Lydia Melton

Age: 26

Owner of Günter Hans

Lydia Melton’s goal is to discover the best European food, beer and wine and bring them to Columbia. A favorite recent project, though, is bringing Columbia its first wine-on-tap system.

“Imagine every glass of wine being poured as though it’s a freshly opened bottle,” Melton says. “Except it’s better than that because it’s coming straight from the barrel.”

With an MBA and a Bachelor of Science in marketing and business management, Melton had the education to tackle starting her own business, but each day brings new challenges.

“Because [Günter Hans] is a new model — with no franchise help — sometimes you have to figure things out and solve problems on your own,” she says.