We were lucky to catch up with Brandy Avenue recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brandy , appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I have always believed that you have to create the life you want to live. You have to work at your goals, no matter the obstacles. I took my own advice last year, when I decided to start a coffee business. I wanted to combine my passion for coffee with my background in business management. I’d been successful in creating opportunities with my film production company and felt confident that selling coffee would be straight to the point with little complications. I was wrong. Right away, we saw some potential success with the first few sales but not the way I’d envisioned. Even with all our invested efforts towards marketing, creating a great product with eye catching packaging, and putting systems in place, we seemed to be off to a very slow and discouraging start.

We took a chance and started a business during a time when a lot of businesses were closing their doors. We knew it would require a resilient spirit to see things through and that resilience helped us to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

We managed to keep pushing and a year later, we are still in business and doing better, one step at a time. We recently expanded our online presence with an Etsy shop and plan to be on Amazon by the end of the year!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

As an indie filmmaker, I’m always working to make something spectacular that will allow my work to be experienced by wider audiences. In between creating, I’ve made a living working in retail and business management. I’ve always aspired to not only be entrepreneur but be successful enough to help others in the process. Just as I branched out and created my own opportunity within the film industry, I believed that my passion for coffee should be explored as a business venture.

My wife and I found an amazing coffee roaster to partner with who not only made an amazing coffee but who sourced fair trade coffee beans from various countries. We created a coffee brand that puts joy and ease ahead of hustle and bustle. We paired our great coffees with a mission to give back a percentage of every bag sold to creative women of color. My coffee company is the perfect way to combine a passion for coffee with a way to help artists like myself get a little closer to achieving their dreams.

It makes me proud to think that I am representing as a Black, queer woman in two White, male dominated industries. I look forward to seeing my coffee on grocery store shelves and having my films on screens worldwide.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I didn’t know what to expect when making the decision to start a coffee company. I knew it would present its own challenges, but nothing could have prepared me for some of the bumps that I encountered. One challenge that presented complications in the beginning was deciding on where the coffee would come from. The choice was roast your own beans or find a roaster. My wife and I knew little about coffee other than how we liked to take it, so I decided that roasting was not the best way to go initially. Instead, we contacted roasters and tried samples of their coffee to determine who we’d want to partner with. We quickly found a roaster we really liked and pursued them as our roasting partner. We included their information into the design of our bags. Not long after purchasing our custom coffee bags, we found out that the roasting partner we’d chosen did not accept the non-refundable coffee bags that were now in print. I was devastated but realized that I didn’t have time to be upset because my coffee bags still needed to go to a roaster. I quickly made the decision to start the search again and set out to find a roaster that fit all the needs of our business. After additional weeks of searching and sampling, we came across the perfect coffee. It was smooth, flavorful, bold and tasty. Additionally, the roaster shared the same values that we share, and they were easy to work with. We were so relieved and were able to re-route our coffee bags to our new roaster.

Finding the right roaster was just the first of many challenges, both small and large but my faith refused to waiver. Despite experiencing uncertainty, I knew that giving up wasn’t an option. I believe that consistency and faith are two keys to success, and I had merely scratched the surface with our roaster setback. I knew that with hard work, the rewards would outweigh the difficulties and so far, in this year long journey, they have.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Within the last month, my life has changed drastically. I became a mom! I knew that having children was going to change my life, but I had no idea how I would need to pivot things in my career choices.

The majority of my entrepreneurship journey has included working for others in order to make ends meet. As a indie filmmaker, the majority of my projects were funded out of my own pocket. I had to depend on a job for not only bills but to allow me to live my dream.

One of the things that motivated me to start my own coffee business last year, was selling coffee for someone else. I was anxiously ready to step out on my own, but never found a comfortable time to do so.
Two weeks before having my son, I made the decision to leave the work force in order to focus on my family and my health. I told myself that once I left my job, God willing, I wouldn’t be going back. My priority is my family, my health and being passionate about what I do. Getting up every day to go work for someone else was not making me happy.
I realize that the older I get, the more I value my time on this earth and don’t want the things I love to be secondary.

I am more determined than ever to continue to grow my coffee business, which will in turn, allow me to pour more time and resources into my production business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://enjoycoffeeco.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/enjoycoffeecompany
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067573404011
• Other: Our Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/EnjoyCoffeeShop

Image Credits
Brandy Avenue, Michelle Avenue, Khiry Clements