We recently connected with Ellie Wilson and have shared our conversation below.

Ellie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

My parents taught me the importance of personal responsibility. It was never an option to shift blame or not be willing to own up for mistakes and shortcomings. I remember as a kid when I would have to apologize to one of my brothers for something I had done and, like every sulky kid, I would roll my eyes and grudgingly say “I’m sorry.” But that was never enough for my mom, she didn’t accept half-hearted apologies and would stop me and ask “sorry for what? What did you do to hurt your brother? You need to own up to your actions.” She also always pushed me to consider all sides of the story. Whenever I would have a disagreement with a friend she would validate my feelings but then encourage me to think what might be going on in the other person’s life and how my actions might be affecting that other person. I’ve seen how this ability to have an honest view of myself and where I do fall short has equipped me with a resilience in pushing towards my goals and a better ability to manage and understand people.

Ellie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Ellie, I’m 26 and I own a coffee shop called The Perk in Winter Park, Colorado. I started working in the specialty coffee industry my Freshman year of college, and what I had planned to be a couple year gig has turned into a much bigger passion and career than I ever would have guessed. I moved to Winter Park in fall of 2020 and started working at The Perk as a Barista. By the following summer I had stepped into the role of Manager and then in summer of 2022 I was given the opportunity to take over as owner. This whole experience has felt a bit like a trial by fire at times, but I’m so grateful for the role I get to play as a business owner in this community that I love. To me, the most important aspect of The Perk is the space it creates to build and foster community. I’ve always been passionate about knowing and loving people, and I love the environment that a coffee shop can create towards that end. I am beyond grateful for the amazing people I get to work with and invest in by holding the position that I do.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I’ve had a history of being hard on myself and putting myself in a box of what I believe I’m capable of. In order to grow and step into leadership and business ownership well, I’ve had to unlearn a lot of beliefs of what I can do and who I can be. I think that we will only achieve as much as we believe we can achieve, and I’ve had to do a lot of internal work to shift the framework in my mind of what I believe I am capable of. Three years ago, I never would have believed that I could manage a team, let alone own and run a business. But through a lot of perseverance and taking risks on myself, I’m learning to believe that I’m actually capable of so much and practicing stepping away from self-doubt and into trusting myself.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I firmly believe that the most important thing in building a reputation is consistency. I’ve had some really negative experiences in business with people who claim that money is secondary and they only care about people, but when push comes to shove they put profit above anything else. It’s not so much that I think making a profit or being a “cutthroat businessperson” is a bad thing, but I think that the dishonesty of pretending to care when you don’t destroys people’s respect for you. My experience has been that people are drawn to my honesty and genuineness. While I don’t always do it perfectly, I truly care about the people who work for me, the people who I do business with, and my customers. It’s been such a cool experience to see how me just being loving, kind, and honest has grown my customer base and created a great reputation for The Perk.   

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @theperk_

Image Credits
Matthew Miner David Britnell