Love of 'design and wine' lead to launch of woman-owned wine business Pink Girl.

Tina Carpenter said it was her creative experience that led her into the wine industry.

"I have been designing wine labels for over 23 years," explained Carpenter.

"What grew out of my love of label design and my growing knowledge and appreciation of a good rosé" is the creation of Pink Girl Wines.

Carpenter described Pink Girl as "sassy and pink, a flirtation, a celebration, a woman-owned wine that speaks to the pink girl in all of us."

I loved animals and wanted to become a veterinarian. My sixth-grade science report was about the Thompson gazelle, and I still have this report to this day with a beautiful drawing of this stunning striped antelope.

After one semester of animal science at the University of Illinois, and being grossed out at the four-chambered stomach of a cow, I quickly changed majors to fine art. Going to Africa is still on my bucket list to view a Thompson gazelle in the wild.

Cleaning tables at my family's mom-and-pop pizza restaurant on the north side of Chicago called Casa Luna Pizzeria. My mom and dad owned restaurants when I was growing up. From a hot dog stand and me sitting on the burlap potato sacks with potatoes that were later cut into French fries, to becoming a server at Casa Luna, I grew up in a family business. If you don't know, all great restaurants are owned by Greeks — at least in Chicago!

A summer job at Land's End retail store in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Working retail and wearing and folding those darn, preppy clothes and tagging the price tags on the new shipments – Ugh! I am getting squirrelly thinking about it. The only redeeming factor was that one of my best friends worked alongside me, and as a summer job, we got to goof off a bit since the store manager was one of our childhood friends who hired us.

Try: I've always wanted to work in the ER ... go into the medical profession! I hold such high regard for anyone who works in a hospital. The ability to help people in an emergency situation and working as a team — I see that as the ultimate reward. I am CPR and AED trained, and I definitely want to retake the CERT Training course in Napa, which I took long ago.

Not try: The people who stand on a street corner and wave the sign all day long while listening to their ear pods.

My dad was a professional engraving artist before jumping into the restaurant business. He would say to me, "Whatever you do, don't become an artist; you will make no money."

So what did I study in college? A bachelor's degree in fine arts as a pre-medical illustration curriculum. This program combined my love of biology, art and communications.

After realizing how narrow this industry would be, I focused on and became an art director in advertising in downtown Chicago. Five years later, six months married and having moved to Napa for my husband, Chris, to pursue his career in winemaking, I became the first project manager at Colonna Farrell Design in St. Helena, a wine packaging and luxury branding firm.

This job opened my eyes to the nuances of luxury wine packaging, which led me to run my own design business, and from that, Pink Girl, my rosé was born.

EVERYTHING! Being an entrepreneur and a creator are my two driving forces. When we arrived in the valley in 1995, I quickly acquiesced to the rhythm of this magical place, which was a tad more laid back than Chicago. I soon realized that I could run my own business, raise my two daughters, work from home at my design studio and still garner respect and business from my clients and colleagues in the industry. Where else can you take your work break and walk outside to chase away a hawk that is stalking your chickens or gather eggs for your morning breakfast? I love this place!

The wine industry is going through a fluctuation point. With inflationary costs and delayed timing of delivery of products from vendors, things have been a bit out of whack since the COVID days.

Also, an influx of other alcoholic beverages as well as non-alcoholic cocktails/beverages are vying for the shelf space that wine once proudly owned. The consumer is more judicious with his or her discretionary money and choices. We in the wine industry have to get creative in order to capture our audience and build enduring brands to keep brand loyalty.

Make the accommodations and wine visits more affordable so that new palates can be introduced to our lovely wines and region. When we came here almost 30 years ago, we could walk into a tasting room, taste wine and not be intimidated and not go broke for the visit.

I have aligned with both the American Breast Cancer Foundation as well as the Dr. Susan Love Foundation for Breast Cancer Research through Pink Girl Wines. Each October, Pink Girl has donated a percentage of sales to either foundation during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

I am a beekeeper, who, at the time, has no bees since they absconded! If anyone sees or hears of a swarm nearby, please call me! I would love to nurture these amazing ladies!