Interview with Giselle Barrera (English)

Hello! Can you introduce yourself and share about where you are in the world? What do you do in coffee?

Hola! My name is Giselle Barrera, I am from El Salvador and I am currently based in my home country.  For the past 6 years, I worked with women coffee farmers from Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador running business workshops to help them turn their coffee farms into more successful businesses.

I am also the founder of Latinas in Coffee, a community to support and connects Latin American women in the coffee industry, and also to create opportunities for scholarships and panels so more women can have access to educational resources in coffee.

Describe your history in coffee. How did you start?  

I’d like to think that my history in coffee started with my abuelita. here in El Salvador. Even though I never knew her, I grew up hearing stories from my dad about the two of them going to coffee farms to work as pickers during the harvest season. He shared how the days felt long and the work was hard, and how my grandma made sure that he always stayed focused on his education.

Even though my abuelita could not read or write, she was extremely smart and wanted my dad to never leave school and to always continue his education. This is something that has always stayed with me and I like to think that my abuelita’s efforts and her focus on education are what helped me become who I am today and that I honor her with my efforts for education opportunities and gender equity.

My personal story in coffee, though, started in the coffee lands of Nicaragua. Even though I grew around coffee in my hometown of Sonsonate in El Salvador, it wasn’t until I moved to Nicaragua to lead the Grounds for Empowerment program that I really learned about the farm-to-cup process and fell in love with coffee. I visited many coffee farms and beneficios. Actually, one of my favorite pictures that I’ve ever taken, and one of my favorite places in the world, is in a beneficio in Palacaguina, Nicaragua, I’d like to share it with you so you can enjoy it too:

What does the coffee landscape look like for women in your country? Or, the landscape in general, coffee aside, for women? 

I think that even with all the progress we’ve made, the coffee landscape for women is still very challenging. Access to education, to networking opportunities for business development, is still not equitable. We must continue to support women-owned coffee businesses and farms and we must continue to ask for more diverse boards of directors and leadership seats in organizations that work with coffee so that women can see themselves represented and we continue to create more spaces for the leaders of the next generation.

For producers in your country, what do you see as their strengths? And, if you were to ask many of them, what would they say are their opportunities for growth? What would you like to see change or improve?

I think for producers in my country and all the countries I’ve had the opportunity to work with, their strength and their superpower is their resilience. I think that you cannot possibly work in the producing side of coffee if you are not a resilient optimistic person, always believing that conditions and the situation will improve, no matter the current hardships.

If I were to ask for opportunities for growth, I think most of them would mention that they are looking to develop long-term business relationships that give them a degree of certainty and stability so they can continue to make investments in their coffee farm businesses.

One thing I would like to see change and improve is risk management in coffee. Climate change and other factors in coffee communities are causing investments in coffee production to be increasingly risky.  These risks cannot be absorbed and managed by farmers alone, especially for smallholder coffee producers. These risks should be shared and compensated by everyone in the supply chain who benefits and obtains profits from the coffee industry. 

What do you enjoy about your work, coffee, and your country?

One of my favorite things about coffee is the inspiring people I meet and also the contact with nature. Before the pandemic, I had the opportunity to visit coffee farms in different countries and it’s one of the things I miss the most, especially during harvest season.  

Who or what inspires you?

I am inspired by coffee producers and also by the people that I’ve met over the years who are committed to creating a more equitable coffee industry. Often times it feels like an uphill hike, but every time I reconnect with my coffee colleagues and friends I become so inspired and energized to continue working in the industry. I really do believe every small thing we do makes a difference. 

What motivates you to keep working in coffee?

I love nature and spending time outdoors – a friend of mine recently mentioned that I should label myself as a “birdwatcher” because I love staring at birds! jajaja – And I also have a deep love for my country and my region. This is what motivates me to continue working in coffee. Last year I taught a class about Coffee Supply Chains at a Business School in El Salvador and I loved reminding students that, in our region, coffee touches everything! “Do you care about the environment? About social change? Economic Development? Then you care about coffee!”. I think every university in Latin America should have a course about coffee. We have so much work to do in education around coffee in origin countries.

What are the challenges and successes in your life right now?

Education and connections open doors in every industry and this is particularly true in coffee. We want to make education and networking resources more accessible in Latin America which is why I started the Latinas in Coffee Scholarship Fund. With this program, we can support women in Latin America to grow their knowledge and networks in coffee.

I am excited about continuing to grow the Latinas in Coffee Community and launching our scholars program in 2023! I hope this can be a success story to share next year.  And although I know it is challenging, I look forward to continuing working in this industry to create more spaces and opportunities to exchange knowledge and experiences in coffee.