48. Jordan Salcito — CEO and Founder of Drink RAMONA, Inc.

Jordan Salcito walked away from the opportunity to open a restaurant because its policies would have been discriminatory to women, landed a role working for David Chang as the Beverage Director of Momofoku, then launched her own company.

Salcito started out as a hostess, then a prep cook in New York City, then moved on to work as sommelier and manager at Eleven Madison Park, working harvest in Burgundy every year.

She told Business Insider she was asked to open a restaurant with two male partners, but part of the contract involved a clause stating equity would only be granted with "active partnership" — which meant that if she got pregnant and went on maternity leave, she'd lose her partnership stake.

Instead of giving up, she launched a small wine company, Bellus Wines, landed her job at Momofuku, and while she was on maternity leave, launched her own line of canned, organic wine spritzers called RAMONA.

"I don't enjoy beer, I don't think it's delicious, [but] beer had a stronghold on market for a very long time," she told Business Insider, adding that meanwhile, with wine, "a long list isn't the way to connect to it."

"A fine glass of wine doesn't have to come in a crystal glass," she said.

Salcito has raised two rounds of capital, gained global distribution with Whole Foods, and gained fans like Kanye West. The message? Always follow your intuition.