Meet the Woman on a Mission to Transform the Coffee Industry, Sahra Nguyen

Welcome to Second Life, a podcast spotlighting successful women who've made major career changes—and fearlessly mastered the pivot. Hosted by Hillary Kerr, co-founder and chief content officer at Who What Wear, each episode gives you a direct line to women who are game changers in their fields. Subscribe to Second Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your podcasts to stay tuned.

In 2018, a new coffee brand entered the scene in Brooklyn: Nguyen Coffee Supply, the first specialty Vietnamese coffee company importing directly from the source. Sahra Nguyen, the founder and CEO, set out to change the future of coffee culture through celebrating diversity, inclusion, and transparency and championing the Vietnamese robusta bean. Vietnam is actually the second largest coffee producer globally yet is historically excluded from the specialty coffee industry. Thus, through Nguyen Coffee Supply, Nguyen has been able to amplify the voices of Vietnamese people—from farmers to consumers—creating new opportunities within the global coffee community.

Nguyen works directly with a fourth-generation Vietnamese farmer, whose bold arabica and robusta beans are certified clean and organic, making for the perfect cup of coffee. The burgeoning brand has garnered the attention of everyone from Mindy Kaling to Tory Burch. Nguyen has been featured in esteemed publications such as The New York Times, Forbes, and Food & Wine, where this past July, she was featured on the cover of the Game Changers issue among 25 people changing the way we eat and drink. This was the first time in 40 years the publication has featured an entrepreneur on the cover—a monumental moment for Nguyen and her mission to evolve coffee culture.

Storytelling and activism have always been at the forefront of Nguyen's work. In fact, before she became a real changemaker and coffee connoisseur, Nguyen was an award-winning filmmaker and producer, working on impactful projects. She created two NBC News series: Self-Starters, a show about Asian American entrepreneurs around the country, and Deported, which follows the grassroots fight to end deportation of Cambodian Americans from the U.S. Listen to the latest episode of Second Life to hear how Nguyen's career pivots and accomplishments fused with her passion to create equity and visibility led her to build a brand to uplift the communities around her and enact real change.

And keep scrolling to shop some of Nguyen Coffee Supply's best sellers that make for the perfect coffee-lover gift.