Coffee is an integral part of the typical student’s daily routine — from the morning jolt at Footnotes Café to the late-afternoon pick-me-up — yet few pause between sips to think about where their cup of joe comes from.
Margaret Moose Swallow intends to change that.
After 23 years in corporate America, Swallow, a university alumna, retired early to focus on nonprofit work in the creation of gender equality in the coffee workforce through the International Women’s Coffee Alliance.
Swallow, the first speaker in a series called “Voices of Social Change” at the university, expressed her commitment to empowering women in the international coffee community to a group of about 50 students and faculty in the Prince George’s room in Stamp Student Union yesterday.
As a board member and co-founder of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance, Swallow has worked to expose the importance of women in every step of the coffee-making chain, “connecting women from seed to cup.”
Swallow defined social change as working with and helping to meet the needs of a problem within a community. In short, she said, “making a difference.”
To bring about social change, Swallow said, you must ask yourself what solution you can bring to a greater problem. One of her favorite methods for proving a problem is to tout statistics like this: About 60 percent of the world’s work is performed by women, with 50 percent of the world’s food supply produced by women. In contrast, 10 percent of the world’s income goes to women, and only 1 percent of the world’s land belongs to women.
“Your cause is like a candidate running for election — you want people to vote for it,” Swallow said. “If you bring a solution, backed by data, people will listen.”
Senior government and politics major Rachel Sarnacki said Swallow was an inspiring kickoff to the series.
“I really liked her energy; she was very motivating and able to use her experience in the corporate world to offer us practical ideas for social change,” Sarnacki said.
While Swallow noted that leaving the comforts of the corporate life was a scary prospect, she hasn’t regretted it yet because the rewards are too great.
“We’re all gonna die someday,” Swallow said. “Wouldn’t it be nice if the world was a little better because you were here?”
The “Voices of Social Change” series, which has been in development since last spring, will feature a different event each month for the rest of the semester, according to series committee member Mark Engelbert. Future events include discussions about past and present Haiti, youth urban violence and grassroots movements.
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