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staff
COFFEE KIDS — SANTA FE, NM
1751 Old Pecos Trail, Suite K
Santa Fe, NM 87505 USA
Phone: (505) 820-1443
Fax: (505) 820-7565
Carolyn Fairman, Executive Director
As a child in Michigan, Carolyn Fairman harbored a deep desire to become a backup dancer for KC and the Sunshine Band. But she quickly realized her dream was for naught and pursued her secondary interest, Latin American politics.
Fairman began her career with Coffee Kids in 2000 as an international program coordinator and has helped create successful grassroots training programs for health care, education, and micro-enterprise in coffee-growing communities. She has also nurtured relationships with many businesses in the coffee industry allowing Coffee Kids to continue its mission of helping to improve the lives of coffee-farming families.
Prior to joining Coffee Kids, Fairman worked in Guatemala with a non-governmental organization helping refugees returning after the country’s civil war. She received her master’s in Latin American Studies from the University of New Mexico, where she focused on political science and gender. Fairman still enjoys dancing, but mostly in the confines of her living room.
Peter Kettler, Development Director
Since working as a barista while a student in Paris, Kettler has been a manager, roastmaster and buyer in the coffee industry and co-owned a retail and wholesale coffee company. From 1999 to 2009, Kettler was Holland Coffee Midwest’s regional manager and senior trader. He most recently served as Director of Coffee for Taylor Maid Farms in Sebastopol, Calif.
In 2004, Kettler started Coffee Lifeline, which provides Rwandan coffee farmers access to vital information via solar-powered radios. The project won the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s 2010 Sustainability Award.
“I’ve been on the business side of coffee for 20 years, from roasting to importing to development projects,” Kettler said. “On the business side, we always think our greatest resource is coffee. Actually it’s farmers and the communities, and Coffee Kids has the longest track record of any group that works with these communities. I’m proud to become part of their team.”
Joey Apodaca, Development Coordinator
In 2008, Joey Apodaca returned to his ‘querida’ hometown of Santa Fe after living in Chicago and Los Angeles. In Chicago, Apodaca was the assistant to the director of development at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, where he assisted in the launch of the $3 million, five-year, Research Endowment Campaign and the Romancing the Past Gala.
Apodaca is honored to work with Coffee Kids’ dedicated members as development coordinator and he eagerly distributes facts and assistance to those desirous of helping coffee-farming families.
Kristina Morris Heredia, Communications Coordinator
Kristina came to Coffee Kids after having lived in a coffee-growing region of Veracruz for nearly five years. Her interest in coffee, coffee-growing communities and her never-ending desire to make the world a more just place—she is a Libra after all—are what attracted her to the position. While her academic background is in anthropology and Spanish, her professional experience has been in writing, Web work and conscientious marketing. She is certain that Coffee Kids is the meeting point of all her interests.
COFFEE KIDS UK – LONDON, ENGLAND
Elisa M. Kelly, UK Development Liaison
Elisa is a social anthropologist who has, for the last five years, intensively researched the significance of certification to small-scale coffee producers in Mexico. For her PhD fieldwork, she spent two years in Oaxaca, Mexico researching how small-scale producers encounter and mobilize certification schemes within their communities and the benefits and challenges of certification for producer households and communities. During this time, she worked closely with one of Coffee Kids’ producer partners and was impressed by the positive impact Coffee Kids’ projects had on families and the wider community.
Elisa became concerned over producer welfare while working as the in-store marketing and events coordinator for a large natural foods supermarket in Portland, Oregon. Her interest in food and growing issues also led her to research agritourism in Italy and help run a community garden in Brixton, London, where she now lives.
Elisa is very excited to have weaseled her way into a job with Coffee Kids and is hoping to piggyback on some trips back to origin in the coming years! Until then, she is holding down the fort in Great Britain and looking forward to working with our European partners in the coming years.
COFFEE KIDS – OAXACA, MEXICO
Privada de Rio Blanco 112, Depto. 4
Fraccionamiento Los Sauces
68010 Oaxaca, Oax, México
Phone and Fax: +52 (951) 5060441
José Luis Zárate, International Program Director
Growing up in Oaxaca, Mexico, José Luis Zárate dreamed of creating machines and robots to serve humanity. But over the years he realized that there was no better way to serve humanity than by trying to be a better human being. Whether helping coffee cooperatives attain organic and fair trade certifications or working in community development, Zárate has maintained a strong dedication to coffee-farming families throughout his career. In 1999, Zárate helped establish and served as executive director of Coffee Kids’ partner, Iniciativa FomCafé. Zárate’s extensive experience in the coffee industry includes coffee presentations in Peru and Colombia and a panel seat at the 2003 SCAA conference in Boston.
In his role as international program director at Coffee Kids, Zárate has witnessed the difference a small amount of external support coupled with community involvement can make in coffee communities. Zárate speaks Spanish, English and French. He also has continuing plans to build a robot that can fly, harvest coffee cherries and brew a perfect espresso.
Pedro Pérez, International Program Coordinator
Pedro Pérez was born in Mexico City. At the age of 15 he moved with his family to the United States, to the little town of Stillwater, MN. Now a citizen of both countries, Pedro applies the best of both cultures to his everyday life.
Pedro graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BA in Global Studies and Italian language. He also has a master’s degree in cooperation and development from the University of Pavia in Italy. After his undergraduate studies, he tried to look for a job in his field of study but had no luck. He ended up working in a natural food co-op where he eventually became the deli manager. He has a vast experience with fair trade and organic products.
Pedro joined Coffee Kids’ International Program department because he loves to travel and to meet people from different cultures. He brings his personal experience and passion for coffee to the job and hopes to support Coffee Kids’ efforts in reducing farmers’ dependency on the volatile coffee market.