When trying to decide what "type" of person Pamela Fishman Cianci falls into, my first reaction was, "there are just so many." My second was, "like the select few that we choose to promote, she also doesn't fit in a box." However, when I picked "owner and provider" that said it in a nutshell, especially the "provider" part.

Currently, Pamela Fishman Cianci’s philanthropic efforts are felt throughout the city of San Francisco. She can often be found helping and attending countless fundraisers. Pamela serves a Board Member for the Hamilton Family Center and chairs their Annual Fundraiser each October. She is also often baking and delivering food for Food Runners, an organization that takes left-over food from restaurants, corporations and grocery stores in order to help feed the homeless.

Professionally, one of her entrepreneurial endeavors has led her to start a baking company called Sugar & Spike -- where every cake she makes is spiked.

Having previously come from the wine industry, you can bet the quality of the liquor is "a cut above."

One of her newest ventures is helping clients such as learning centers, plastic surgeons, photographers and makeup artists with branding, event planning and good old fashion common sense to help bring any given business to the next level - whatever that next level is for the client.

Prior to branching out on her own, Pamela was the PlumpJack Group Director of Marketing and Events. For more than five years, she oversaw the marketing initiatives as the PlumpJack Group grew from five to twelve businesses. During that time, she also served as a Business Liaison and Financial Manager to Gavin Newsom, founder of PlumpJack, who soon became City Supervisor and then Mayor of San Francisco.

Among her many achievements, she raised funds in excess of $10 million for new businesses, $5 million for charity and $600,000 for political campaigns.

She said, "I felt lucky to come upon an opportunity with a company that shared my same passions for food, wine, service, hospitality, giving back to the community, and everything related to the Northern California region."

Pamela grew up in rural coastal Massachusetts and attended high school in Providence, Rhode Island. She received a B.A. in English with a minor in Theatre from the University of Vermont (1995) as well as a Masters in Administrative Education along with a Secondary Education Teaching Credential, also from UVM (1996).

This training initially led her into the fields of teaching and journalism -- which remain passions of hers to this today. Her education exposed her to creative thinking and business, both of which have proved to be an asset in years to come.

During this time, one of the adventures that stands out was a trip to the Peoples Republic of China. There she explored and researched the Yunnan Province's educational system and composed a detailed written account of their culture and lifestyle.

In Vermont, the New England Culinary Institute’s Inn at Essex, Sweetwater’s, Bove’s and Nectar’s were Pamela’s initiation into the “Food & Beverage Industry.”

Pamela loves the outdoors. When she is not baking or serving food to the homeless, you can regularly catch her in Lake Tahoe, where a decade ago she spent two years.

Pamela lives in North Beach, above a professional kitchen, with her husband Darrin Cianci.

If "healthy, adventuresome and soulful" are three adjectives we use to define Rugged Elegance, Pamela Fishman Cianci could teach it!

“Food Runners”

“Sugar & Spike”