Fable Coffee Stories

An expert in people management, HR and employment law with an extensive background in the coffee industry - Sarah Kern (she/her) has a unique and perceptive crossover that brings together HR and coffee. In this conversation we address a topic seldom spoken about in the coffee industry; who is responsible for the HR? So often small coffee businesses have no dedicated HR person - so what are the options that business owners have? And where can employees go to find the information they need? And what do you do when something goes wrong? Expect to hear other lesser covered topics such as ageism in the coffee industry and how this can disproportionately affect women, the difficulties faced by folks coming back into the workforce after time off and endless insights around employment law, people management and best practices. Theme Song by Good News.

Jess Wright (she/her) is Sales and Marketing Director at Caravan Coffee Roasters. Having transitioned into the coffee industry after a fruitful decade of varied commercial sales roles - Jess brought a unique perspective with her to the world of coffee.In this conversation, we explore some of the big questions relevant to Jess's story such as; are women more likely to make better salespeople? Is coffee actually a welcoming environment to those who haven’t been brought up here? And what makes coffee so wildly different to other categories, such as beer or drinks?Theme Song by Good News.

Having started out in the coffee industry in 2016 after graduating with a degree in Education Studies, Aashifa Hussain’s (she/her) coffee journey circled all the way back around several years later when she started her job at Well Grounded, where she herself was trained many years before. Working her way up to Education and Quality Manager, she was also a key member of The Kore Directive – putting on accessible events for women and non-binary people in the coffee industry.Full of joy, passion and insights and the kind of intelligence that truly stops you in your tracks, in this episode we cover a multitude of topics from the importance of role modelling to barriers to entry to forcing yourself to slow down.Plus, Aashifa shares some details on a very exciting project that she’s been working on,  that will be released very soon!Theme Song by Good News.

Bee Southworth (she/her) is Coffee Partnerships and Training Manager for North Star Coffee Roasters in Leeds. With a coffee journey that spans 16 years, this conversation provides a real deep dive into the honest realities of working in the coffee industry - starting out as a barista and journeying to a variety of corners of the coffee industry. Hilarious, honest and deeply personal, Bee's story is super inspiring. In this conversation, we cover the formative impact of working in hospitality in comparison to university experiences, the power of LinkedIn, social media and their relation to hiring practices in coffee, how the coffee industry can compromise a work-life balance and the realities of living and working with anxiety on a daily basis.

To finish Season One, I thought it would be great to share my insights on what the last year of creating Fable Coffee Stories has meant to me. From the ways in which I've seen the industry starting to change, to the things that still need to be worked on, as well as my own struggles trying to work through self-doubt while creating this platform - this is a 45 minute bonus episode of the impact Fable Coffee Stories has had on me. See you soon for Season Two!

Em Herriott (they/them) is the founder of We Are Here in Margate - a queer, disabled owned coffee roastery that has making coffee more accessible and welcoming to everyone, in a multitude of different ways, at the core of what they do.We delve into how Em's journey took them from coffee to corporate and back to coffee again, openly discussing the experiences along the way that really shaped how they move through the world in their life and career today. In this open and honest conversation, we cover a whole host of themes from the importance of safe spaces in real life and online, creating your own coffee business as a disabled person, and the complexities of communicating sociopolitical viewpoints through a brand that feel both safe and authentic.Footage of Fred being stolen - https://www.instagram.com/p/BaG1YpXnrTE/Theme song by Good News.