Born and raised in Boston, MA of Greek immigrant parents, and an alumna of Boston Latin School, and Boston College, Effie Panagopoulos is the first Greek woman in history to found a liquor brand. With a BA in French/Romance Languages, Effie had lofty aspirations of being a UN ambassador, and much to the chagrin of her traditional Greek mother, ended up in the spirits business.  

She has over 15 years experience marketing and selling spirits brands in the US from street to executive level, for some of the most well-known brands. (Chambord, Bacardi, Grey Goose, Bombay Sapphire, Metaxa, Disaronno). She finally became an “ambassador” when courted by Remy Cointreau to be the first (and only to date) National Brand Ambassador for iconic global Greek spirit brand, METAXA. It was this role that brought her back to Greece and re-ignited her love affair with the motherland.

Her “eureka moment” was in 2008, at infamous Mykonos beach bar Nammos, coincidentally written about in VOGUE.com where she decided SHE would be the one to bring this product to the US, and has not only created Greece’s first luxury spirit brand, but has her eyes set on being the next Global Greek spirit brand. There should be a bottle of mastiha on every backbar, and KLEOS will be that brand.

To seek Aristotelean balance and personify her Spartan roots, she is a fitness enthusiast, certified personal trainer, former spinning instructor, and natural bodybuilder. She can be found deadlifting cases of KLEOS in the summertime, doing bicep curls with bottles of KLEOS, on the Greek islands, while writing bits for her next stand up comedy routine in between sets. Opa!