Embracing Change and New Beginnings: Leaving the Charleston Wine and Food Festival

A personal letter about embracing change and new beginnings — and why following your heart, even when things are good, is sometimes exactly the right move.

Originally March 24. 2026

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Embracing change and new beginnings has never been the easy path — and my dad made sure I understood that from an early age. Change is hard, he always told me. But change is good. It is especially hard to walk away when things are genuinely good, when the work is meaningful, and when the people around you are extraordinary. But I also believe completely that when a new path presents itself clearly enough, following your heart — and your head — is not just an option. It is a responsibility. Embracing change and new beginnings is how I have always tried to live, and today I am living it more fully than ever before.

Today I announce a new beginning. Not an ending.

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What Embracing Change Means After Building Something From Nothing

I have been honored — genuinely, deeply honored — to have started and led one of the most impactful culinary organizations this city has ever seen. When the idea of a food and wine festival in Charleston was first discussed, there were only a handful of restaurants and chefs paving the way. Mike Lata was a young chef at Anson, just beginning to think about opening his own place. Johnson & Wales was closing its Charleston doors. The culinary landscape was full of dreams and potential but short on infrastructure.

What followed is something I still find difficult to fully put into words. The Charleston Wine + Food Festival became a genuine force — helping elevate Charleston into one of the leading culinary destinations in the country, contributing nearly $9 million in annual economic impact, and playing a meaningful role in what this city has become. Embracing change and new beginnings requires first acknowledging what you are leaving, and what I am leaving is something I am extraordinarily proud of.

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Embracing New Beginnings While Honoring What Was Built

I have enough memories from these years to fill a book or two — and most of them are ones I will carry privately, experienced exactly as they were meant to be. Some have been among the most remarkable moments of my life, and I have shared many of them here and will continue to share more in the years ahead. Some were genuinely hard. Egos are a real and persistent challenge in this industry, and the motivations of the people around you are not always pure. Leadership in the nonprofit world carries a specific kind of weight that most people on the outside never fully see. For those whose intentions were always genuine and good — you know who you are, and you have my deepest gratitude.

What is making this particular act of embracing change and new beginnings genuinely difficult is the staff I am leaving behind. They are the greatest team I have ever been part of. They breathe, live, love, give, care, cry, sweat, and hurt — all for this organization — and the Festival is extraordinarily lucky to have them. They will always, without question, be part of my family.

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The Adventures That Made Embracing Change Feel Possible

The friendships and experiences accumulated over these years are a huge part of why embracing this new beginning feels less like a loss and more like a launch. Friends now spread far and wide, adventures that have genuinely changed how I see the world — the SIIS Southern Food Road Trip, Memphis in May, Lambstock, Symposium, Music to Your Mouth, Aspen Food & Wine, and New York City more times than I can count — each one life-changing in its own specific way.

Research on professional transitions consistently shows that the people who navigate change most successfully are the ones who have invested deeply in relationships and experiences along the way. I have been doing exactly that, whether I knew it at the time or not. Embracing change and new beginnings is easier when you are leaving rich and arriving ready.

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Why Embracing Change and New Beginnings Is the Only Answer

So many people will ask why. My only honest answer is: why not?

I never intended to run the Festival indefinitely. I always wanted to get back to doing my own thing — building something on my own terms, in my own way, on my own timeline. Entrepreneurial instinct doesn’t disappear just because you’re doing meaningful work somewhere else. It waits. And when the moment comes to act on it, embracing change and new beginnings is not a risk — it is the most honest thing you can do.

The time is right. I am ready.

I will remain connected to the Festival and everything it represents forever — it is too much a part of me to be otherwise. And to everyone who loved, supported, championed, and cared for me through these years: thank you. I am proud to call you my friend, and I am grateful beyond what any letter can fully express.

Until we meet again — and we will, Angel

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Learn more about Angel Holmes and everything she’s passionate about at sipindipity.com/angel-holmes.