Mailynh Phan, CEO of RD Winery | Source
Mailynh Phan, CEO of RD Winery
Mailynh (pronounced ‘my-LIN’) Phan is the CEO of RD Winery, which takes a more inclusive approach to the Napa Valley wine experience. The winery is the first Vietnamese-owned winery in Napa and was founded with a vision to solely export wine to Vietnam. But in 2020, Mailynh led RD Winery’s entry into the U.S. market and opened the Vietnamese-inspired tasting room in the summer of 2020. As an outlier in the industry, Mailynh envisioned a place where anyone curious about Napa wine would feel welcome to experience it and be able to afford it. She leads RD Winery through a community-focused approach, to offer experiences and events where people can delight in a refreshingly different wine country experience. Mailynh has been named one of Wine Enthusiast’s Future 40 Tastemakers & Innovators of 2022 and one of Imbibe’s 75 people and places shaping the way you drink. She has also received recognition for her work in Oprah Daily and is a contributor to Vinepair.
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“As we all know, being the first or the only comes with a set of pressures, but it also comes with a lot of rewards,” says Phan. “I am approached pretty often by folks who are so happy to see us in the Valley. Whether or not they are Vietnamese in particular, they identify with us, they’re rooting for us, and they often feel welcome in a world they may have felt unwelcome in before.”
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Mailynh Phan | Future 40 2022
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