Anastasia Chovan
Director of Business & Brand Development
& Barista Nation events
Unic
Seattle, Washington
What other coffee jobs have you had?
My first job in coffee was as a barista at Stauf’s Coffee Roasters, Columbus, Ohio. I moved to Seattle to be the Northwest Regional Sales Manager at Espresso Specialists Inc. Then I took the Director of Sales position at Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters in Olympia, Washington, after which I was Director of Sales for Clover in Seattle.
What’s your favorite part about working in coffee?
The relationships with wonderful people around the world that I have made over the past 17 years. I love to travel and meet new people and learn new skills that revolve around coffee and the business of coffee.
Where do you ideally see yourself in 10 years?
I see myself training and teaching business and marketing skills to the next generation of coffee entrepreneurs.
Who and what inspires you?
I have been very blessed in having amazing mentors in my professional life like John Blackwell from La Marzocco who taught me problem solving, Zander Nosler from Clover who taught me start-up business skills, Don Eggebraten from Urnex who taught me leadership and Jean-Pierre Levi president of Unic who taught me business development. I am continuously inspired and grateful to these wonderful mentors and want to mentor, create and collaborate with the incredible the barista community through Barista Nation and beyond.
What are you drinking right now?
Anjilanaka, Boliva by Intelligentsia. Chemex, metal filter. It’s one of my favorites!
Crazy coffee experience you’d like to share?
There have been a lot of amazing adventures in coffee, but the winner is: Blowing up the Clover in Bern, Switzerland [at the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe show] in 2006. Yes, we plugged the Clover into a 440 volt outlet and blew it up; the Clover was a 208 volt machine. In true James Bond style, we flew an engineer to Zurich that night carrying parts, and had it up the next day. It was my first official trade show with Clover. Those Clover days were crazy. Long live the start-up!