Check Out Summer Davis’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Summer Davis.

Hi Summer, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I moved to Denver September 2020, broke my 5-year streak at a coffee shop franchise in Oregon to search for new opportunities. I was interested in moving out here and working for The Wild Animal Sanctuary, but it was so far east and I had no car so I stayed in the city. I wanted a break from coffee too so I got a seasonal warehouse job at UPS, scanning and stacking boxes. After days of going home dirty and having no friends to grab a beer with when the day was done, I decided to search for another coffee shop job. And everyday on my commute to the warehouse I would pass Prodigy, I never went in until I was ready to work in a coffee shop again, my first day I walked in (February 2021) and saw 2 apprentices, (who became a huge part of my first experiences at Prodigy) smiling and waiting for me to order. I asked if they were hiring, and they asked me how old I was. I had no idea why in the moment, but during my “coffee date” (this is what we do instead of interviews), I met our Director of Learning, and he told me about this whole apprenticeship that is Prodigy Coffee House.

We hire 18-24 year olds, for a year long apprenticeship, that are in search of belonging and growth, we teach and certify them in craft coffee and give them a platform to practice and take charge of their journey’s, the effort you put in is what you get back. They learn how to teach their peers, how to navigate through decision-making, through conflict, how to utilize resources (health, financial, on shift, peers), and learn so much about communicating effectively with people different from them and learn more about who they are in the process.

I was stoked to be in the apprenticeship, I got myself this far, I thought, how far can I go with support? I get about 4 months into the apprenticeship and become a shift lead so I take on more responsibility, I solve more problems, I create experiences for other apprentices, I have fun. Then the opportunity to apply and pilot the “Manager in Training” program came, this happened in August 2021. I applied, had to create my own syrup to launch which included the cost of goods aspect, how much I would sell it for, what I would name it, lots of creativity and math. I got to talk about what made me proud in the process and why I thought I would be a good candidate to pilot, similar to any interview.
I got it! Myself and another apprentice piloted the “MIT” program, took a Front Line Manager Essentials course at DU and got certified, started building schedules, ordering inventory, teaching in the classroom, training on shift, learned how to stay organized (mostly), learned more about keeping apprentices on the trajectory to get them to graduation.
A little over a year later (January 2023) of learning and maintaining I had a 10AM meeting with our Director of Learning and our Learning Manager and they offered me a full time staff position as the Assistant Operations Manager. We were in transition of staff, a new Executive Director was to be hired and they told me that we need a solid team to navigate through this transition and maintain Prodigy’s values and they decided I was needed to support that!
Honored, proud, and ready to continue learning, another year goes by and I am still the Assistant Operations Manager. Since then we have hired numerous apprentices, seen so much growth, and now I get to visit graduated apprentices at other coffee shops, and use their experiences as lights at the end of the tunnel, opportunity that you can have if you want it enough.
Prodigy has been an amazing ladder for many young adults growth to believing in themselves, achieving things they didn’t know they could, and creating a community to truly feel safe in, and I am happy to say it absolutely has been that for me too.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been smooth. There have been obstacles of all kinds, big, small, complex. When I got offered the staff position I went from being an apprentice/peer to being the manager of my friends. That was so difficult! Having hard conversations and holding people accountable on a professional level is much easier when you don’t also have phone calls about your personal life after hours, or sleepovers on the weekends. Learning to juggle training, coaching, room reservations, making bank runs, launching seasonal drinks, etc… was hard. Since we were in the transition of hiring new/more staff I had to take on a lot as Operations manager, I felt like I was spending most of my time in the shop, but so much of my time was given to my laptop. Navigating maintaining strong connections with apprentices was hard when I had daily tasks that took most of my time.
We now have a full operations team and responsibilities are split evenly so there’s a balance, but it took continuous effort and perseverance to get here.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a certified Intermediate Specialty Coffee Barista, hoping to become a Professional Specialty Coffee Barista by 2025, and my absolute favorite part of my job is training apprentices on all things coffee: Dialing in the machine, learning how to taste and how to pull out flavors, routine, milk steaming, it’s what lights me up at work. I get to support an apprentice having a hard time grasping a concept or unable to steam the milk to the right temp with the right amount of foam and help them feel more confident in their craft. I also do a lot of work fixing things around the shop, tap lines, sauce pumps, espresso grinders. It’s mostly fun for me to get my hands dirty, and I love taking things a part just to see how they get put back together and find a solution on the way.
When I get that 6:30AM call saying the espresso grinder is spraying, or it won’t pull shots faster than 20 seconds I already know the first 3 things I’m going to check when I get to the shop.
Same with our tap lines, if I get a call saying the cold brew isn’t coming out I can walk an apprentice through 1st, 2nd, 3rd steps before I need to drive over and go deeper.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I define success as walking into the next day with another tool in your pocket. As getting home from work and still having enough energy to do what fills your cup. As being able to share your knowledge with another, and they share it with someone else and so on. As being able to show up to each day of your life enjoying the company of those around you, and valuing the time you spend with yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.prodigyventures.org/
• Instagram: prodigycoffeehouse

Image Credits
Kevin Mohatt Photography