Chicago’s Own Unicorn, Chrishon Lampley Talks About Building Her Wine Business

On April 20, Chrishon Lampley (pictured) will be hosting a tasting event at the South Loop Mariano’s for Love Cork Screw wine, a private label wine company that she owns. The event will showcase the five varietals of red and white wine that the company produces. Photo: Provided by Chrishon Lampley
On April 20, Chrishon Lampley (pictured) will be hosting a tasting event at the South Loop Mariano’s for Love Cork Screw wine, a private label wine company that she owns. The event will showcase the five varietals of red and white wine that the company produces. Photo: Provided by Chrishon Lampley

Chicago’s Own Unicorn, Chrishon Lampley Talks About Building Her Wine Business

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

On April 20, Chrishon Lampley will be hosting a tasting event at the South Loop Mariano’s for Love Cork Screw wine, a private label wine company that she owns. The event will showcase the five varietals of red and white wine that the company produces. Tickets are $7 and can be purchased online.

Love Cork Screw wines can be found in 50 locations throughout Chicago including most Mariano’s grocery stores, Binny’s liquor stores, Whole Foods, and Target. A full list of locations can be found at www.lovecorkscrew.com. Lampley also produces Love Cork Screw candles that are sold at Target.

“We’re growing, we are in Whole Foods, Mariano’s, the candles are at Target and the wine will be at Target as well. I’m less than one percent of the entire industry as an African American woman owning a private label wine company, so I’m definitely a unicorn,” said Lampley.

The tasting event at the South Loop Mariano’s, 1615 S. Clark St., is part of Mariano’s Tastemaker’s event series.

“I’m a Tastemaker for Mariano’s and I was announced as that about two years ago. What that means is that I’m an influencer with a brand under Mariano’s umbrella. They do special events for Tastemakers and this is one of those events. I do a lot of tasting events for all types of stores,” said Lampley.

Aside from building her brand and doing wine tastings around Chicago and nationwide, Lampley takes time to speak with youth and young entrepreneurs because she said she wants to inspire people to pursue their dreams.

“I’m a unicorn in this industry. Working in an industry that doesn’t look like me, that definitely speaks to the youth on a huge scale as well as young entrepreneurs and encourages them to follow their dreams and to do something that may not necessarily be what they think they can do or something they can succeed in, but I’ve done it and I can show that to them,” said Lampley.

In May, Lampley will be featured as the keynote speaker for the Women Who ROCK Awards Gala at the Bolingbrook Golf Course on May 6. The event will honor 22 women from around the Chicagoland area for their contributions in their communities, in education, business and entertainment.

“I love to inspire women of all colors and all nationalities to go for it. We get so much pushback and there are so many glass ceilings that we have to break through, I’m here to show that we can break through them,” said Lampley.

Lampley will also be speaking at the MADE Maven Leadership Summit, held in Chicago on April 28 and 29, about how she was able to get her Love Cork Screw products into a big box store like Target.

Tickets to the South Loop Mariano’s Love Cork Screw wine tasting, the Women Who ROCK Awards Gala, and the MADE Maven Leadership Summit are all available on Eventbrite.com.

Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

On The 9 Run Crew