Gwen Hurt is the Founder and CEO of Shoe Crazy Wine.  Shoe Crazy is a wine brand and distribution company based in Virginia offering many varietals of wine created in California’s Central Coast, North Coast, Washington State’s Willamette Valley and Portugal, Gwen is an alumni of the Goldman Sachs 10K Small Business Program.

Prior to launching Shoe Crazy Wines, Gwen was an executive for a Fortune 300 Tech Company based in China. She built a global organization of high-performance cross-cultural team members, located in multiple countries.

In 2013 hardship struck. Gwen was downsized by the company in which she had spent 15 plus years and two days later was in a car accident that would take her and her daughter nearly a year to recover from. During her physical therapy and rehabilitation, Gwen made the decision to “NOT” succumb to her circumstances. She told her daughter Brittny “we are going into the wine business.” When a name was needed for her wines, daughter Brittny said, “name it something you love”. Gwen loved and was crazy about shoes. In 2013, her two passions melded to become The Shoe Crazy Wine Company. Gwen could not get a distributor for her wines. Instead of giving up, she made  a pivot to wine distribution.  Gwen took her wine and started knocking on retailers’ doors. For every “No” she was determined to eventually get a “Yes”. Eventually she did get a yes, Her wines are sold in Walmart, Food Lion, Total Wine, Andrews Airforce Base, The Coast Guard and Navy Exchanges and many wine shops and liquor stores in the South East. Gwen recently landed Sam’s Club! Gwen’s says a company’s ability to pivot when necessary, perseverance, tenacity, faith and family are paramount.