited, for a sales force of 150 people

• Sales and Marketing Manager, North America, for Balderson Cheese Company

• Retail management at Jewel Food Stores, a 180-store Chicago based supermarket chain, in a variety of roles including: Buyer/Merchandiser; Senior Consumer Affairs Home Economist; Store Manager; and Delicatessen Research & Development Home Economist

Respected as a ‘maitre fromager (cheese master),’ Kathy continues to influence and lead the domestic and international cheese world through her passionate training sessions and public speaking engagements. She is a founding and active member of the Ontario Cheese Society; a member of the American Cheese Society and on the ACS Cheese Education Committee, a member of Slow Food International and Woman's Culinary Network. She also founded the Cheese Education Guild Caseophile Club where graduates of CEG continue their explorations of cheese.

Kathy’s Bachelor of Science degree in Food and Nutrition provided the foundation for weaving her career around cheese. "This wholesome, pure food can be traced to every ethnic group, culture and period of history throughout time. Even today it provides a common link among people across the world. The experience of cheese connects everyone!" she says.

Instructors / Associates:

Our associates and instructors are passionate caseophiles who have exceptional presentation and communication skills They are carefully chosen from the graduating class of Cheese Eduction Guild and are mentored rigorously with Kathy Guidi before being certified to teach CEG programs.

Our training credo is: to teach is to learn and to learn is to grow.

Anne-Marie Shubin

Anne-Marie was born and raised in Ottawa, where as the daughter of a Belgian mother and Mauritian father she regularly sampled a wide range of culinary experiences. She continued her culinary explorations while studying for 2 postgraduate degrees in Montreal, France, England and Germany.

At age 16, Anne-Marie realized her love for cheese would run deep for a lifetime to come. Sitting on the grass outside Versailles, France with her family, eating fresh baguette and a ripe Brie de Meaux , she discovered culinary heaven. "We bought the Brie on the side of the road, from a vendor who displayed his cheeses on an old wooden table covered in all sorts of leaves and grasses. I never knew how wonderful soft-ripened cheese could be until that moment."

After years of crunching numbers for some of Canada's top financial institutes Anne-Marie traded in her successful corporate job for a chef's toque. In 2001 she graduated from the George Brown College Culinary Management program and went on to stir up great meals in the kitchens of Toronto's Park Hyatt, Celestin, Aqua, Zoom and Roger's Centre.  

While studying with Cheese Education Guild, Anne-Marie assisted at many Artisan Cheese Marketing tasting events and has recently started to teach at George Brown College's culinary school.

We are thrilled Anne-Marie, a 2007 graduate of CEG has joined our team as a CEG instructor and member of the Cheese Education Guild Caseophile Club where she will inspire others to navigate their own exciting cheese journey.

Deborah Levy

Debbie grew up in the Niagara Peninsula which gave her an appreciation and passion for fresh seasonal food. Her travel industry background served up her seminal moment in cheese appreciation. While working for Air Portugal, pilots would bring her Portuguese cheeses to try. Meals in Portugal would always start with queso fresco, pao Portuguese (bread), olives and olive oil. The simplicity and freshness of these traditions have always stayed with her.

Debbie is a recent graduate of the George Brown Chef Training and Baking and Pastry Arts programs. She is a graduate of the 2006 class of Cheese Education Guild and has also completed Wine Appreciation 1 through the International Sommelier Guild.

Since 2005, Debbie has assisted Artisan Cheese Marketing in coordinating and executing Dairy Farmers of Canada and many other private tasting events. Debbie also leads LCBO wine and cheese workshops in conjunction with an LCBO product consultant.

Debbie is an active member of the Ontario Cheese Society, the American Cheese Society, Slow Food International and the Woman’s Culinary Network. She is also a founding member of the newly formed CEG Caseophile Cheese Club.

In her spare time Debbie loves adventure travel. Some of her highlights include climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and the Grand Teton, trekking in Nepal and scuba diving in Palau.