In 2007, by chance, the book “Put Your Heart Into It“ came into my hands, and after reading it, I was deeply impressed to learn Howard Schultz's vision of making a company led from the heart, developing it with the soul and always placing people in the center. I immediately wondered if a brand that puts its employees and clients at the center of its operation was the right place for me. The answer was simple: yes it was.

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My journey with Starbucks began in 2008, as District Manager, when I cut the ribbon on store number 29 in Chile. Today, after 15 years working in the company, we are about to open our 300th store in the Southern Cone, and will celebrate our 20th, 15th and 5th anniversaries in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, respectively.&nbsp;

I am passionate about having the possibility to impact different communities and make our stores unique places to work. There are more than 4,000 employees in Starbucks South Cone to whom we offer training and real and attractive career development.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Starbucks also allowed me to walk the path towards the exciting world of coffee, being able to see first-hand the entire value chain that exists behind each bean: from planting, maintaining the coffee trees, harvesting and subsequent sale. I had the unique opportunity to be in Costa Rica, and see the support that Starbucks provides to the coffee communities. That experience made me realize the responsibility of honoring each coffee bean that we serve daily, as a show of respect for all families and especially to all the women who are behind its production.

Meet the women at Starbucks who are crucial to the coffee business, every step of the way, around the globe.

Claudia, director of Starbucks South Cone – Argentina, Chile, Uruguay

Stories to inspire and nurture the human spirit

Starbucks Stories

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Claudia, director of Starbucks South Cone – Argentina, Chile, Uruguay 

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Rina started as a part-time barista in college before taking on different roles in marketing, public affairs, digital strategy and social impact. In 2022, she spearheaded the <a href="https://www.ywcakl.org.my/post/starbucks-upcycled-flavorlock-pouch-project-launch-in-starbucks-stores" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Starbucks Upcycled Flavorlock Pouch project</a>, where Starbucks works with women and girls from low-income households to help turn whole bean coffee packaging into <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKKVtKwQr8g" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">small lined pouches</a>, giving them a second life. Not only does this save potential trash from the landfill, but for every pouch sold, Starbucks donates money to the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) in Kuala Lumpur to contribute to vocational training to empower women and girls from underserved communities.&nbsp;&nbsp;

It is more than just coffee. I am very fortunate to love what I do and be presented with many interesting opportunities. At Starbucks, every day is an ongoing learning journey and it’s always exciting for me! Inspired by many employees, communities and NGOs that I worked with, my team and I are happy to pay it forward by strategizing sustainable social impact programs that are able to empower and create pathways for the beneficiaries. While it has its challenges, it is undoubtedly a very fulfilling career.

Rina, head of sustainability and social impact – Malaysia

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I was married in my 20s and a housewife since then. My first part-time job was at age 76 (with Starbucks). When people are almost 80 years old, they are not given much responsibility in society generally. However, when I come to the store, I feel responsible and work on cleanliness as if I am in charge. As a resident of this area for nearly 50 years, I consider it my role to connect the community and my store. I want to be a bridge between artists and my store.&nbsp;

I am happy, rewarded and grateful to be given the responsibility of keeping the store and backyard clean. I am happy to be in a circle of young partners who are as old as my grandchildren and to talk with them.&nbsp;&nbsp;

I thought I can cheer up the elderly in my community through my work. Younger partners will be able to provide customer service that is sensitive to the feelings of younger people. I can understand how elderly people are feeling. When I find someone who looks tired in the crowded store, I call out to him or her and also place a reserved card on a seat and ask him or her to sit and wait.

Katsuko, café attendant – Japan 

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My journey, it’s been full of curiosity, learning new things, and of course, developing myself from a barista to a store manager.&nbsp;

When I started working in an <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/starbucks-opens-two-all-female-stores-in-india/">all-women store</a>, we were open about everything, like sharing anything with our team. When we have our store briefings, we could talk openly. So that was one thing which I loved the most about an all-women store. And I love how the customers also observed us… it was like, they were surprised. They’ve never seen this thing.&nbsp;&nbsp;

What makes it special is, of course, the development of our women co-workers. They start building the leadership qualities. 

Starbucks is a place where new ideas are welcomed. It means working in a positive environment where there are no boundaries to one’s growth and learnings. I always go back to the time when I was new to this organization and I was happy to know that the mission and values are not just theoretical, they also can be seen vividly in our stores.

Sneha, manager, one of 15 all women stores – India

Sneha, manager, one of 20 all-women stores – India

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Coffee cupping is the professional practice of observing the tastes and aromas of coffee.&nbsp;&nbsp;

I chose to join the Starbucks Yunnan <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2018/starbucks-farmer-support-centers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Farmer Support Center</a> (FSC) because I majored in agriculture. As a Yunnanese, I naturally feel connected to coffee and tea, two major economic crops in Yunnan, and I used to have internship experience with a tea house as a tea cupper.&nbsp;&nbsp;

In Yunnan, our FSC agronomists frequently visit the famers and teach them how to grow better coffee. Each year, our quality control team goes to the farms with the agronomists to do quality inspection, teaching farmers cupping, talking to them and helping them tackle the challenges in improving coffee quality. We are doing everything we can to support Yunnan farmers and the local community. One of my jobs is to go to coffee farms, teaching farmers how to do cupping.&nbsp;

I love coffee and I think coffee is an art that reflects a taste of life. Every coffee has a story, and every coffee has its own flavor. You can always learn something new from each coffee.&nbsp;

Qiong, coffee cupper – China

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Qiong, coffee cupper – China 

When I was in college, I often went to the Starbucks store nearby. I was always inspired by the relaxing and joyful atmosphere created by Starbucks partners behind the bar. I thought being a barista should be fun, so I applied to Starbucks. 

The moment I put on my apron, I decided to be a good barista, because I always have role models around me. When I do a heart in latte art, my friends can already do reverse tulip. When I learned tulip, they can do swan... Not just latte art, but other skills as well.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Our partners are not only diligent in practicing, but also willing to share experiences with me. So, I would love to share my coffee knowledge with more partners. When we share the same interests and beliefs, the way forward is hopeful, full of passion and strength. In the store, when a customer is smiling (because of) satisfying latte art, or reply to our greetings, these kinds of details make me feel that we are doing the right thing with our mission and values.&nbsp;&nbsp;

A small coffee bean holds great energy, and so do we. As long as we keep our faith and keep moving forward, we can certainly inspire the infinite possibilities of coffee and ourselves.

Sylvia, national coffee ambassador, store manager – China

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It wasn’t until I joined the Global Coffee team that I truly understood that Starbucks mission and values extend far beyond our offices, stores and local communities.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Our commitment to ethical coffee sourcing and the standards we have in place through <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/cafe-practices-starbucks-approach-to-ethically-sourcing-coffee/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">C.A.F.E. Practices</a> are rooted in this strong belief and realization that the decisions we make as a company may have a direct or indirect impact on people and planet, and with that comes immense responsibility and accountability. It’s not lost on me how significant this commitment is given our scale. We source coffee from over 30 countries and nearly 425k farmers around the world!

I like to refer to the <a href="https://traceability.starbucks.com/#/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Digital Traceability tool</a> as “technology” with a soul because it’s grounded in our commitment to transparency. Customers should know where their coffee comes from, how it was sourced, and all of the hard work that goes into each cup. We’re creating space for every voice to be heard and human story to be told, from the first 10 feet to the last 10 feet and every step in between. When you can use the power of storytelling to change hearts and minds, it becomes so much more than a cup of coffee.

Beth Ann, manager, digital traceability program – Starbucks Support Center, Seattle

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Coffee attracts me with its history, but also with its uniqueness and the amount of work that goes behind a regular cup of coffee. I was always fascinated by a simple coffee bean – its shape, aroma, but also by many legends and rituals connected with this fruit. It‘s amazing how we got from Kaldi in Ethiopia to one of the most consumed and famous beverages in the world.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Being a woman in the coffee industry is special, because when people think about farmers, roasters or baristas, they usually think about male workers.&nbsp; Women are highly present in fieldwork, harvest and sorting. Let’s not forget about some countries as Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda or Indonesia, where women play essential roles on farms. And I think that it would be nice having more women in trading, exporting and analysis or lab work where they are less present (now) because also there they can bring something new and help us grow up together.&nbsp;

It’s very important for us women to remember and believe that we can do and reach anything.

Veronika, national barista champion – Italy

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In manufacturing operations, every day is different. We receive the green coffee, load and clean it, roast coffee, bag the coffee and load the pallets with bagged coffee on the trucks. As simple as it sounds, every step has its own challenges, and each step must be in perfect synch for the process to work.&nbsp;&nbsp;

It takes the right people, training, and dedication to make this happen. Challenging as this might be, we make it work and I get to learn something new every day about our people, products and processes, which fits perfectly with my curious nature.&nbsp;

From a manufacturing position, I can say that women in any type of manufacturing environment are rare and thus more valuable, even more so in leadership positions. Know your value, recognize that the qualities and experiences you are bringing are valuable and others can learn from them. Above all, empower others – do what you love and give it your all. It might not work out the first time, or the second or third, but you will make it work.

Merel, plant supervisor, Amsterdam Roasting Plant – Netherlands

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Starbucks mission and values match my own personal values. Empathy and community mean a lot to me. Ethical purchasing practices mean a lot to me.&nbsp;&nbsp;

(Many years ago), we had just launched a Starbucks Reserve coffee that was a first offering from a co-op in Africa run by women – Burundi Ngozi. This was a groundbreaking time for female African coffee growers and my baristas were so inspired to share this story of empowerment in our industry. This is where I made it my mission to share my passion for coffee, coffee stories and coffee education. 

I love seeing partners engage with our customers around coffee stories. Taking passionate partners and having them pursue (the) <a href="https://starbucksglobalacademy.com/coffee-academy/about/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coffee Master</a> (program) has been something I feel is incredibly important for our partner experience. Over the past 6 months, I have had four partners at my location become Coffee Masters, all future female leaders for Starbucks.

Tamara, store manager – Canada

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On this International Woman’s Day, Starbucks is proud to celebrate the stories of five women from around the world who are part of the coffee supply chain. From “the first 10 feet” on the farm to “the last 10 feet” at the store, and at key points in between, women like these – a farmer, an agronomist, a buyer, a master roaster and a district manager – are crucial to the coffee business.

Walquiria Peixoto Correa, coffee farmer, Brazil

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Walquiria Peixoto Correa didn’t plan on being a coffee farmer.&nbsp;&nbsp;

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When she left home, she attended university, earned degrees in chemistry and education and intended to be a teacher. But when her father, José Clemente, became sick, she left an internship and returned home to help the family coffee farm he’d started in the 1980s.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

What she found back on the farm was her destiny – but first she had to prove herself. Coffee is traditionally an industry run by men, and very few farms in Brazil are owned and operated by women. Six years ago, after her father died and she took over the farm full-time to continue the work he started, it took several years to find workers willing to take orders from a woman.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Yes, we have many challenges, many obstacles, prejudice,” Peixoto Correa says. “The workers had trouble accepting my ideas because I’m a woman and an academic from the city, so it was difficult.” She overcame that, she says, “with great care and many teachings… talking to them, making them see that we all have our opinions, treating them with kindness.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Today, Peixoto Correa is considered a pioneer in her community for the high-quality coffee she produces and the way she runs her farm – decreasing her reliance on pesticides and chemicals, using organic fertilizers, incorporating solar power, reducing and reusing water and materials in the coffee washing and drying process, reforesting native plants, protecting the natural waterways on her land and managing her workers with the utmost respect.&nbsp;&nbsp;

She runs the farm with her mother, Dagmar, 73, who still operates much of the equipment. Together, they care for approximately 76,000 coffee trees.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Her coffee is just a few points from some of the highest scores possible, according to a quality grading scale used by Cooxupé, a regional cooperative and exporter representing more than 13,000 small to medium-sized family farms in the state of Minas Gerais. Cooxupé sells her coffee, which is <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/cafe-practices-starbucks-approach-to-ethically-sourcing-coffee/">Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices</a> certified, to Starbucks. Brazil is Starbucks largest supplier of coffee.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“When I was studying, I couldn’t stand being indoors,” she recalls. “(When my father became ill), that’s when I realized that wasn’t what I wanted, that my life had to be here, close to nature, freedom, fresh pure air. So, I decided to come back and stay here on the farm, taking care of my little coffee plants.&nbsp;&nbsp;

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On a warm day several months ago, she drives her work truck to the edge of a large open field, where neat rows of bushy coffee trees overlook a hillside drenched in sunlight. She squats down next to one and examines a handful of dried coffee skins she uses for fertilizer, crushing them with her hand. A toucan flies out of a nearby tree. Cows meander in the distance. She explains that she aspires to sell specialty-grade coffees one day.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“This is my open-air office,” she says, looking around. “I prefer this office to the four-walled one. Look at how beautiful nature is. So, here is my life… My hope for this farm is to protect the springs, the waterways, to teach other producers by example to take care of nature.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I don’t have any children, but I want to teach future generations to take care, to protect, for a better world. And I hope my mother and I live for a long time, and we can enjoy it, and see this better world.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Bahati Mlwilo, agronomist, Tanzania&nbsp;

Bahati&nbsp;Mlwilo&nbsp;lives by a simple motto: “I want to die empty.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

“When I was a young kid, my dream was one day, I need to be someone that is teaching others,” she says. “I love to train farmers. I love to offer knowledge. I’ve learned a lot in coffee, but I’m still learning. I don’t want to die with this knowledge.”&nbsp;

As an agronomist with the Starbucks Farmer Support Center in Tanzania – <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2019/ensuring-access-to-agronomy-education-and-resources/">one of 10 Starbucks operates in key coffee-producing regions</a> – Mlwilo lives out her mission of sharing everything she can in a region with between 4,000-5,000 mostly smallholder farms, usually supporting a single family with a mixture of cash crops and subsistence farming. She holds workshops and makes personal visits, helping farmers understand how to&nbsp;implement C.A.F.E practices and&nbsp;improve their coffee quality and production, while also pushing them to work with a long-term sustainability mindset.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

“We are making progress,” she says. “The issue of social responsibility, for example, farmers are realizing it’s important in our society to pay your workers a correct wage to improve their lives, improve their farms. More and more are using manure and organic fertilizers. We are helping them do soil analysis and understand the makeup of the soil conditions. And you see the farms improving.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

The daughter of two teachers,&nbsp;Mlwilo&nbsp;has always been curious to know more. It drove her to study food science and technology at a top agricultural university, then to earn two master’s degrees, one locally in business administration and another in Italy in coffee economics and science.&nbsp;&nbsp;

About 11 years ago, she started working in coffee as a quality advisor for an international nonprofit, which led her to eventually becoming the first woman coffee quality grader in Tanzania. She joined Starbucks six years ago as an agronomist, seeing an opportunity to help people in a region where many lack formal education and operate with a short-term mindset.&nbsp;&nbsp;

For example, she says, farming vegetables can mean quick cash: a crop of maize, bananas or beans can be produced in just a few months. A coffee tree, by comparison, takes three to four years to fully mature.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Coffee pays if you do it as a business,” she says, but that requires a greater investment of resources and more technical and business training in topics such as reducing water consumption and operational costs, along with the patience to withstand fluctuating market prices or a bad weather season.&nbsp;&nbsp;

More farmers are embracing the business mindset and taking a longer-term view,&nbsp;Mlwilo&nbsp;says, and she’s hoping they can be an example to others. “The thing I enjoy the most is when I see&nbsp;the impact on the ground, when you do something and it creates a positive impact to farmers,” she says. “When they see the results, they change.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

A more personal goal for&nbsp;Mlwilo&nbsp;is to help recognize the work of women in coffee, which in Tanzania is still mostly in the background, and to help them get a foothold in farm and land ownership and in jobs usually taken by men, such as quality control, exporting and buying. She leads the Tanzania chapter of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance and sets up regular virtual and in-person coffee trainings, and meetings with coffee-producing women in other countries.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“We want these women to see other opportunities in the coffee value chain, we want them to connect and be empowered and learn from each other,”&nbsp;Mlwilo&nbsp;says. “Some of them have never seen some of these things. We want to inspire them&nbsp;to&nbsp;do jobs that are traditionally men’s jobs. We want to inspire women to know they can do it.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Ann Traumann, coffee buyer, Switzerland&nbsp;&nbsp;

When Ann Traumann oversaw the Reserve coffee-buying program for Starbucks, she met a woman named Moanti Ise, who grew delicious high-quality coffee in Papua New Guinea. Traumann not only made sure to pay her C.A.F.E. Practices premiums for her product, but during the ensuing relationship, also helped Ise’s community secure a grant to build a clean-water system, eliminating hours of work once required just to fetch and transport fresh water.

For Traumann, the project confirmed some thoughts at the heart of her work: “Nowadays, the coffee trader has bigger responsibilities – ethical, social and environmental. We have responsibilities to help all these communities who provide great coffees.”

Traumann is a coffee buyer with the Starbucks Coffee Trading Company in Switzerland, helping source high-quality coffee to meet Starbucks needs. She works with the people who make and process the coffee – farmers, exporters, dealers and agronomists – as well as the Starbucks teams in charge of coffee development, logistics and planning, to meet delivery goals and forecast supply-chain disruption issues while also helping ensure Starbucks sustainability and ethical sourcing goals.

Coffee already faces unique challenges as both an agricultural product dependent on the weather and a globally traded commodity influenced by market forces. Traumann’s role is further complicated by politics, geography and lack of infrastructure. One of the countries in the area she buys from currently, Ethiopia, is in the midst of a civil war. And although the region produces some of the best coffees in the world, getting it out is challenging due to poorly developed roads.

Traumann says, “as a child, I fell into a cup of coffee.” She grew up in France, in a family of coffee buyers, listening to stories of their travel and work. That, while coming of age during the increasing awareness of the Fair Trade movement, helped her dream big as a child and convinced her that she could make an impact on the world through coffee.

She studied international business, worked abroad in Spain, the U.S. and China, interned at a coffee cooperative in Costa Rica and joined a large trading company in Nicaragua, for whom she oversaw sustainable and specialty coffees.

“It was important for me to be close to the product, to understand how coffee grows, what the producers’ issues were, how the harvest works, how to trade and export coffee,” she remembers. “I learned so much, realized the chance I had, how complicated it is. I understood the idea that farmers received the least.”

She joined Starbucks seven years ago, as the main buyer for the Reserve coffee program, securing some of the rarest beans in the world. Last year, she moved over to the core business trading team.

Always finding the best solutions for both the business and for coffee-producing communities is difficult, she says, but “if a company the size of Starbucks doesn’t do and doesn’t try, then who will do it?”

“The road is not easy, it is not straight,” she says. “But we can do things that are big. We need to believe in our dreams, that we can have impact.”

Bonnie Li, master roaster, China&nbsp;

After graduating high school in Beijing, Bonnie Li took a gap year to figure out what she wanted next. She became a barista at a local Starbucks, thinking it would help to get some experience working with people.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Ten years later, she’s a master coffee roaster, the only woman to hold that title at Starbucks globally, the only company where she’s ever worked. She oversees roasting operations at the <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2017/top-10-things-to-know-about-the-starbucks-reserve-roastery-shanghai/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shanghai Starbucks Reserve Roastery</a>, and will help lead coffee and roasting training at the new Starbucks China <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/starbucks-coffee-innovation-park-in-china-extends-global-roasting-network/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coffee Innovation Park</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I am very grateful that I have had this opportunity to become a roaster and a master roaster,” she says. “I just want to say: Don’t care about others’ opinions. If you want it, you got to do it.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Li describes the best elements of her job as a combination of play, science and technical expertise: how she can help a green coffee bean transform into something new – surprising tastes of strawberry, hazelnuts or rosemary; how each batch requires its own calculation of heat, air flow and timing; and how that changes from coffee to coffee, depending on the unique location on Earth it came from.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

She loves the machinery too. She operates a <a href="https://www.probat.com/en/products/industry/products/roasters/neptune/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Probat Neptune 500</a> coffee roaster now, but got her start with a hand-roasting pan in her kitchen, inspired by a friend who experimented at home with something similar and a store manager who always brought back interesting coffees from her travels.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“After a certain point, you play with coffee, you play with the brewing equipment, you kind of naturally think about what else impacts the coffee flavors, and I thought about roasting,” she remembers. “I started roasting at home, and I loved to bring those coffees to my partners (employees) to see what they think.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Sometimes they like it, sometimes they don’t. I still remember the first batch of coffee, I roasted it like charcoal.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Li’s career path became clear as her passion for coffee grew. She became a certified coffee master, won a national coffee pour-over competition and represented Starbucks as a district coffee ambassador, sharing her passion for coffee with inquisitive customers coming from a tea-first culture.&nbsp;&nbsp;

When she learned about the <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2019/starbucks-reserve-roasteries-around-the-world/">Starbucks Reserve Roasteries</a>, the desire to work in “this kind of coffee pantheon …&nbsp; seized my heart,” she says. Naturally, when the Shanghai team had an opening for a roaster position, she was ready. Since then, she and her team have roasted more than 150 different Reserve coffees, among the most unique in the world.&nbsp;&nbsp;

In 2021, she was promoted to master roaster, one of just 11 people to hold that title at Starbucks – high-level leaders, teachers and problem solvers who not only understand the art and science of making coffee but are also charged with trying to improve the process.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I haven’t really thought about my next goals, but I Iove my journey so far,” Li says. “I’m very glad I’ve found something I feel passionate about. I’m very excited about it.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Vicky Martinez, retail district manager, Colombia&nbsp;&nbsp;

How far would you travel to get an interview at Starbucks?&nbsp;

For Vicky Martinez, the answer was hundreds of kilometers, through a military blockade and a frightening search at the border between her native Venezuela and Colombia, and then a farmers strike where protesters had shut the roads. She eventually made it through and caught a plane to Bogotá, where she interviewed for and got a position as an assistant store manager.&nbsp;The trip took almost two days. &nbsp;

“The situation in my country was so difficult,” Martinez remembers. “I said to myself: this is the right time to make a big decision.”&nbsp;

In Venezuela, political and economic instability and the ensuing shortage of basic resources have caused millions to flee their country in recent years. Though born into a large, happy family with means, Martinez is part of that exodus.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Since moving to Colombia in 2013 to work, she’s moved from the retail side to training new partners (employees), implementing country-wide retail innovations and helping open stores. For the last two-and-a-half years, she’s been a district manager, trying to help Starbucks expand in a crowded, competitive, coffee-proud market. Her dream is to be a business operations manager for Latin America.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I think that difficult situations make people stronger, because they allow them to grow and show them that even when they don’t see it at the time, better things lie ahead,” Martinez says. “Resilience is the most valuable asset I’ve developed over these years – believing in myself, knowing that I have the power to turn a difficult situation into an opportunity.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

The opportunities have been memorable, she says – traveling to Mexico to receive training on how to open a brand-new market, telling her story personally to former Starbucks chief executive officer Howard Schultz in Seattle and recently, bringing her parents and younger sister to live with her in Colombia.&nbsp;&nbsp;

She remembers another important moment. When she led the learning and development team, she worked with the Starbucks Farmer Support Center in Colombia to bring 20 farmers who supply coffee to Starbucks to a retail store in the big city. The group included an elderly female farmer who saw, for the first time, where her coffee was ending up. Starbucks has purchased coffee from Colombian farmers since 1971.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I think that experience left a mark on her life and mine, because I saw her tears, her hands, the love in her words.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

It was another reminder of the contributions that women have made, and can make.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“I think as this point in history, we women must persist,” she says. “We must believe in all those values instilled in us from a very young age, regardless of where we were born, and keep on going. We have a role, a transcendental mission, to continue telling stories, to continue inspiring other people.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Everything we do in our daily lives – as daughters, moms, workers – must have a strong commitment to continue believing in what we are and what we are capable of doing.”

Collage of women around the world working in coffee: farmers, roaster in Shanghai Roastery, cupping, and smiling barista wearing apron with lots of pins making peace sign

Starbucks is proud to celebrate the stories of five women from around the world -- a farmer, an agronomist, a buyer, a master roaster and a retail district manager, each leading and making an impact in their own way.

On International Women’s Day, meet 5 women crucial to the coffee business

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Ahead of International Women’s Day, The Starbucks Foundation extends its commitment to use Origins Grants to impact an additional 1 million women and girls by 2030

Kezia Mukamana grew up in the southern part of Rwanda, a country torn apart by genocide nearly 30 years ago, when more than 800,000 people were killed. Since then, the country has faced many issues: poverty; high levels of gender-based violence; degraded, overworked and unproductive plots of land; and loss of knowledge of sustainable farming practices.

By the time she reached her 40s, Kezia was married with four children, eating just one meal per day, with no consistent source of income or savings.&nbsp;&nbsp;

But things started to change when she received a cow and training in sustainable farming practices from Send A Cow, a nonprofit supported in part by The Starbucks Foundation.

Through its Ikawa N’Inka (Coffee and Cows) project, the cow has provided Kezia and her family milk to drink, a little more to sell and manure for fertilizer which has boosted agricultural production. Last year, the family doubled the output from their coffee trees, which helped provide enough extra income to join a savings program, invest in a household vegetable garden, buy medical insurance and pay for the children’s school fees.&nbsp;

Kezia and her family were able to gift a calf from their cow to support another family, and she’s now helping to share the training she has received with other community members.

“Also, family harmony has improved, and our life in general,” Kezia says. “In this community, women used to move around with baskets asking for vegetables to feed their families. Now they can produce their own.”

Today, The Starbucks Foundation announced that it has reached a milestone of helping empower 250,000 women and girls in coffee, tea and cocoa growing communities around the world, like the one Kezia lives in. The Starbucks Foundation has invested more than $14 million in women and girls, distributed through Origin Grants to more than 20 nonprofit organizations such as Send a Cow.

Ahead of International Women’s Day, The Starbucks Foundation is furthering its goal, announcing plans to impact 1 million additional women and girls in these communities by 2030. It’s part of Starbucks People Positive aspirations focused on enhancing the well-being of all who connect with Starbucks.

As with the initial investments, the next phase of support will focus on the same three pillars: promoting economic opportunity and empowerment, advancing women’s leadership and increasing access to clean water, sanitization and hygiene.

The goals are part of Starbucks bigger commitment to sourcing coffee responsibly, a commitment that extends to all coffee, cocoa and tea growing communities around the world. It’s a commitment that starts with ensuring the well-being of farmers and their families, especially the women in these communities who often face social and economic barriers.

“We have a vision to ensure a sustainable future of coffee for all,” says Michelle Burns, Starbucks executive vice president of Global Coffee, Tea and Cocoa, who also sits on The Starbucks Foundation Board. “This goes beyond farmers and farm workers to also supporting the well-being of all those in coffee communities, helping everyone thrive.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“We continue to see the incredible impact of these Origin Grants on creating socioeconomic and leadership opportunities for women and girls that in turn helps their entire family to improve their lives and livelihoods.”&nbsp;

Breakthrough solutions through partnerships&nbsp;

To identify the right projects and create the most impact, The Starbucks Foundation seeks to work with stakeholders with the most expertise. That’s why long-term partnerships with nonprofits like <a href="https://www.mercycorps.org/">Mercy Corps</a> are so important.

For nearly two decades, The Starbucks Foundation and Mercy Corps have collaborated to address needs in coffee, tea and cocoa growing communities.&nbsp;

“I’m really proud of the way we have approached working together, co-designing comprehensive programs while keeping the needs and hopes of community members at the center of all we do,” says Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, Chief Executive Officer of Mercy Corps. “We must work in partnership to find breakthrough solutions that will help us solve the world’s toughest problems and achieve more than we could alone.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Through the partnership, Mercy Corps has offered financial inclusion and entrepreneurship training programs for indigenous women in Guatemala; helped women coffee growers in Colombia gain access to formal property rights and learn about more sustainable land and water management practices; provided mentoring to women coffee farmers in Indonesia to improve their health and economic livelihoods; and supported women <a href="https://www.mercycorps.org/blog/women-frontlines-covid-19-awareness">in tea communities in India</a> in keeping their families safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When we think about supporting women and girls globally, the real problem isn’t women – their capacity or their confidence – but rather the systems that have been designed to exclude them,” D’Oyen McKenna says. “In order for women to take their place as equals and leaders in their communities, we all need to promote women’s choices and priorities, shift social norms and behaviors, find ways to measure and value the care economy, help women move up the value chain and engage women in discussions and decisions around natural resource management and climate change.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

A commitment to farmers and their families

The Starbucks Foundation’s Origins Grants work complements the company’s commitment to empower communities in coffee, tea and cocoa growing communities. Starbucks is currently piloting several programs focused on creating income diversification and building childcare centers to support coffee families during harvest. &nbsp;

In Guatemala, Starbucks and the <a href="https://wakamiglobal.com/wakami-foundation/">Wakami Foundation</a> are identifying women entrepreneurs in rural coffee communities and helping them create women’s groups to produce high-quality, on-trend products to sell in the global marketplace. They’re also introducing regenerative agriculture initiatives, such as raising chickens to produce eggs to sell locally, and cultivating and exporting izote, a high-demand ornamental houseplant that can be grown adjacent to coffee fields.

Income diversification is important when&nbsp;the coffee yield isn’t enough, given the small-farm nature of coffee production in Guatemala.&nbsp;

Starbucks is also helping fund different childcare center models in partnership with coffee suppliers in countries such as Guatemala, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, so families have a safe place to drop off children while they work. The centers make sure children have nutritious meals during the day and receive educational instruction and social play to support their well-being while schools are closed during this time of year for their summer holiday.

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Photos provided by Mercy Corps and Send A Cow

Woman coffee farmer looking at viewer over coffee tree branches

Ahead of International Women’s Day, The Starbucks Foundation extends its commitment to use Origins Grants to impact an additional 1 million women and girls by 2030.

The Starbucks Foundation reaches goal of supporting 250,000 women and girls in coffee, tea & cocoa growing communities

The Starbucks Foundation reaches goal of supporting 250,000 women and girls in coffee, tea &amp; cocoa growing communities

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