Bio : Nguyen Coffee Supply

Sahra Nguyen, Founder & CEO (Short Bio)

Sahra Nguyen is the Founder & CEO of Nguyen Coffee Supply, America's first specialty Vietnamese coffee company and the leading proud champion of the resilient robusta bean. Importing directly from farms in Vietnam and roasting in Brooklyn, NY, the company's mission is to transform the coffee industry through diversity, sustainability & cultural integrity. Nguyen is often credited as the leader of the Vietnamese coffee movement in North America and has served as an expert voice on Good Morning America, Bloomberg TV, NY1, CNBC, The Drew Barrymore Show, and CBS Saturday Morning. She has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Forbes, VICE, Fortune, Wall Street Journal, and countless other media. 

In early January 2020, Imbibe Magazine featured Sahra Nguyen as one of the #Imbibe75 -- people, places and directions that will shape the way you drink in 2020. She is a founder of the Gold House Collective Food & Beverage cohort, a leading network to celebrate and elevate the Asian American community. In 2021, Nguyen graced the July cover of Food & Wine as one of their 25 Game Changers and in 2023, she graced the cover of Inc. Magazine as one of their Most Dynamic Women Entrepreneurs. Additionally, the 2023 Sprudgie Awards awarded Nguyen "Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence" for writing a new chapter in the story of Vietnamese coffee in America, and in June 2023 Crain's NY's "Diversity and Inclusion Awards" recognized Nguyen as an Emerging Leader. 

Sahra Nguyen, Founder & CEO (Extended Bio)
Sahra Nguyen is the Founder & CEO of Nguyen Coffee Supply, America's first specialty Vietnamese coffee company and the leading proud champion of the resilient robusta bean. Since founding the company in 2018, Nguyen is on a mission to transform the coffee industry through diversity, sustainability and cultural integrity.

Nguyen's efforts have led to the acceptance of robusta products in the premium coffee industry, as well as with national retailers. In 2023, Nguyen Coffee Supply launched nationally in Whole Foods Market, becoming the first company to sell 100% robusta cold brew at a major national retailer. Nguyen Coffee Supply's national expansion is a landmark moment for Vietnamese coffee, ushering in the next wave of uplifting the most marginalized coffee communities around the world. Additionally, Nguyen launched the Robusta Pledge, a commitment to advancing opportunities for robusta farming communities, where several major coffee industry members have provided signatures, including Shared Roasting and Blue Bottle Coffee (the latter recently launched a Vietnamese robusta product of their own, the first one in their 20+ years as a company). 

These advancements and initiatives have led to Nguyen's recognition from the 2023 Sprudgie Awards, where she was awarded "the Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence," specifically for "writing a new chapter in the story of Vietnamese coffee in America," and in June 2023, Crain's NY's "Diversity and Inclusion Awards" recognized Nguyen with the Emerging Leader Award. Cited as the "Expert in Vietnamese coffee" by the New York Times, Nguyen has had countless appearances across the media, including Good Morning America, CNBC, CBS Saturday Morning, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, VICE, Fortune, Wall Street Journal, and many more. Her passionate mission and social advocacy have caught the attention of everyone from Mindy Kaling to Tory Burch, including drinking coffee with Drew Barrymore on her nationally televised show (twice)!

In 2019, Sahra Nguyen was named a StarChefs Rising Star for her skills as a coffee roaster with emphasis on Vietnamese robusta beans. By January of 2020, Imbibe Magazine featured Sahra Nguyen as one of the #Imbibe75 -- people, places and directions that will shape the way you drink in 2020. Later that year, she was selected to join the Gold House Collective as a Founder in their Food & Beverage cohort, a leading network to celebrate and elevate the Asian American community.

Nguyen has also graced multiple magazine covers: in July 2021, Food & Wine featured Nguyen on the cover of their "Game Changers" issue -- among 25 people and companies changing the way we eat and drink. This was the first time in 7 years Food & Wine featured a person on the cover and the first time in 40 years they've featured an entrepreneur. And in 2023, she was one of the five women featured on the cover of Inc. Magazine for their Female Founders 200 issue, standing alongside Eva Longoria and Lena Waithe, to name a few.

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From a young age, Nguyen has been driven by her desire to amplify AAPI voices. She exemplified activism through organizing rallies and community conferences about inequality and prior to her pivot to the coffee industry, Nguyen was a journalist and documentarian. In 2015, Nguyen first self-produced a documentary web series, "Maker's Lane," which later evolved into a brand new series for NBC News entitled "Self-Starters," a show about Asian American entrepreneurs around the country. Helping launch the video channel for NBC Asian America, "Self-Starters" was nominated for the EPPY Awards and LA Press Club Awards. In mid-2016, Nguyen sold her second documentary series to NBC News, "Deported," which follows the grassroots fight to end deportation of Cambodian-Americans. "Deported" won the 2018 MANIC Vision Award for Best Digital Media, Long Form. In 2019, Nguyen co-produced "We Gon' Be Alright," a digital series through Indie Lens Storycast examining race and resegregation in America through housing, pop culture, education, and activism. The series was based on the book of the same title, by award-winning author Jeff Chang, and directed by Bao Nguyen. Nguyen's last documentary, "Made by Refugees: 40 Year of SEARAC,"  celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center's (SEARAC) by going behind the scenes at the organization's Leadership and Advocacy Training. 

Nguyen is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a double major in Asian American Studies and World Arts & Cultures, where she served as the Director of the Writing Success Program.

Follow Sahra Nguyen on Instagram and LinkedIn. Read her Op-Ed about the future of robusta coffee. Watch her TEDx Talk. 

Nguyen Coffee Supply
Nguyen Coffee Supply is the leading authority for Vietnamese coffee culture in America importing via direct trade relationships and roasting in Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 2018 by 1st generation entrepreneur-activist Sahra Nguyen, the company's mission is to elevate robusta coffee (the dominant coffee bean grown in Vietnam), while building a diverse and inclusive coffee culture for all. Expanding upon the secular trend of Asian beverages in America, like matcha and boba tea, Nguyen Coffee Supply is pioneering the next wave of beverage culture with Vietnamese coffee. 

 

Press Quotes:

"Nguyen Coffee Supply is changing the game." — Forbes

"Nguyen's company is pushing Vietnamese culture into the third wave coffee movement — her team helped popularize the Vietnamese-grown robusta coffee bean."  — NBC News

"Nguyen has emerged as the leading voice for Vietnamese craft coffee in the U.S." — Los Angeles Times

"Nguyen Coffee Supply is changing the way we think about specialty coffee." — Insider