Women in Coffee united on 30 June to celebrate and network with likeminded industry women.
Knight Mattingly Coffee Roasters and Three Sixty Espresso Academy hosted the evening event on 30 June, which took place at the Locale Lab in Abbotsford, Melbourne.
“These get togethers are a casual and fun opportunity for women in our industry to unite, make connections and share their stories with others,” said Debra Night of Knight Mattingly Coffee Roasters. “Together, women are unstoppable. We just need to support each other.”
Last night’s gathering saw the largest attendence of women to date, with some participants even making their way from Alice Springs and Sydney for the Melbourne event.
Alecia Minster, Founder of Girl Bosses Australia was a special guest speaker on the night. Established in 2014, Girl Bosses Australia is a sisterhood network dedicated to supporting women in business through linking and creating employment opportunitie, and hosting workshops that empower women and let them know “they are not alone”.
Describing herself as a “proud, tenacious optimist”, and a strong believer in “growth mindset”, Alecia spoke about her experience in launching her own business, and shared advice for women wanting to move in the same direction, or simply wanting to adapt useful strategies to their own careers.
She used examples of iconic women who had all been knocked back in their careers at one point or another, including now Editor of Vogue Anna Wintour, host and media proprietor Oprah Winfrey and author J.K. Rowling.
“It’s important that if you fail once, to get right back up and start again. Keep moving,” Alecia said. “Each time I fail I see it as another opportunity to grow. It’s all about having the right attitude.”
Alecia offered attendees her words of wisdom, which included to acknowledge and embrace imperfections, relish in opportunities to learn, cultivate a sense of purpose, emphasis growth over speed (learning fast isn’t the same as learning well), redefine genius, embrace the concept of constructive criticism, provide opportunities for reflection, take ownership – and don’t let Instagram rule your life.
Girl Bosses Australia started as a “passion project” that has quickly turned into Alecia’s full time commitment, with an Instragram following of more than 25,000.
“What I love about having my own business is that I get to pull an idea out of my head and make it real,” Alecia said. “Eighty per cent of my work is done alone, so there are times of isolation. I don’t have office validation, and the work is relentless on responsibility and intense on pressure, but it’s something I believe in.”
She concluded by advising the women to be the path to their own success.
“My advice is to have a go as early as possible. The perfect scenarios never comes. Don’t run to the pot of gold at the end of the footpath, take the stepping stones which will still lead to your end goal, but with a greater sense of achievement.”
After Alecia’s motivational speech, it was time to indulge in cheese and wine pairings, Locale Espresso, and sweet treats thanks to Occasional Baker Melbourne.
Visit BeanScene’s Facebook page to see photos from last night’s event.
