As Founder of Kelly E. Carter Communications, Kelly crafts compelling narratives and creates meaningful connections within the wine industry and beyond. Combining an extensive, award-winning journalism career with seven years as a director at Napa Valley’s esteemed Alpha Omega winery, the New York Times bestselling author founded Napa Valley Noir, a luxury concierge service that serves as a testament to her life’s journey, connections and passion for curating exceptional experiences. She brings a wealth of experience and commitment to excellence to her endeavors.
Kelly teamed up with tennis phenom Venus Williams to pen Come to Win: Business Leaders, Artists, Doctors, and Other Visionaries on How Sports Can Help You Top Your Profession, a New York Times bestseller in 2010. A travel aficionado who has visited more than 40 countries and territories on five continents, Kelly also penned National Geographic Books’ The Dog Lover’s Guide to Travel, featuring 75 of the best places in the U.S. and Canada to vacation with a dog. The tail-all guide, released in April 2014, earned Kelly a prestigious Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers.
Kelly currently toils away on Bellini for One, a memoir about her and her dog Lucy’s glorious two years living la bella vita in Italy and her path to Napa Valley in 2015 while editor of Haute Living Magazine San Francisco.
When she was nine years old, Kelly told her mother she wanted to become a journalist. Showing determination and dedication after studying journalism at USC, she gave up the warmth of her native Los Angeles to begin her trailblazing sports writing career at the tiny Iowa City Press-Citizen in the dead of winter. She climbed journalism’s ladder to the Pittsburgh Press, Dallas Morning News then Orange County Register, where she landed her dream job and made history as the first female beat writer assigned to cover the Los Angeles Lakers. From there it was on to USA Today as an NFL and NBA writer before she switched to broadcast and joined CNNSI as an on-air correspondent.
Kelly traded sweaty lockerrooms for Hollywood’s glitz and glamour by using her flair for quickly bonding with boldface names to segue from sports to entertainment/celebrity fashion writing at People before USA Today lured her back to dazzle its readers with her impressive celebrity coverage. She sat down with a multitude of A-list stars for one-on-one interviews and became a fixture at Hollywood award shows, premieres and parties. When she wore out her stilettos on the red carpet in 2003, she fulfilled a fantasy of many and, along with Lucy, moved to Italy, where she launched her freelance travel writing career. The duo enjoyed more than two years in Florence and Positano before saying arrivederci in 2005. The peripatetic writer called New York home for four years until wanderlust got the best of her once again.
After returning briefly to Los Angeles, Kelly relocated to San Francisco, where she became a member of the prestigious San Francisco Writer’s Grotto and became enamored with Napa Valley during her frequent visits.
As a wine industry professional, Kelly chaired the Napa Valley Vintners’ Public Relations Committee. In 2021, she was selected for NVV’s first Napa Leadership Program and in 2022 chaired NVV’s Collective Napa Valley Community Celebration. She holds a Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Level 3 award and is a Wine Unify mentor.
Kelly has been featured on “Good Morning America” and in the pages of numerous print publications, including the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Ebony. Fittingly, Kelly resides in Yountville, the culinary capital of Napa Valley.
