In The News — success

Since founding Kohana Coffee, I’ve learned that women entrepreneurs asking for money often get turned down. That’s no surprise—the deck has historically been stacked against us. But I was surprised to learn that it’s not because we ask for too much. Women typically are turned down for funding because they’ve asked for too little.The people we’re pitching often don’t think we’ve requested enough to get the job done. Why do we underbid ourselves? As women, we’re trained from a young age to only ever ask for what we need to get by on rather than ask for what we need to...

FIRST THOUGHT: Have a Cup of Joe Why is it that when we’re a kid, we want to stay up late, forgo our naps and party like it’s 1999? But when you’re an adult, you dream of an uninterrupted nap, followed by a full night’s sleep. Every day seems like a struggle to attain the ever-elusive energy of our youth. When my third morning alarm sounds, sometimes I immediately start fantasizing about bedtime. Of course, there are some things that’ll help you tackle the day’s tasks with gusto: Eat for energy. Chow down in the morning on low-glycemic foods whose sugars...

Austin, Texas-based cold brew and whole bean purveyor Kohana Coffee has the ambitious and unprecedented goal of sourcing every last one of its beans from women by 2020. This would involve not just women farmers, but women at every step of the supply chain, including in milling, processing, exporting and importing.The plan starts with the two women at the helm of Kohana, founder Victoria Lynden and vice president of operations Piper Jones, who have built the company around a mission to support other women in the production and trade of fairtrade and organic certified coffees.The company says it pays a...

I had the pleasure of interviewing Victoria Lynden. Victoria is the CEO of Kohana Coffee and Alliance Abroad Group. In 2014, Inc Magazine named Kohana the sixth fastest-growing food and beverage company in the US. In 2020, Kohana will be the first company to source 100% of its coffee from women growers — a mission that will boost gender equality and raise living standards for women and their families in the world’s impoverished coffee-growing regions.Thank you so much for doing this with us! What is your “backstory”?Ten years ago, I took a trip to Hawaii as a burned-out executive eager...