On Women in Coffee: is that my face on the logo?

I am often asked if the woman on the logo is me (Deborah, the founder)! And it really has me questioning: does she really look like me?

Every week, at the farmers market or at local events, customers either ask if it is me on the logo or they simply assume that it is in fact me on the logo.

“It's so cool that you put yourself on the logo!" They say.

Well, well, well…it honestly never occurred to me.

The woman on the logo is most definitely not me. However, she represents the African woman (working in coffee):

• The African woman working in coffee farms, cultivating coffee.

• The African woman exporting green coffee.

• The African woman roasting coffee.

• The African woman owning a coffee shop or roastery.

For decades, women were (and still are) the minority in leadership roles in the coffee industry. I posted about this years ago on Instagram when I first launched KANFUELA.

Take a look at the following:

The graph here shows that women do most of the fieldwork/sorting of coffee, but when it comes to “owning” farms/cafes/roasteries, the numbers are sadly very low!

This is part of the reason KANFUELA exists!! ☕️🤎

Women work endlessly in coffee farms to bring you the flavorful coffee you drink every single morning, and to think that certain hiring managers believe that women were “too small” to handle roasting tasks is a mockery. As a roaster who happens to be a woman, it never occurred to me that roasting coffee was considered a “man’s job” until I got into the business. It is, without a doubt, physical labor, but nothing a woman in good shape cannot handle.

So, in conclusion, although the woman on our logo is not me, she represents HER: all women in coffee. The African woman as a representation of coffee.