Colten Mobley
Bader Basuluh
Mansour Alosaimi
Western Michigan University
Timothy Palmer
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Mamaleelu Cold Brew puts a strong emphasis on equality and equal opportunity for all. At Mamaleelu, owner and operator Maliesha Pullano uses her coffee shop as a platform to show women, and particularly women of color, that they can be successful entrepreneurs and leaders in their community.
Mamaleelu Cold Brew is a sustainable business that uses water to make cold coffee and uses glass instead of plastic for packaging. As Pullano benefited from the business, she gained good social networking that led her to speak up in a pitch for women of color. She wants to show them that all women can make a difference and be successful business women.
The origins of inspiration for gender equality and female empowerment at Mameleelu’s was drawn from the owner's own personal experiences. Pullano noticed a trend that women and typically women of color were underrepresented as business owners in the local community. Pullano states “While most of the coffee farmers in the world are black and brown people, there are very few black or brown owners of coffee shops, roasters, and end product manufacturers, like cold brew." Pullano described her vision of Mamaleelu’s as a way to create a seat at the table in the coffee industry for underrepresented groups, single mothers, and black women.
The overall impact of the innovation is twofold. First, the decision to source only fair trade coffee joins a movement to assist farmers and employees in the coffee supply chain with decent work. The second innovation underlies the passion behind Mamaleelu - to embolden women of color to speak up and stand for themselves. Pullano also sets a positive example to area women that they too can start their own businesses.
By empowering women and giving them the needed tools to be successful in their communities and daily lives and promoting gender equality, Mamaleelu’s Cold Brew has seen tremendous benefits, especially the reduced costs of employee turnover. By fostering gender diversity, Mamaleelu’s has significantly reduced employee. Retention of employees has a strong impact on lowering costs as well as time spent on recruitment.
The leadership, success, and determination demonstrated by Pullano has set a great example to underrepresented groups both locally and in the coffee industry. Women, minorities, and single mothers all can draw from the example that Pullano has set, and learn that it is possible to achieve your goals and dreams. Pullano believes that there is still a long way to go in terms of gender equality in the business world but it is moving in the right direction. Pullano says, “As a woman, a black woman, business owner, in an industry with very few people who look like me, I feel a responsibility to pave the way for others to come behind me, or hopefully even surpass me." That is exactly what Mamaleelu’s is attempting to to as one of the first, and only, cold brewed coffee shops in the nation, owned and operated by a black woman.
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Mamaleelu Cold Brew is a small scale artisan coffee shop specializing in cold press coffee based beverages. The business currently operates on a small scale, serving customers and avid cold brew coffee lovers in the Kalamazoo area.