Inglewood, California is a Black city undergoing change. As you drive down Manchester Boulevard towards historic Market Street, you see a city in the middle of transformation, not quite new, not quite the same, yet still holding onto its rich Black culture. It recently became the home of SoFi Stadium, home to both the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers NFL franchises. This is a massive new project that, even during a global pandemic, is fast-tracking the gentrification the city is facing. Cinematic shots of the South LA hills, colorful 50s architecture, and old heads walking down the street are on full display in Issa Raeโs Insecure, and itโs not just for TV. Itโs an accurate portrayal of what the city is now despite a negative reputation and past, and the strength of its community is due in part to some of the Black-owned businesses that call Inglewood home.
One of those businesses is Sip & Sonder, a coffee shop and creative studio on Market owned by two Black women, Shanita Nicholas and Amanda-Jane Thomas. Inside the shop, the front of house space is 1,800 square feet housing the coffee bar, and a 600-square-foot creative studio lies behind the wall adorned with the definition of sonder: โThe realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex AS YOUR OWNโpopulated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries.โ The wall seems to be a new kind of reminder, ready made for these days.
Sip & Sonder exists at an important intersection for Black coffee businessโa crossroads that labors under the stress of multiple pandemics, a global health crisis, economic fallout, and racism. But cafes, roasteries, and coffee entrepreneurship ventures owned and operated by Black women are showing what it looks like to adapt and remain committed to improving the overall wellbeing of our community, themselves included. Perhaps even first and foremost.
Pre-COVID, tables and brown leather couches inside Sip & Sonder were occupied by young, Black creatives and neighborhood old heads while Ari Lennox Radio set the vibe for a good conversation to spark up. The space was set up to be a creative outlet and the studio was the center of this, according to Nicholas. โThe goal for [the studio] is to provide space for creatives to exhibit their work and to have an outlet within that to create and ideate as well,โ she says. Gatherings and events focused on artfully engaging the community while thoughtfully empowering it came to a halt. Like most LA area coffee shops, Sip & Sonder had to adjust operations in addition to plans for meeting the needs of their community.
One of those adjustments revolutionized their coffee program at the start of COVID by fast tracking the leap into roasting their own coffee. โWeโve had a great relationship, and continue to have an amazing relationship with Red Bay,โ Nicholas begins of the Oakland-based roasteryโanother Black-owned coffee companyโwhose staple single origins and espresso blends flowed from Sip & Sonderโs La Marzocco Linea PB when they first opened in 2018. But times change, and now the cafe roasts their own. โWeโre really proud to be roasting our own coffee,โ she tells me, โand Iโve worked very hard on the two profiles we currently use in-house.โ
A single origin Papua New Guinea called “South Market” is used for espresso, boasting notes of cedar, orange, and caramel and described as โrich, sweet, and sexy.โ For cold brew and drip, theyโre currently sourcing a natural from Sidamo, Ethiopia they call “Native Daughter” that tastes like strawberry, chocolate, and brown sugar. Theyโve been working on roasting with Bellwether Coffee for a little over a year, learning the fundamentals of roasting with the Bellwether team. At the beginning of the summer, a Bellwether roaster was purchased, arrived shortly after, and both Nicholas and Thomas have been doing all of the roasting ever since. (They named their new little roaster addition โSageโ.)
As Black women who own, operate, and now roast for their cafe, they join a growing cohort of Black woman-owned coffee companies across the US: Southeastern Roastery, Mamaโs Brew Coffee, Kahawa 1893, Cute Coffee, and many more. And for Nicholas and Thomas, their identities, given coffeeโs roots and the Black and brown people whoโve farmed it for generations, give them more agency to have a coffee-centered space in a Black-centered community.
โItโs so interesting to be treated as outsiders for something thatโs actually from where we can trace our lineage,โ Nicholas states strongly. โThis is just reclaiming something thatโs a part of who we are and been for us all along. There was an emphasis on the creation of [our] space to be more than just your typical coffee shop because it really is powerful to hold this space within the industry as a whole, as well within the communities weโre in.โ
And theyโre not new to understanding the impact of an empowered community and investing in it. Prior to Sip & Sonder, Nicholas and Thomas were practicing law in Brooklyn, where they met as friends. Eventually, their friendship turned into a business partnership through the creation of their non-profit, LA Black Investors Club, a โnonprofit organization to inform, exchange, and foster the development of entrepreneurial ventures through serving as a conduit to venture creation, capitalization, and capacity building for diverse communities.โ This ultimately set the foundation for Sip & Sonderโs birth and sole mission: โFor the community. For the culture.โ
Sip & Sonder has lived up to that mission admirably across the last two years, and their role is especially now. As we approach a potentially groundbreaking presidential election and more news of voter suppression down racial lines is revealed, you can find voter registration forms right at Sip & Sonderโs walk-up window. They even held a โSip & Voteโ event in August for folks to register and enjoy free cold brew.
In between operating a hospitality business, and staying dedicated to serving and uplifting the community in Inglewood, Nicholas and Thomas have also made it a priority, with each otherโs help, to center their personal wellbeing through it all. โEarly on in COVID we were working everyday,โ Nicholas says, โbut it was extremely unsustainable. [We asked ourselves] whatโs our solution? How can we sustain ourselves and also sustain the business?โ
This is an extremely important point to make in light of the โstrong Black womanโ trope, a toxic notion that suggests Black women can somehow take on anything and do everything for everyone. The women of Sip & Sonder learned that your own coffee cup has to be full in order to fill everyone elseโs. โBecause of our background traditionally working in corporate America, there are bad habits that have been instilled in us for years,โ says Thomas. โThe sense of urgency for everything to be done on a rush basisโwe actively have to say โno, weโre not doing that.โ Not everything has to be immediate, and if we have XYZ on our plate, we have to factor in some downtime.โ
For them that looks like staying vigilant about when to answer emails, blocking off time in the morning for yoga, or taking a day off altogether. But at the center of their prioritizing their mental, emotional, and physical health is Nicholas and Thomasโs respect for each other, as business partners and friends, to know just how necessary it is for the work theyโve set out to do. โIf weโre not going to sustain our health, thereโs no Sip & Sonder,โ says Thomas. โThereโs no growth, or even sustaining [the business]. Thereโs none of that. And it has to be a constant thing, not just a one and done.โ
Honestly, this is the blueprint. Black women have never once thought it not possible to sustain and pour into ourselves and our communities, economically, spiritually, and otherwise. Imagining a new normal that isnโt founded on extraction for the sake of self-interest isnโt hard when it already exists in establishments like Sip & Sonder. While it sometimes feels like weโre drifting further away from the sonders of our day-to-day as we continue to isolate from one another, weโre actually becoming more aware of the complexities of each othersโ lives. Now more than ever, thereโs ample opportunity to make sure no oneโs cup runs dry.
Michelle Johnson is an editor at large at Sprudge Media Network, and the founder and publisher of The Chocolate Barista. Read more Michelle Johnson on Sprudge.
Photos by Michelle Johnson.ย
