Meet Rachel Cipollone

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Cipollone a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rachel, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I feel really lucky to be able to tap into the idea that life is about finding gratitude and beauty always no matter what. Is that difficult often times? Of course! I have days where I don’t feel like being resilient, where I almost wish I could allow myself to slip into the type of despair that I’ve watched loved ones slip into, where they stop living. But in all of those moments, I am always able to find the good. I’m able to remind myself that at the end of the day, we’re here to enjoy, to be kind and believe the best in one another. Resilience is a balance of awareness of what is hard, while appreciating what is good.

This ability came through fire, for sure. In my early 20s, I was in a very toxic relationship that ended in a devastating divorce. My partner struggled with mental health disorders and addiction. I was caring for him full time while also pursuing my degree, taking 18-20 units per quarter to try and finish ASAP, and working full time as a general manager. This period of my life was deeply painful, isolating, sad, and scary. My community rallied around me and showed me through unconditional love and support that I could make it. Through their support, lots and lots of therapy, breathing techniques, and creating a loving kindness mantra for myself to use during panic attacks, I was able to build a toolbox that I could use in times of deep hurt. I still utilize these tools today, and am lucky to have further support from my greatest source, my wonderful husband Johnii. The life I’ve been able to build for myself through building this resilience and deep gratitude practice is something I will never take lightly. I feel incredibly lucky to be where I am today.

Mantra: “May you be well, may you be kind, may you be loved”

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I started Shio Coffee last year at the push from my husband to chase this decades old dream! In high school, I dreamed of one day opening a cafe in Greece, probably because I was in my “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” era. I let that dream rest for a long time, until I was 23 and had been working in insurance, absolutely hating it, and decided to start by working as a barista. I worked in the specialty coffee world for 7 years while going to school and fell in love with the industry. There’s such a unique bond between barista and regular and so much life happens in a cafe!

Once again, though, after college I let the dream go back to sleep as I started a “big girl job” in tech. Last year, my husband suggested I try my hand at a coffee cart, given the much lower start up and overhead costs. It was low risk, but got me back in the industry and closer to my dream of creating a space that feels like home for my community. My goal with Shio Coffee is first, to honor my Japanese heritage, namely to make my late grandmother Ruriko proud. She pushed me to be the best at anything I did growing up, even when the things I pursued made little sense to her. She was fierce, funny, and loved her family so well. Beyond that, I hope to share flavors that remind me of her and the warmth that she radiated with every person that walks up to my little cart.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I think the best skill anyone with entrepreneurial ambitions can have is problem solving and the ability to remain calm under pressure. Something is always going to go wrong, you will always have set backs but you can choose how you respond in those moments. I pride myself on at least appearing calm during storms (I’m human though, I’m often very anxious), but taking a deep breath and remembering to control what you can control can be so helpful. Another skill I often joke about having is that I am the queen of “loophole finding”. What this really means is that I will find a way no matter what when something needs to get done. I am able to think creatively and stay nimble/adaptable and this has served me incredibly well professionally.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

Right now my biggest challenge is that I have this exciting dream I’m chasing in the form of Shio Coffee, but I still have my day job that can be quite demanding. In order to grow my business, I need to be able to shift focus on the fly and structure my days to include time for both responsibilities. Thankfully, I’m able to draw on what I learned while balancing school and work back in my college days to find time. I often wish there were more I could do to keep my brain more alert for longer, but I also respect that rest and shutting everything off are IMPORTANT for our growth and ability to be productive and healthy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shiocoffee.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shio.coffee/