Marvina S. Robinson holds a master’s degree in statistics from Columbia University and spent 20 years on Wall Street evaluating the fiscal health of countless companies. But she’s emphatic that she did not so much as glance at the success rate of start-ups in theindustry before boldly leaving her career in finance—which included stints at Morgan Stanley, Citco, and J. P.
She’d previously founded a cycling studio and a coffee bar , and her original plan for this entrepreneurial venture was to import a few small brands and open a Champagne bar in Brooklyn, but the pandemic was clearly not the time for a new lounge. Pivoting on her own pivot, Robinson took the knowledge she’d accumulated and instead created her own bubbly in 2020.
Today, Robinson lives five minutes by foot from the house where she was raised. “The Stuyvesant name means a lot to me because I grew up on Stuyvesant Avenue,” she explains. “My school bus picked me up on Decatur and Stuyvesant. When I went to high school, it was at Boys & Girls High School at Fulton and Stuyvesant. My first full-time job, at Morgan Stanley, I remember walking up Stuyvesant Avenue in heels. Never again—but that’s how it all started.