When we met the Mujeres en Café, we had a lot to learn. Luckily, Maria Esperanza Escaraga was eager to offer her expertise.
“Let’s go make some coffee,” she told us. “We’ll show you what we’re doing here!”
Maria is a teach-by-example person. We like that. The 52-year-old farmer says she has been working with coffee almost her entire life, but her energy defies age. Watching her work alongside the female coffee farmers of Huila, Colombia, was an unforgettable experience and listening to her speak so passionately about it was no less incredible.
We asked Maria what it means to be part of an association of women working with coffee, to be a businesswoman, a farmer, and so much more. True to her nature, she wasn’t short on enthusiasm.
“We show our value. We got together and created this 
organization. We learn how to improve our work and show everyone here and across the world that we can do it,” she said, smiling. “We want to make sure we improve and we do things a certain way. We want to be just to nature. We don’t want to contaminate the water or ocean. We all recycle everything that’s plastic, glass, cardboard. As an organization, we want to be an example for the people.”
And they are.
We’ve adopted so many of Maria’s words as our personal philosophy – most importantly, “Those things that are made with love are made well.” Project Sunrise is definitely one of those things. We’re excited to bring the hard work of the Mujeres en Café to First Watch and to share what Maria is so rightfully proud of with you.
