My journey into the coffee world, unbeknownst to me at the time, began as a child
growing up in rural Arkansas. My mother’s family was family of farmers, and as such, I
was exposed to farming at a very young age. In that exposure, even as a child, I noticed
certain patterns. Money was scarce. Crops and seasonal weather were unpredictable.
However, what stood out to me most, though I could not have articulated what I saw
then, was the inequity as to labor dispersion and monetary compensation between
women and men. I watched my Grandmother Dorothy, my Mom Judy and my aunties
work before and well past the hours that the men in their lives worked with little or no
recognition and under the expectation that they were only there to help with resources
withheld from them. These factors clung to me as an adolescent and into my adulthood.
They were factors I despised and yet, sadly, as a female, for a very long time, just
accepted that I had to roll with.
During my high school years, I met a wonderful young man named Gustavo from
Colombia. He taught me what it meant to be seen, heard, honored without his identity
being threatened or him losing sight of what was important to him. We would eventually
become engaged. He spoke often of wanting to work with the poor, using his position in
society to help those less fortunate than himself. That commitment to honoring those
who did not have what he did impacted me deeply, considering where I had come from.
My family worked hard. They did the very best they could with what they had. That was
honorable. And yet, due to poverty, so often, these qualities remained unnoticed. Help
in understanding better pathways to resources and how to use these resources were
hard won by the women in my family. Yet, they learned, and they made things work.
Gustavo wanted to honor these traits in the impoverished in his world. He wanted to
open pathways where there were few or none, both male and female and I loved that!
Sadly, he passed away before we could marry, but the legacy he left me with was to
work on behalf of those who struggle, encouraging and supporting them where I was
able and with the resources that I have available.
Many years later, I was introduced into the specialty coffee world under very odd
circumstances. I partnered with Lorenzo, the other half of El Camino. To say I was lost
in this world, was an understatement. I struggled to connect my “worlds’. Then, came
along “A Film About Coffee”. It is a strange to say, but it is the truth... I wept as I
watched it. Finally, the culmination of my life experiences was linked! Things were
beginning to make sense.
I could finally see how my background in Psychology, my exposure to farming and what
had impacted me, my connection to Colombia, the third largest coffee producer in the
world and coffee itself linked.
It became the backbone to my side of the “why” to our tagline and mission: Elevate.
Illuminate. Empower.
I long to elevate coffee as a powerful tool to bring communities, locally and globally
together. I desire to Illuminate the issues that are encountered in the coffee lands and
share them with the consumers. (Coffee drinkers...YOU HAVE SO MUCH POWER TO
HELP!!) And finally, I am determined to utilize both of these mechanisms to empower
those in the coffee lands, giving their blood, sweat and tears to provide us with
incredible coffees and who often do not even realize the beauty and value of what they
are producing.
This is my story, my vision, and my journey...mi el camino. Will you join me and make a
mark on the world that coffee touches?
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