Last Updated on October 10, 2020 by Kristen

Photo by Darcy Dellera

The idea for Sophie James Wine was a seed planted on Sophie and James Gray’s first date even though they didn’t realize it. That night as James discussed his dream of owning a ranch, moving to the boonies, and creating an off-the-grid community, Sophie fell in love with the idea and him, too.

Little did they know that nearly a decade later, Sophie would have made an extreme career switch from scientist to co-founder (with James) of a wine company and club with a miles-long waiting list—oh, and that they’d also be married with two children.

Photo by Jamie Diger

The path was not easy and definitely not straightforward, but Sophie’s grateful that she followed advice she’d recently heard and couldn’t stop thinking about: that to accomplish extraordinary things requires extraordinary risk.

Quitting a promising career in science and turning down a coveted job at Stanford may have sounded insane at the time, but as you’ll discover in the podcast, the risk was most definitely worth it.