Today we’d like to introduce you to Denise Maldonado.
Hi Denise, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The art of coffee has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. In 2016, I graduated from Cal State Long Beach and began working as a high school counselor. While working full-time as a counselor, I still covered shifts on the weekends at my friends’ coffee shops. By then, I already knew that it was more than just a hobby. The following year, the opportunity to open up a coffee shop came up and I took it. Not only did this mean I had to take on more responsibility, but the whole life dynamic was about to change. As a society, we are trained to be ready for the workforce when we hit adulthood. By this point I had already been working for someone for about 7 years and that was all I knew. Fortunately, I had an amazing support system around me and the process of starting a business taught me the most.
We opened our doors August 2018, went through a worldwide pandemic, got back on our feet, and 4 and a half years later, we are still here providing exceptional service to our community.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I think it’s safe to say that as a global community, Covid was definitely the biggest struggle. The world began shutting down when we were only a year and a half into our business. Like everyone else, we had no idea what to expect or what steps to take to be able to succeed and not have to close our doors. A few months later, the BLM movement shook our country while we all demanded basic human rights. During the protests, we had to stand guard overnight at our shop so that it didn’t get vandalized. We watched as our community got destroyed and even set on fire, but also come together the following morning to clean and support one another. A few months after that, my long-term relationship ended, and I now had to really find out who I was as an individual and how I’d be able to run my business without that extra support I was used to. 2020 was definitely an interesting year, but I can definitely say that it taught me the most about myself, my business, and the people I surround myself with.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Confidential Coffee?
My college career was spent studying Sociology and Chicano Studies. I wanted to learn about my community, find out who I was, and where I came from. I graduated from CSULB with the intentions of working in education to provide resources that my community did not have. When I opened the shop, I promised myself that I would not forget the purpose of my education, and I can proudly say I haven’t. Besides making great coffee and tea, we love to open our space to our community and host different types of events. We’ve done everything from open mic nights to brunch days where we invite women-owned or LGBTQ-owned businesses to come hang out and sell their products. I truly believe that we are all in this together and if I can use my platform to help someone out, I can assure you that I always will.
Because we are a Latino-inspired coffee shop and we are huge on community and culture, the products we use in the shop are from Tijuana, Mexico to really create that authentic feel.
Every year during the holidays, I have set up a holiday drive where we accept toys, toiletries, and clothes. My goal each year is to collect enough things to donate to multiple orphanages in Tijuana, Mexico. I want to give back to the community that gives to us.
The first couple of years we set this up, we didn’t collect many toys.
This year, however, was our 4th annual holiday drive, and we collected more than all of the other years combined. Seeing how much this project has grown makes me so proud of what we can do as a community to give back. It warms my heart to see how many people are actively participating in what was once such a small idea of mine. I’m excited to see it flourish into something bigger.
My goal at the end of the day, is to bring people together. I see it every day when friends come have coffee or when we host events where my neighbors come hang out because they “love the vibe” we have created as a shop.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
We also have beer and wine! We have slowly started creating a program where we can highlight local breweries and wineries. We plan on hosting monthly private dinners with a chef where we will pair all of the food with drinks that we carry in shop.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.confidentialcoffee.com
- Instagram: @Confidential_Coffee
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/confidentialcoffee
