5 fun facts you may not know about KC Cunningham

Napa Home & Garden’s founder shares the details of her very first job and her favorite holiday tradition.

Napa Home & Garden celebrates its 25^th anniversary in 2025, kicking off a year-long celebration at the January markets with nearly 500 product introductions, including a lifestyle collaboration with designer Barclay Butera.

The company was founded in Napa, Calif., by KC and Jerry Cunningham. It started with an emphasis on garden décor and over the past two and half decades has expanded into multiple product categories.

“I’m really proud of the brand,” KC Cunningham told Home Accents Today in an interview. “It tickles me wherever I am — whether in the U.S. or Canada — and there’s Napa product, and it’s in a really nice store! I take great pride in our product. I think it is a nice, clean, casually elegant, not cluttered, not overly embellished brand.”

In a long-ranging conversation, Cunningham reflected on how Napa has grown and evolved, what she learned along the way, and the surprising pleasure of making a career shift after age 50.

That interview will be featured in Home Accents Today’s January issue. In the meantime, here are a few fun facts about KC Cunningham:

Where did you grow up?

Seattle, Wash.

First job?

It was in high school. I worked for Triple XXX Root Beer out of the Tacoma airport drive-in. All the agents from Hertz Rental came over to Triple XXX on their breaks. They recruited me [to work as a car rental agent]. I was 16, maybe 17; they waived the age requirement. They had extra insurance on me because I wasn’t old enough to sign a contract. I was a Teamster. I made really good money.