Rising Stars: Meet Shacole Hamlett

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shacole Hamlett.

Hi Shacole, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
In my 31 years, I have lived many lives. I have been a child actor, fire eater, burlesque performer, a public art curator, an experiential producer, worked on the “square space” for Augmented Reality, Arthouse, and now the co-owner of The Hamlett Coffee apothecary shop in Lemon Grove.

The thing that has pulled me into the world I am in now has been my passion for curating entrancing environments that propel people into the present moment. For the last 10 years, I have worked with world-renowned artists, creatives and brands (google, amazon, NBA2K, Xbox, Disney, Paramount, etc.) to develop awe-inspiring immersive spaces.

I started out volunteering for The Do Lab at their festival Lightning in a Bottle, which led to me working in public art in Los Angeles, which led to me working for the largest marketing agency on the West Coast (at the time), Deutsch.

The child that is The Hamlett Coffee and apothecary shop came out of me moving back to San Diego during the pandemic. A few months before the pandemic, I had lost my 21-year old sister to the flu, so during the shut down I felt pulled to get as close to my family as possible, since I had no idea what was going to happen. So I packed up my family of 3 and we moved what seemed like overnight into my great grandmother’s house in San Diego.

During this time, my grandmother, great grandmother, great aunt 19-year-old brother, 4-year-old son and my husband were all packed in the same house. Then the protest began over George Floyd’s death. This paired with the stillness of a locked-down led to some really tough conversations in our black home around race, economics, and generally the meaning of life.

We felt hopeless then we felt inspired to do something.

During those conversations, we collectively agreed that we would love to have an impact on the black economics in San Diego. We would love to see more black businesses. We realized we could create the black business we wanted to see and furthermore create an incubator program to help other black health and wellness startups. Our other goal was to create a space for community that was elevated and inspiring. We thought coffee could be the nucleus of it all.

Enter The Hamlett Coffee Apothecary Shop that also serves as an incubator for black-owned health and wellness start-ups in San Diego.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been a very challenging road. We did not have any money to get this business started. No generational wealth to reach for and we didn’t have the best credit and no way to even get a loan! The odds were against us. However, we didn’t let the lack of money stop us. We sold augmented reality mugs and t-shirts and raised $30k not to mention my life savings. Once we finally got our lease we had to deal with two occasions of vandalism – we had our window broken out not once but twice within a two-week period.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I specialize in experiential production, public art curation, augmented reality strategy and performance art.

I’m known for curating the art at lightning in a bottle and the do lab stage at Coachella. I also created a burlesque circus that I ran for 5-year in LA called ritual burlesque and more recently for working with my family on The Hamlett Coffee Shop. While an experiential producer I got to produce events for Google, Amazon, Target, NBA2K Xbox and more.

I am the most proud of the coffee shop because I believe it has pulled all the things I have learned and loved into one project that is in alignment with my life’s mission – to bring people together in an inspiring space.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I don’t necessarily believe in luck but I believe in intuition. I have allowed my intuition to lead me and it has never steered me wrong.

Contact Info:

• Email: hello@thehamlett
• Website: thehamlett.com
• Instagram: thehamlettcoffeeshop
• Facebook: thehamlett

Image Credits:
@alma.photography.studio