photo taken by Faema USA

 Our Mission


Glitter Cat Barista is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit.

Glitter Cat Barista is reimagining the coffee industry through competition, community engagement and events, and hospitality programming. Glitter Cat provides support, training, access to resources, and mentorship for marginalized hospitality professionals including BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, disabled, and persons of marginalized gender.

 Our Values


✨Fierce Belonging ✨ Opportunity Center ✨ Trustful Transparency ✨ Remarkable Creators ✨ Chaotic & Colorful, Queer Energy✨

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FIERCE BELONGING

come unapologetically as you are into a welcoming and safe environment. Glitter Cat is a place where people will be encouraged to come as they are and to maintain an environment of welcoming and belonging. Glitter Cat does have seats at a table, this is a collective roundtable where all voices are actively listened to.

Glitter Cat is committed to Black Lives Matter and being anti-racist in how it engages with the community.

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OPPORTUNITY CENTER

Those classically excluded from training and advancement are given multiple opportunities for education and career development. These opportunities may include assistance in fundraising for a competition, creation of a scholarship program, the launch of training programs digitally and in-person, and inter/intra industry professional connections and development. Glitter Cat values personal and professional development beyond our programming.

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TRUSTFUL TRANSPARENCY

We keep no secrets, whether that’s sharing financial information or sponsorship decks, we’re better together. We keep our books open for people to question and will share requested information to the point that it is safe for the organization. Transparency goes beyond what Glitter Cat reveals to the community, and includes what we expect of partners, sponsors, staff and Board members, and participants in our programming.

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REMARKABLE CREATORS

We never settle for less. We are remarkable innovators and are always pushing to move the industry forward. We are anti-status quo and will work within our networks to grow, develop, and reimagine hospitality and coffee industries.

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CHAOTIC & COLORFUL, QUEER, ENERGY

This is our good energy. This is Glitter. During our work for a more equitable and representative industry that respects and honors the people in these industries, we keep it fabulous and colorful and a bit chaotic. By keeping this energy we showcase that we all need to be full and truly ourselves no matter what we do or where we work. We’re a chaotic, colorful, queer, and good and that’s being unseriously serious about being unserious, seriously

Glitter Cat Barista started in 2018 with all-expenses-paid coffee competition training bootcamps which provide intensive world-class training and community building for aspiring competitors of varying skill levels to compete in the US Coffee Championships circuit. We are excited to be expanding these bootcamps beyond to competition sphere and are being renamed - Career Development Bootcamps.

The past three years have been paired up with immense growth where Glitter Cat continues to host community events, launched our own virtual and socially distanced competitions in 2020 (the DiGiTiTiON and SNiFF-i-TiTiON), and is currently in the pilot year for the Anti-Racism Hospitality Overhaul project.

 Our Vision


At Glitter Cat, you’ll find we are constantly striving for all marginalized persons to find community in coffee through competition. Glitter Cat is a safe space to be your true-self, fiercely supported, and see pathways illuminated for further career development.

There are no guarantees of competitive glory by becoming a Glitter Cat, but what a Glitter Cat is likely to find is a community both within their cohorts and among the wider organization.

If you have felt that you don’t belong or who have been told to keep quiet, you’re encouraged to apply, follow along, or sponsor, and find your place in the ranks of the great, the glorious, the misfits …

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“Glitter Cat is not just training; it is a community of folks who believe in you, and believe in sharing positive energy throughout this industry.” 

- Kristina Jackson

14th place at U.S. Brewers Cup Championships
8th place at Qualifier
Glitter Cat Brewer 2020

 
 

“This space amplifies community for those who desire it and enhances technical skill for those who come with a willing attitude towards learning. Glitter Cat is whatever you make it.”

- Anthony Ragler

6th place at U.S. Barista Championships
4th place at Qualifier
Glitter Cat Barista 2019

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“Glitter cat is the t*ts”

- MiMo

2nd place at U.S. Coffee in Good Spirits Qualifier
Glitter Cat Good Spiriter 2020

 

MEDIA FEATURES