Living with purpose w/ Hayes & Susana Drumwright, Vida Valiente

With the goal of living a purposeful life, Vida Valiente was founded in Napa as a combination luxury winery and charity.  The foundation is focused on providing last dollar scholarships and mentorship to 1st generation college students.  The winery is establishing a newly planted vineyard as the next “grand cru” site in Napa.  Hayes and Susana Drumwright combine these two elements into a pathway to connect people who have succeeded with grit to the next generation through wine and impactful experiences. 

Detailed Show Notes: 

Susana’s background: career in tech, now full-time with the foundation and winery

Hayes’ background: had cancer early, many early failures, then sold a tech company and founded Memento Mori Winery in 2010, Vida Valiente in 2019, and just bought Edge Hill Winery in 2026; just published The Empty Center

Vida Valiente (“VV”) overview

• Planted vines to create a “grand cru” wine vs Memento Mori leveraged existing “grand cru” sites
• Has had 5 100 point wines in the last 3 years
• Produced ~3,000 cases in 2025, goal is ~4,500 cases
• Donates $100/btl of every bottle of “The Movement,” the signature blend sold
• Has a guaranteed allocation group “Los Padrinos” (“the godparents”)

Foundation founded to uplift 1st generation college students at Stanford

• Board member, Memento Mori founder, and friend Adriel Lares went to Stanford
• 191 students in the program now, admit 50 students/year of ~100 applicants
• Give each student $5k/year for last dollar scholarships, provide mentorship, and leadership offsites
• Has raised ~$6.5M to date, ~$500k from “The Movement” (goal is $100k/year); goal is $3-4M/year
• Wants to raise ~$2M/year from corporate donors
• Costs ~$1.2M/year to run, could be $2.5M if all applicants accepted
• Many VV customers have done great things and feel alignment with students
• Susana and Hayes are foundation’s only employees

Napa in Cabo charity event, held by Vida Valiente

• 3 days at the Montage in Los Cabos
• Features 10 Napa wineries, e.g. - Scarecrow, Lokoya, Eisele
• Raised $6M, $2.3M in 2025
• 1st night meet & greet, 2nd night charity gala, 3rd night to support other wineries (sold $760k of wine for other wineries)
• Exploring a “Napa in Napa” event

VV marketing

• Not as much crossover from Memento Mori as originally thought
• Napa Valley referrals important
• Hospitality a big driver, including client dinners and impactful experiences

Arc of 3 Napa projects

• Memento Mori - “remember to live”
• Vida Valiente - “live a purposeful life”
• Ultra Mortem (at Edge Hill site) - “beyond death, do something worth remembering”

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.