7 Women-Owned Businesses in Sonoma County

March is Women’s History Month, and Sonoma County has plenty of exceptional women to celebrate! Here are just a few of the many women who use their creativity, passion, and commitment to bring joy to Sonoma Wine Country.

 Melena Moore Gilbert, Bliss Organic Day Spa

A certified massage therapist and mom of two, Sonoma County native Melena Moore Gilbert was well-prepared for spa ownership by the time she took over Sebastopol’s Bliss Organic Day Spa in 2017. She’d been an innkeeper at Monte’s Rio’s Inn on the Russian River and Guerneville’s West Sonoma Inn & Spa, a business consultant, and a Marketing Manager at both Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary in Freestone and at Bliss itself.

Set in a historic building in downtown Sebastopol, Bliss Organic Day Spa is a healing refuge offering a full menu of spa services, a soothing retail shop with gifts and organic products, and a bathhouse with tubs, saunas, and steam room. Clients can book single treatments like massages and facials, spend the whole day, or hold a day or evening spa party.

Gilbert’s team of expert professionals work together as a family, and range from estheticians, massage therapists, and retail and office staff. For information, email Melena at owner@blissorganicdayspa.com.

Natasha Stocker, Inspired Spaces

A UC Davis grad, Natasha Stocker majored in Studio Art, minored in Art History, and later, earned an Associate’s Degree in Interior Design. In 2005, she launched her interior design business, Inspired Spaces Design.

Today, Inspired Spaces is a thriving design studio based in Santa Rosa, with a full-service team of stylists, drafters, and designers. Inspired Spaces handles every aspect of residential and commercial design projects, from measuring and drafting plans, communicating with contractors, selecting and ordering fixtures and furniture, and staging spaces with all the finishing touches.

Dedicated to designing functional spaces that make clients happy, past Sonoma County accomplishments include vacation homes, kitchen renovations, and interiors for Santa Rosa’s Beer Baron Bar & Kitchen, the Olea Hotel in Glen Ellen, and Two Dog Night Creamery.

Stocker also started the non-profit Inspired Spaces Foundation to furnish new homes for women and children who have recently experienced homelessness and are striving for a fresh start. Funded by donations, the foundation outfits affordable housing with furniture free of charge.

Kristen Bringhurst, Boards & Bottle

After graduating from UC Davis as a Design major and Art minor, Kristen Bringhurst began tooling around with wood and paint to handcraft rustic signs as gifts. News of her talent spread, inspiring commission requests from people she’d never met.

In 2016, when one of Bringhurst’s friends was diagnosed with cancer, the artist decided to hold a DIY sign-stenciling event as a fundraiser to offset her pal’s medical costs. The event’s success led to requests for private sign parties — and the founding of Boards & Bottle.

Partnering with local wineries and other venues, Bringhurst holds DIY sign-painting events that combine art, wine, and other fun experiences. Participants get to interact while creating handcrafted signs they can take home.

A wife, mother, and proud Sonoma County native who loves connecting with people, Bringhurst continues to design and handcraft custom signs on commission and also offers sign-painting kits for sale.

Frieda Lews, Ace It Bike Tours

There’s no doubt that women frequently wear many hats, like Ace It! Bike Tours owner Frieda Lewis, who is also a registered nurse. “I feel that being a nurse has helped my business, with things like excellent communication, compassion, and a positive attitude.”

Lewis and her company offer bike rentals as well as guided tours so visitors experience the most scenic routes to wineries, breweries, or breathtaking coastal hikes through many of Sonoma County’s charming cities. It’s a healthy way to create memories with friends and family. 

Not only does Ace It! Bike Tours offer state-of-the-art e-bikes, hybrid bikes, and road bikes, but also children’s bikes for all levels so that the whole gang can participate in outdoor recreation.

Karen Bianchi-Moreda, Valley Ford Cheese & Creamery

Karen Bianchi-Moreda grew up on her family’s Sonoma County dairy farm, but in 2008 she began to seek her own niche. After she attended a cheesemaking course at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Bianchi-Moreda’s father agreed to turn one of the barns into a cheesemaking facility so that she could create Italian-style cheese.

With hormone- and antibiotic-free milk from certified organic pastures, she researched and perfected the ideal cheese. Semi-hard with a smooth texture, a subtle bite, and a hint of nuttiness, she named it “Estero Gold,” after a tidal estuary in her hometown of Valley Ford.

Bianchi-Moreda’s son studied Dairy Science at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and, post-graduation, came on board to help with cheesemaking and plant management so she could focus on sales.

Together, mother and son have grown their business, adding more cheeses, maintaining their commitment to sustainability, and opening the Valley Ford Cheese & Creamery retail operation in 2019.

Set on Highway 1 in the small town of Valley Ford, this storefront features a gourmet shop full of delicious cheeses, as well as soft-serve ice cream, local beer and wine, and other treats. There’s also a restaurant focused on cheese boards and pastries and an aging room filled with wheels of artisan cheese.

Jocelyn Boreta & Lily Mazzarella, The Botanical Bus

In 2017, herbalist/activist Jocelyn Boreta and herbalist/nutritionist Lily Mazzarella had been working together at Farmacopia, the Santa Rosa herb pharmacy and health clinic that Mazzarella owns.

Boreta had previously worked as Program Director of the Global Exchange Fair Trade Stores. Mazzarella, a longtime teacher at the California School of Herbal Studies, had also consulted on the topic of integrative medicine for nonprofit groups.

The two women shared a deep concern about the disproportionate health impacts suffered by the Latino community, like lack of access to quality care.

Seeing a unique way they could help, Boreta and Mazzarella founded The Botanical Bus, an innovative bilingual mobile herbal medicine clinic that promotes healing in Sonoma County’s farmworkers and day laborers.

The Botanical Bus also sponsors a promotora program, training Latino community leaders to organize and provide bilingual wellness workshops. With The Botanical Bus, Boreta and Mazzarella are able to utilize the natural use of plants.

Alice Warnecke Sutro, SUTRO Wine Co.

Artist, winemaker, and grape grower Alice Warnecke Sutro lives with her husband and two kids on her extended family’s Warnecke Ranch in Healdsburg’s Chalk Hill wine region. The ranch’s 80-acre vineyard was long-managed by Sutro’s aunt, Margo Warnecke Merck, but ever since Sutro spent six years training as Merck’s apprentice in the 2000s, the two women have managed the land together.

In addition to selling their grapes throughout the county, they reserve some premium Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc for SUTRO, the wine label that Alice founded in 2012.

Grapes aren’t Sutro’s only form of expression. By 2006, Sutro had earned a BA in Art History from Stanford University and an MFA in Painting and Drawing from California College of the Arts, and continues to pursue drawing and writing. Creator of the Women in Wine interview series, she also draws live portraits for winery/restaurant events and community projects.

With Lisa Bishop Forbes as her winemaking advisor and Kaitlin Childers as her COO, Sutro is committed to growing a sustainable, women-led, premium wine label on the Sonoma County land she dearly loves.

Happy Women’s History Month!

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Written by Melanie Wynne