In February, Starbucks is proud to honor Black History Month and celebrate Black excellence and the many ways partners (employees) demonstrate it every day. Join us and:

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In their own words: Starbucks partners on what everyday Black excellence means to them

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Shannon, Northern California

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Shannon, a partner resource manager supporting retail operations in Northern California, is committed to community service. A former elementary school teacher, Shannon is on the board of her local soccer club, serves as vice president of the Omega Upsilon Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc., the oldest African American sorority in the country, and works with the NorCal chapter of the Starbucks Black Partner Network to support families in her community. She has helped with food drives through her church, supported local high school STEM programs financially and donated a kidney to her sister.

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"So, I always try to stress around excellence, the connections we make every day with each other and connecting with other human beings. And if I can make someone feel better, if I can impart wisdom, if I can leave someone in a better place than I found them, that is Black excellence.” — Shannon

Maceo, who also goes by Mase, just joined Starbucks in June as a store manager but almost immediately began making an impact. One example is “Motivational Mondays with Mase,” an online conversation he leads each week with partners in his district to share experiences and empower each other. Maceo knows first-hand the importance of lifting others up. He was raised by a single mom on the South Side of Chicago who taught him to care for others. After she died when he was 16, he was adopted by his uncle who he says taught him how to tie a tie, go into a business meeting and move through the world. Maceo is also a graduate of Kentucky State University, an HBCU (historically Black college or university). He’s a strong believer in the power of journaling as a ritual and as a way to hold himself accountable. Outside of work, he writes stories and poems for his young son and is helping to grow his wife’s apparel business.

"So being able to make those footprints and steps for the next generation to come and follow. Being that example for the younger generation that's following, looking up to me in the current day of how I'm moving, what I'm going after, what I’m doing. ... Everyday Black excellence for me is being observant and being able to look and see what the next person looks like, what the next person needs. So regardless if you look like me, or you come from the same background as me, being able to provide opportunities for others so that we can all learn from it together, work together to be able to come and create a success plan.” — Maceo

Mercedes, a senior sourcing specialist in Seattle supporting the food and bakery category, grew up in a musical family. Her grandmother played the organ, her mother was active in the Seattle gospel choir scene and her father and uncles “could have been the Jackson 5,” she says. About six years ago, Mercedes joined DaNell Daymon &amp; Greater Works, a community gospel choir that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9aOAOiLyc4">reached the semifinals of “America’s Got Talent”</a> and recently wrapped up a live album project. She’s also active with the Starbucks Black Partner Network, having helped organize BPN’s second annual awards gala.

“So, I kind of took it as a challenge upon myself to just really be more out there with my personality and really be my authentic self. It's been a journey, but I do feel more recognized, and when I go into spaces, I feel more confident. There’s been times when I’ve put on a face or been something I’m not. But I’m getting to a level of authenticity, where I can come to the table as myself with my own recommendations, with my own ideas, and be accepted for that.” — Mercedes

Leading with love and joy: Meet Taki, a Starbucks partner renowned for bringing out the best in others

Starbucks store manager Taki attributes his gift for developing colleagues and creating inclusive, inspiring environments to his lived experience as a Black American, upbringing with a single mom and his love for performance.

On a recent winter morning, thousands of Starbucks partners (employees) gathered virtually for a coffee tasting. Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, a new variant had emerged and was surging across the world. People were tired. Political divisions continued to split the country.

But on this day, Taki, a Starbucks store manager in Hiram, Georgia, was ready to kick off the video call with a hot cup of Pike Place Roast – and talk about the power of “leading with love.”&nbsp;

“Ask for support if you need it,” he implored. “We’re humans first. Then partners. Then leaders. And as leaders, we get to create an environment of love and safety.”&nbsp; &nbsp;

Taki (pronounced ‘Tie-key’), an 11-year Starbucks partner, is known for his boundless energy – no matter the day, no matter the challenge. When colleagues talk about him, you can sense the importance and the urgency of his presence, and not just because at 6 feet 3 inches tall, he’s been likened to a human teddy bear. He embodies everyday Black excellence.

“He’s dedicated. Loyal. Strong. He shows up,” says Sharif, his friend and former peer now managing a nearby district.

To step inside Taki’s store in a small town outside of Atlanta is to feel his brand of joy. Partners are dancing. Customers are in and out with ease. The numbers reflect the mood.

His district manager, Amy, believes the arrival of Taki’s personality and his strong work ethic helped strengthen his store at a critical moment three years ago when he arrived, and “not only did he turn it around, he turned the community around.”

Recently named the top manager of the quarter in his area, Taki doesn’t let all this buzz go to his head. He knows who he is and what he brings.

“I am a Black gay man who exemplifies what it means to love yourself, but then also to love others who maybe don’t love themselves or don’t have people around them to love them,” he says.

Bringing joy and everyday Black excellence to Starbucks&nbsp;

Flint, Michigan may be more synonymous these days with a water crisis, but Taki recalls a happy childhood filled with extracurricular activities. Raised by a single mother with two older sisters, Taki got his first taste of the spotlight in the 5th grade when he was cast as a mouse in the local production of “The Nutcracker”. He practiced his heart out. Those five minutes at center stage sparked something within.&nbsp;

At 13, he discovered African dance and wound up learning a style of performing that required big movements to live drumbeating. Soon, he was performing up to four shows a week with the Kuungana African Drum and Dance Company. He felt alive and part of something bigger than himself – “living a life that my ancestors couldn’t live.”

“You're leaping, you're up in the air. It's electrifying. It literally just took over me,” he says, his eyes lighting up. “Even now, if I hear a beat, I'll start dancing.”

In 2010, when Taki was 21, he joined Starbucks as a barista in a store in Maryland.&nbsp;

He remembers his manager encouraging him to view the role as a way to put his drama training into practice: “Starbucks is your stage. When you come out with your green apron and your name tag, you’re on stage and you get to talk to customers, suggest different drinks, and make great connections.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Over the years, his career climbed. He was promoted to shift supervisor, assistant store manager and, in 2017, he became a store manager. At every step, he sought feedback on how to get to the next level.&nbsp;

He’s also continued to grow and give back as a dancer. Two years after joining Starbucks, he learned that one of his regular customers (“A skim caramel macchiato with two Splendas. Every single day!”) was a dance teacher at a local high school. She invited him to visit, and he wound up forming the Dancing Diamonds, a majorette-style dance line inspired by the marching bands that were formed during the civil rights era at historically Black colleges and universities, known as HBCUs.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Taki coached the team for six years, right up until he moved to Georgia in 2018 to explore new opportunities.&nbsp;

“It’s a movement celebrating Black culture,” he says of that era in his life and the students he guided. “It opened their mindsets to how important they are, how valued they are and taught them teamwork. But I would say it also taught them that nothing you want in life comes easy. You have to work for it.”

Working together to bring out the best in others

Being part of Taki’s team, whether it’s a dance group or at a Starbucks, also means that you don’t have to do it alone.

Two years ago, Taki learned a teenage barista at his store was preparing for a major milestone – alone. It was prom time. With her father in prison and her mother out of state, she was being raised by her grandmother (“Nana”), who was too busy working to help her find a dress.

“I know what it feels like to be without a father, and I’m very close to my mom. I’ve been helping her choose clothes since I was 12,” he recalls, "So for this partner to be without a father or mother, I can’t imagine.”

Taki not only volunteered to take the girl shopping, but he also showed up on prom day to get her ready and recruited another barista to do her make-up. Sharif snapped the pictures.

“She’s like my Starbucks daughter,” Taki says. He helped her move into her college dorm that fall. Now 20, the two just shared Christmas dinner together. Nana came, too.&nbsp;

This is just one of many stories shared by those in Taki’s network. When someone looks sad in a meeting, he’s the first to notice and check in. When a partner (employee) in the area wants to grow in their role, he helps them develop a plan, they say.

Taki says genuine curiosity goes a long way. He makes a point of asking all new hires their origin story, including what brought them to Starbucks and how previous work experiences helped or hindered their growth.

“I want to make sure that when I am leading, I'm bringing out the best in you,” he explains.&nbsp;

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Amy, the district manager and a 21-year Starbucks partner, says Taki’s superpower is his ability to develop partners and role model for others. She’s seen few who can match the level of connection he has with his team.

“They trust him, they believe in him. It’s so much easier to get results when you have that,” she says. “He’s like a machine. You see sprinkles of Taki [in partners] everywhere!”

Beyond his own four walls, when regional leaders need support with external projects, from helping the homeless in the community to sharing retail best practices, they know exactly who to call. Taki routinely visits multiple stores in the region and allows colleagues to shadow his team.

For Taki, the concept of everyday excellence means “holding my head up and finding something to be proud of every day.” He prides himself on having high standards and in providing tough love and accountability when needed.

'There’s enough room for everyone at the table’

Despite the many wins, there are still plenty of challenging moments exacerbated by the pandemic.

For support, Taki turns to his leaders and is an active member of Starbucks’ Black Partner Network, a safe space where he feels he can fully be himself.&nbsp; In his view, being open and vulnerable is a strength, not a weakness.&nbsp;

“If you don't understand something, it's okay to ask questions, to get the clarification and understanding you need, versus just coming up with an assumption on your own,” he says.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Amy, the district manager, believes anyone can see a bit of themselves reflected in Taki’s story, including her own son.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I call it Black boy joy. That’s this space where their light is so bright. And it stands out because it’s not always like that for our Black men. Taki’s light is bright, and it’s that joy that’s coming through, and you can’t not see it because it captures you and your attention.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

In turn, Taki is more than willing to share the spotlight. It’s what he does best.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I want to see everyone win,” he says. “There’s enough room for everyone at the table. So, let's all try to get there.”&nbsp;

Explore opportunities to participate in uplifting the Black community

As part of our <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2021/the-starbucks-foundation-announces-nonprofit-recipients-of-grants-to-support-bipoc-youth/">commitment to support BIPOC youth</a>, since 2020 The Starbucks Foundation has awarded more than $5 million in grants to support programs led by national nonprofits that have served more than 100,000 young people of color. These organizations help play an important role in bridging the opportunity gap and building thriving and equitable communities.

Explore ways you can help the next generation recognize their (everyday) excellence:

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is the nation’s largest youth mentoring organization, with more than 230 local agencies serving more than 5,000 communities nationwide to create and support 1-to-1 mentoring relationships. Learn how to become a Big Brother or Big Sister and find other ways to get involved. <a href="https://www.bbbs.org/get-involved/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Go to BBBS</a>

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MENTOR is the unifying champion for mentoring relationships across the United States, expanding opportunities for young people by building a youth mentoring movement and serving as the go-to resource on quality mentoring.

Begin your path to mentorship with MENTOR and take the Mentoring Mindset Workshop to learn how to help young people feel encouraged, inspired, and empowered. <a href="https://www.mentoring.org/starbucks/?utm_source=starbucks&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=starbucks&amp;utm_id=BHM" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Go to MENTOR</a>

Public Allies is a national nonprofit committed to advancing social justice and racial equity by engaging and activating the leadership of all people. Learn more about how to join Public Allies’ national network of emerging leaders or support by hosting an Ally. <a href="https://publicallies.org/join-us/?utm_source=starbucks.com&amp;utm_medium=partner-website&amp;utm_campaign=everyday-black-excellence" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Go to Public Allies</a>

Strengthening our culture of inclusion

We are committed to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion for our partners (employees) and our communities. <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/inclusion-diversity/">See what actions we’re taking</a>.

Collage of smiling Starbucks partners in "Keep it Brewing" t-shirts

In February, Starbucks is proud to honor Black History Month and celebrate Black excellence and the many ways partners (employees) demonstrate it every day.

Starbucks celebrates everyday Black excellence during Black History Month 

Stories to inspire and nurture the human spirit

Starbucks Stories

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This Black History Month, Starbucks is proud to elevate the voices of our Black partners, who share how they’ve been motivated by family, faith and entrepreneurship.

During this past year, amidst truly divisive times, we’ve seen passion and action for change. On a day-to-day basis – and for the long term – how do we stay positive and keep moving forward together? This Black History Month, Starbucks is proud to elevate the voices of three of our Black partners, who share how they’ve been inspired by family, faith and entrepreneurship.

Akeisha, Illinois: Parenting in the midst of change

Raising kids in the best of times is hard enough. But how does that&nbsp;job&nbsp;change when you have to add the extra demands of working in retail during a global pandemic? When you have four&nbsp;daughters&nbsp;who are Black and becoming more and more aware of the&nbsp;divisive&nbsp;world around them?&nbsp;When you’re married to a police officer during a landmark year of social tension and unrest?&nbsp;&nbsp;

How do you keep going as a parent?&nbsp;&nbsp;

Akeisha, 44, a Starbucks district manager in Illinois, contemplates the emotional, exhausting roller coaster that she and her family have been on this past year. And there’s only one conclusion she can reach.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I don’t have a choice; I have a family,” Akeisha says. “I have four children that I brought into this world that I’m responsible to take care of. If I give up or if I don’t keep going, I let them down and that’s not an option.”&nbsp;

Born and raised in Illinois, Akeisha has been with Starbucks for 25 years, working her way up from the part-time barista job she started one summer during college to managing six different stores. She’s been a district manager for five years and hopes to move into a regional director role someday. 

Growing up, “I didn’t even know what a scone or&nbsp;a&nbsp;biscotti was, and I definitely didn’t drink coffee,” Akeisha says. “Starbucks was my introduction to that world of coffee and pastries.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

As a child, Akeisha attended six elementary schools and three high schools because of family instability, living with her father, then her grandmother before moving in with her Aunt&nbsp;Conni, who eventually adopted her. She didn’t meet her birth mother until she was 12.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Moving in with her aunt “was where my entire life changed,” Akeisha says. Her aunt was an Army veteran&nbsp;who became a social worker, earned a master’s degree while going to&nbsp;night&nbsp;school and eventually became a police officer.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Her aunt was no nonsense and demanded hard work, accountability to rules and good grades. Akeisha remembers her daily chores: wash the dishes, sweep and mop the floors before going to bed. No days off.&nbsp;&nbsp;

But&nbsp;her aunt also&nbsp;lived in a neighborhood where Akeisha experienced&nbsp;more diversity, different cultures and&nbsp;new&nbsp;ideas. That’s when she decided to make a choice. “That’s when I decided I can do something,” Akeisha recalls. “I don’t have to let my circumstances from my past take over my future. That’s when I decided to go at this thing called life and be productive.”&nbsp;

She started working in retail,&nbsp;usually&nbsp;two jobs at a time, until she joined Starbucks and moved&nbsp;into leadership roles. She&nbsp;got married and had four daughters, now ages 16 to 5. She&nbsp;endured&nbsp;difficult pregnancies, including the loss of&nbsp;her first girl,&nbsp;who was born premature.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Diving into motherhood, it definitely softened my shell,” Akeisha says. “I’ll cry at the drop of a dime now. Before, I was really militant, you have to follow the rules. I’m a lot more empathetic to people and their situations because I’ve had to deal with a lot in life.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Parenting this year has not been easy. Tension has come in many forms, especially after the shooting of Breonna Taylor in Louisville in March. Her two oldest girls, along with their swim team, created a memorial to&nbsp;Taylor, but it was vandalized three different times. They went back and fixed it, but&nbsp;each time, “it was heartbreaking,” Akeisha says. “It brings the reality to them, that racism is real, that some people hate other people because of the color of their skin.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

There’s also the reality that their father is a career police officer, who’s been in law enforcement for almost 30 years.&nbsp;Akeisha&nbsp;met her husband about&nbsp;20 years ago, when she was working part-time at a restaurant.&nbsp;He’d come in during his breaks to get water and watch some television.&nbsp;One day, he wrote his number on the back of a bar napkin&nbsp;and asked her on a date.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

“There’s always been that respect around law enforcement, and understanding what they do daily, that they risk their lives every day they step out, to serve and protect, and I always saw that,” Akeisha says. “My husband is a Black male who wears the blue uniform. What’s been happening over the past year has been shocking.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

It’s meant complex dinner-table discussions about police training, whether or not the kids can participate in a Black Lives Matter march, how to respond to generalizations on social media about police officers, sifting through which viral incidents might be justified and which ones probably weren’t, and above all in her household, an emphasis on personal accountability. 

“We really try to enforce with our girls, it starts with the individual and with what choices you make, and that can make or break you,” Akeisha says. “We talk about who you decide to associate yourselves with, how do you stay out of trouble, how do you not put yourself in situations, what do you do if you’re in a car and you’re pulled over. Personal accountability, that’s the thing we stress the most. 

“Everyone has a choice,” she says. “I could have made a choice to use my upbringing as an excuse to not succeed. I could’ve went down the wrong path but I chose not to do that. I do have a brother, 18 months younger than me, who is in prison. He chose the opposite way.”

At this point, Akeisha's parenting philosophy is to focus on the positives. She’ll continue to try and expose her girls to different cultures through travel when she can again, continue to encourage them to engage civically and continue to nurture them in their interests, whether it’s medicine or competitive swimming. 

“It’s time to teach them, to make sure they’re involved,” she says. “There are better days to come if we continue to work together and love each other. We will make a difference.”

Tammy, Alabama: ‘My pain truly had a purpose’

When Tammy was 12 years old, she&nbsp;moved&nbsp;from an all-Black school to an all-white school.&nbsp;It was the mid-1970s in Alabama.&nbsp;Schools were desegregating&nbsp;and she was one of the Black students suddenly being bussed across the city into a white community.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“It was traumatic. It was horrible,” Tammy recalls. “We stayed and we endured, but just even thinking about it brings back so many emotions.&nbsp;The signs – ‘We don’t want you.’ ‘Go back to where you came from.’&nbsp;I would go into the restroom and all the white girls would walk out as if I was poison.

“You become an introvert. I became a master at being invisible around people, not having an opinion, a world of silence. You learn to love not being noticed.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

After high school, she joined the military, following one of her older brothers into the Navy, hoping a change of scenery would help. She became an aviation mechanic,&nbsp;fixing&nbsp;helicopters and making&nbsp;sure aircraft were&nbsp;safe prior to takeoff. “I was 110 pounds soaking wet,” she says. “The toolbox weighed more than I did. It was a sight to see: a toothpick carrying this huge toolbox, climbing up a helicopter to work on the blades.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I thought once I got in the military, it’ll be different. But there was a lot of the same. Rejection, racism, and not only that,&nbsp;a lot of men were angry because females were getting their jobs and moving in on what they thought was their territory.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I was&nbsp;Black and female,” she says, “and I didn’t ask for either one of them.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

How do you keep going when there’s&nbsp;pain in your past?&nbsp;What can you rely on when you feel&nbsp;empty&nbsp;and alone? For Tammy, 55,&nbsp;the manager of a Starbucks&nbsp;Community&nbsp;Store in Alabama, the answer then and now – in the midst of another turbulent time of racial reckoning – is her Christian faith.&nbsp;

When she was in her late 20s, a neighbor mentored her and “literally loved me into the Kingdom. She loved me and accepted me for who I was, what I’ve been through.” &nbsp;

Tammy says it was the start of a transformation that helped her break down years of distrust and suspicion.

“It wasn’t always successful,” she says. “I was mad. It hurt. It was painful. It wasn’t always victory, victory. There were struggles. But when people say things now, I’m not so quick to take that as hurt. I’m just&nbsp;going to&nbsp;love people.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Over&nbsp;the years, her faith has led her to seek out others who are hurting. A licensed minister for the last 15 years, Tammy&nbsp;has&nbsp;worked in jail ministries and with women&nbsp;leaving abusive relationships.&nbsp;If someone was hungry, she’d feed them. If someone needed shoes, she’d buy them a pair.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“When you understand hurt people, it makes you less cynical,” she says, “which gives you the ability to say,&nbsp;‘Hey, you don’t have to walk through life alone.’&nbsp;”&nbsp;

At Starbucks, Tammy manages the Community Store located a short drive from where she was born and just a few blocks from where she raised her two children as a single parent. The Starbucks Community Store initiative aims to open stores in underserved neighborhoods, providing local jobs and career pathways and contracts for diverse vendors, as well as a dedicated meeting space for local community organizations and programs. <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/starbucks-continues-to-strengthen-communities-opens-17th-community-store/">Starbucks currently has 17 community stores</a>, with a <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/starbucks-expands-commitment-in-underserved-communities-across-the-us/">commitment</a> to open 100 by 2025.

Tammy has worked in restaurants for more than 20 years, starting as a bookkeeper and then as a store manager and trainer for&nbsp;various&nbsp;chains in Alabama. Three years ago, someone she’d trained at a previous job told her about the&nbsp;Community&nbsp;Store opportunity.&nbsp;While doing her research, she found the Starbucks mission – to inspire and nurture the human spirit –&nbsp;aligned with her&nbsp;personal principles.&nbsp;The job became another chance to put her faith into practice.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I come here to serve my partners (employees),” she says. “I am an intentional listener. I build confidence and trust. I speak truth to them in love. I make each of the partners feel like their strength is a gift to the team.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Everybody has a gift that they bring to the table and if we all put our gifts together, we’ll be magical.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Her son, Cavanaugh, is also a Starbucks store manager in Alabama.&nbsp;&nbsp; The past year – full of so much social unrest – has revealed to Tammy that she’s “still got some growing to do.” The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, especially, incited inside her a&nbsp;“level of rage” she didn’t realize she was capable of. She contrasts those feelings with how she dealt with some of the experiences of her youth, when her family counseled her to stay quiet and not fight back.

“Your grandparents just barely got out of being slaves themselves,” she says. “Your great-grandparents were the slaves.&nbsp;In your household, you’re taught,&nbsp;‘Just do whatever they say.’&nbsp;&nbsp;

“This year has been a year of discovery for me,” she says. “To know that anger was inside of me,&nbsp;I didn’t want to become what I hate. It’s time to go back in and see what else is in there, what else am I holding in, what else have I not confronted?&nbsp;You’ve made some progress over the years, but you haven’t arrived. You need to love more, you need to understand more, you need to be empathetic more, you need to be more inclusive. This year has revealed to me, you got a lot more work to do.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

And she’s glad that she has something she can rely on.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

“My faith, it gives you an energy that makes you keep going,” she says. “The pain of my life has caused me to be a person of compassion, inspiration, empathy, sprinkled with encouragement. My pain truly had a purpose. It made me passionate about walking alongside the hurting and keeping them inspired through the healing process, encouraging them, that we never have to walk alone! I take this passion with me everywhere I go.”

Orville, New York: ‘We can still conquer our dreams’

About 10 years ago, Orville started to invest in himself&nbsp;– changing habits, working hard, surrounding himself with good people. Up to that point, he relied on his family and pursued&nbsp;the definitions of success others laid out before him.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I came to the realization that I wanted a foundation that I could one day call my own,” says Orville, 30, a Starbucks barista in New York.

The result, years in the making, is <a href="https://conquest-empire.com/">Conquest Empire</a>, a motivational lifestyle brand started&nbsp;recently&nbsp;by Orville and his friend, that operates with the ethos: “Failure is not an option.” They design and sell&nbsp;clothing,&nbsp;identify&nbsp;and hype up-and-coming musical talent, and before&nbsp;COVID-19,&nbsp;organized neighborhood community gatherings, like inviting people from different circles to watch the latest Floyd Mayweather fight.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“As young Black people, as entrepreneurs, we can band together,” Orville says. “I’m trying to bring as many people together as possible. It’s a motivational thing. We want them to strive. We’re trying to build conquerors. We want to show people that you can put your mind into something different, not just the streets.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Chasing&nbsp;his dreams wasn’t always easy for Orville, who was born in Guyana and arrived in New York City when he was 5 years old. He moved between his aunt, mother and grandmother, who’d come to the U.S. first in the 1970s, working in home health care and establishing a base for her six children to follow.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“My grandmother worked very hard to support all of us,” he says.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Despite feeling cared for by his&nbsp;family,&nbsp;Orville remembers struggling with the idea of success&nbsp;growing up, wondering what that actually&nbsp;meant for someone who looks like him: a young Black man with long dreadlocks.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

“In neighborhoods I’ve been in, there’s a lack of information. I didn’t realize the resources we lacked until I got out, until I started opening my mind to bigger and better things,” Orville says. “In the neighborhoods I came from, making it was playing basketball, rapping or selling drugs. There wasn’t a lot of growth in those neighborhoods, just a lot of stagnation.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Success wasn’t something that was easy to come by. People didn’t have a good idea of what success was. People’s idea of success was what they saw on television or heard in songs.”&nbsp;

He remembers one moment of empowerment during high school, when&nbsp;a community mentorship&nbsp;program called the&nbsp;<a href="https://allstars.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">All Stars Project</a>&nbsp;came into his old neighborhood in Queens, and helped kids set up, produce and star in their own talent show.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Sing, cook, dance, whatever,” Orville remembers. “Anything to build that self-confidence, to get that exposure. All those things were lacking in the community. Even that one program, I’m really thankful for. It was a beautiful experience.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Around his Starbucks store, Orville is known as “Big O” or the “Honorable O,” says his manager. She’s been impressed by his&nbsp;positive&nbsp;attitude, persistence and&nbsp;genuine smile, attributes that helped him secure&nbsp;toy donations from local businesses for a holiday drive.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Orville says he&nbsp;knew from a young age he&nbsp;could&nbsp;relate to different kinds of people. Being from Guyana, which&nbsp;is part&nbsp;of South America&nbsp;but&nbsp;also identifies culturally with the Caribbean, helps him move comfortably through different cultures – Black, Latino and Caribbean.&nbsp;&nbsp;

He often thinks of home and the way people would come together over food. One of his favorite meals is a signature Guyanese dish called Pepperpot – a meaty, spicy stew with gravy, usually prepared during the holidays, full of beef or oxtails or cow foot, eaten with rice or bread. Everyone’s recipe is a little different.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Orville, who recently proposed to his fiancée and has a 2-year old son, says working at Starbucks is helping him expand his ideas of success and what that might mean for his own brand. He’s learning about best business practices, and taking note of all “the little things,” like how Starbucks encourages volunteerism, takes care of its customers and facilitates resource drives over the holidays. 

“Everybody has demons and struggles they fight every day,” Orville says. “If you have the strength to carry on in a positive manner, then in due time, you will reach what your definition of success is. It’s about progress and it’s a process. Maybe you got to dust yourself off and try again. There’s success in that. 

“I’m going to continue to show my fellow Black people in this time we can still make a path for future generations. We all can achieve our dreams. We can still conquer our dreams. It might not be easy, but be patient, keep going. You’re going to get places.”

Collage of three Black Starbucks partners featured in story

During Black History Month, Starbucks partners share what inspires them to keep going

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This February, during Black History Month, Starbucks is proud to celebrate the unique stories of our Black partners. We honor them and we see them, and we encourage you to see them too. Move past the stereotypes, the assumptions, the misperceptions, the things you think you may know, the skin color. And get to know them as individuals. Learn the breadth and depth of their distinct lives.

For most of her childhood, LT Smith didn’t want to be seen. 

When her mother went to prison for armed robbery, Smith bounced between family members and the foster care system in New Orleans. She remembers making herself small and invisible. 

“I thought if I wasn’t a burden or I wasn’t bothersome to anybody, they would let me stay,” Smith recalls. &nbsp;

As she grew up, she was picked on, in part because of her height (“I was maybe 5 feet tall,” Smith says). She responded the best way she knew how: with her fists. A couple trips to juvenile detention slowed down the fighting, Smith says, but “at that point, my words became my weapons. I would cut people down. I would push them away before I had a chance to get close.” 

What does it mean to be truly seen? Smith didn’t really know until she met a Starbucks store manager when she was 18 years old. She had just started her first year at an art school in Georgia after moving away from Louisiana, where she was born. To pay the bills, she got a job as a barista at a Starbucks drive-through store just north of downtown Atlanta. 

The manager there, Malinda Petry, bonded with Smith in ways she didn’t anticipate. She became a mentor and a second mother, talking to Smith about her own family struggles and self-defense mechanisms. 

Petry comforted Smith through the death of a close cousin and the devastating uncertainty of Hurricane Katrina; Smith’s entire family, including four older brothers, was still back in New Orleans, and an uncle drowned during the subsequent flooding. She helped Smith identify negative emotional triggers, handle conflict and stress more constructively, spend her paycheck responsibly and even save for retirement.

“She taught me to grab the future that I want,” says Smith, now 34 and a Starbucks store manager in Sandy Springs, Ga. “She opened my eyes to the possibility of my future.” From that relationship, Smith says she also learned what self-love looks like and “how to be comfortable in my own skin.”

“She was the first person that was able to get my attention in a way that caused me to pivot – everything that I was doing,” Smith says. “It was very simple, uncomplicated conversations that taught me a ton of interpersonal skills and soft skills that honestly I didn’t have. To say that I was less refined would be kind. I was kind of abrasive. She taught me to drop my armor. My armor wasn’t doing me any good.” 

Petry, 43, herself grew up in extreme poverty, in a small town in Alabama, without regular access to running water and electricity. She spent 18 years at Starbucks, starting as a barista before moving up to store manager, district manager and field trainer. 

“When you grow up like that, and you don’t feel seen, it helps you develop more empathy, and it made me want to be a person that gave the love that I was lacking,” she says. “I could see LT was a person with a lot of passion and integrity. Whatever part I got to play in her development, it was just by being a consistent person in her life, being the stabilizing force, who held her accountable, who raised the bar of what she was capable of.” 

But becoming your best self – seeing who you truly are – also takes a lot of work. For Smith, that’s meant years of therapy, specifically, learning how to assess her feelings before reacting and making sure that her emotions aren’t overtaking her logic. 

“Being able to face my past is also me confronting my future, being truthful, you have to deal with it,” Smith says. “There are still things that crop up that still feel too raw. But my most important thing is honesty and transparency.” 

Starbucks is the only company Smith has ever known. And for 16 years, she’s climbed the ranks: from barista to shift supervisor to assistant store manager to store manager, a position she’s held for almost five years. Last fall, she was accepted into a company development program for high-achieving store managers and given a temporary trial run as a district manager in Atlanta. 

Smith lives a block away from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth home and the tomb where he’s buried; it’s “a wonderful reminder of my Blackness and being unapologetically Black,” she says. One of the stores she oversees is the <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/how-does-a-corporation-live-its-values-as-a-good-neighbor/">Starbucks Community Store in Jonesboro</a>, part of the <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/starbucks-expands-commitment-in-underserved-communities-across-the-us/">company’s expanding initiative</a> to be a good neighbor in economically struggling communities all around the country.

She hopes to increase literacy in her district by putting informal libraries in local Starbucks. She’s also planning a speaker series in her stores, trying to highlight local business owners. 

Another thing she wants to do is honor what Petry did for her, by paying it forward, especially with the younger African American partners in her district. As a store manager, she’s noticed them struggling and hurting due to various issues. 

“Because so many people have truly cared about me, I have this deep sense of gratitude and a deep sense of obligation to not give up,” Smith says. “That broken person who I was, you don’t see that person. I can’t allow myself to regress. There are others who are looking up to me. There are kids who are where I was. I’m now holding up a mirror to them. I’m letting them know there is life after (whatever struggles they’re going through).

“My purpose is to leave people and things better than I found it, to live through reciprocity and generosity. I make a very conscious effort at all times to see people for who they are and where they are.”

Meet LT Smith, who tries ‘to live through reciprocity and generosity’ - Starbucks Stories

Meet LT Smith, who tries ‘to live through reciprocity and generosity’

Having one person who believed in her changed the trajectory of LT Smith’s life. Now the Starbucks store manager strives to be that for others.

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In April 2018, Courtney Johnson wondered what Starbucks would do. Like many others, he was concerned after two Black men were racially profiled and arrested at a company store in Philadelphia. &nbsp;

Johnson, a Starbucks district manager in Memphis, watched the company leadership apologize, launch an internal Civil Rights audit (the <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2019/starbucks-overview-of-the-covington-assessment-on-civil-rights-equity-diversity-and-inclusion/">findings were released last year</a> and updated in February) and recommit to diversity and inclusion by shutting down more than 8,000 U.S. stores for a day <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2018/beyond-may-29-lessons-from-starbucks-anti-bias-training-and-whats-next/">to train employees</a> about unconscious bias.

Hoping to continue these hard conversations, Johnson is now facilitating meetings in his hometown, inviting Starbucks partners to the National Civil Rights Museum – on the site of the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated – to keep talking about race, identity and bias. 

He organized his first event in March 2019 with Francine Hardin, another Starbucks district manager and co-chair with Johnson of the local Black Partner Network (an employee affinity group). Johnson organized another on Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year through the company’s week of service campaign. Both events drew more than 100 partners from all over the country. 

“I want to create the space to talk, in a professional, respectful way, and introduce you to what It means to be Black in America,” says Johnson, 38. “If we can take our learnings from this day, and our learnings from what Dr. King was trying to do, and we can bring that to life in our stores, with no judgment, no bias, then we can be the catalyst for the change that we’re trying to create for the world.” 

Johnson grew up in the Mitchell Heights neighborhood in South Memphis, “a 100 percent Black neighborhood.” He didn’t interact with a white person until he was 14 years old. His mother earned undergraduate and master’s degrees despite difficult circumstances and “demonstrated to me early on in life what’s possible, that you can achieve anything,” he says.&nbsp; 

After he graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a degree in economics, he went to work for a bank to analyze consumer markets. There, two different white mentors told him if he wanted to succeed in the finance industry, he’d have to change the way he talked and dressed. 

And he did, putting on his self-described daily “armor” – suits and ties – so he’d be seen and respected as an executive. He made sure to say “ask” instead of “acts” (the way he’d grown up saying it) and became vigilant about his word choices, going so far as to put these language goals in his professional development plans at work. 

“I am a results-driven individual, and if this was something that was going to hold me back in my career, I didn’t want that,” Johnson says. “If this is what it takes, I’m going to do what it takes.” 

While Johnson felt he had to compromise who he was – “I knew it had to do with the color of my skin,” he says – he quickly advanced in the company, moving up to senior vice president. 

When he joined Starbucks in 2016 as a district manager, it was a better fit in terms of his values and goals to develop young people. But not having to wear suits and ties and pocket squares anymore, that was the real culture shock. 

“The way I was accepted in the financial industry and the way I carried myself, it was different,” Johnson says. “Now I get to wear jeans and button downs and still be accepted for who I am. Now I feel like I’m recreating a new image of the exterior. But what’s on the inside, that never changed.”

Johnson’s mother passed away in 2006, at the age of 42, from a rare form of lung cancer. Her death still weighs heavily on him and fuels a strong sense of responsibility, not only to his wife and three young daughters, but also to his six younger siblings. 

“I love who I am and what I represent. I love the color of my skin and I’m proud to be an African American,” Johnson says. “My intentions are to always model for anyone who’s watching that what you may see on TV, what you may hear about who we are as Black men, is not the reality of who we are. I’m representing the African American culture by showing what’s possible.” 

Meet Courtney Johnson, a district manager working to be ‘the catalyst for change’ - Starbucks Stories

Meet Courtney Johnson, a district manager working to be ‘the catalyst for change’

“I love who I am and what I represent. I love the color of my skin and I’m proud to be an African American. I’m showing what’s possible,” he says.

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This February, during Black History Month, Starbucks is proud to celebrate the unique stories of our Black partners and customers. We honor them and we see them, and we encourage you to see them too. Move past the stereotypes, the assumptions, the misperceptions, the things you think you may know, the skin color. And get to know them as individuals. Learn the breadth and depth of their distinct lives.

The first time Adrianna Petty cut all her hair off, she cried.

It was five years ago, and she’d just gotten married. Her hair was long, jet black, curly, down her back. She was so proud of it. Her hair reflected the rich blend of her African American, Puerto Rican and Native American heritages. 

But she spent so much time on it, taking care of her scalp with coconut and castor oils, clarifying conditioners and hot-oil treatments under a hair dryer. On Sundays, she’d have to block out an hour or more for the big weekly wash. It wasn’t just vanity; it’s how long it would take. 

The wedding felt like a new chapter. A new look seemed appropriate. 

Black History Month

Starbucks celebrates everyday Black excellence during Black History Month

During Black History Month, Starbucks partners share what inspires them to keep going

Meet LT Smith, who tries ‘to live through reciprocity and generosity’

Meet Courtney Johnson, a district manager working to be ‘the catalyst for change’

Meet Adrianna and Linda Marie: Embracing community, identity at a hair salon

‘See me as me’: Starbucks honors Black History Month

Meet Edna Kalinko, born in Ghana, who invites people to ‘see me as me’

Meet Samantha Haviser-Iddings, who sees ‘ambiguity as a strength’

Meet Donise Brown, a trailblazing lawyer who talks about ‘being the first’

Meet Casey Hamm, devoted to helping ‘raise up leaders of color’