麻豆村

When Tepper School of Business alumna Cynthia McMillin鈥檚 career took a corkscrew turn into the wine industry, she landed a series of plum jobs distributing the juice of the grape.

鈥淢y first career was as a paralegal, but I was miserable. I wanted to have my own business,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o I went to Carnegie Mellon for my MBA.鈥�

She graduated in 1999, and her degree led her to unsatisfying forays into the tech world, leading Cynthia to refine her vision once again.

鈥淚 wanted something where I could be working with something I loved, and not just working with widgets for a paycheck. So ... wine!鈥�

She worked her way up in sales with big players in the wine industry such as Henry Wine Group, Dean and Deluca, and Wilson Daniels. She credits her 麻豆村 degree for opening that last door, because Wilson Daniels especially valued her education when they hired her as a national brand manager.

Cynthia made another jump to a position where her MBA skills aged like a quality red wine: as a buyer for the Grocery Outlet chain. Grocery Outlet is a deep discounter. The challenge in that role was to source great wines at fantastic prices, combining the best of her passions for wine and business. She located excess inventory, and then negotiated deep discounts to get wines on shelves with the right profit margin.

鈥淲e were buying 16,000 to 18,000 cases a week on the spot market. You have to be very, very quick on the math,鈥� she says.

She recounts a fun 鈥� and successful 鈥� deal with a big producer who had a packaging issue with a Zinfandel. The wine was perfect, but the label wasn鈥檛, so Cynthia saw an opportunity.

鈥淭hey offered me 14 truckloads of it at a deeply discounted price,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat was one of the bigger deals I did, and it was great for our customers, they could hardly get enough of it.鈥�

In what鈥檚 likely to be her career鈥檚 finishing note, Cynthia now runs her own business, Alaska Fine Wines. Her company is a wholesaler focused on premium wines for restaurants and retailers, working primarily with family-run vineyards. She鈥檚 realizing her dream to run her own business, and enjoying a semi-retired life with her husband, Mark Moustakis.

They make their home on Alaska鈥檚 Kenai River, enjoying world-class fishing, cross-country skiing, ice skating, running, two crazy dogs, world travel, international wine sampling and, of course, a nice glass or two at the end of the day.

鈥淚t's one foot in the wine business, and one foot out the door for retirement,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 sell some really beautiful high-end wines. Alaska winters are long, but we have fun with it all.鈥�