Welcome to a new episode of A Better Table, a podcast on the Sprudge Media Network where host Umeko Motoyoshi talks to guests and discusses social, economic, and environmental sustainability. “Sustainability means a lot of different things, but here are my guiding questions, the questions I want to explore,” explains Motoyoshi. “What sustains communities? What sustains relationships? What sustains your heart?”

In this episode, Motoyoshi interviews Suni Reid, founder of Auntie’s Coffee in West Hollywood, California. Suni Reid is a Glitter Cat Brewer of 2023—read their profile here. Reid is the founder of Auntie’s LA, a Black and queer owned coffee and lifestyle brand in Los Angeles, California. Suni is an actor, a musician, a model, and an activist.

In the interview, Suni Reid talks about their journey to Auntie’s Coffee, “It feels like a culmination of a bunch of different worlds. I grew up with a coffee shop—in my neighborhood, and I used to do open mic nights there, as a young person. I used to read my poems there. My aunt… My aunt is a poet, as well. And so, she used to take me to these open mic nights when I went down to visit her in D.C., and that’s, kind of, where the name Auntie’s came from.

“My vision for Auntie’s is to create an old school coffee shop that has open mic nights, a little stage in the corner that doesn’t really look like a stage during the day, but, at night, you flip a switch and the lights come on, there’s a spotlight and people are snapping to poetry. That’s what I see Auntie’s being. A space of my own to curate art and events for community, for myself.”

Listen below for the whole interview with Umeko Motoyoshi.

 

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A Better Table is sponsored by Pacific Barista Series.

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Transcript available here.

This episode is available now via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or load it up on your favorite podcast platform using this RSS link. Subscribe, like, rate, and review A Better Table on Apple Podcasts.

Be sure to check out past episodes including interviews with Bianka Alloyn And Sabreen Naimah, Chris McAuley, Cydni Patterson, Nick CastellanoWill Frith, Laetitia Mukandahiro, Emily Haddad, Adam JacksonBey, Kim Elena Ionescu, Alice Wong, Latasha Barr Lewis, Madeleine Longoria Garcia, and Camden Myer.

Check out all of the Sprudge Podcast Networks show here.