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Ingrid Best
Ingrid Best possesses the unique ability to blend wine, art, and culture like no one else. During her 20+ year career in the wine and spirits industry & global travels, Ingrid was inspired to create her own wine brand. In October of 2023, Ingrid launched IBest Wines.
Ingrid was raised in a diverse Bay Area community with Napa Valley as her backyard. It was here where she developed her lifelong love for wine. During her almost two-decade career working for the largest suppliers in the business, Best took a life-changing business trip to South Africa; it was onthe coast of Cape Town where she came to realize her life purpose: launching her own wine brand. Energized and clear, she combined her marketing prowess, business acumen, love of wine and yearning to tell the story of Black and Brown businesspeople to found IBest Wines.
Currently offering two award winning South African blends, IBest Wines is blending wine, art, and culture in an unprecedented way, sending waves through the wine industry and beyond. Ingrid and her team of six Black business women—all holding equity in the company—are changing the way the wine industry looks, feels, talks, and tastes, offering a portfolio of fine wines perfect for the modernday wine drinker who desires new, dynamic, diverse, and global wines. Ingrid's vision for IBest Wines is to not only bring excellent wine to the US market, but also to share the stories and experiences of South African business owners and creatives.
Through Ingrid’s travels around the globe, especially to South Africa, she further realized her passion for the arts, becoming an avid art collector of Africans and African Diaspora artists including Derrick Adams, Nelson Makamo, Harmonia Rosales, Bisa Butler, Shaina McCoy, Bahati, Cristina Martinez and many more. Ingrid recognizes that art is a powerful tool for storytelling, has an uncanny ability to bridge cultures and people and is a way to build generational wealth. Through her art collection, Ingrid aims to highlight the beauty and diversity of African American and African art and culture.
Ingrid’s dedication to the arts is exemplified through her efforts in collecting, donating, and lending artworks to prestigious institutions including the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta, and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. She is also part of the Directors Circle at LACMA.
Prior to founding IBest Wines, Ingrid’s career was filled with brand-building and culture-shifting moments including her work on CÎROC Ultra-Premium Vodka and DeLeón Tequila; Bacardi (D’USSE), Moët Hennessy (Hennessy; Belvedere), and Diageo. As a Black and Latina woman, she has risen to the top of a male dominated industry and is known for proudly and boldly advocating with Black and Brown women to hold positions and space at every level of business, from assistants to C-Suite executives.
Ingrid was born in New York and raised in the Bay Area. Her life purpose is to mentor young Black and Brown professionals, with the goal of redefining the future face of Corporate America, specifically in the wine and spirits industry. Best’s parting words and keys to success? Be clear in your vision, bold in your ideas and deliberate in your execution. But most importantly, be good to people along the way.
Ingrid was raised in a diverse Bay Area community with Napa Valley as her backyard. It was here where she developed her lifelong love for wine. During her almost two-decade career working for the largest suppliers in the business, Best took a life-changing business trip to South Africa; it was onthe coast of Cape Town where she came to realize her life purpose: launching her own wine brand. Energized and clear, she combined her marketing prowess, business acumen, love of wine and yearning to tell the story of Black and Brown businesspeople to found IBest Wines.
Currently offering two award winning South African blends, IBest Wines is blending wine, art, and culture in an unprecedented way, sending waves through the wine industry and beyond. Ingrid and her team of six Black business women—all holding equity in the company—are changing the way the wine industry looks, feels, talks, and tastes, offering a portfolio of fine wines perfect for the modernday wine drinker who desires new, dynamic, diverse, and global wines. Ingrid's vision for IBest Wines is to not only bring excellent wine to the US market, but also to share the stories and experiences of South African business owners and creatives.
Through Ingrid’s travels around the globe, especially to South Africa, she further realized her passion for the arts, becoming an avid art collector of Africans and African Diaspora artists including Derrick Adams, Nelson Makamo, Harmonia Rosales, Bisa Butler, Shaina McCoy, Bahati, Cristina Martinez and many more. Ingrid recognizes that art is a powerful tool for storytelling, has an uncanny ability to bridge cultures and people and is a way to build generational wealth. Through her art collection, Ingrid aims to highlight the beauty and diversity of African American and African art and culture.
Ingrid’s dedication to the arts is exemplified through her efforts in collecting, donating, and lending artworks to prestigious institutions including the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta, and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. She is also part of the Directors Circle at LACMA.
Prior to founding IBest Wines, Ingrid’s career was filled with brand-building and culture-shifting moments including her work on CÎROC Ultra-Premium Vodka and DeLeón Tequila; Bacardi (D’USSE), Moët Hennessy (Hennessy; Belvedere), and Diageo. As a Black and Latina woman, she has risen to the top of a male dominated industry and is known for proudly and boldly advocating with Black and Brown women to hold positions and space at every level of business, from assistants to C-Suite executives.
Ingrid was born in New York and raised in the Bay Area. Her life purpose is to mentor young Black and Brown professionals, with the goal of redefining the future face of Corporate America, specifically in the wine and spirits industry. Best’s parting words and keys to success? Be clear in your vision, bold in your ideas and deliberate in your execution. But most importantly, be good to people along the way.