Hi, Sam! Would you like to introduce yourself?

My name is Samantha Romero and I work in Olam Nicaragua as Specialty Coffee Coordinator since the end of September. My coffee story in Olam started in October 2018.

Samantha’s grandparents, Ubaldino Arriola and Hilda Bohorquez, in front of a sign for their export company Aicasa Export.

Describe your history in coffee.

I’m in coffee since I can remember. I am Peruvian but my coffee career has taken me around the world and has allowed me to meet many amazing and beautiful people working in coffee. I am the third generation of a coffee exporting company that sources coffee from the Southeastern and Center jungles of Peru. My grandparents started this adventure over 50 years ago and their children continued the business. When I was in college I started working actively in the family’s businesses and with that, I started going into coffee. I took some classes, attended many events and conferences and started gathering myself with well-renowned people that had been in the business for a long time and I came to the realization that as a Sociologist I could have a big and positive impact in the industry, and I did. Once I stepped into “coffee” I couldn’t step out of it. That’s always the case with coffee, which is why you can find many different people here: chemists, lawyers, engineers… people who left their “professions” to get into coffee.

What do you like the most about your job? About coffee? About your country?

The team and the direct assistance to coffee growers are what motivates me to stay in this business. When I can see the benefits farmers get with the work we do I feel completely rewarded.

What I like the most about coffee is the way it puts people together no matter where they come from. “Would you like a cup of coffee?” “Let’s grab coffee?” it’s all it takes to get together and get to know someone. Like I said before, you get to meet so many different people that got together only because of “coffee”. How cool is that?!

What I like the most about Peru, even though I am not there now, is its cultural diversity. It’s a country that is really diverse from the landscapes, languages up to food. I try to transmit that to every new place I come to, and hopefully, I am getting the message through. Ha ha ha! Hopefully, people will want to come to visit sometime.

Describe your team in your job. Who do you work with? Who can you ask for help, support, or training? Are there female leaders in your company?

I haven’t been in Nicaragua for that long but so far I can say that the people I work with are very open to receive questions and have helped me quite a lot during the first couple of weeks with the organizational culture and the country’s culture as well. I work hand in hand with the sustainability and the technical team which are the ones directly linked to the farmers. There is only one other woman besides me on these two teams. It was a similar situation when I was back in the US, there weren’t many women, although this is actively changing. This is very common in producing countries and even more common in agribusinesses.

I think these changes are happening more and more not only in the companies I have worked for but it’s a general change that is happening around the world. It all comes down to education and development.

Have there been important moments in your career, like experiences that energize you to keep working in coffee? Something that made a big impression on you?

I don’t remember any particular moment that has energized me to keep doing this. In general, I think that what is a driver for me is to see how all the people involved in this supply chain have a protagonist role to ensure traceability and the product’s quality. I think this is a pretty complex chain with many actors involved and the deeper we get into the coffee world, let’s say in Specialty, the more people you see involved in the chain.

One of the reasons I decided to jump into coffee when I started helping the family business was my mother. I have always looked up to her and admired her fierceness and tenacity when it comes to business. When I was much younger, I remember I always told her: “When I grow up I want to be as strong as you” and as much of a cliché as it sounds that has been one of my life goals throughout my academic and personal growth. I still think I have a long way to go but I am still walking towards that goal to be more like her or like she likes to say it: “be a better version”. She is not the only woman in the family businesses, in fact, everything starts with my grandmother’s strength when she started this business with my grandfather over 50 years ago. So I have always been surrounded by strong women which have pushed me, subconsciously, to keep going, push harder, never give up: keep fighting.

What do you think about the coffee industry everywhere, in countries that produce coffee to the countries that consume coffee? How are we connected? What are the challenges and successes of all the women who work in coffee?

I think the Coffee industry is very complex and wide from seed to cup. What connects us is the product we work with but I do think we are still missing some communication channels that link together people in the supply chain. I have met baristas that have never been on an Origin trip and therefore have never seen a coffee tree outside of a textbook. It goes beyond saying that they have never greeted a coffee farmer face-to-face even though they represent them every time they talk about coffee or brew a cup of coffee. In the same way, many farmers have never met their clients or have had a good cup of coffee, or what is worse have never drunk their own highest quality coffee. This has to change… we need to be more aware and get more involved in what we do for a living. We need to get out there and start creating meaningful relationships with people that we work directly and indirectly with.

I think that some challenges that we face as women, beyond the coffee business itself, is being heard. It is still very complicated to be heard and that our opinion matters for itself in spite of gender. This is not true for every country of course but speaking from an underdeveloped or developing country’s perspective like mine or where I live now, this is still part of our reality. What’s good though, is that change is coming. The only message I have is that one should never stop fighting and if necessary…”screaming” so that you don’t go undetected.

Interview with Samantha Romero of OLAM Specialty Coffee (English)