SPEAKER_01 0:07

Hi, hello and howdy, and welcome back to Tiny Sidecar. I'm Kate, your host in Sidecar Sidekick, and today on Tiny Sidecar, I'm joined by Rochelle Taylor, Director of Operations at Olympia Coffee, a talented competitor in the U.S. Coffee and Good Spirits, and the founder of a woman in coffee event that's been building community not only in Seattle, but also throughout the industry. In this conversation, Rochelle shares the path that led her through the coffee industry and the lesson she's picked up along the way. We'll talk about the values of saying yes to opportunities before you feel ready, staying continuously curious, and recognizing that there isn't just one right way through coffee. So now's the perfect time to grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and enjoy the next hour together.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

My drink was a uh a grande well-stirred soy caramel macchiato iced. Um it was really, it was really something. Um, and I actually had my first like cup of specialty coffee by accident. Um I went to go study with a friend at a Starbucks after class one day, and we pulled up, and that Starbucks was out of power. And my friend was like, Oh, I think there's another coffee shop up the road. We'll just go there. Um, it's this little coffee shop in Manoa Valley in Honolulu uh called uh Morning Glass, and they were a Stump Town account at the time. And uh I walked in and I tried to order my Grande Soy well-stirred caramel macchiato. Um, and the guy behind the bar was basically like, you can have a cappuccino, go sit down. And I just remember like kind of looking at him and being like confused, and he was like, I'll bring you your cappuccino, like go have a seat. Um, and that cappuccino was like my very first cup of specialty coffee. It was uh Stumptown's hairbender at the time, and I remember taking a sip and really liking it. Um, and I like hung out at that coffee shop, I studied, and then I remember like basically pestering that guy while he closed his cafe and just like asking him a bunch of questions. Um, his name's Ted. He's like a good friend of mine at this point. He owns um actually his own cafe in Sacramento now called Cafe Immortal. Um, he's been in coffee for a really long time, but um that was how I stumbled into figuring out what specialty coffee was. I like had this cappuccino and it was so different than the other coffee I had, and I really enjoyed it. And then I just kept going back to coffee shops and asking questions, and that was sort of like the thing for me. I never really had a moment where I was like, oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna start to get into this. I just was like, this is a like a new a new thing for me to experience, and I was just curious about it. Um and that was the whole beginning. Hawaii's specialty coffee scene was like pretty small around that time frame. So there were like two or three coffee shops you could go to. Um, and so it was that one that I went to, morning glass, and then I had a friend who got a job at the other coffee shop on the island, and so I would go and I would visit him at work, and uh next thing I knew, I was spending pretty much most of my free time at the two to three specialty coffee shops back home.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Oh my gosh. Did you grow up in Hawaii?

SPEAKER_00 4:02

I did, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Um, my whole family is still there, I'm the only one that doesn't live there. So I I try to go home as often as I can, but um my growing up in Hawaii is like really central to who I am as a person. The culture there, and I mean, just like so many of the things that you learn and experience growing up in such a culturally diverse environment. It's just like the kind of stuff that you like as a kid and a young person, you just like don't think about or don't appreciate. And now that I'm older, I realize like what a privilege and a blessing it was to grow up in an environment like that. I mean, let alone that it's Hawaiian it's absolutely stunning, and you're like swimming at some of the most beautiful beaches ever, just like casually on a Tuesday after school. Yeah, but yeah, it I I think it's it's been really central to who I am, especially as an adult, and um what a gift it was to grow up there.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Yeah. Do you feel like there's parts of growing up in Hawaii that you bring to your job now that are different maybe than how someone else would approach it?

SPEAKER_00 5:17

You know, uh probably. Um, I don't know if I've ever thought about it that way. Um but like n knowing how core the culture of that place is to me, um probably.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:33

Um, you know, I think it's one of the things that makes me really attracted to like values-based companies or like values-based environments. Um, Hawaii kind of operates that way in sort of like an unspoken manner. Um, there's all these things you learn about, you know, your your kuliana and your responsibility and how you engage with the other people in your community and the things that are just expected of you as a member of, you know, your your family or your family's family and your cousins, your aunties, your uncles, your friends, all of those things. Um and like I think when you really dial it back, it's like it's a lot of community and teamwork. And so I think, you know, my job now, I think that uh if you have the the teamwork, that's like it makes everything else easier in that capacity. So if you're like always operating from a place of you're thinking about what's best for the team, what's best for your community, everything gets easier in that capacity. Um in my current role at my current company, we are a values-based company. Um, teamwork is one of our values. Um, so I think that that's really helpful. Um I think it just it sort of plays into, I don't know, how you operate and like what the expectations are. Um Hawaii is also like a really like sometimes overly hospitable place. You know, the expectation is like you you're always treating people really well. Like if you're going over to someone's house, you're never showing up empty-handed. You're always doing dishes, you're always helping clean up, you know, you're grabbing Auntie's cart for her as she's leaving the grocery store to help her out. Like so many of those tiny little things are just second nature to a lot of us that I don't really think about them. And I think that yeah, if you if you like have that values-based alignment maybe it's why I got into this industry or why I ended up in leadership because you operate from a place of being in hospitality and being in service. And like one of my favorite things is like being in service to my community and my people. And I think that shows through like both professionally and personally. It's like personally, one of my absolute favorite things to do is host people at my house. Like, I want to have dinners and I want to have drinks and yeah, come over and stay the weekend, stay the night. I'm happy to have you. And I like I love doing super over-the-top things that I don't know, make people feel comfortable and thought of and special. Um and so yeah, I hadn't really thought about it in that way, but probably so.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

It is it's special when you get to treat someone different than how they're used to being treated. Um I love that. I love that that's your background and that you're bringing it into coffee. So let's talk about operations, because I think it's a good segue into what you were just speaking about. Do you really like getting to know your team members and what they need specifically and then building operations around them? Or do you feel like the operations are here, they're supposed to work, we'll just find a way to make this team make it work?

SPEAKER_00 9:19

I think maybe my answer is a little bit of both. In my in my current role and with the the current large operation that we do, it feels large to us. I think we're like technically small, medium-sized business still. Um, but it feels really big because we've grown a lot for for us over the last several years. You know, we talk a lot about um like the bar of expectation. Um, and so I think it's a little bit of a meeting in the middle of like, where is the bar? And am I building the team in relation to the bar? And so, like, you know, you're bringing people in that you're like, okay, this person can meet the bar, but we have the expectation that the bar is only going to get higher. So, like every iteration of my teams moving forward, the whole goal is those teams just get better and better and better as time goes on. And that could be through, you know, growth, development, and upward promotion. That could be, you know, someone new joins the team. It can happen in a lot of different ways. Um, you know, I I I had to um sort of almost rebuild from ground zero um a section of my team this past year, which was like really uncommon for our company and for that department in particular. Um, we had like a group of people that all had like really big, ultimately really positive life changes happen uh all really close together. Um, and so I was in a position where I had like really long tenured staff who had been with me for several years, um, all sort of transition out of the company within a couple of months of each other. Um, and this is like a really crucial back-up house team. It's like a lot of daily operational functions that like simply can't just not happen. Um, and I absolutely adored the team that we had in place there. They were so efficient. Like it was one of those things that like they were such a well-oiled clock that like so many of the things I didn't even have to think about. Are they getting done? How are they getting done? Because they just worked so well. And so I was in a position where I was like, oh my gosh, I have to build this team basically from ground zero again. Um, and you know, my previous team when they came on and they were being built, like the bar was there, but they definitely raised the bar for how that space ran. And so then when I was building my new team, I was like, okay, the bar used to be down here, but now it's up here. So I'm building, I'm building this team for the new bar. And I think I have an incredible team now, and I think that they're gonna be like the whole goal is that every team is the best iteration of your team, and you just continue to get better and better as time goes on. Um, and I truly believe that for you know, my current team. And so I think it's a little bit of like the operations have to be there, and like the systems do kind of need to work a little bit, especially as like people are coming in and they're learning, and you know, uh as folks are learning, there's got to be some sort of like semblance of function in the system that way they're like not trying to uh build the plane and fly it at the same time, yeah. Um, so I I think it's like develop your team and grow them, but also have some systems in place that work and you know meet your standard of function, excellence, and then you know, grow and develop your team in that same way.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

In your role, what's your favorite part?

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Oh man, that's really hard. I love I don't know, I love the strategy. I love I mean it's also stressful at times, um, but I love the strategy of thinking about how this decision that I'm gonna make today ripples out a year from now, two years from now. How does this affect the team? How is this gonna affect this person's career? How is this gonna affect the operation of our company? Um, so I really love the strategy of it. Um, and I think like the strategy in different capacities of like, you know, when I'm figuring out like how I'm hiring and building a team, I'm like, okay, this person has this interest and potentially I could grow and mentor them to do this thing later down the road. And then sometimes people's careers surprise you and they take a pivot and they end up doing something you never thought that they would do, and they're incredible at it. And so I think sometimes just like the strategy of those different things is uh challenging and exciting. Um, my role is really unique in the sense that like it's very uh unknown in a lot of ways. Um, I don't really have a clear take step A and then step B and then step C. And some people that's like not for them. They really want a clear path. You know, I I go from here to here to here, and here's what my career progression looks like. Here's what my daily, weekly, monthly schedule cadence should look like. Um, and I just don't really have that. And I find a lot of joy in that. I like the variety, I like the challenge, I like the autonomy to like set goals, pivot, change, you know, uh plan things as they as they come up. Like, of course, I love the strategy, so I'm always in the mindset of like, okay, I've got one month, six month, one year down the road. Like, I'm always planning those things, but then like the constant adjustment of okay, well, this thing happened, so I need to adjust my one-month goal. And then because of that, this other thing happened. So, how do I still make these deliverables happen with these six-month goals in line? And how do I get there? And um, I think because I've been excited about that, like I never imagined I would end up in the role that I'm in now. This was like definitely not in my plans. If you would have talked to me, I mean, even eight years ago, I think I would have been like, I would have had a much different idea of what my career in coffee would have looked like.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Um what do you think it would have been?

SPEAKER_00 16:09

I think I had a really narrow-minded view of what my career in coffee could have been back then. Um I was a human resources manager back at that time, and I think that like I thought HR was gonna be it for me, and that was gonna be like the little pipeline of the industry that I would be in, and it was like my foot in the door to do something that felt impactful, but still allowed me to be part of the coffee community, and I thought that like that's what I would end up doing, and I was just I would hire and recruit and interview train and build teams, which is incredible, and I still do a lot of that as my as my day-to-day job. Um but I definitely don't think I would have I would have anticipated um an operations role for myself back then.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

I think it's funny when you talk to people that are in the coffee industry, and I think especially with people being like, what are the different avenues that you can go? I think so many of us are like, this is the one path we can be on, and then so few of us actually end up on that path. Like I started my career in social work, would never have told you that I was going to even work in coffee, let alone be a green buyer and a general manager of a roasting company. And so it's interesting how some of those like past things that might have set you up. Like my background in social work is the whole ethos of how I buy green coffee now. And like, if I wouldn't have had that before, then I probably wouldn't be the green buyer. I know I wouldn't be the green buyer I am today, or even if I would have gotten in coffee. But it's interesting because I feel like coffee does that to people where it's like this is the path you can be on. But there's so many opportunities in the industry to kind of get pulled in one way or the other. Um, do you think not being in human resources now and being in operations, you're like, oh yeah, this is a clear good fit for me? Or is there like a place that you see yourself going even further than where you are right now?

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Um yeah, definitely. Um, you know, now I'm in the spot where the human resources department, like I manage that department now. Um, so like I'm I'm still really involved in it. I still love interviewing people and you know, hearing about their careers, what they want to do, figuring out how to build really dynamic teams. Like I still really enjoy that part of it. Um as I've grown in my career, I think that I would have always ended up somewhere else. I I think it's just like a little bit of my nature of I don't know, I say yes to things, and I'm just like, you know, as we were growing as a company, there were so many things that came up that they were just like, we kind of need someone to do this, and I was like, I'll do it. Like I was always just the person to raise my hand and be like, I don't know, I I've never done that before, but I'll figure it out. Or sometimes it was like a little fake it till you make it, and they'd be like, Oh, who can do this? And I'd be like, I can definitely do that. And they'd be like, okay, great, and then I'd turn around, I'd be like, oh my gosh, I mean, I can do that, right? I well, sure, let's figure it out. Um, so I think that ending up in a role like this was probably an eventuality for me. Um and like knowing that about me now, I I do think I will continue to grow. Like director of ops, it's a great job. I love it, it's super dynamic. Do I think it's the top for me? No. I mean, I'm long-tenured enough in my career, but also young enough to where I'm like, I got a lot of years left in me and a lot of life. Um, so the hope is no. I I would like to continue to grow and do other things. And I think one of the things that like makes this industry fun is the ability to stay open and stay curious. Like, like I said, back when I was a human resources manager, I would have never imagined being a director of ops and also being a competitor at the same time. Like I would have never imagined that for myself at all. And it's because I was curious and open and willing to try things, and so I'm hoping, you know, even two years from now, I want to be able to look back at my career and be like, I don't know, I never imagined I would be X role and doing these other things that I'm doing. So I I hope it's not the top. The the goal is to continue to grow. And I think I've put a lot of like I've put a lot of effort into figuring out the fun, the fun ways, like what lights me up about this industry, how can I impact and make change and just contribute on as big of a scale as I can, both in my company and also to this industry. Um, some of that is competition, some of that is events, some of that is women and coffee, some of that is, you know, operationally in in building teams and helping my company grow. So uh hopefully it just keeps on being up and up from here.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

I mean, if you stay curious, how can it not? We have to talk about the competition side of things, though. The fact that you have a full time job and a competitor, not only a full time job, but a full time job in leadership. Um, obviously, leadership has different demands at different times, like turnover. And things like that you can't predict. But what? So you've competed for two years in the good spirits. What is that like? Like, what had you had a background in seeing other people compete before and kind of like a peek behind the curtain of what it looks like? And then you're like, hey, I'm going to try that myself. Like, how did you get into competing?

SPEAKER_00 22:20

I mean, basically, what I say is we have a couple competitors in the past who compete for Olympia Coffee, particularly in U.S. coffee and good spirits. Both Sam, who's one of the owners of Olympia Coffee, and then Raina, who's our director of training and innovation, have competed in previous years. They both currently hold U.S. titles for winning in their respective years 2023 and 2024. So I really think it was Raina's like 2024 US Coffee and Good Spirits season that I like really took the biggest peek behind the curtain to be like, what is this thing? Like, what is she doing around there? She's in the lab all the time. Like, I kind of just want to know about it. Um, Raina is also a close, dear, personal friend of mine. So, you know, even just as her friend, I was like, I want to be supportive. Um, so I like really took a peek behind the curtain, and um, I got to go um to um expo at the time with her and like watch her compete and perform and ultimately win the title that year. And it was just so incredible to see the work that she put in and the presentations she put on, and just like how uh creative and involved everything was. Um and I think it was a little bit of like A, I was curious. Um, and then B, I think I had a person in my corner who was like, you can do this. Like I I've said more than a few times that like Raina crawled so I could run. Like she did so much of the foundational, like figuring out how to be a competitor. What is competition? How do you read a score sheet? What does that mean? What are the things you need to do to be successful in any remote capacity? Um, she had a couple seasons under her belt, and you know, because she also like knows me so well personally, um she knows that I'm a pretty competitive person by nature. Um, I love a trophy. I love to win an award. There's a certificate, an award, a trophy involved. I'm usually like, I'm in. I I love sometimes I joke that my favorite hobby actually is being the best. I love to win things. So I'm I love it.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

I love a trophy.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

I really do. I I can't help it. Um maybe it's the eldest daughter syndrome, maybe it's the Aries in me. I don't know what it is. I love being the best. So, you know, I I asked her about it and she was like, you could totally do this. Um and so I just decided I was gonna give it a shot. And I talked to both Raina and Sam, and they both graciously, like, I think also like knew that I'm the kind of person that once I decide to do something, I'm gonna commit and I'm gonna put the work in. Um, and so Raina has been my coach two seasons in a row. Um, my very first season, I won my regional and then took second place in the US. And I would say that's just as much of a credit to like my commitment to do the work as it is to the fact that like Raina was with me alongside me. You know, she was like, hey, I have a few seasons of this already under my belt. Here's what I've learned. Instead of you starting at square one, you're gonna start at square 10. And that just like ultimately set me up for more success. And so it just was like a really beautiful combination of having someone who sees you and can support you and has done some work and is like willing to share that work to make sure you have an easier time, and then also like being committed to being like, okay, I'm in, I've decided, I'm gonna give everything I have to this thing. And you know, I took second place my first year, and then I competed again this this past year and took second place again, um, but by an even smaller margin. So we're getting there little by little. Um, I will be competing again this year, hopefully. Fingers crossed, third time is the charm.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Yeah. When you say giving your all to competing, what does that look like from like year to year? So once you decide that you're gonna compete, how much work goes into these competitions?

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Well, I think it um if you're insane, like I um a lot, um, you know, it's July. I've already started like prep practice, you know, thinking out concepts for uh my routine, performance, drink builds. Um there's a little bit of that, like you'll hear some competitors in like all the competitions, whether that's barista comp, brewers, cups, eggs, la terre, whatever it is, is like sometimes your competition brain never really turns off. And you're just like kind of always have your wheels spinning about even the tiniest little things. If I'm out thrifting at goodwill and I see, I don't know, a tray or some glassware or whatever the case may be, I'm looking at that and I'm being like, huh. I wonder if I could use that in comp. Or, hmm, that's an interesting idea. I wonder if I could incorporate this garnish that I got served on my cocktail when I went out to dinner with my husband. I wonder, I wonder how that garnish would do on a coffee cocktail. You know, so you're like your wheels are kind of always spinning in that way. Um, but it is it is a lot of practice and a lot of investment. Um, you know, especially as the competition gets closer and closer, it's a lot of RD at home. You make a lot of really mediocre coffee cocktails and you put things together and you're like, oh, okay, in my head, that tasted a lot better. But when I actually put it in a glass, it tastes okay and it looks terrible. So, you know, you're making a lot of just it gets easier as I as you go on. Like, I'm at the point now where if I'm RDing, I'm not usually trying something, and then I'm like, oh, this is terrible. You're just kind of like, it's okay, or hmm, maybe there's something there. And sometimes it's as small as um, I don't know, tweaking the build on something where you're just like, oh, actually, I think that this would be better shaken as opposed to stirred. Or, you know, I need to up the sweetness in this capacity, whatever the case may be. So it's a lot of RD, a lot of practice in the lab. Um, honestly, writing the script is like the hardest part for me.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

I'm sure I don't know why that part is so difficult. Um, but you know, you have 10 minutes on stage with these judges, and so much of your score sheet and how you communicate is like what is in your script. Are you saying what you're doing? How does that tie in with you know the score sheet and all of that? And so the script is like the really hard part for me. And then you have 10 minutes of script, and then you also have to memorize it, and you have to be able to say everything out loud while you're also, you know, making coffee and mixing drinks and thinking about your technical points, and are you being hospitable and have you made eye contact with your judges? Um, so the script is usually the the hardest part for me. It's the part I procrastinate on the most too.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

I think that's fair. I'm always impressed when I'm watching competitions that people are making these incredible drinks while giving this story of why they're doing the things they're doing and what it means to them and all of the little details. It feels like such a high pressure situation. Um I I just am thinking about how my brain works. That I'm like, that would be the biggest challenge for me. I would like see someone off in the distance and be like, squirrel, focus, Kate, focus.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

You know, I was really surprised by how I did on stage. I wouldn't say that I'm necessarily like afraid of public speaking. I feel like I have to talk sometimes to a large amount of people or be in a position where like a lot of people are looking at me while I'm talking for my job on like a pretty regular basis. So I would I didn't really think that I was like, oh, I'm gonna have an issue with the public speaking. But I remember my first year competing. I went on stage and it was my very first time competing in front of everyone, and I got so shaky. Like I went to go pour something into a jigger, and like it was borderline comical how much my hands were shaking. And I remember internally being like, what is happening? I don't think I've ever done this before, ever. And like I think my voice sounded fine, like, but my hands were so shaky. And so, you know, year one, I had a lot of the shakes. Year two, I definitely did better. I was able to like calm a little bit more. I think I also like built a little bit of confidence in that capacity. Um, but I don't know, there's this thing happens. It's like it it really happened at nationals this year, where like I think I was just like, I was so locked in that I was like, okay, I'm gonna do it this year, I'm gonna get to first place, we're gonna make it happen. Like I had my routine and like everything I knew that I needed to do, like, so down and I was so focused on it that it was like once I got up there and I like I like took a breath, and it was like, it's like once I call time, everything around just like vanishes. And then like I got off stage and I was like, I couldn't tell you who was in that room. Like, aside from the two judges sitting in front of me and like the technical judge sort of like walking around, I'm like, was there five did five people watch my performance? Did 500 people watch? I have no concept of who was there. I think I've like looked out at the audience before and like looked right, but like I can't I can't tell you who was there or who I looked at, anything that happened in the background, which I think maybe is like a small gift that my brain has done for me that I appreciate because then I'm just like really focused on the judges that are and then hopefully I I mostly just hope that I don't black out when I go up there and that I you know I I have performed before and I've like gotten up there and I've done it, and then I get off stage and I'm like, I don't know if I can remember what I did. Did I do it? Did I like so dialed? Yeah, I'm like dishes. Did I say the things? Did I I don't remember? Um so it gets easier and easier every year. Um so hopefully, hopefully, third time's the charm, and and we'll do it again.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

Do you feel like there's areas where competition and your job have met and you've grown in one area or the other because of what your role is at work or as a competitor? Have there been crossovers?

SPEAKER_00 34:14

Oh, yeah, definitely. Um, you know, I manage a lot of different departments in my current role. Um, and ultimately one of the reasons I started competing is like a, I was curious about it, but also I had a hard time feeling like a coffee person. You know, I would I would talk to other people in the industry, or um, I remember I was at um a world of coffee and I was talking to someone and they were like, Oh, you're from Olympia Coffee, that's awesome. And they were like, What do you do? And I told them, I was like, Oh, I'm the director of ops, and their response was like, Oh, well, you're not really a coffee person. And I remember like in the moment being so deflated by that, and like so upset because I was like, Oh, what do you mean? Like, I have to do all the unfun things that make the coffee industry like work. Like baristas want healthcare, and everyone wants their payroll to be processed on time, and you know, we want our online ordering systems to work and our warehouses to have inventory, and so I was like, I feel like I'm like the most coffee person because I don't get to have any of the fun that you have usually on a daily basis. Um, and so I also used competition as like a way to I don't know, reintegrate myself with the coffee community and be like, no, you can be administrative based and you can be in back of house, and it does not make you any more or less of a coffee person just because you're not standing behind an espresso machine. And so, like, that was something that was really important to me because I I also didn't want, you know, other people to look at that and be like, oh, if I want to have a career in coffee, I have to give up the coffee. Like, if I don't want to be a barista forever, I don't want to be a cafe manager forever, I have to give it up, and I have to go process payroll. And it's like, no, you can do both. I care deeply about coffee all the time. Like, I'm just as excited about that new brew method. I want to work on my palette development. Like, that's the whole reason so many of us got into this industry is because we're curious and coffee is exciting and we care about it. So I think that, you know, there's a lot of competition that has crossed over into my personal job. I mean, just like the high demand of excellence. Like, I think excellence is like pretty important to me in general. You can ask a lot of the people who work for me and a lot of my friends that like I have pretty high standards in general. Um, I would say that like I probably have the highest standards for myself, and I think competition demands even more of you because any one tiny little thing, like a potential bubble of air in your Irish coffee cream, will cost you the US title, and you're like, that was the thing, that was the thing that lost me the US title, and it like it demands that much excellence all the time. That like thinking through all the tiny little minutiae of competition, I think has made me better at thinking through all the tiny little minutia of all the other systems I build. And you know, knowing how to communicate concisely, because you only have 10 minutes on stage to tell everybody everything that they need to hear. And so, you know, a lot of times I think about that now and I'm like, okay, when I'm writing this email to my whole staff, is this am I being as concise as possible? Is this easy to digest? Is it easy to understand? So I think that there's like the excellence in performance, the excellence in communication. I think it also hopefully has like made working alongside me more fun. You know, I my office team is like, I remember I was cupping some competition, potential competition coffee the other day, and it like called my office team in there and I was like, hey guys, like I'm tasting this coffee, let's taste this coffee together. And like one of my office staff, like, she's still a barista part-time and she works in the office with me part-time. And so, like, I hope that it makes that environment like fun and interesting, and you know, I think like variety is like a big thing for me too. I like being able to pivot and do a million different things in a day. So I think there's been a lot of a lot of crossover, but I think probably the the demand of excellence has been like the biggest thing that like really makes me think through what am I doing, what are all the little consequences of this action, and how is it gonna affect everything down the road? Um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:34

What a wild take of that person. Like that is a wild thing to say. I couldn't imagine being at a roll of coffee or an expo and being like, what do you do? Oh, so you don't you don't get it, you don't you don't know coffee. Yeah, that's wild. But I think it is cool from the side of like if you are a barista, like let's say you're just getting into coffee and you see your director of ops is competing, it does immediately show this like 20-something year old or whatever, like, oh yeah, like I can do it. And also, like, if you're working at a specialty coffee roaster or company, like I'm sorry, but there's just no way that you don't care about all the parts, but someone's gotta do it, someone's gotta do payroll, someone's gotta make the schedules, someone's gotta make all of the background stuff happen. Um I think it's cool in a different like so many levels of like one, you can grow your career here, but you don't have to give it up. Like you can still play, you can still have fun. Here's a whole nother avenue for you to work for. And also having more people that are around you hopefully like look at you and be like, Yeah, one day maybe I'll do that or I'll try it. Like, I'm watching leadership do this and repeatedly do it and get better. Um, and then on a very, very side note, I love a concise email. I love a concise email. Yeah, I I try to dream. I love a concise email.

SPEAKER_00 41:10

I'm not always the most concise person. Um, you know, especially if you get me talking about things that I just I'm passionate about or really enjoy. I joke all the time that I tell someone like, Oh, I I could just wax poetic forever. So you'll have to just tell me to stop. Um but I think yes, sometimes conciseness and brevity is is warranted.

SPEAKER_01 41:33

So I kind of think this is a good segue. We should talk about the women in coffee event that you started last year, and then round two, here we go. Yeah um tell me about the inspo for women in coffee, why you decided to start the event last year.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

Yeah, um, you know, it all started because I went to um World of Coffee Houston, and I like roundabout got an invite to this like really small women in coffee event that was happening like the same weekend, um uh from Katherine Morris. She was the uh like founder CEO of Cherry Coffee in I think Austin, Texas. Um I love her. Yeah, she's so cool. Yes, I had never met her before, but um Raina and um our retail director and myself, like we all I think Raina found the invite potentially. She was like, we should go to this thing. So this cute natural wine bar. I was like, twist my arm, I'm sure, I'll go to this. Um, and we went and it was like just a room full of a bunch of women I'd never met before, and everyone was so welcoming and hospitable and open and willing to talk. And like I met two other women who were also director of ops, and I was like, oh my god, what? I haven't met another woman who has my job. What are you talking about? And I was and we had like a 45-minute conversation about, well, how do you do this and what are you doing about that? And I just we like exchanged socials and phone numbers and emails, and you know, we've reached out to each other a couple of times, and I was like, but these people are all the way in Texas, and I'm like, I would love to have that in my own backyard. I was like, there's gotta be women in Seattle with all the plethora of cafes and different facets of coffee businesses that we have around. There have to be women who also feel this way. And so I really took inspiration from her event, and I was like, I don't know if anyone's gonna show up, but I'm gonna plan this at Cedar Hall, and we're gonna have some snacks. And I'm just gonna see if any other women feel this way. And my my initial goal was to have 50 people come and for at least half of those people to not be Olympia coffee staff. Um, and we had almost 150 people come last year. And it was just I mean, like a little overwhelming in like a really positive way. I I remember when we went to go open the doors because um we did this like collab with minor figures last year, and um for like the first people, first 50 people who walked through the door, they got like this this like custom swag bag. And I remember being like, oh man, are we gonna be able to give all 50 away? Like it's just it's gonna be everybody who gets one. And then I remember going to open the doors and seeing like a line of women down the hallway, and I was like, oh, okay, this is we're doing this right now. And you know, it was a really long day that day, and um, I was driving home after the event. The event went like an hour and a half over the allotted time I thought it was going to. And I just got so many emails and Instagram DMs and everything about I had such a great time. Thanks so much for doing this. I met these wonderful people, and like, you know, a bunch of people have like followed each other on social media and done that, and I've seen like people who met at Women in Coffee, and I'm like, they're like friends now, they're supporting each other's businesses and doing collaborations, and it's just been so incredible to witness that I was like, how can I not do that again? So we're gonna do it again. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_01 45:55

I think it's interesting because like I think women just need the space to do it. Like, so many of us, I think, are sitting in this corner. We're like, I think I'm one of the only people that's here, right? Like, I think I'm one of the only women grain buyers I know. I think I'm one of the only women, if not the only women, director of ops that I know. And I think we're all just like in our little corners. And then when you give us the opportunity, you're like, oh my god, yes, please, let me find a friend, let me find another one. I uh I feel that so much in the last few years in Coffee, where it's like, give that old book. Like if you give a mouse a cookie, it's like if you give a woman a moment, if you give her another, it's amazing how I feel like some to some degree like desperate we are to have our own spaces that feel safe and feel like I can just show up as I am, I can ask the questions that I need to ask without feeling like, oh, I don't know enough, or yeah, she doesn't get it. Like having those spaces where you can just tell your story, find other people that have a similar thing happening with them, and then the solutions that come from those moments are just insane to me. It's so cool to see what women then are taking and developing and changing just because they didn't feel alone in their corner anymore.

SPEAKER_00 47:10

Yeah, I mean, even just the the ability to see, like if you're younger in coffee, like I wish I could have looked at someone in some sort of upper leadership career who was like me and been like, oh, I could do that. Like, there were so many things that like I ended up doing that I'm just like I didn't even know this was an option. I had no idea. You know, when you're starting out and you're like, I don't know, I've had three hairbender cappuccinos, and that's all I know about specialty coffee. You know, you have no idea about I don't know, green coffee inventory management. And those are like aren't things that you're thinking about, and you're like, oh yeah, specialty coffee shops probably also have to run payroll, and they probably also have executive leadership teams, and you know, you're not necessarily thinking about that. So even just the power of as a as a young person coming into the industry, being able to see people who are like you doing incredible things in so many different facets of specialty coffee, like whether you're working at a green coffee importer or you're working at somewhere like Mir or Breville, you know, there's just like there's so many different, or you're working in like coffee packaging, even. There's so many different facets where you're like still such an integral part of this industry. Um and like even if you are in your career, like being able to see other people, like one of the things I'm really excited about is this like you know, moderated panel of women that we're gonna have. Like the women who are on these panels are women that like I really look up to to be like, wow, they are doing such incredible things, and they all have like such different, absolutely incredible careers. And you're like, Oh, you really can just do that, and you can figure it out, and you can still be a mom, and you can still be a wife and a daughter and a friend, and someone who's really cool in this industry, and you can be super stylish, and like you can still have all those facets of you and like be a boss and like be a pillar of this industry, and you don't have to diminish any facet of you in order to be able to do those things. Yeah, it's like the other thing that like I don't know, it really rings true for me in a lot of ways, like in competition at women in coffee in my career, is like be don't don't diminish or make small the facets of yourself just because you feel like you have to fit into you know a particular box of oh, I have to be cool in this way, or I have to dress in this way, or I have to look this certain way, or this is the kind of job I can have. And I just I don't know. It's important to me to be like see a lot of variety and see people who are like you in different ways doing anything and everything under the sun.

SPEAKER_01 50:38

It's such an important lesson to get out there too, because especially coffee. I mean, think about like I don't know, 10-15 years ago, everyone's wearing a beanie, everyone has like the undercut, the like bun on top of their head, you know what I mean? And it's like if you are constantly trying to fit into someone else's box of like what you have to be, there's no growth there, and also like just knowing that these women exist and that they are who they are and they have the careers that they have, that's one thing, but then seeing how different they all are and being like, Oh, like I could be up there next to them, and I have created a completely different avenue for myself because I just got excited about this one thing and decided to dive all in. And that's like what's so special about coffee is like exactly to your point, you can literally do almost anything in it, like you can be in branding and marketing and packaging, you can be roasting or be a barista, but like it's a whole ecosystem that is coffee or like the research and science behind coffee and all the work that's being done there. It's like an insane industry when you like start to poke your head in and be like, what exists over here? And the more women that you see trying new things and getting curious about new things, it's just gonna open more doors for other women to also be curious and try things. It's really exciting.

SPEAKER_00 52:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:04

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 52:05

I'm so I'm so excited about it. Again, I could I could wax poetic about these things all day, all day long. Um, but yeah, I I think it's gonna be great. And I, you know, we'll have our this will be our second women in coffee event, and um we're gonna do some things the same, some things a little different, have a little bit more programming this year. We're gonna try to do a little bit more um like really intentional community engagement in some different ways, but um we also like because of the event last year, um, I've had so many people reach out and just like want to be a part of the event this year, which is also really cool and incredible that like you know, last year people were like, What are you doing? What is this? I don't really understand. And now it's like, oh, yeah, I heard about that, or I saw this thing, or I had a friend who went and said it was incredible. So, like, yeah, I want to be a part of it. What do you need help with? And I'm just like, whoa, this is amazing. Like, so many people I've reached out to, I've gotten almost like an immediate, like, yes, I want to do it. What can I do?

unknown 53:15

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 53:16

And I'm like, wow, okay, here we go.

SPEAKER_01 53:19

We all feel it. Like, we all want to be a part of cool things. Um, remind me, when are the dates again? And like, if someone wants to join, if someone wants to put on their books, what what should we plan for? What should we put in our calendar?

SPEAKER_00 53:32

Yeah. Um, so uh the second annual Women in Coffee is gonna be Thursday, August 27th. Uh, doors open at 4 p.m. And this is going to be at uh the US Bank Center in downtown Seattle.

SPEAKER_01 53:45

Such a great coffee hub. We love a Seattle event.

SPEAKER_00 53:49

Yeah, it's gonna be and it's like right next to the light rail, super easy to get to.

SPEAKER_01 53:55

So I'm stoked. I bought my plane ticket. I'm officially I'm coming to you. I'm so excited for it.

SPEAKER_00 54:03

Yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be great. I'm like, I'm getting more and more excited as as the time is going on. Um the uh the event page is up and live, and so you know, people are passing the digital RSVP around, and I'm I'm excited to see everyone who's gonna be there.

SPEAKER_01 54:21

Is there anything that we haven't talked about today that you're like, I want, I want to talk on that or speak to that?

SPEAKER_00 54:27

Ultimately, like what I want folks to take away from things like women in coffee is like, I don't know, support each other, stay curious, be involved, like especially in my own career, there are so many opportunities where you know I either just like had a person in my corner who was like, Yeah, just try it. You know, if you fall on your face, okay. Or yeah, I'm willing to share what I learned from me trying it so that it's easier for you the next time around. And like that has just made all the difference in my career so many times that I really want to I want to be that for as many people as possible, and you know, the hope is that if we can all share and be open, it just it gets easier and easier, and the next people to come along just do it bigger and better than we've ever done it, and they can do it in their own special, unique, cool ways, and like this year feels you know, even particular like I was at Brewers Cup competition weekend and seeing a top three of women was like oh my gosh, absolutely incredible. So cool. It was just I was like, I f I felt like I was like in the Barbie movie or something. I was like, we're doing it, everybody. This is the coolest thing I've ever seen. Um and also just like the camaraderie between them and like seeing the support, and um, it's just been it's been so incredible to see like the community really rally around everybody. So I'm I'm excited to get in there and um give as many people access to resources, connections, support, opportunities. Like I think I don't I don't want us to underestimate like the power of just ourselves. Like we're all in so many different facets of the coffee industry that like if we just like really pull together and like intentionally think about how can I support the other women in this industry by, you know, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna go buy cups from so-and-so who works in packaging, or I'm going to, you know, intentionally work with this marketing firm that's run by this woman. Like I think we'd we'd really exponentially help each other out.

SPEAKER_01 57:05

Thank you again to Rochelle for spending some time with us and giving her insight both on the ops of coffee but also competition. And like I said in that episode, I couldn't be more excited to attend the Women in Coffee event coming up next month. Um, I hope to see you there. If you are going, please let me know. I would love to meet you. Um, and other than that, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week. Send lots of love to another coffee woman out there. I'm sure we all need it. And I'll talk to you real soon. Bye.