10 questions for Starbucks first Global Coffee Creators
Josiah Varghese, a Starbucks barista, and Juliana Galofre, a longtime customer, were chosen from nearly 1,800 applicants to spend the next year traveling around the world to unique Starbucks locations to tell stories about coffee, craft and connection on social media.
Late last spring, Josiah Varghese, a Starbucks barista in Chicago, started getting a bevy of messages from strangers on TikTok. That’s not unusual for him since he has a vibrant social presence as @itsjoboi, with 1.8 million followers who watch him make innovative and fanciful drinks using Starbucks ingredients. But these messages all had a common theme, asking if he was going to apply to be Starbucks first-ever Global Coffee Creator. “I didn’t even know that this position was a thing until then,” he said. “So I looked into it. I was like, ‘Wait a minute. This is what I’ve always dreamed of doing.’ So I had to apply.”
‘Wait a minute. This is what I’ve always dreamed of doing.’
The role was brand new, and Starbucks was looking for two people to do it – one current Starbucks partner (employee) and one from someone who doesn’t work for Starbucks but is passionate about the company, coffee, culture and community. The job, which would last for one year, would take the Coffee Creators to Starbucks locations all around the world to tell stories on social media.
At the same time, in Los Angeles, Juliana Galofre was scrolling social media when she came across the job posting. As an actress (whose credits include national commercials and playing a love interest on a Telemundo Telenovela), and an avid free diver, kiteboarder, triathlete and adventurer, she travels whenever she has the opportunity and a break in her schedule and documents her experiences as @withjulianaaa on Instagram and TikTok. Juliana, who was born in Colombia, has lived so many places that she has a hard time picking one place she calls home. But one commonality, she says, is “No matter where I am in the world, I know that when I walk into a Starbucks, I’ll feel seen, comforted, and talked to — and that kind of care means so much these days.”
When I walk into a Starbucks, I’ll feel seen, comforted and talked to.
Juliana created an entire TikTok account of her visiting Starbucks around Los Angeles as part of her application for the role, showing what she’d do if she was hired. (“I thought, how can I catch their attention?” she said.) Josiah also created a TikTok application and leveraged his channels, where after he finishes his shifts as a barista, he films content about new beverages that he sometimes literally dreams up in his sleep, he said.
It worked. On Thursday, Oct. 30, Starbucks announced that Juliana and Josiah had been chosen as the Global Coffee Creators, out of a highly competitive pool of nearly 1,800 applicants. Over the next year, the two will be sometimes traveling together, and other times separately, while they find and tell social stories in their own voices.
“Our Global Coffee Creators celebrate the next generation of creative voices who see coffee the way we do — as culture, community and daily ritual,” said Whitney Ellison, group marketing manager of culture & influencers at Starbucks. “We wanted to open our doors to social-first storytellers who make coffee personal and inspiring in their own unique way.”
Last week, Juliana and Josiah met for the first time at the Starbucks Support Center in Seattle (the company’s headquarters) during their first stop in their new roles to answer questions about their favorite drinks, the travel item they can’t live without and more.
1. What are you most excited to do this year as Starbucks Global Coffee Creators?
Juliana: A lot. I think the biggest thing is being able to go to the (coffee) farms. … I love nature. I love the outdoors. So being able to go out and meet all the people that work on the farms is pretty much a highlight for me. … Anywhere I can get lost in nature, I’ll be at my happiest, and getting to see the coffee from the beginning.
Josiah: I’ve been a barista for six and a half years, and just to see the origins and the story of where it all started is probably my core purpose as a barista. It’s kind of like a full circle moment. … I’m very excited to travel to different countries and see what unique flavors we can find. … I want to talk to the locals, the baristas, the people, and see what they have to say about Starbucks.
2. What did you do before becoming a Global Coffee Creator?
Juliana: I was traveling a lot. … I’m an actor and it’s been kind of slow in Los Angeles. So I decided to go experience cool things around the world until there’s more work. I love to travel, I love playing sports, to see family and visit friends all over the world.
Josiah: Besides being a barista at Starbucks, I worked as an ICU nurse. My days were kind of long. I would do the night shift as a nurse, then I would work as a barista. And then any opportunity I had I would start editing the videos all of you guys see. So, my days were packed, but I enjoyed every bit of it.
3. Josiah, being both a barista and a nurse are very different but I wonder if you see any common threads?
Josiah: They are both about people and taking care of people, whether it’s giving someone their first cup of coffee of the day to start them off right, or whether it’s being … able to offer (a patient) a warm blanket and trying to give comfort.
4. You’ve only known each other a few days but can each of you tell me one fun fact about the other?
Juliana: Josiah is very grounded and I really appreciate that because I’m very high energy. I learned he’s a nurse … and he’s also a national dance champion.
Josiah: I would say a fun fact that I really liked about (Juliana) is that she’s a free diver. And I also found out that we both have been swimmers for years on the swim team. (She’s) going to have to show me a thing or two, and maybe even how to do it, how to hold my breath for that long, that deep in water.
5. Favorite Starbucks drink?
Juliana: It’s the Iced Shaken Espresso. I like the creaminess of the milk, but then, I just feel like the espresso itself, they just make me super energetic. That’s my go to.
Josiah: I have hundreds upon hundreds of recipes (my social followers and I) have created together. My personal favorite I would say is what my supporters know is called The Joboi drink. We don’t have Pineapple Refreshers right now but the drink itself is a pineapple refresher with lemonade, peach juice and classic syrup with strawberry puree around the cup. And it’s blended, so it creates this nice, just eye catching, flavorful drink. But if it’s not that, I’ve got to run up my Brown Sugar Shaken Espresso with some protein cold foam. The protein cold foam is fire.
6. What’s one thing you can’t live without on the road?
Josiah: My phone! I have to keep in touch with family, friends, loved ones, but also my wonderful supporters online and to create content for them on the go.
Juliana: I think my journal, that’s the one thing I love. I love to write, I love to reflect. And I think we’re going to be living a lot of experiences (this next year) that I never want to forget.
7. What’s a trait you admire most in others?
Juliana: Compassion.
Josiah: Trust.
8. What’s something that would surprise people about you if they knew?
Juliana: Whenever I share how many places I’ve lived, people kind of get like, “Whoa, that’s a lot. How was your childhood?” But … it’s kind of formed my personality. I’ve lived in Houston, Texas; … Phoenix, Arizona; San Francisco, California; Los Angeles, California; Brookfield, Wisconsin; Miami, Florida. I like seeing how people live in different places. (I’ve also) lived in Spain and Australia and Indonesia. … It’s who I am and that’s what I love.
Josiah: I play seven instruments and I play seven sports. I play the piano, drums, guitar, clarinet, bass clarinet, trumpet and flute. My brothers and I, man, all we do is we play instruments. … Oh, and then I also play percussion instruments and then vocals as well. And then for sports, I play basketball, soccer, volleyball, baseball, I swim, run cross country, track. Oh, and also, I dance.
9. If you could sit next to anyone on a flight, who would it be?
Juliana: You know, there’s really cool people in this world, but I would pick my Great Uncle Ernest. He’s not with me anymore, but I’ve been missing him, and I think it would be amazing to have a long flight with him and a long conversation to share kind of what I’ve been up to, and the fact that I landed this role and all the adventures I’m going to go on. I’m sure he would be super stoked for me and yeah, just to hear his wisdom one last time would be really nice.
Josiah: I would have to say my dad. See, the thing is, family has been my number one supporter throughout my life, and I think my dad and I are just very similar. So anytime we’re on a flight and we’re just sitting together, I kid you not, we have the same interest … whatever it is, my dad and I can talk for hours.
10. What does coffee mean to you?
Josiah: Coffee means everything to me. I grew up with my parents always making coffee in the morning … I’d smell the flavors. Then I became a barista here at Starbucks, and I’ve been a barista for six and a half years, and it’s meant everything to me, from the customer connection to the beans itself, to making it, to the way it smells. There’s so many stories you could tell with just a sip of coffee, from the flavors, the notes, where it hits the palate. It’s literally the thing that makes or breaks someone’s day. Even so, to be able to give a cup of coffee to someone and know that that can mean so much to them the rest of the day is what means a lot to me.
Juliana: It’s a sense of comfort and warmth for sure. No matter where I am in the world, I know that when I walk into a Starbucks, I’ll feel seen, comforted, and talked to — and that kind of care means so much these days. Whether I’m solo traveling and want a place where I don’t have to think or explain myself, or I’m in LA looking for a café where I can stay for hours and actually be talked to instead of kicked out — Starbucks gives me that ease I’m looking for.
