Let’s be honest, 2016 hasn’t been the best year. The hate and negativity that we’ve seen over the past 300 days has really reached an all-time high, so much so that John Oliver dedicated the season finale of his show to telling 2016 to kiss all of our collective grits. It feels like we’ve spent the past year saying, “it doesn’t get any lower than this. We’ve finally hit rock bottom,” only to follow up shortly with, “well, we stand corrected.”
But there has been some positivity this year, and coming from social media no less, where all compassion for humanity goes to die. #ShesTheRoaster is a hashtag being used to celebrate the women behind coffee’s heavy machinery.
Gender inequality is not a new issue for specialty coffee, especially as folks advance in their careers past working the behind the bar. In the essay “Removing Barriers: Empowering Women in Coffee” for The Coffee Woman, Jenn Gallegos notes this is in part because of a “perceived lack of opportunity due to different working styles, absence of female mentors, and gender double standards can make career advancement challenging for women.”
#ShesTheRoaster is highlighting the women in coffee that have overcome this opportunity gap and who are setting examples for other females trying to advance in the industry. The heartfelt praise attached to the #ShesTheRoaster posts have been a breath of fresh air and positivity in a time when we all could use it most, so we’ve rounded up some of our (publicly posted) favorites; we’re shouting out the shout out, if you will.
Join the movement by using the hashtag #shestheroaster. The Universe needs all the positivity you can muster right now.
Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.
*top image via Batdorf & Bronson
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