Community Spotlight

Makenna Kiminki | Rachelle Newbold | Rob Stewart

Makenna Kiminki

Makenna Kiminki moved to Napa four years ago, and she loves it. She’s a very social person, and has met a ton of people, many through her job as a barista at Naysayers. “I run in to people I know all the time, especially when I’m downtown,” she said. She loves the small town feel of Napa and the beauty of the Valley. She was born and raised in Moreno Valley near Riverside, where she witnessed a lot of poverty and an unusual amount of bullying. She’s strongly empathetic, and some of her experiences growing up made her want to focus on how she could help others. When she finished high school, she was ready for something different. “I think everybody likes where they grew up, because you don’t know anything else, but I knew I wanted to go someplace else for college.”

Makenna was named before she was conceived. Her parents, who are still together, honeymooned in Hawaii, and her surfer-father fell in love with the waves at Makenna Beach in Maui. Makenna excelled in high school: a member of the swim team, water polo club and National Honor Society. Plus, she made great grades. “I was kind of a goody two-shoes,” she joked. She also did a lot of volunteer work to pay forward all she had. She’s very close to her family – she and her mom still talk daily – but after high school, she was ready to leave the desert.

After visiting the campus, Makenna settled on UC Davis for college and majored in Viticultural and Enology. She loved the vibe of Davis and the natural beauty of the campus. College was a great experience, but coming from a high school of several thousand, where she was well known, to a campus of over 20,000, took some adjustment. Fortunately, there were only twenty people in her major, so classes were small and students bonded easily. Add to that, her professors were great. “They were so passionate about wine. They invited industry people in all the time. And we would go on picnics.” It was a little like family.

Davis gave her the opportunity to immerse herself in the wine industry, which led to several internships during school, and work after graduation. She spent time at Mumm and Bin To Bottle in Napa, Anaba Wines in Sonoma, and Justin in Paso Robles. She learned a lot about wine but also learned that winemakers can spend a lot of time alone, in the lab. A lot of time. “In my last job, I spent ten hours a day in cellar lab, alone, and it got to be too much. I need to be around people.” She’s introspective enough to know that she needed a break from that environment, so she left.

After a few months, a good friend called her and said that Naysayers was hiring baristas. At first, the idea of making coffee drinks sounded like a dead end, but her friend loved the work and Makenna figured it was a way to make money while she figured out her next steps. Turns out, it was the perfect move to make, and she loves it.

“The customers, the owners, the people that work there: it’s just great. I know that some of the people I work with will be forever friends.” At first her parents weren’t happy that their college-graduate daughter was making coffee, but now they see that she is again flourishing. Makenna is realistic that she will eventually move to something else, but right now, it feels like home, and there is no reason to leave.

If you go to Naysayers on Old Sonoma, you might see her. If you do, it won’t be hard to tell that she is happy to be there.

Rachelle Newbold

Rachelle Newbold was born in Napa, but her family moved to Delhi, California when she was four years old. “Delhi is a dot on Highway 99,” she said of the Central Valley community. Her parents had eight acres of land, which became a hobby farm. “We raised and sold Asian Pears for a while.” She and her younger sister spent a lot of time outside, and Rachelle looks back on it as a great place to have grown up. Even then, though, she loved coming back to Napa to visit relatives.

Rachelle describes the four-year high school she attended as a “strange, odd boarding school in a former Tuberculosis asylum. It was vegan and very religious.” After high school, she attended Southern Adventist University in Tennessee, earning an undergraduate degree in English and Journalism. From there, she moved to Prague and taught English as a Second Language for two years. “After that, I didn’t know what to do,” she said, and she returned to the Napa Valley. Dr. John Hodgkin at St. Helena Hospital hired her as an office manager, a position she held for four years, then she joined the hospital’s foundation, where she also worked for four years. There, she got to know wine. “We hosted a lot of events which served very good wines, which was my first real exposure to the world of food and wine. After all, I didn’t eat my first hamburger until I was 28. The same for shrimp and bacon!”

Ready for another career challenge, Rachelle answered a blind ad on Craigslist, which turned out to be for Far Niente Winery. She began there in 2010, ushered in e-commerce, and was eventually promoted to a director role. Then, after thirteen years, Rachelle was laid off.

At first, she was devastated, but when she thought about it, she had to admit that she wasn’t passionate about wine. “I realized that losing that job was really an opportunity.” A few years before, Rachelle had gone to graduate school and earned a Master’s in Fine Arts in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She decided to put it to use. She began working with other writers to help them refine their craft. Still, she needed some amount of steady income. Unsure of what her next career move would be, she started working at Bookmine in Downtown Napa. Turned out, she loved it. “I knew I couldn’t afford to do that forever, but it was great to be in an environment where everybody was so passionate about books.”

After ten months at Bookmine, Naomi Chamblin, the store owner, told Rachelle that the Napa Library was looking for a marketing associate. It was the only job she applied for. She has now been there for two years. “It’s a blend of everything that is important to me: community service, books, and creativity.”

It has also given her the opportunity to launch Napavore, a literary magazine that celebrates the writings of people living and working in the Napa Valley. “Napa is unique in the world, but real life happens here, too,”

and Rachelle wants to help people share their stories.

Rachelle is grateful for the twists and turns in life that have led her to where she is now. She has a great job and can pursue Napavore without worrying about it as a business. “I’m really not interested in making money from it. I just want to do it. And now I can.”

Rob Stewart

Rob Stewart believes that life’s successes are partly due to luck. He tells this story: “At the University of Vermont, the TV in the men’s dorm was broken. So of course I watched in the women’s dorm,” said Rob. “I cracked what were probably inappropriate jokes, and one of the coeds, Laura, laughed at them,” he said. Laura and Rob started dating and have been married for 51 years. “Now that’s luck. What if the men’s TV hadn’t broken?”

Rob grew up in Haverstraw, New York, a tough, blue-collar town of 5,000, where local sports were at the center of everything. Rob was an athlete, lettering in basketball, football and baseball. Good at all three, he really excelled in baseball.

He got a full-ride scholarship from college. But he was also drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Signing with the Pirates for baseball was an easy decision. Unfortunately, it didn’t work as he had planned. “That first summer we played 40 games in a Florida league wearing wool uniforms. And during the season an umpire, pitcher and two fielders passed out from the heat. It could be brutal.” The next year at spring training, Rob realized that he wasn’t passionate enough to make the big leagues. He started to lose his edge. Cuts came to the final roster and he was among them. Truthfully, it was a relief.  He went

back to college and majored in English Literature.

He and Laura moved to California in the 1970s. Like many English majors, Rob hoped to write the Great American Novel. But practicality drove him to work with his brother doing construction in Santa Barara. “I did carpentry and electrical work and wasn’t very good at either.” When a brother-in-law contacted him about a job as an estimator with a San Francisco company that designed and built luxury homes, he headed to the Bay Area. Turns out, what the company was really looking for was a shortstop for their softball team, and figured they could teach Rob how to do estimates. The softball team had a winning year, and Rob found his career path. He eventually headed the estimating department, grew into a successful marketing and sales role and ultimately became a Senior VP.

The construction company’s branch office in St. Helena introduced Rob to the natural beauty of Napa County. When Rob and Laura’s son left for college, they started planning how they might retire to the area. Planning, more than luck, was key at this stage of Rob’s life. And after living in Oakland for years, they moved to Napa in 2015. This, he realizes, is where he was meant to be. “Napa is a spiritual home for me. The size of the city suits me, the people are friendly, I love our neighbors and I never tire of seeing seasonal changes when driving through the valleys.”

During his years in construction, Rob always made time for creativity, mainly writing poetry and drawing cartoons. They have become significant joys in Rob’s retirement, along with an occasional game of golf. He realizes from his life experience that some plans just don’t work out. “Give it time, shift the plan,” he would counsel anyone who is discouraged. He wouldn’t mind though if luck entered one more time and he got a cartoon in the New Yorker magazine.