Imbibe 75 Person to Watch: Kyo Dominick

When Kyo Dominick’s dance career was dashed by a torn ACL, he sought comfort in wine and whiskey. But it’s not what you think. “Between auditions in New York, I’d always gone to different wine and spirits bars and tried different things—that really sparked my interest,” Dominick says. Even while still working as a dancer—with gigs on SNL, at the Grammys, in Magic Mike Live in Las Vegas, among others—he’d been enamored by the appeal of wine and whiskey, attending tastings to learn more, and picking up day jobs in wine retail.

A fortuitous encounter at one tasting with Monique Huston, Winebow’s vice president of spirits, prompted Dominick to take a more serious interest in his liquid education, shortly before being sidelined by injury. “She said, ‘You have to do something after you’re finished with dancing,’ and she was right,” he says. “That’s how I got here.” The “here” in Dominick’s case is Napa wine country, where he moved in 2022 and now manages sales for Karolus Wine Imports, while working to finish his diploma with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.

Dance and drink are considerably different career paths, but Dominick sees this evolving interest as better suited to the long run. “I’m in such a profound place,” he says. “For so long, I had these big goals, and I wanted to dance for these people on these stages. And they were so specific. But as I moved into wine, I found that I could be a lot more grounded, and not have to have all the answers right away. Maybe that’s me maturing as a man, and maybe it’s me maturing as a professional. But I’m taking it one step at a time.”

Click here to read more about some of 2025’s other Imbibe 75 People and Places to Watch.