Welcome to Rate of Rise Live! Episode #2 brought to you by Roast Magazine!  I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to partner with Roast during the SCA 2022 Global EXPO in Boston to have some live face-to-face interviews with 10 of the coffee industry's brightest minds. In this episode we are sitting down with Owner of Little Waves Coffee, Durham, NC, Areli Barerra Grodski!  Areli Barrera Grodski is an immigrant from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. She moved to San Antonio at 6 years of age and then to Cherokee, NC at 10. It is here where she was introduced to coffee as a community space and to her husband and business partner, Leon Grodski Barrera. She has been working in coffee since 2009 as a barista, coffee shop owner, roaster, and green coffee buyer. She proudly owns three shops called Cocoa Cinnamon and a roastery called Little Waves Coffee Roasters in Durham, NC. Areli is also the Recording Secretary and Board Member of the Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity.  Little Waves is the most recent winner of the prestigious Micro-Roaster of the Year Award and in this conversation we chat with Areli all about her and her husband Leon's journey in beginning, growing, and learning through Little Waves Coffee.  We cover: Bootstrapping and the uphill battle with a cart The range of challenges and emotions in entrepreneurship The mission behind Little Waves Surviving the pandemic How she defines success Applying values to daily work Open heartedness and growth  Representation in coffee Subscribe to Roast Magazine! (Use code "ROR" to get $5 bucks off your subscription)   Click here tp watch video of this interview on Roast magazine's YouTube channel!  Links: www.littlewaves.coffee   www.keystotheshop.com Consulting and coaching: chris@keystotheshop.com