Mallory Uran McEligot was born and raised in Napa California, a 5th generation Napan with strong familial ties to the Carneros Region and the subsequent wine industry there. In 2014 she founded the By Appointment Networking Group, to connect like-minded career driven individuals from by appointment wineries, touring companies, culinary mavens and the most elite lodging partners to network and create a referral based group for businesses to lean on for support and community. 

Mallory graduated from Sonoma State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Studies, and her career started in the hospitality industry in 2004 working for the PlumpJack Group. She ended her tenure with the PlumpJack group working at CADE, PlumpJack and Odette Estate Wineries from 2012-2015. For the last seven years she has worked as Director of Memberships and Events for Silver Trident Winery, owned by the founder of Oceania Cruise Lines, Bob Binder. While working at Silver Trident Winery, Mallory started a blog and popular social media account VineLiving which focuses on the wine country lifestyle, where to visit, where to stay, where to eat and what to drink!  

Currently Mallory runs her company BANG Napa Valley full time while operating a successful social media marketing consultancy to support a select few clients. While not working she enjoys spending time with her husband Matt who is the Director of Operations for Reverie II Winery, her 3 yr old son Macklin and other close extended family members, in addition to her new pups Carmelita and Zula.

“With the By Appointment Networking Group continuously growing, our goal is to create and foster a more intentional and impactful peer-based networking group in Sonoma County. We will continue to host an array of intimate and exclusive networking events specific to Sonoma County, while giving both Sonoma and Napa BANG Chapters access to each other’s events. This will allow for a unified base across both valleys, of leading hospitality professionals in the Wine Industry. We will also look to add to the many different revenue-building referral programs within our existing membership base and continue to grow and foster those relationships to provide direct sales opportunities to our members. It is proven that all clients prefer a personal recommendation above all other referral sources, and thus, growing the BANG Sonoma County Chapter will allow us to expand our offerings and resources for all current and future clients of both BANG Sonoma and Napa Chapters.”

BANG Sonoma Chapter, President

Andy Farriester was born and raised in Springdale, Arkansas, and grew up with big dreams of being on Broadway. Those dreams took him to Southwest Missouri State University where he studied performing arts and received his B.F.A in acting. With his degree in hand, he took off for the Windy City, aka Chicago to pursue his dreams of hitting it big on the stage. Shortly after getting his first acting job, Andy met his husband, Russell who at the time, urged Andy to find a more secure career and one with a steadier stream of income, aka “a job”.