Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Mills.
Alright, thank you for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us how you got started?
I grew up in Phoenix and started coming downtown for shows at Modified Arts and other venues in my early teens. The explosion of growth and investment downtown was still a few years away, and I was incredibly inspired by all the art galleries, music venues, and DIY spaces. Once I became exposed to an artist and creative communities, I felt like it was all I wanted—to be part of a community of people creating together and supporting each other.
Most of my teens and early twenties were spent experimenting and pursuing different opportunities and passions. I joined a few bands and played shows, started regularly going to art gallery openings, photographed graffiti and murals, and enjoyed meeting people and becoming involved with whatever was happening.
I received a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from ASU. I tailored my degree to the Environmental Humanities, so I spent much of my time at ASU analyzing how environmental and scientific issues are represented in popular media and culture. I also wrote for The State Press, ASU’s student-run newspaper, while enrolled there.
After graduating, I continued my education by being very systematic and thoughtful in what I read. It’s no secret the vast majority of English literature, like many fields, has been dominated by white men of European descent. It’s very important to me to broaden my horizons, and I’ve made a concerted effort to read a wide array of literature from diverse regions and backgrounds. I try to be aware of blind spots I have in regards to the tradition and history of literature. Some of my favorite contemporary authors writing today are Ottessa Moshfegh, Zadie Smith, and Elif Batuman.
My guiding light has always been writing in all its forms: creative writing, short stories, poetry, and even technical writing. I began pitching stories to local magazines, offering my services as a freelance writer, and helping artists write bios, press releases, and grant proposals. I was also active in the literary community, doing live storytelling events, attending poetry readings, and regularly performing at or attending Bar Flies, Untidy Secrets, and The Moth StorySLAM.
By my mid-twenties, I had caught “the wine bug,” as one mentor called it. I worked in restaurants and bartended during and after attending ASU for college, and once I started working at a place with a great wine list, I became obsessed. I was the FOH/Bar Manager at the James Beard-Awarded Nobuo at Teeter House for a few years, and my time there launched me on a new path in hospitality. The wine quickly took over my life. This was a couple of years before the current natural wine craze arrived in Phoenix, and it feels like I was in the right place at the right time. Phoenix’s wine scene is constantly growing; so many new, exciting things are happening—you can feel the energy in the air.
I’m grateful that I’ve been able to create a career that balances wine and writing while allowing room for creative exploration in other mediums. Especially with writing, I’m at a point where projects are starting to come more easily without having to search them out, and that’s a great feeling because it took a lot of time and persistence.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’ve had a non-linear career path by choice, which comes with its unique set of challenges. Being passionate about many different things, I hated having to give one up or sacrifice one passion for focusing on another. If I had chosen to focus on one thing, such as wine, I would probably be more successful and experienced in that area, but it would have meant giving up writing or other creative endeavors.
Another challenge has simply been pursuing my areas of interest in Phoenix, where there is a lack of opportunities compared to larger cities. Whether as a musician, a freelance writer, or a sommelier, there are many more consistent and larger opportunities in other parts of the country. Deciding to stay in Phoenix to pursue them, often building from the ground up when necessary, is incredibly challenging but comes with a great sense of reward and satisfaction.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m the Manager and Wine Buyer for Montecito Bottle Shop, part of the hospitality group that owns Restaurant Progress and Sottise. I am also a sales representative for Good Omens, an Arizona-based wine distributor/importer, and I work on private, special events and creative projects for Palabra Collective and Futuro. In addition to that, I’m a freelance writer, so I often juggle many different projects at once.
In 2015, I launched Sprawlr, an online magazine for nonfiction. I spent years developing it, enrolling in a Seed Spot, a Phoenix-based social entrepreneurship and nonprofit program. While it didn’t work out in the end, I worked on some of my favorite projects as a writer and editor. I often look back and think how audacious it was for me to try and launch a nonprofit publication in my early twenties with no experience. I don’t think anyone told me how crazy it sounded, or if they did, I didn’t listen.
Since then, I’ve been very committed to my writing and poetry as I build a client base for freelancing and work towards advancing my career as a wine professional. I’m constantly submitting my work to literary and poetry journals while pitching story ideas to magazines and websites. In all honesty, one of the things I’m most proud of is that I am still determined and focused on my writing. Years of countless rejections and second-guessing myself have not been easy, but I feel more confident than ever in my writing ability. To cultivate a sense of worth and value in yourself is an accomplishment that no one can give or deny but you alone.
My life has revolved around wine and writing for a while now, and I’m grateful to receive acknowledgments in these areas, but I could never be fully content or happy for personal gain alone. I grapple with larger philosophical questions, such as what is the best use of my time, what are my responsibilities to those around me, and what responsibilities do we all have to our greater community. Much of my writing, especially my poetry, is often a way of exploring these questions. I think a lot about what it means to commit myself to a creative practice or discipline while maintaining a career to provide for myself.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Nobuo Fukuda was my first mentor in wine while working at his restaurant, and I owe a lot to him. The world of wine is so big and ever-changing, so to find someone who can speak in a way you understand and provide a conceptual framework is very important. Nobuo is also self-taught and came to the US from Japan in his youth, so I appreciate the unique way he understands food and wine.
While I received a great foundation in French wine from Nobuo, it wasn’t as focused on Italian, so I specifically went to Cibo to gain that experience from them. After Nobu, I worked with an extensive Italian wine list and food from Michael Krassner and chef Guido Saccone at Cibo. I also have been attending a professional wine group for around four years now with some of the state’s best sommeliers and wine professionals. There are too many names to list, but I’m incredibly indebted to everyone in that group.
Lastly, Jorge Ignacio Torres and Priscilla Urrutia have supported me tremendously, and I’m grateful for their friendship, including the whole Palabra crew. What they are doing at Palabra and their other concepts are some of the most inspiring projects I’ve ever been a part of.
Contact Info:
- Website: danielmills.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielmils/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielmils_
Image Credits:
Phillip Goldsberry Andrew Almendarez Stephen Goldstein
