We were lucky to catch up with Fanya Randall recently and have shared our conversation below.

Fanya, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Life can be so explosive even after you try your best to steer it in the direction of safe and predictable. There’s always key events that happen in life where you really get a good look at yourself and learn if you have all the qualities that you think you have, but actually find you may be lacking. Mothers have a remarkable instinct when it comes to their children and by the age of 2, I had some serious concerns on the development of my son. My gut instinct knew David had Autism but hearing it out loud from a well-known pediatric neurologist just made it REAL. “Your son has level 2 Autism” the neurologist said. I was instantly devastated. I was fighting back tears so David wouldn’t question what was wrong. The doctor left the room and I looked at David and within a glimpse I saw the life I had envisioned for him flash before me and then vanished. I smiled and grabbed his cute, small, doughy hand and opened the door as I barely had the strength to push the elevator door button. The elevator door opened and this older man looked at me as he was walking past and said “You’re a great Mom. You are doing a good job.” I don’t know who he was but his words were something I desperately needed to hear at that very moment.
Fast forward a few years, David and Dina were attending a Montessori school and one night my son frantically woke up saying “head hurt, head hurt.” I turned to Dina to see if she could explain what happened to David. She told me that an older kid pushed him down then kicked David in the head and called him weird. This was a pivotal moment for me and where my life took a hard right turn. Timing is everything, I was working for a company whom I wasn’t happy with due to how they were treating employees including myself and this gave me a hard push to put my notice in and focus on my new life’s work. KINDNESS.
Months later NOW COFFEE was established and my journey began at the age of 43. Through countless incidences, I realized the best way to help David was through early education. My hope is that by educating our children about mental health awareness and anti-bullying (learning what to do if you or someone else is being bullied, the long term effects of bullying so children can learn empathy, leadership skills, confidence building and learning about proactive kindness and what that looks like etc…) I am 100% confident that if we educated our kids year round through the public schools K-12th we will have an entirely different world that would be what we all envision and want.
The bullying and suicide rates among teens are staggering and this epidemic needs to stop NOW. This is how I came up with my company’s name, NOW COFFEE, to let people know the urgency of the situation. Mental Health Awareness and Anti-Bullying Education are more important than any math or English class.
Fast forward a few years, I was voted top 3 favorite coffee companies in Austin, TX! My online coffee website nowcoffee.com and my NOW coffee truck has literally been a labor of love and I’m truly thankful for the experience I’ve had because David through his countless struggles has taught me to be a better person and mother. I can’t protect my children from everything but I’m 100% confident we can change the landscape in which we live through early education and practicing proactive kindness. I am so grateful for y’all to give me this awesome platform to share my story but also millions of others similar to mine. To donate to our cause please go to www.nowcoffee.com we appreciate your support! Fanya Randall

Fanya, 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 COFFEE ADDICTION DIDN’T REALLY START UNTIL I WAS GETTING ABOUT 2 SECONDS OF SLEEP AFTER I GAVE BIRTH TO TWINS. AT THAT TIME IN MY LIFE, THE IMPORTANCE OF STRONG, GREAT TASTING COFFEE BECAME MORE OF A PRIORITY THAN SHOWERING. NOW THAT MY KIDS ARE OLDER, I DECIDED IT WAS TIME TO SHOWER, AND BUILD A COFFEE COMPANY THAT WILL CREATE CHANGE IN OUR COMMUNITIES. WE PRIDE OURSELVES IN PROVIDING OUR CUSTOMERS WITH THE HIGHEST QUALITY ARABICA BEANS WITH RICH BOLD FLAVORS FROM ALL AROUND THE WORLD. WE BELIEVE IT’S EQUALLY IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE THE COFFEE IS GROWN AND PURCHASED IN A RESPONSIBLE WAY. ALL OF OUR BEANS ARE ORGANIC AND FAIR TRADE TO ENSURE INTEGRITY AND QUALITY. OUR COFFEE BEANS ARE ROASTED FRESH PER ORDER BY OUR MASTER ROASTERS HERE IN AUSTIN, TEXAS. WE THEN PACKAGE IT IN HEAT-SEALED BAGS AND IMMEDIATELY SHIP IT TO YOU. THIS WAY, YOU RECEIVE YOUR COFFEE IN THE FRESHEST CONDITION POSSIBLE. NOT ONLY DO YOU GET AN AWESOME BAG OF COFFEE, BUT HERE COMES THE BEST PART… WITH EACH PURCHASE YOU MAKE, A PORTION OF PROFITS DIRECTLY SUPPORTS TWO IMPORTANT CAUSES: MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS AND ANTI-BULLYING CURRICULUM FOR CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR CHARITY PARTNERS AND HOW TO DONATE DIRECTLY ON MY WEBSITE NOWCOFFEE.COM

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to UN learn was it doesn’t matter how prepared you are with your business and how you have everything in order, LIFE is unpredictable so prepare but also understand that things happen out of your control and being flexible to change is critical in a successful business.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I had a first hand perspective of seeing my husband work with several partners who had strong personalities some very explosive and it became not only a negative environment but it was complicated to make business changes that needed to happen quickly etc… So after living through what my husband experienced before he decided to go out on his own, I decided to self fund my business through loans. If the business debt doesn’t scare you I believe being your own investor/partner where you have 100% control and decision making is best. The key take away is make sure you are choosing wisely if you decide to partner with someone else because it can be the demise of many businesses.

Contact Info:

• Website: nowcoffee.com
• Instagram: nowcoffeeaustin
• Facebook: now coffee

Image Credits
Ryan Goodrich, Diana Lott Photography and Austin Women Magazine (pic with me throwing coffee bags in the air at the capitol)