Marvina S. Robinson holds a master's degree in statistics from Columbia University and spent 20 years on Wall Street evaluating the fiscal health of countless companies. But she's emphatic that she did not so much as glance at the success (or failure) rate of start-ups in the wine industry before boldly leaving her career in finance—which included stints at Morgan Stanley, Citco, and J. P. Morgan, among other firms—to launch B. Stuyvesant Champagne. The first Black American woman to own a Champagne brand, Robinson is a prime example of someone who managed to turn her side hustle into a full-on business.
She first developed an affinity for Champagne while drinking it with childhood friends during college breaks and later adopted it as her order of choice as
