It’s time for our second installment of getting to know our baristas!
This week features baristas Hannah, Julie, Nate, and a special check in with our founder Kenny. Each set of answers are worthy of spending some time with, but trust us when we say that you won’t want to miss answers from founder Kenny!
We’re excited to share these bios with you.
Hannah
Hannah started at the Roosevelt after spending a year in Haiti, inspired to bring a blend of coffee and justice to the community she met there. Hannah is passionate about travel, loves working with people, and has a heart for justice work, especially in underdeveloped countries. Hannah will be leaving us in the fall to become a JetBlue flight attendant to continue pursuing her passions abroad and furthering her education. We’ll miss her bunches.
What’s your favorite thing about working at the Roosevelt?
The community. The people at the Roosevelt care about one another and they care about making a difference. The atmosphere is different. It’s more than a coffee shop, it’s a community working toward the same vision–loving others, both in your community and around the world.
Favorite movie!
The Bourne Trilogy. Definitely a Matt Damon fan but also love the action and suspense. Plus, love all the locations they travel to.
What motivates you every day?
Realizing my story has power and influence. How I choose to live affects those around me, either in a positive or negative light. Each one of us has the power to influence, and for me, I want it to be in a way that releases people into greater personal freedom for themselves.
Kenny
You’ve probably already met Kenny. Kenny makes it a point to meet many customers as he can, and he places a very high value in really getting to know the people who come regularly and have really begin to construct the atmosphere of the shop.
First things first. Tell us your favorite drink!
Traditional macchiato.
What’s your favorite thing about working at the Roosevelt.
The people who come in and the people who work for me.
Now to the real stuff. We’ve heard you once ranked your kids from favorite to least favorite at a youth event. So tell us here–who’s your favorite regular at the Roosevelt?
Answering this would risk good friendships. LOL. But it’s safe to say, if you pop in between seven and 7:30 a.m. to help me start my day, we’re pretty good buddies.
Okay, okay. We’ll dial it down. What initially led you to create the Roosevelt?
I had no choice.
What’s one lesson that you’ve learned while working at the Roosevelt?
Loving everybody in this job is a piece of cake.
I’m sure you have some good stories. What’s one experience at the Roosevelt that’s really impacted you?
On our anniversary day this year we had someone OD in the shop. I watched customers come to his aid. If the local fire department, paramedics and the police department didn’t step in and take care of him, he would’ve died. He then walked by the shop a few days later and I was able to talk with him and he shared with me that if he had been anywhere else, in the alley, on a park bench, he would not have survived. So when we say we make coffee and save lives we ain’t playing.
Let’s stay on the story path. Here’s one we ask baristas that we’ll ask you tongue-in-cheek: What’s your favorite Kenny story?
Dude is high maintenance.
One thing you’d like to see the Roosevelt accomplish?
I’d like to see us become a roaster and have a budget that allows us to travel worldwide to visit the areas we’re making a difference in with the profits from the shop.
Tell us about your childhood. How many siblings did you have?
I was an only child, born and raised in Minnesota to an airline family. So we flew to wherever we wanted on a whim quite often. We literally flew to Wisconsin to see my relatives at least once a month.
Where do you do your best thinking?
Alone. Silent. Outside of everyday scenarios, my best thinking comes while I’m outdoors in some type of hiking experience.
How do you decompress?
Watching meaningless action movies.
Tell the kids about your favorite Pokemon!
There’s more than one?
Favorite movie.
Dead Poets Society. Breakfast Club. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Got a fictional character you most empathize with?
Coach Taylor, Friday Night Lights.
Alright we want more stories. Worst experience in a school cafeteria?
Watching a classmate willingly swallow a whole chicken drumstick on a dare.
What’s one album you can listen to in any mood?
Anything by Explosions in the Sky.
What are some examples of art that got you through a tough time?
Will Reagan, Live at the Banks House. U2’s Unforgettable Fire. The soundtrack to Trouble in Mind.
Let’s think practical. Anything the Roosevelt regulars should know about you?
I’m the founder not the owner.
What’s a quirk of yours that tells us who you are?
People pleaser.
What type of person were you in high school?
I was the nerd and then I started doing drugs and became one of the drug heads. As a senior I was arrested and taken to drug rehab to never drink or do drugs again. Haven’t touched a drop since I was 17 years old.
What’s your favorite characteristic in a best friend?
Loyalty. Faith. Optimism.
Julie
Meet Julie! She’s lived in Columbus for the last seven years and has loved calling it home. Julie loves cooking and traveling with her husband, Josue. She enjoys working at the Roosevelt because it’s created an atmosphere that fosters true relationship.
What’s your favorite thing about working at the Roosevelt?
I’ve never worked in a space quite like the Roosevelt. Kenny has done a great job of creating a space that is kind and welcoming, is focused on doing good, and has great coffee. My favorite thing is probably the interactions I get to have with my coworkers and the customers every day.
What are some dreams of yours?
I have a lot of dreams. Ha! Having a bigger kitchen/living room, maybe one day having a big enough house to rent it out for Air BnB and host lost of people. Eventually being self-employed full time and inspiring people to be more connected to their food and food sources (sorry Roosevelt, I still love you!). Traveling more. Eventually being able to adopt/foster kids.
When was the last time you got inspired by something?
This past February I attended a retreat with my church called Dreaming with God. It inspired me to see God more as a partner in my life and in my dreams than as an authority figure. That God and I work side by side every day, and that includes toward my dreams. It also reminded me of how important it is to truly be a good steward of what we are given, specifically the earth and natural resources, but also the opportunities we have in life.
Nate
Meet Nate! Nate loves to write, and gets excited to write for projects he supports like the Roosevelt and Blood & Ink Records. For fun, Nate does a music blog with his buddy Austin called bestcaselist.com, and likes sweet tea. Nate has developed a recent fear of things hitting him in the eye while driving with the windows down, and for the last month has contemplated buying a replica of the hat that Shia LaBeouf and Kanye West have been passing back and forth.
What’s your drink of choice?
I love a good espresso, but I was a coffee fraud until I tried my first pour over. It was an Ethiopian that opened my feeble eyes to the wonders of flavor subtly. I also love the Roman Mule on the Roosevelt’s summer menu because I’ve been on a big ginger kick lately (this is not an ad placement, I swear).
If you had to open a restaurant, what kind of food would it be?
I’ve always said if I owned a bar I would pick a niche theme and stick to it unwaveringly. Like a western theme where we only play Alan Jackson and Vince Gill and we only serve cheap beer and BBQ. Servers in belt buckles and cowhide boots.
What’s your favorite form of transportation?
I remember the first time I got to explore NYC without my parents when I was 21 and I took the subway to the Staten Island ferry and had dinner with my friends. Using public transit on my own was fun but something about riding a boat through a city felt like pure magic. I’ve always loved boats but that was so much fun that it feels like cheating to compare it to other vehicles!
What’s the grossest thing that’s ever happened to you?
One time I fell asleep on the bus and the school bully put one of his boogers in my nose. I could feel it just sitting in there.
Favorite Pokemon?
Machop
Who were you in high school?
In middle school, I was a nerd who only had two friends and was into reading Agathe Christie, and I somehow made it onto the basketball team and started listening to Westside Connection and T.I. In high school, my best friend and I decided to switch to a private school, but he decided to go back to public school six weeks into freshman year. I decided to stay. Because there were only 36 kids in my class, I was sort of friends with everyone. I played the drums for my school chapel band, and was really into reading because I thought that getting into frivolous things like tv or comics or Club Penguin was evil (one of the sweeter life lessons for me was learning that loving frivolous things puts me more in touch with myself). I think going to a smaller school made me less weird, because public school sort of pushed me to be weird because I only cared what my two friends thought and no one else really.
Who’s your role model?
Tavi Gevinson and Allen Iverson
When do you do your best thinking?
I’ve had some big breakthroughs on runs. Brainstorming about something and then letting the dust settle by running kind of helps me think about things in new ways.
What’s your favorite article of clothing to wear?
My favorite thing in the world is layering. You’re telling me it’s not cool to wear a shirt over a hoodie all under a button up? That’s my home.
Name something that you think about often.
The Carl Sagan series that NASA made on YouTube. Something that REALLY blew my mind was the 9-Eyes project by Jon Rafman, who sifted through all the Google Earth stills and collected things that stood out to him. I think about that a lot.
Fictional character you emphasize with the most?
I’m late but I just connected the dots on the three fictional characters challenge and I’m ready to unveil. Three fictional characters I most relate to are Malcolm from Malcolm in the Middle, Gordo from Lizzie McGuire, and Bruce Bogtrotter from Matilda. Growing up I always wanted to be Gordie Lachance from Stand by Me.
A time your mother was worried about you?
One time in grade school, my friend who thought he was Wiccan because he watched a lot of Charmed on TNT taught me how to make each other pass out by holding your breath. We’d go to his house after school and see what sort of dreams we’d have while unconscious. You’d think we were doing drugs by the way my mom reacted when she found out!
When was the last time you got inspired by something? Or what made you the most inspired?
Andre 3000 said about the making of Aquemini that Outkast used the people around them for guest slots and instrumentation on the album, because they felt like they had a lot of talent in their friends, and that him and Big Boi just sort of taught themselves how to produce and they made it up as they went along. That was super inspiring to me because I found that if I create things with what I have and as I am now, the result can turn out better than I expected. It also sort of ties into something that Rilke said, which is that if you create something out of necessity from a place within yourself, only the author can judge it–it inherently has value; no one else can evaluate it.
Recently, I’ve been inspired by this zine called Zing Fanzine, this thing my friends made. It’s cool because it’s a genuine take on some things that they devote a lot of their life to. I was also really inspired by my friend’s podcast, Here’s My Number, So Call Me Ishmael because seeing him play out a vision of his and being so good at the podcast game made me feel like I can find things to create too.
Thanks for tuning in this week! We place a high value on taking time to build a relationship with you, and we’re grateful for anyone who takes time to get to know us.
Keep your eyes peeled for more next month.