Meet Nanelle Newbom | Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nanelle Newbom and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nanelle, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
We’re coffee people. It’s who we are. We have been in the coffee industry for 20 years now and it’s pretty clear we are coffee lifers at this point. Since our earliest days we have always been focused on making the world better through coffee. And in particular through coffee people.

Coffee people are the best!

What we are aiming to do with Torque coffee via Proportional Pricing is to continue the progressive journey we have always been on. Our goal is to fundamentally change the way the world works. Yes we are using coffee to change the coffee world but, our goals have always been to make the world more equitable.

What should our readers know about your business?
I’ve always been interested in coffee and also in equity, justice, and mutual respect. Sort of a wanna be justice warrior but without any real tools for the job. I have worked in coffee as an employer and as an employee, and in a range of positions, and for me have struggled with multiple questions about how value is assigned and distributed in general.

As a female employee in the private sector I have grown to expect that I will simply make less than my male counterparts. With Barefoot I was an owner and employer of others and I struggled with how to make things work so that everyone has a voice, fair compensation, and ability to grow. It’s earlier said than done.

I’ve also worked as a manager in positions where those forms of equity were not a goal. Now I actually work with Equal Exchange where the Worker Owned Cooperative system accomplishes many elements of equity that we don’t often see while paying producers as well as they can. I’ve really enjoyed that, and its great to experience a cooperative system in this context.

That range of experience sort of brought me to a point of wanting to partner with Andy on his idea of using a portion rather than a number. By tying the value given green to the end price you will be charging for it you can sort of design a system where nobody is left holding the short end of the stick. That short end doesn’t exist any more. Its all a loop and we rise and fall together.

My careers have always shown me these glaring problematic examples, or have shown me my inability to change anything in a sustainable and concrete way but that wealth of experience hopefully have given me better tools but for sure have given me motivation to jump back in with andy with a model that demonstrates the basics of an idea of merit.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
San Diego has an amazing plethora of great food, coffee and beer so there are so many choices. But here is a short list:

Locations:
Ocean Beach – the quintessential SD beach scene
Balboa Park – the best damn park ever

Food:
Plant power fast food- not fancy but fun and affordable and they started here!
Puesto – everything is amazing always

Coffee:
Torque Coffees of course – but its an online store
Bird Rock Coffee – second best coffee in town besides us!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Edwin Martinez of Finca Vista Hermosa and Onyx Coffee Importers. http://onyxcoffee.com He was the very first coffee farmer we ever worked with in 2004 and he has been a HUGE inspiration for us since then.

Website: www.torquecoffees.com

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