Madeleine Hill Vedel has extensive experience in cheesemaking, farming, culinary education, translation, and arts management. She worked as the general manager of Idyll Farms in Michigan from 2011-2014, where she oversaw the creation of the farm and won several cheesemaking awards. Prior to that, she ran a successful cooking school in France for 15 years. She has also worked as a writer, photographer, translator, and consultant for various farms and publications. Vedel has a diverse professional background spanning the arts, agriculture, education, and small business management across multiple countries.

1. C U R R I C U L U M V I T A E
Madeleine Hill Vedel
8755 Timbers Trail, Traverse City, MI 49685
(231) 432-0499 • madeleinevedel@gmail.com
Professional Experience:
2015
Wait Staff, Cheese Steward
The Cooks House, Traverse City, Michigan, August -
Edible Traverse Magazine
Writer, Photographer
Consultant, Farmstead Cheese,
Grassfields Cheese, Coopersville, Michigan, August 2015 ongoing
Prodigal Farms, Bahama, North Carolina, April – June, 2015
Translator, OBSALIM Method for Ruminants – an ongoing project to translate the methods of French
Veterinarian Dr. Bruno Giboudeau for observing visual and behavioral traits in ruminants, deducing their
physical needs and adjusting feed.
2011-2014
Project Developer and General Manager, Idyll Farms, Northport, Michigan
Recruited from France by the owners of Idyll Farms to oversee the creation and initial years of what was originally
planned to be a 50-goat farm producing multiple styles of goat cheeses.
Responsibilities
• Working as consultant with architects and expert French colleagues to design the dairy and creamery including the
underground caves’ temperature, humidity and air flow specifications.
• Selecting and in some cases designing dairy and creamery equipment from milking stands to pasteurizing vat,
molds, cheese trolleys, etc.
• Identifying, negotiating for and then traveling to Indiana and Ohio to add goats beyond the initial 13 purchased
before my arrival.
• Hiring and training herdsmen and assistant cheesemakers.
• Creating the cheese line.
• Keeping records of disbursements and purchases and organizing these accounts on QuickBooks.
• Initial marketing and communicating campaigns throughout the Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties, and to
cheese professionals domestically.
National Cheese-making Awards

2. 2013 American Cheese Society, Third Place in Mixed Milk Rind Aged: Chevrotin
2014 American Cheese Society, Second Place in American Original Mixed Milk: Idyllweiss
2014 American Cheese Society, Third Place in Flavored Cheese All Milks: Idyll Gris Ash Rind Cake with Black
Olive Tapenade
Professional Experience: 1997–2011
Association Cuisine et Tradition
15 years as creator, manager and publicist of a cooking school, culinary tourism business and bed-and-breakfast in
Arles in Provence, a highly competitive field.
Each year, 15 separate sessions drew clients from around the world to participate in cooking classes, food artisan
visits, French language instruction, intensive professional training in chocolate and cheese, wine-tasting and more.
Co-designed website, updated regularly, maintained email list and marketed via the Internet and guide books. Wrote
and sent out regular press releases. Collaborated with international network of colleagues on cooking courses.
1994 -2001: Picture Photo Space Gallery
Assisted this Osaka based gallery with international art fairs and events in New York, Paris, Los Angeles and
Houston. Responsibilities included translating, negotiating sales, receiving both VIP collectors and artists.
1994-1996:
Attended Institut Supérieur de Management Culturel for my Masters in Arts Management in Paris. Interned at the
Centre National de la Photographie under Robert Delpire doing a wide variety of office tasks and event
management.
1992 - 1994:
International Association of University Presidents meeting in Kobe Japan, Tanioka Gakuen
One of a team of three who ran the Secretariat organizing and hosting the triennial meeting of the IAUP in Kobe by
Tanioka Gakuen, a private university group including the Osaka University of Commerce, Osaka Junior College,
Nagoya Women’s University, and the Kobe Design Center. Once this position was completed I stayed on to work
for the Vice-President (now President) of Tanioka Gakuen, Ichiro Tanioka, for whom I continued to edit his
professional writings over the next two years from my homes in Seattle and then Paris.
Responsibilities included all communication with non-Asian University Presidents and their staff, re-viewing all
presentation requests, dividing them into sessions, co-designing, editing and formatting the conference documents,
drafting the speech of the Prince, assisting at numerous meetings with the board, extensive filing, faxing, etc.,
Professional Skills
Excellent writing skills; team building and team management, online and interpersonal communications; social
media, record-keeping, photography, wine tasting, cheese making;
Management Strengths
• Networking, communicating, consulting, learning, and teaching.
• Evaluating, recruiting, training and guiding team members.
• Knowing the limits of my personal expertise and when I need to consult with others.
• Recognizing the strengths of employees and coworkers and encouraging them to grow and learn in new areas as
needed.
•
Communicating
success
locally
and
nationally
through
managing
and
updating
websites,
newsletters
and

3. other
contemporary
media
including
Facebook,
Instagram,
email
newsletters
and
blogs
•
tactful
communication,
recognition
of
subtle
non-­‐verbal
signals,
extensive
international
experience
at
a
professional
level.
Computer
Skills:
fluent
on
both
Mac
&
PC;
MS
Office
Suite,
Quickbooks,
BPEdit,
FileMaker
Pro,
Fetch,
Google
Calendar,
-­‐
a
quick
study
on
software.
Publications
“Saving the Raw Milk Cheeses of Provence,” Nourishing Traditions, February 2006,
http://www.realmilk.com/international-updates/saving-the-raw-milk-cheeses-of-provence/
The Japanese sections including numerous biographies and historical over-views for ”The Oxford Companion to the
Photograph, 2005, Ed. Robin Lenman, Oxford University Press
A Series of articles on wine in Provence on the web-based magazine Bonjour Paris.
https://bonjourparis.com/author/madeleine-vedel/
Blogs/Website
http://www.Becomingafromagere.com, 2012–2015
http://www.American-in-avignon.blogspot.com, 2008–2015
http://cuisineprovencale.com, 19992015
Translations
Guide des Vins, Bettane & Desseauve, 2010, 2011 (one of three translators)
Recipes from Provence, René Husson, Editions Fleurines, 2005
Recipes from the Aveyron, Philippe Galmiche, Editions Fleurines, 2010
Louise Bourgeois, The Blind Leading the Blind, Makhi Xenakis, Actes Sud, Galerie Lelong, Arles, 2008
Selective Mentions in Press and in Travel Guides
http://m.leelanaunews.com/news/2012-09-20/Life_in_Leelanau/NORTHPORTS_GOT_YOUR_GOATS.html, The
Leelanau Enterprise
http://www.morningstarpublishing.com/articles/2013/04/03/grand_traverse_insider/life/doc5159c66a1cab53198613
44.txt, Jeffrey N. Kessler, Standing Idyll: Historic Farm Soon to Introduce Goat Cheese, The Grand Traverse
Insider
http://onlinedigeditions.com/article/Farm_to_Table/1438854/164958/article.html Edible Traverse, Patty LaNoue
Stearns, “Farm to Table” Serious Chèvre, Summer 2013
http://mynorth.com/2014/04/idyll-farms-crafts-old-world-blue-ribbon-goat-cheeses/ Tim Tibeau, Traverse, Northern
Michigan’s Magazine.
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2002/07/31/features/index.html “Tour de France” by Janice Yap
http://www.fodors.com/news/story_4598.html Fodor’s Culinary Holidays in Provence: Top Cooking Schools, Rosa
Jackson,
May 17 2011.
Rick Steve’s Best of Europe Guide, p. 363, Madeleine’s Culinary & Active Adventures
Education
• Princeton University, Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Studies with thesis on the History of Japanese Photography,

4. 1989
• Institut Supérieur de Management Culturel, Paris, France, MA/Bac+5, 1996
• Waldorf Teachers’Training: including courses on the Biodynamic Agricultural methods of Rudolf Steiner,
Avignon, 2007
• Zingerman’s Working with Zing Seminar on Human Resources. November 2014