Our Story

Harriet Mills

FOUNDER AND CEO

For nearly 10 years, Harriet has been dedicated to growing the Wine & Design brand and putting together a team of amazing professionals to support her franchise partners. Harriet has been featured in many noteworthy publications such as Triangle Business Journal’s 40 Under 40, ABC’s Shark Tank, the Wall Street Jornal, The New York Times, and Yahoo Finance for her drive and dedication to her business. Harriet prides herself on creating a business that is family-friendly and allows her franchise partners the flexibility and freedom to succeed at work and at home.

Claudia Wooten Harper

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Having missed the Wine and Design family, Claudia is back doing what she loves. She started with Wine & Design in 2012 buying her first franchise in Wilmington NC. In 2014, she bought her 2nd franchise in Leland NC and brought her daughter, Kathleen on board. Together the two increased sales and expanded the brand and quickly became known in town as the “Wine and Design Ladies”. Kathleen decided to spread her wings to Colorado and Claudia took an opportunity to sell the studios, one she regretted from the start! She is thrilled to be back and dedicated to providing enhanced support to our franchisees and continues to collaborate with the team on corporate projects!

Anna Lisa Leiber

CORPORATE ARTIST/TRAINER

With a background in studio art & musical theater, Anna Lisa has been entertaining painters of all ages with W&D since 2013. She’s thrilled to be bringing her expertise in painting & sparkly stage presence to the corporate team as Lead Corporate Artist and trainer! You’ll find Anna Lisa in many of our on-demand videos and virtual classes. When she’s not teaching W&D classes or creating artsy Tik Toks and Instagram reels, Anna Lisa paints murals on storefront windows and is a voracious bookworm. She lives in Raleigh NC with her husband & two highly opinionated parakeets.

Serena Johnson

ASSISTANT TO OPERATIONS & MARKETING MANAGER

Serena is originally from Lincoln, NE and loves watching her Nebraska Huskers college football team play. She currently lives in Raleigh, NC and has lived there since 2011.

She graduated from Meredith College with a degree in Fashion: Visual Merchandising. During her studies, she fell in love with marketing and has since helped local entrepreneurs with developing their brand, as well as marketing their products and services.

Serena is also a fashion stylist who styles small business owners for their branding photoshoots. She loves baking, taking dance classes, and listening to podcasts.

Serena is honored to join the Wine & Design Corporate team. She is excited to have the opportunity to assist franchisees with creating a successful Wine & Design business while finding their unique niche in their local community.

JESS COOK

RALEIGH STUDIO MANAGER

Jess is from a one stoplight town in southern Virginia, named Chatham, and moved to the big city of Raleigh in 2020. She graduated from Longwood University with a BS in Kinesiology and is currently a Strength and Conditioning Coach at a local physical therapy clinic outside of the Raleigh Wine and Design studio.

She continued her love of art throughout her college career by drawing anatomy and movement within her courses. After moving to Raleigh, she and her husband came to take Pop Art Paint Your Pet class one Sunday afternoon. She fell in love with everything about Wine and Design. Two years later, she is now the studio manager of the Raleigh location, located in the beautiful Union Train Station.

Jess loves to be active through sports like volleyball, spike ball and paddle boarding. She listens to many true crime podcasts and cannot yell loud enough in support of the Baltimore Ravens Football Team.

Jess is honored to be a part of an incredible group of people who make Wine and Design a wonderful place to work. She is looking forward to painting and creating with everyone who comes into the studio!