We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nora De Arco a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Nora , thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
My name is Nora Graciela, co -owner, along with my siblings, of Cafe Graciela. Cafe Graciela is a social enterprise with intention. Our mission is to create education scholarships in Maria la Baja Colombia through supplying our customers with specialty coffee, sourced directly from our family farm, located in the Colombian Coffee Axis.
Named after our Grandmother, Graciela, our company created a product that gives back to our roots. Embodying our logo, the Sankofa bird: In order to move forward, you must fist look back.
That is Cafe Graciela, honoring our roots, Maria la baja, a historically known Freetown, the birthplace of our grandmother, our father, our ancestors. A place that has been underserved in education. Our mission partners with non profits, schools, churches, and our customer donations to create after school programs, educational scholarships, and support the next generation of Colombian youth. So far we have supported 200 kids through the creation of two after school program centers, partnered with a local school, partnered with the Hispanic Youth Leadership Academy to provide 40 college aged students scholarships for leadership training, partnered with La Universidad Reformada to host leadership and conflict resolution development, and started a music program for the school aged youth.
Our coffee grows in Colombian Coffee Axis where we focus on sustainable farming practices and fair wages. Partnering with local professionals to optimize our coffee production and quality. While our mission is in the Atlantic coast of Colombia, we connect our product to our mission by allowing visits to the farm for those interested in agriculture development and hope in the future to enhance the farm, allowing for spiritual retreats.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Nora Graciela, Co- founder and COO of Cafe Graciela. I have a background in project management and community centered initiatives. With seven years of experience in non profits, healthcare, civic engagement and agency experience. My family business is how I got into coffee, after my parents retired, they went back home with the interest of self sustainable farming and education initiatives in Maria la Baja. With the excess of coffee my siblings and I saw a viable option to capitalize on our specialty grade coffee while creating impact. My brother formalized the business after winning several pitch competitions at Harvard, while obtaining his Masters, my sister and I implemented the idea through farmers markets and saw success in Columbus Ohio. In two years we have created impact in Colombia through our product and captivated the coffee industry with our best selling spice blend coffee. We incorporated real sugar cane (Panela in Colombia) with clove, ceylon cinnamon and a little star anise along with our coffee. The panelita ready for a French press or Cold Brew Method, our specialty within the coffee industry.
A freelance professional I am also active in New York and Ontario, using my talents in project management to lead projects centered in community and school system in trauma informed emotional and cognitive behavioral education. This work I do alongside the DREAM foundation in Brooklyn and the Trauma and Embodiment Association of Ontario (TEAO).
I am curious about how we can have more holistic lives through healing our own selves, mirroring healing to our communities. Committed to doing embodied work that does not mirror harm.
Growing as a confident and centered leader within the specialty coffee world, entrepreneur, and holist care advocate.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
If you have ever done a farmers market then you know they can be physically taxing.
There have been many times that we had to run simultaneous farmers markets, which meant usually that we needed way more prep time than we actually thought. This meant we were working longer hours and doing a lot at once since it was our first full year of market season.
Many times where we showed up for the work with very little sleep, little water, and skipped breakfast. Working hard but not working very smart. Not feeding ourselves, nourishing our bodies for the type of hustle we were demanding from it. Not allowing our brains to restore after a long day so that we would be more creative, sharp. and clear headed for the decisions of the next day.
That summer I learned that for my business to be well, I needed to take care of myself. For my body and mind to be at their best, what is needed for executive functioning, I needed to sleep, drink water, eat meals. Not as an after thought, not because I didn’t want to work hard, but because I think faster, clearer, better, more creative, when I am rested, taken care of. Having your own business requires resiliency and that also stems from being intentional about how we are taking care of our bodies, minds, and spirits. That gives us the resiliency to keep pushing forward, through the mistakes, failures, long nights, early morning, successes, celebrations, and next chapters. My body was shutting down, getting sick easily, old injuries started flaring up, I was reminded that my body was make me take care of myself if I did not prioritize it.
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 needed to unlearn to make decisions based on my financial trauma. This one is something that requires a lot of intention and observing my behaviors. As the business started growing I needed to also learn my own financials. Although talented, I was finding myself going through a loop of financial struggles. Not really understanding why it seemed I kept going in a circle although I was capable of making a lot of money. I was not very financially literate so I began reading more about financial literacy. Consuming what I could and making little changes, I committed to not ignoring my financial issues. It is important that I know my own numbers as it is also a reflection of me as a business owner.
Freedom Equity introduced me to the concept of our financial traumas and our financial stories. This journey took me through a point in my childhood and teenage years were I learned about money. I also learned that my migration story also influenced my money behaviors. My behaviors surrounding money were careless, guided by a fear of loosing everything I once knew. Being able to see the root has been healing. I am consciously in building a new money narrative for myself. One guided by sound advice from professionals, inspired to action by books, and confident that I am capable of earning what I need for my family and I to live comfortably and contribute to this world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cafegraciela.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cafegraciela/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nora-dearco
Image Credits
@cafegraciela