We were lucky to catch up with Jenny Barber recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jenny, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I (Jenny) was exposed to the issue of trafficking from a young age. The things I experienced throughout my childhood developed a drive in me not only to overcome and re-direct the course of my life, but to also bring pathways of freedom to others.
My husband, Robert and I have now been in anti-trafficking work for 15 years. We have committed our lives to working with the most vulnerable people in some of the darkest places. We spent much of our time working with victims in the areas of prevention, victim outreach and advocacy. My husband started roasting coffee as a hobby in 2014. He started with a Whirley Pop popcorn popper on our stove top, and even then his coffee was great. He continued to graduate to larger roasters as we continued building our anti-trafficking programs. Somewhere along the line we began to get really disheartened seeing survivors leave the life of exploitation, journey through recovery programs, and then return to exploitation. We knew that the average age of entry into exploitation is 11-15 years old, and that many survivors face barriers to re-entry such as not having the opportunity to finish school, lack of professional work experience, and criminal records they were often unaware of.
This is when Robert had the inspiration to actually provide solutions to the issues we were witnessing by using what we had to offer… knowledge of the world of trafficking, and specialty coffee.
We opened our first coffee shop in Los Angeles at the beginning of 2020, and realized really quickly that we would be limited to hiring only a few survivors. That is when we decided to focus on expanding the roasting side of the company. We reached out to a longtime friend, Mike Glanz (our current CEO) and asked him to assist us in building a model that could sustain growth. We knew Mike had a passion to prove that business could be both highly successful and highly impactful. As Mike dove into the numbers and explored growth opportunities, he asked if I wanted to hire 5 or 10 survivors. I told him I wanted to hire 1,000. He began to believe we could build something really incredible and he joined us as our CEO.
We made our first acquisition of another coffee roastery at the end of 2022 and went from 300 lbs a month to 10,000. It was a steep learning curve for our team, but since then we have continued our rapid growth, acquired multiple more coffee roasteries, opened a Talitha Coffee shop, and purchased others. All with the goal to provide employment, coffee training, and a care network for survivors as they rebuild their lives.
The name Talitha comes from a aramaic story where a young girl is raised from death to life with the words “Talitha Koum” or “Maiden Arise”. This is what we want to see in the lives of survivors. The opportunity to embrace hope. To rise from a place of darkness and despair to a place of hope and limitless opportunity.

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

Our company grew from my husband (Robert) love of coffee. He just understands coffee so well. Each coffee bean is unique and complex – and there is a way to draw out those complexities for something dynamic and special. Similar to people. Because there is such a high demand for coffee the beans often come at a higher cost – with exploitation and poor work environments.
At Talitha we are focused on creating coffee that is ethically sourced, intentionally roasted, and inspires a collaborative effort to bring hope to survivors of trafficking.
We create a really exceptional product that pulls people together and invites them to be a part of something incredible. Often, people hear about the issue of trafficking and it feels really overwhelming. We are giving a simple way for people to enjoy really great coffee and be a part of an even greater cause.
We have a dynamic coffee service plan from wholesale offerings to monthly coffee subscriptions delivered to your door.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Our story is one of resilience. From overcoming the challenges of the environment I was born into, to launching our company in the middle of a global pandemic, resilience has shaped every step. What makes us truly remarkable, though, is our team. Each person brings their own story of perseverance, and together we’ve embraced the rollercoaster of building a company through acquisitions and growth.

There have been incredible highs—moments of celebration when our vision came to life—and difficult nights spent wondering if we could raise the next round of funding to keep moving forward. Through it all, our people have remained the heart of who we are.

We are a growing company built on the strength of smaller, local companies and the incredible individuals who drive them. Their grit, talent, and passion are what define us and keep us moving toward the future.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Robert first discovered his love for coffee in our early 20s. Back then, our college days were fueled by whatever was cheap, easy, and strong enough to keep us awake. But in 2014, over dinner with friends, Robert learned that you could actually roast coffee at home on a stovetop. Curious, we bought a few books on coffee and a Whirly Pop popcorn popper that same week.

Those first roasts were unpredictable at best. I remember Robert blowing chaff off beans with a colander and a house fan. But it wasn’t long before he had the hang of it—and soon, every road trip meant packing the Whirly Pop, green beans, and that little fan. Friends and visitors quickly caught on that the coffee coming out of our home was something special, and before long, they began gifting Robert bigger and better equipment. Eventually, he “graduated” to our garage with a Mill City 3-kilo roaster. That’s when things really started to take off.

One turning point came when a local conference leader in LA, who had been gifted some of Robert’s coffee, asked if we did pop-up events. True to our adventurous, “say yes first, figure it out later” spirit—we said yes. A quick trip to Home Depot, a borrowed espresso machine, and a printed banner later, we were running our first pop-up. It was a huge success, and all day long people asked where our brick-and-mortar café was.

Around that same time, I was working on the frontlines with victims of trafficking, coming home week after week feeling defeated. Survivors I knew and loved would leave exploitation, go through recovery, and then return to the streets, telling us the same heartbreaking truth: “Don’t try to leave—there’s no opportunity and no hope.”

That’s when Robert had the idea for Talitha. He knew we could take what we had—his passion for coffee and our shared passion for justice—and build something that offered both opportunity and hope. Something that could make a radical difference.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.talitha.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talithacoffeeroasters/?hl=en