InterAmerican Coffee Trader Pablo Lara planned a Women’s Month Coffee Mixer in the InterAmerican San Diego office in March. He recently shared this report, inviting colleagues to learn more about the event. We’re delighted to also share it with you.
To celebrate Women’s Month, the San Diego team recently hosted a “mixer” to celebrate the diverse group of women who make up our coffee community, from roasters and business owners to baristas, marketing professionals and everyone in between.
With community in mind, we featured a local DJ to set the networking ambiance. DJ Bucky has worked for the iconic San Diego coffee roaster Café Moto and is a big community organizer for the Barrio Logan arts district. The food was catered by Hell Yeah Helena, a local woman-owned business making delectable empanadas and Cuban-style sandwiches. Helena often works with many of our local customers doing pop-ups at their coffee shops. And true to her Cuban roots, she loves coffee!
To please our sweet tooths, we coordinated a special collaboration between Stella Jean’s Ice Cream (a local ice cream shop) and Ultreya Coffee (a local, woman-owned roaster) for a vegan coffee ice cream made with our Mexico NKG Bloom Women Power Zongolica — a women-produced coffee. The ice cream was a donation from Ultreya and Stella Jean’s, and for that frozen treat they have our warmest thanks!
Finally, the event also featured a coffee exchange table, where roasters could leave a bag of roasted coffee and take a bag. This sparked a lot of conversations, since so many of our attendees were also coffee roasters. We were honored by the attendance of roasters from cities including Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and Tijuana.
“Give a bag, get a bag.”
Women’s Coffee Cupping
We turned our cupping room into a tasting room and offered Chemex brews of four women-produced coffees offered by InterAmerican:
Honduras NKG Bloom Gea Organic (a women’s lot from our sister company Becamo);
Mexico NKG Bloom Women Power Zongolica (a women’s lot from our sister company Exportadora de Café California);
Colombia ANEI Mujeres Tejedoras Fairtrade Organic (a women’s lot from the women-led and founded ANEI cooperative); and
Brazil Forca Café Winner Jessica da Silva Mariano (the fifth-place winning coffee in the Forca Café auction facilitated by our sister company Stockler).
The coffees were lovingly roasted by Jayy Terrell — an NKG PACE Graduate, as of this month, and the new San Diego QC Specialist! They worked on the roasts earlier in the week, adjusted them to perfection, and the coffees were a hit.
Cupping room turned tasting room.
Featured Speakers
We wanted to include two speakers at the event who could encapsulate the mosaic of experiences and roles of women in our industry. After a quick introduction to the San Diego team, we heard from Kayd Whalen, head of the San Diego office and a senior vice president at InterAmerican Coffee, who is Q Certified, active in the CQI and on the Board of Directors for Food 4 Farmers. She was followed by Veronica Pearl, chief officer of Glitter Cat Barista and the 2018 U.S. Barista Champion Runner-Up.
It was an honor to hear from such very different sides of the industry and experiences that were relatable themes to everyone in the crowd, regardless of background.
InterAmerican Coffee Trader Pablo Lara introduces Glitter Cat Founder Veronica Pearl.
Kayd Whalen, an InterAmerican SVP, trader and San Diego office head, speaks with Trader Pablo Lara.
During the Q&A session, as questions were asked, answers were received with snaps, claps and head nods of recognition and, “Ah, me too! I hear you!” People couldn’t help but smile and feel the camradery in pushing boundaries and supporting one another. Although we are all different, we are alike in that we all fight our individual battles and pressures, seeking to be connected and inspired to do great work through coffee.
Both speakers discussed the importance of diverse representation in the coffee industry. Kayd reflected on a time when she was the only woman in a room of male coffee buyers during a trip to Indonesia. She noticed women in the kitchen peering out to the reception, curious about the sole woman in the mix, having never seen a woman at an event like that in the past. It was a poignant moment for Kayd, realizing the profound impact of her presence in that space and how she represented a future for women in green coffee buying. She has worked to be a leader ever since.
Veronica spoke about her shift in perspective toward competing. As much as she loves being behind the scenes supporting the work of Glitter Cat, she decided to return to the USBC competition floor. She did so while acknowledging the inspirational value of her participation as a trans woman in a space that has lacked diversity.
This event was a wonderful reminder of how grateful we are for our wonderful West Coast coffee community — and for all the incredible women leading us forward! •
