We recently had the chance to connect with Sammi Rivera and have shared our conversation below.
Good morning Sammi , we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
Recently I’ve been feeling called more to share my story with the world. Whether it be public speaking, writing my book or making a movie about my life journey, I feel very strongly in my recent days to share my story publicly so that my experiences can help motivate someone else who may be facing adversity on their journey. My hope is that I inspire people through my own hardships and overcoming all of the challenges I have faced along the way, and kept going even when I had nothing left to my name. I feel my background and upbringing help me relate more to people who have come from poverty and wish to make something more of themselves then what they see in their everyday surroundings, and to know that you are not where you come from, but where you decide to go from there. Life can get better! Dont give up, keep going!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello, I’m Sammi Rivera, creator and founder of the Unicorn Coffee Bar. I started the unicorn coffee bar in November 2022, as a way to make extra money after recovering from a Kidney transplant and moving from Portland, Oregon to Senoia, Georgia. What started out as a side hustle quickly turned into a product with a purpose, and passion built on the foundation of my health journey and equipped with a flare for sparkle and glam!
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
As a child I witnessed life through the eyes of an only child for 15 years with a single mom who was always working to make ends meet, I saw my grandmother working hard in factories and she would tell me stories of her upbringing, living in the fields in Mexico and catching whatever wild animals they could find to eat for the day. I was always told that in order to make a good life, I needed to work hard or marry someone who had a good job. I had my first job when I was 11, working a newspaper route with my mom early in the morning. Everyday we would get up at 3 am and ride our bikes to load up our stack and then ride our bikes for miles to deliver the morning newspaper to our customers.
Since childhood I’ve always had the mindset that I needed to grind, hustle, make money because I couldn’t rely on anyone else to do it for me, “no one is coming to save you” is what I would say myself in the mirror, and I’ve carried that saying with me even until now. The only difference between then and now, is that I no longer believe that I have to physically work hard for someone else, that I can build my own success and create something amazing that is also meaningful, fulfilling in my life journey, and lucrative at the same time. I now believe that I am more than capable of doing anything I put my mind to, and that I can find people to help me create those dreams into reality. Anything is possible!
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There have been substantial amounts of time that I have wanted to give up, on myself, on life, on everything, and everyone around me. That never changes it never goes away, but what matters is the decisions that you make about those feelings that alters the outcome. I can remember when I went to Los Angeles to chase my dreams and film and television, and I had no contacts, no one that I could ask for help or a chance to break into the industry. I ended up living in my car with my dog and my partner at the time and I remember thinking what have I gotten myself into? Who did I think I was that I could just come out here with no money in my pocket and that I could make something of myself? I remember thinking very clearly that I was a failure because I was living in my car. I was eating off of the dollar menu at McDonald’s and I was literally doing everything and anything I can just to survive. It was very easy for me to find ways of ending my journey and giving up, but for some reason, I was never pushed to the point where I actually followed through with the plans. In some way, things always worked out at the perfect time and I was able to collect myself and Shake those emotions off and get back to work. When I had gotten my diagnosis of kidney failure after I had already been working in Hollywood for 2 years and suddenly had everything taken in a short amount of time. I can remember sitting in the Dialysis chair and thinking to myself. What am I doing? I don’t wanna live my life like this And I had nothing left to live for so why was I even trying? And I think because I was dealing with a medical crisis, It was very easy for me to want to give up because I had nothing to work towards but again I wasn’t able to follow through on the plans to end the journey. Even in more recent days when I had left my home in Georgia and I had to close my business and start over again, and I found myself homeless again and living in a U-Haul cargo van. There were very dark and cold nights where I just thought to myself. “if I die today, who would even know? No one would even find me. “And again I couldn’t follow through on giving up, something wouldn’t let me follow through on the plan… That was God. it took me 44 years to recognize that God has never left my side and that my divine protection was for a purpose that I had a higher calling than I even could recognize, and that God was in it from the beginning and that’s why I’m here today.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
My closest friends would say that I value honesty and integrity. That’s not to say that I am by any means perfect, we are all human. We all make mistakes mistakes are how we learn. But I truly value friendships that can be honest, even when the truth is hard to hear or hurts. I feel like a good friend would be able to sit you down and tell you “hey Friend, this is probably not a good idea or a good decision to make and maybe give it a second thought before you follow through “or something as simple and straightforward as “hey you’re being a jerk.“ we need our friends to check our behavior when we’re doing things that are harmful to ourselves and others. I can respect someone who can honestly come to me and say that I’ve done something wrong or hurtful to them rather than talk about the situation to everyone else, and be fake to my face and pretend that everything is good.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days.
I have had many days that I have tap danced my way to work whether it be at a physical location or just creating videos in my house. I can remember being dog tired, but still getting up with every ounce of ambition to build a set for the reality show that I was working on And again I can remember being so excited at creating coffee drinks at the farmers market and testing out recipes in my kitchen to present for the weekend and just hearing peoples feedback because I wanted to know if I could do better. I can also remember being so excited just to get dressed and make coffee music videos in my Home and being excited to post the video and see what people think and getting feedback whether it be positive or negative. I love being excited, that type of energy really fuels my soul, and not just excited for me, but I genuinely get excited for other people, especially when they’re stepping out of their comfort zone, or they’re winning in their particular field or achieving their dreams I get genuinely excited and I try to hype people up so that they keep going because I know what it’s like to chase a dream and have no one stand behind you, no one cheer for you, and no one believe in you. I have always been the person that has wanted to support others and see them win.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: UnicornCoffeeBar
- Facebook: Unicorn coffee bar
- Other: TikTok: UnicornCoffeeBar
Image Credits
All photos by Samm Rivera
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
