Sue Conley is the co-founder of

Cowgirl Creamery Cowgirl Creamery is a company located in Point Reyes Station, California, which manufactures artisan cheeses. Founded in 1994, the company manufactures its own cheeses and sells other imported and domestic cheese and fine artisan foods. Its own ...

along with

Peggy Smith Peggy Smith is the co-founder of Cowgirl Creamery along with Sue Conley. Both women are credited with their role in developing Northern California's artisan cheese industry. In 2006, with Conley, she won a James Beard award in recognition for "si ...

. Both women are credited with their roles as catalysts of Northern California's artisan cheese industry. In 2006, along with Smith, she won a

James Beard award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

for "significant and lasting achievements and contributions to the food and beverage industry for ten or more years."

Early life

Conley was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where her grandfather managed the cafeteria Sholl's Colonial. She attended the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

, where she met Smith.

Work

After moving to the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

in 1976, Conley worked in restaurants before co-founding Bette's Oceanview Diner. After selling her shares in Bette's Oceanview Diner, she co-founded Tomales Bay Foods, a distributor and marketer of West Marin-produced foods, and Cowgirl Creamery, a manufacturer and distributor of artisan cheese, along with Smith. Conley has credited her travels to Europe as well as Peggy Smith's work at Chez Panisse as amplifying their interest in regional, artisan food production. According to Conley, they founded the cheese-making company as a way of creating a product which showcased the organic milk produced by Albert Straus at

Straus Family Creamery Straus Family Creamery is a California organic dairy, located in Marshall in Marin County. They produce whole milk, reduced and non-fat milk (pasteurized, but not homogenized), butter, cheese, ice cream and yogurt. Their milk is used in the prod ...

: "We saw the need to showcase great quality organic milk. The farm economy could not survive the state it was in, so we saw a need to preserve land in agriculture." Conley is a member of the California Artisan Cheese Guild. With Smith, she wrote ''Cowgirl Creamery Cooks''. In 2016, Conley and Smith sold Cowgirl Creamery to Emmi, a Swiss dairy firm.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conley, Sue Living people Date of birth missing (living people) People from Washington, D.C. University of Tennessee alumni Cheesemakers 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American artisans Dairy products companies in California Year of birth missing (living people)