Oodie Taliaferro’s coffee story is one that is unique (but all too familiar). In this interview, Oodie breaks down job sustainability, coming out in the workplace, and starting inclusive support groups. Oh and life goals. Phew. Oodie has a lot to say and you should listen — especially — if you’re a cafe owner. We met on a rainy day in the middle of a very “calm” week for baristas. Austin, Texas mandated a water-boil for an entire week. This meant that all coffee shops had to either close or cart in potable water. We were on day two. What better time to talk about important life goals and wants and needs and everything in between? When is it a good time?

Tell us your coffee story: how did you get your start, how long have you been in the industry, and how are you involved now?

I started as a barista 5 years ago at Palace Coffee in Amarillo, Texas. I worked there for about a year and half before moving to a different company as a trainer. I was hired under the pretense that I was a man. As soon as the owner realized that I was not in fact a man, he made it really hard for me to do my job. I think I worked there for a month. I left, picked up my life, dropped out of college, and moved to Dallas, TX to work for Houndstooth Coffee. I worked there for a year and half. In 2017 I went to the SCA Expo for the company. I watched a lot of really awesome barista competitors and  saw interesting panels.  I think that was the first year that Chocolate Barista did a panel. That panel really informed a lot of how I navigated the next year, going into competition season. 

I got back from expo and sat down with my GM and one of the owners. The owner asked “How was expo? What did you learn? What did you bring back?” I emphasized that we need to pay more attention to how women in the industry are treated, how people of color, who come in to our cafes, are treated. I mentioned that is was interesting to watch so many women compete in 2017, but at the end of the day, there still wasn’t enough representation. He said, “If women can’t take the heat of competition, then they should just not do it,” which made me realize that we would never see eye to eye on anything. I left a few months later. 

I started working at Cultivar Coffee. I decided to compete as an independent. Cultivar provided a space and wares for me. Other than that, I pulled resources from friends I had made in Amarillo. The folks at Evocation provided my competition coffee. Beckey Reeves and I became really close. She was my coach. We pulled as many resources as we could to get to New Orleans. I qualified by the skin of my teeth. I was 18th out of 18 to qualify for nationals. I fundraised some more. I asked people to donate money to let me go and speak. My routine was about making sure that there is space for marginalized folks in our cafes. I gave examples of how to do that. Coming out of expo last year, I think I did 9th or 10th overall for the first day, but didn’t qualify for semis. I said a lot of things I was really proud of. I went back to Dallas. I decided things weren’t right for me there, so I decided to move to Austin. Dallas Coffee Gxls came somewhere between qualifiers and nationals.

You helped start Dallas Coffee Gxls and WINCC, can you tell us a bit about why you felt the need to start these organizations?

Dallas Coffee Gxls came out of the SCA town hall meeting that the Baristas Guild of North Texas hosted. I was the moderator. This was one of the only meetings that didn’t have SCA board members or BGA executive council members on site. There were a lot of people who wanted to know what was going on in their industry, and how it reflected on their city. We wanted to figure out if there was anything we could do to make it better. At one point we talked about the types of events that we host. A group of guys who used to be the Dallas TNT group said “Hey we just want to drink beer with our buds and hang out. We don’t need a code of conduct, we don’t need to make sure that people feel safe. We just wanna chill,” and a bunch of the non-cis dudes in the room said “We would like to see more from you and we think you need to take responsibility for that,” which was met with a negative response. A few people who have worked for the top cafes in Dallas got together to figure out how to make a safe space. First we made a code of conduct. There are people in this city that make other people to feel unsafe— not because of actual violence— but because of sexually aggressive behavior. Me and the two other founders Sarah and Brie had a cumulative of 16 years of industry experience under our belts. Sarah is a cis white woman and Brie is a Latinx cis woman. I am an indigenous non-binary person. We fumbled a lot trying to make sure that our inclusiveness was not just for cis women but also for anyone that wasn’t just cis men. It was important to me to make sure that when I left Dallas there was a foundation for growth and to give new baristas a better system and a better path for inclusivity.

When we came up in the industry, the folks who ran the BGA/BGA TX were our role models. They were the people that we had to look up to. I’ve had men slide into my DMs on Facebook and tell me that they didn’t agree with a decision I made. These people who feel really entitled to our successes. We wanted to lay down path for people who were new to the industry  to have better role models and systems in place to see not only what success can look like, but also to have other people lead the industry that can give them tools (instead of sharing Aeropress recipes). Nothing we do is proprietary. We all just make coffee. It depends on how you see it. We wanted to make that better.

You identify as non-binary and use the pronouns they/them. What is your biggest challenge in the coffee shop workspace as a non-binary person?

My experience is only mine. My experience is probably very different than others. I came out to my work family in May of 2018. Words such as butch, dyke, and lesbian still hold a lot of disconnect for me. I can fall into almost any category. I identify with women and the challenges they face but I don’t identify as a woman so I kind of joke that I’m this “genderless void”. I lived as a cis woman for 23 years. I feel so much better now. Getting my co-workers to not use she/her pronouns is a work in progress. I came out at our last staff meeting. Some people already knew… but it was nice to tell everyone. The hardest part of working behind the bar are the old dudes that come into the cafe. They gender me however they want. Sir is fine. Ma’m is ok. Once a week there will be a customer who comes in who has a very normal conversation with me and they say “have a good day, sir” and then turn around and backtrack and say “ma’m?” Bye. Misgendering is fine. I work at a job where I can’t correct every single person that comes through the door because it puts a lot of emotional labor on my shoulders. I tend to ride the wave of whatever gender I’m read as. It’s fine until maybe you realize you’ve made a mistake and then you ask me to lick your wounds for you. That whole scenario can throw me off kilter for the day. Helping you figure out which pronoun to use for me is probably the hardest part of my job. I can only be as mad about this as much as I allow myself to be. I am trying to be slow to anger.

Wait. I heard that you’re not competing in Coffee Champs this year. Why not?

Long story short: a company was supposed to open its first Austin cafe. I was promised a managerial position in this cafe. I was temporarily working as a barista for another company. I waited and waited. They claimed they would have a cafe open by the end of 2018. They haven’t signed a lease yet. I don’t think they’re pulling a trigger on anything any time soon. I needed to make more money. I was too skilled of a worker to only receive 8 dollars an hour plus tips. That made it really hard for me to stand behind an espresso machine everyday. I was just hashing out my life. I didn’t know how I was feeling about my job and I was still waiting for this position. I want to have a wedding in the next four years and thats not something I’m going to wait for. I want to be able to pay for it. I want to be able to pay for a therapist. In a year and half I want to have health benefits. These are things I need. I also need to be in a place financially where I’m not just living paycheck to paycheck. I’m not able to save anything. All of these things make barista-ing unsustainable. 

I didn’t know why I couldn’t get excited for this competition season. I felt like I had a better team last year when I built it myself (and with no funding). This year I felt less excited and I had a financial supporter sitting on the other end of an e-mail. I realized that I was reaching burn out. I worked behind an espresso machine 40 hours a week. Why would I add another 30 hours? Maybe I need to take break. Maybe I shouldn’t wait around for a company who isn’t going to commit to a cafe or my career. This year has already been stressful enough. Taking a step back was exactly what I needed. Now, I’m a cafe manager at Cafe Medici and it feels right. I have time to cook food for myself and people I love. I have a chance to have a life and thrive.

You are currently a manager at Cafe Medici, what’s in the future?

I love working behind the bar. I’m good at it. I like to do it. I moved to Austin for a different job but that hit some delays. I’ll be doing mostly front of house management. I’m going to make sure that the baristas have the tools that they need to help customers and the community. I want to build a career in which I give exceptional service to whoever comes into my cafe. I want to provide inclusive service, in a way that makes people feel valued. 

I want a company to give me resources and let me help them do better. I also want to give my baristas the tools to build a sustainable career. I want to give them methods to make all customers feel like they can take up space (not just white folks). For the next few years I don’t want to leave my bar shifts. I like being on bar. I don’t necessarily want to own a cafe. I don’t want that financial responsibility. I want to help new baristas and old baristas a like.