From IT and coffee to tree farming and carbon sequestration, Andrew has spent the past 20 years building opportunities for Timorese people through social enterprises that deliver social and economic empowerment. In that time he’s won the prestigious Stockholm Challenge Award; been recognised in the Bulletin Smart 100 Award for his work as a social justice campaigner; become a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia; been appointed Honorary Consul for Timor-Leste in Victoria; and won the Sir John Monash Award for Sustainability… You get the picture.

He’s always up for a yarn at the roastery, so he can fill you in on the rest!

Coffee order: Aeropress

Fave preserve: Beetroot Chutney

After completing her apprenticeship, Alice was alarmed by the amount of food waste witnessed in commercial kitchens and decided to do something about it. Her passion for cooking and minimising food waste, coupled with a desire to ensure no person goes hungry, led her to create The Corner Store Network. Being selected as one of Australia’s leading young social entrepreneurs in 2017 through Foundation for Young Australians was just the beginning. She has since been named an Obama Leader: Asia Pacific and has used the medium of food to strive for social justice and equality while providing opportunities for women across Australia and Asia.

Oh and President Obama himself mentioned Alice in a tweet once, no biggie. 

Coffee order: Iced Latte

Fave preserve: Apricot Jam

A self-taught coffee roaster, with a background in IT, Jake’s attention to detail and desire to create amazing coffee has seen him take out both bronze and silver medals in the Australia and New Zealand Golden Bean Coffee Roasting Competition. Jake splits his time between managing the team in Melbourne and helping subsistence coffee farmers in Timor-Leste improve their production processes to better the quality of coffee in your cup. 

He’s also the reason our cafe’s playlist is so darn good.

Coffee order: 1 plus 1 (shot of water + shot of espress)

Fave preserve: Bread & Butter Cucumber Pickles

Kathy’s primary teacher background saw her establish a number of school kitchen gardens with the most recent at Clayton North Primary School taking out the Regional and Special Multicultural Award from the Victorian School Garden Awards. Kathy has worked on curriculum development with the Biological Farmers Association and worked at Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens running education programs to help primary school children understand biodiversity and food systems. Kathy brought our preserving program to life, building and supporting a great team of volunteers who form the backbone of the preserving hub. 

Her home garden is exceptional and if you’re lucky enough to be offered her homemade sourdough and famous jam, don’t say no!

Coffee order: Flat White 

Fave preserve: Tomato + Chilli Jam

Daiki’s love for coffee began in Japan; in fact the reason he moved to Melbourne in 2018 was due to its reputation as the coffee capital of the world. With that kind of dedication, there’s really no one else we’d trust to roast our beans to perfection! Daiki particularly loves the science behind roasting and how each batch can be tailored to change the flavor of the coffee bean.

Outside of work, Daiki can be found playing basketball (usually with Jake!), listening to jazz or enjoying his second favourite beverage, a whiskey neat.

Coffee order: V60 Pour Over

Fave preserve: Fig + Earl Grey Jam

She worked in a handful of cafes, bistros and fine dining restaurants in Winnipeg before moving to Sydney in 2016 to enjoy the warmer weather and pursue a career in the Australian fine dining industry. Claire worked at some of Australia's top restaurants including Quay in Sydney and Attica in Melbourne before deciding she needed a change of pace and began a career in ceramics.

Claire started making custom tableware for restaurants and now creates innovative functional and sculptural ceramics using recycled materials she sources and processes herself. However, after three years of doing ceramics full time, Claire missed working with food and as part of a team so she was excited to find such a perfectly suited and values-aligned opportunity as the part-time preserving chef role at the Corner Store Network. 

Claire is passionate about climate justice and finds fulfilment through working towards a circular economy both in her ceramics and at the Corner Store Network. She loves getting to know the preserving program volunteers and working with such hyper-local and seasonal produce. 

Coffee order: Black filter roast

Favourite preserve: Plum and apple jam on sourdough toast with a generous amount of salted butter

Her original trip cut short by Covid, Anna returned to France where she trained up her Barista skills, then continued to travel and work in cafes across France, before returning back to Melbourne. 

Now a student in Deakins Diploma of Humanitarianism, Anna continues to enjoy travelling around Australia and learning more about environmentalism. She hopes to continue her studies into a Masters program in the future. 

Anna feels strongly about living her values, and found a natural connection between her A+ Barista skills and the impact she can contribute to in the hospitality industry, through her work at the Corner Store Network.

Coffee order: V60, usually an Ethiopian 

Fave Preserve: Raspberry jam (on a croissant of course)

Sacha brings a background in Marketing and Communications from her experience working in the not-for-profit and education sectors, and her corporate sustainability insight from studying a Masters in Environments and Sustainability at Monash University. 

Recently, Sacha has returned to Melbourne from several years living in Copenhagen and Amsterdam where she worked in specialty coffee and sustainable hospitality. This experience enlightened Sacha to the potential of combining her passion for sustainability and building communities, with her love for creating impactful moments over delicious food and drinks (particularly natural wine and coffee). 

Enter the Corner Store Network. Joining the team in mid-2024, Sacha brings her marketing and communications, business strategy and coffee-making skills to the team, working across our office and cafe operations.  

Coffee order: Cappuccino

Fave preserve: Anything pickled!

For more than 17 years Tracey has been running programs and speaking on leadership and learning culture across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK. She’s even written three books on leadership and culture, with her last book - Ferocious Warmth: School Leaders Who Inspire and Transform - published in 2021. In fact, her contributions to the improvement of student and organisational outcomes have seen her named a National Fellow of the Australian Council of Education Leaders (FACEL). 

Tracey has been a supporter of The Corner Store Network for many years, and is especially honoured to be Chair of the Board of the organisation. Apart from her love for kassundi, she’s not one to ever knock back some berry jam or preserved limes for her g&t.

Coffee order: Stock standard cafe latte, thanks very much!

Fave preserve: Kassundi, always

A Professor at Monash University in the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Brett’s interest lies in economic development research, specifically in Timor-Leste. His research has taken him to South Africa, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea and of course, Timor-Leste, where he is engaged in an AusAID-funded project on improving the welfare of coffee-producing households.

Brett has been involved in supporting people-to-people trade with organisations in Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste for a number of years but his real passion is to empower the people of Timor-Leste to build a strong and growing economy for the people - “ekonomia ba communidade”.

Coffee order: Long black

Fave spice: Timorese turmeric

Born in Sri Lanka, Amodha migrated to Australia towards the end of 1990. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Colombo, specialising in environmental science, plus a Graduate Diploma in Education from Monash University. 

Across her career she’s worked as a lecturer at University of Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Victoria University (Melbourne) teaching Ecology and Animal Behaviour, before starting her current role as Product Manager at technology-focused social enterprise Infoxchange. 

With a passion for nature conservation, Amodha enjoys working with native flora in her garden and visiting national parks and nature reserves. She’s also quite partial to socialising with family and friends, which generally involves a lot of food. 

Coffee order: Latte

Fave preserve: Kathy's original recipe jam

Over a 25 year career, Natalie has worked for purpose-driven organisations that focus on social justice, technology and digital inclusion. As a partner at boutique firm, Thinkrum, Natalie partners with organisations to co-design locally focused social impact programs. She’s also leading the establishment of an Inclusive Design practice with non-profit social enterprise, Ability Works.

Besides the aforementioned op-shopping and up-cycling, Natalie is passionate about creating a digitally inclusive society, where individuality is valued and all participants can thrive. 

Coffee order: Regular Cappuccino

Fave preserve: Yuzu Marmalade