Denise Maldonado ‘16

I am co-owner of Confidential Coffee in Downtown Long Beach.

Since I didn’t plan on owning a coffee shop so early on in life, the decision was sort of spontaneous. My plan was to finish a fellowship that I landed right after college, go to grad school, then work on getting students to college.

Eight months into the start of my planned career, the opportunity to open the shop came up and after sleepless nights of deliberation, I quit my job and went all in. Thankfully, I had 8 years of coffee experience under my belt by then so I knew exactly who to talk to in order to get my business up and running.

When I see the satisfaction in a customer’s face.

I love what I do. My goal is to make sure people know that there is so much love in each cup of coffee I produce. When people notice that, I get reminded why I do what I do. It’s a very rewarding and heart-warming experience.

Yes, but not so soon. I’ve been a barista and a manager in the coffee world for almost 10 years now. I’ve always loved coffee. I always dreamed of owning a coffee shop one day. For me, that was way later in the future; After I pursued my career, accomplished some other goals, and was settled down. However, Confidential Coffee became a reality way faster than I had expected and I am grateful for that.

I think the biggest transition was really feeling the pressure to go out in life and get that “adult job,” that we’re “supposed” to find after college.

I did end up getting that job, but the whole experience was a challenge as well. I wasn’t very happy being behind a computer screen. I missed interacting with people and I missed the art of coffee on a daily basis.

Becoming more culturally aware is definitely something I learned in college and something that has helped shape who I am today.

Learning about my community and the people around me has helped me understand and find solutions for situations that have occurred, especially in a place where I interact with people every day, all day.

I wanted to stay in the loop with things. I loved my time at Cal State Long Beach. I met some amazing and inspiring people. I hope to one day inspire people, too.

Definitely expanding my business. I want to open up a coffee training lab and give people the experience they need in order to jump into the specialty coffee world.

I want to become more involved in my community and have a name established for myself and my business. I want to succeed.

Follow your dreams. Take risks. It’s the most terrifying thing in the world but it is AMAZING.