Voices airs on Wednesdays, hosted by Cynthia Chaplin, exploring DEI, leadership, language and other topics for Italian Wine Podcast. In this episode, Cynthia chats with Erica, Chelsea, Ryan and Kendall, four Black women who bonded as freshmen at The University of Southern California in 2007 and went on to create their own wine company together in Napa in 2020. The women tell the story of meeting on the first day of school and remaining close friends for almost 20 years since then. Their journey into the wine business grew out of their COVID era book club, when they were often sipping wine on their Zoom calls. They recall that, “one night, we all tasted one that we didn’t really like that much and, from that moment, we all kind of got the idea that maybe we should make our own wine. And even though we have no background in this, we all just did some research, and we just dove in, and here we are now.”
Cynthia asks how they came up with the name Melavino. “We knew coming into this industry that there’s not a lot of women that look like us in the field. And so we really wanted to go into it with pride and really think of a name that celebrates and honors who we are and our culture. And so the word ‘melanin’ came to mind, but we didn’t think that would look great on the bottle. We landed with Mela, kind of an abbreviation of that.” They dive into other meanings for the word “mela” in many different languages and cultures, and how each new meaning they discovered reinforced the idea that this was the perfect name for their company.
The women discuss their concept of creating wines for the modern social drinker. Cynthia asks about
their philosophy behind the concept and the reply is, “we were new to wine, but really enjoying it. We’re still young and learning about wine. So when we were starting the company, we tried countless wines and we really wanted to not only enjoy the wine, but explore what lifestyle came with essentially enjoying wine, whether it was by yourself, going to a traditional winery or getting together with friends and community and family. And so that was really important to us.” Cynthia asks them how they’re implementing the philosophy and they reply, “We’re really taking the stigma, if you will, that the wine industry has had and breaking that down to where it can be enjoyed by so many different people from different cultures and backgrounds and really bringing people together.”
Looking into what wines Mela is making, the women explain, “We started with two wines, our California red and a California white, both are blends. The next year we wanted to expand a little bit, so we added a rose, and then we also added a limited edition, another red.” They talk about the wines used in the blends and how they chose them after tasting hundreds over several months. The idea was “to elevate our social and community experience, because the high end wine experience is something that doesn’t always feel welcoming. When we were in college, we had a unique friendship and we wanted that same idea of connection to be felt, in our wine and our label.”
Cynthia points out that Mela is not the only job they all have. They’ve got partners, some have children, all of them have other jobs. To get to know them individually, Cynthia starts with Kendal, the communications and PR director for Mela, who is also a school leader at an elementary school. Kendal describes her work life as “ two very different ends of the spectrum, but I will say the wine helps after a long day of working. What I appreciate is that because it is so different, I get to use my brain in different ways and tap into the skill set of being able to communicate things clearly, something that I had a hand in creating is really exciting. Being able to work with my friends and talk about wine and think about the creative side of my brain has brought a nice, healthy balance.”
Chelsea is the operations director at Mela, but she is also a physical therapist. She comments that her jobs “are very different, it’s very hands on, doing my physical therapy. As Mela some of it’s administrative stuff, and a lot of just learning about wine. I’m fortunate enough in my schedule that I can work 4 ten hour days to free up more time for Mela. As far as the actual production of the wine, I am in Southern California so it is just a quick flight up north. It’s definitely busy balancing both things, but this is our passion.”
Ryan is the financial and legal director at Mela, as well as a criminal defense attorney and the founder of the Casey Fund, which focuses on stopping the school to prison pipeline. She explains, “I have a calendar where I write everything out that needs to be completed in the day and prioritize it. I think it’s just about staying super organized. I think that’s the name of the game. We do a good job meeting and kinda talking about what needs to happen throughout the week, so we’re not as panicked at the end. Of course, things happen last minute. But the name of the game for me is just trying to stay organized.”
Erica is the marketing and the creative director at Mella, and she designs and produces luxury events all over the world. She says, “Events definitely take time. I would say both roles tend to blend together very well and are similar when it comes to the designing aspect. That’s really what I love to do. And so getting to do that full time is fantastic. Being able to do it for Mela is extra time and it’s definitely sacrifice, but I enjoy it, and it’s great.”
Cynthia asks about the facts and figures since the start up of Mela and discovers they started in 2020 with two barrels, one barrel of the white and one barrel of the red. “We started very small. It was around six hundred bottles at first. We doubled the following year.” And now, we have something new in the works that we have not bottled yet.” Regarding their consumers, they say, “Primarily, we are in e-commerce with direct to consumer. We also have been fortunate to partner with some wine bars and wine shops, mostly female owned and or POC owned. Our goal is to eventually be able to sell in person, and so working to do that on our own.” For now, they are doing in person events where “we’re able to talk, people try the wine and understand our story, ask questions, and that is where we thrive the most.”
Voices always circles back to DEI, and Cynthia says, “it’s no secret that the current US administration is actively trying to dismantle DEI programs that we fought for for decades across the country.” She asks what they are seeing in the US wine industry, how they think companies can address threats to DEI, and what the wine industry should do to push back. The Mela women discuss, “Historically, we know that the wine industry is very white and male dominated, with well under one percent of wineries owned by Black people. So it’s already been hard to break into the industry. However, when we started in 2020, there was definitely more of an emphasis on bigger companies supporting Black owned brands and minority owned brands that has definitely shifted with this current administration.” They also comment that “we can support other brands and try to collaborate, and really be mindful of who we’re supporting.” They explain that, prior to the current administration, “organizations like Target made this big point to make sure that they were reaching out to people of color and their brands and making sure their brands were in there. And now that’s just not happening. From an ally standpoint, trying to get big organizations like that to go back to their roots and what they were doing before, is a bigger issue.”
To close on a more positive note, Cynthia asks what’s ahead for 2026. Chelsea kind of gave a little hint that they’re trying to brew up something new for their fans but they’re not going to spill the beans quite yet! They say they are “really proud and also just really excited of how much we’ve grown, and learned, and so feeling more confident in the decisions we’re making, the steps we’re taking. We definitely go forward into this with humility, and proud of the women and winemakers that we are, because it’s a lot different this year than when we started in 2020.”
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