This Mother’s Day, we spoke and listened to mothers working across all kinds of roles at our company. Our goal is for you to “listen” to them too.
One woman – many roles
The coffee industry is full of women with dynamic personalities and ambitions. At our farms, offices and espresso bars, women work tirelessly so that we can all enjoy our favorite drinks. They put in time and effort and train constantly to live up to the expectations of their job.
But what happens when a woman becomes a mother? Her commitment is divided between her work and family. This marks the beginning of a new life as unique feelings of affection, tenderness and love become part of her daily life.
Women’s contribution to the coffee industry
Coffee nations are known for the contribution of women – and especially mothers – to production and farming. In El Salvador for example, 99% of women working in farms are mothers, while 7.000 women are farm owners. From Ethiopia – the birthplace of coffee – to the smallest farm in any part of the world, women contribute to all production sectors from cultivation to exporting. And although these past few years we’ve made significant progress towards gender equality, there’s still room for improvement.
The women – mothers of Coffee Island
3 team-members of Coffee Island spoke with us about their work, ambitions and dreams, and work-life balance. It was a discussion we wanted to have to recognize potential difficulties they might encounter and identity how these might affect their daily lives.
So, how is the workday of a barista? We asked Christina who works in our stores and found out that “even on quiet days, there’s tension and stress but also team-spirit and laughter”. As most of our baristi, Christina has “studied” at Coffee Campus where she learned to make the specialty coffee we all love. What has stood out from her experience? Learning about coffee production which led to her personal development and the fact that, through the years, she has come to love her profession and is today able to meet her obligations and enjoy satisfying financial returns.
As for her vision for the future, she hopes to one day launch her own business if circumstances are favorable.
Recognizing the increasing and more demanding responsibilities of women store-owners, we spoke with Foteini, an owner and mother. She says that although she accidentally ended up in the industry, it’s not something she regrets. And, despite working in the same space and sharing her shifts with her husband, she has no difficulties balancing work and family. They usually work in the mornings when their child is at school and their evenings are free for spending quality time together!She also considers herself lucky: “we work with pleasant people with smiles on their faces and passion for what they do, and such a strong collaboration leads to great results! After 11 years in the business, there aren’t any difficulties! Except, maybe during winter when the weather is unpredictable!”
While she had worked at a coffeeshop before, she didn’t have a lot of experience. Which is why she found the seminar at Coffee Campus so helpful and despite the daily difficulties she might encounter – as any owner does – she always has the support she needs from Coffee Island.
Finally, we should mention the heroines who make decisions that affect our entire brand. Stamatia started working as Network Development Executive 2,5 years ago and in the past few months has become part of the Human Resources department. She chose this profession as she has the ability to make the most of daily interaction with others and to create or improve the conditions that affect them. Each day at work is different as she says. “The constantly-evolving organizational needs keep us on our toes…Our priority is our people which means there aren’t any standardized needs or processes. This is the biggest challenge in managing human resources, because our job is to be as human-centric as possible when dealing with our entire organization”.
Stamatia is herself a mom to her 4,5-year-old daughter, with whom she tries to spend as much quality time as possible. How does she do it? “My free time is dedicated entirely to her and all the activities we enjoy together. As the day draws to a close, all professional matters and troubles are left at our front door….”
Regarding gender equality at work, she mentions that privately she has never felt stress or fear. The biggest challenge was in meeting with prospective partners-investors, as the function of network development in most companies has traditionally been male-dominated.
Instead of an epilogue, we’d like to praise mothers through something we heard from Stamatia, as a team-member but primarily as a mother. We think her words express young mothers across our country, as well as those working at Coffee Island. And we are hoping that motherhood won’t stop any woman from chasing her dreams nor cause any member of our “family” to feel unappreciated.
“I’m one of those moms who believes that children should spread their wings and fly to any city, country or continent in search of what makes them happy. For me, coffee is synonymous with Coffee Island so I plan on staying here for as long as possible! God forbid, we have so many dreams and plans for the future of our company that we’ll still have a lot of work, whether inside or outside our boarders!”
Happy Mother’s Day.
