620: Creating Spaces For Joyful Hospitality w/ Mo Maravilla of Studio Tigre

[upbeat music] I was, like, sitting at coffee shops and studying their workflow because I was obsessed with it.

I love that synergy that you get when you have good design meets good people who can really do that dance.

This is Keys to the Shop, episode 620, Creating a Space for Joyful Hospitality with Mo Maravilla of Studio Tigre.

[upbeat music] Well, hey, everybody, and welcome to another episode of Keys to the Shop, where we give you insights, inspiration, and the tools you need to grow as a coffee service professional.

My name is Chris DeFerio.

I'm your host for the show, and I'm glad to have you here.

So if you would go and subscribe to the show, that would be great, so you'll always be updated with new episodes as they come out.

There's over 1,000 episodes of this show, which is crazy to say, so you gotta get plugged in.

Go to the website too.

You can search any topic you are thinking of.

We probably have an episode on that.

But if you ever think, "Man, I never hear Chris talking about something that I'm really curious about," go ahead and email chris@keystotheshop.com.

I could either find the episodes for you, or maybe it's something that we really do need to talk about related to running great coffee shops.

Uh, and so that's what we're all about here at Keys to the Shop.

Now, we have our final webinar coming up for leadership and management.

That's August 13th of 2026 if you're listening, so [laughs] in another year.

But this week, it's only a few days left to register for this webinar, so go ahead and check out the link in the show notes for that.

You can go to keys to the shop.com, over at the Learning tab to find more information.

Today, we are sponsored by our friends at Your Brand Cafe at yourbrandcafe.com and the Pacific Barista Series, and you can check them out over at pacificfoodservice.com. We'll talk more about them later in the episode today, but right now I want to introduce our guest, and that is none other than Mo Maravilla.

So, uh, Monique Maravilla, AKA Mo, is a Filipino entrepreneur, coffee roaster, educator, a traveler, and she is a champion of joyful hospitality, which you'll find in this episode we talk often about.

She began as a customer, as a guest of coffee shops, and really just appreciated the way that a cup could hold so much in it, the story, the identity, peace, a connection, and her passion for community and representation led her to open Kindness & Mischief Coffee Roasters.

That was in the Highland Park area of, uh, Los Angeles in 2016.

And, uh, she in particular noticed a severe lack of women and women of color behind the bar at the roaster and at the helm of their own shops.

And so she started to learn to roast in 2017 and became the first Filipino woman roaster in Los Angeles.

So coffee just became the chosen medium that Mo took on to create meaningful connections, experiences, and just create these safe, inclusive, and joyful spaces that she can welcome people in, especially those in marginalized groups.

So after 12 years of running K&M, Kindness & Mischief, Mo created Studio Tigre.

We get to talk about what that is all about, just to continue the challenge of what coffee could look like, the world of coffee, what it could look like and who gets to lead it, and it's named after her Filipino heritage and the symbolism of the tiger, and it's a, just a bold, radically anti-gatekeeping and community-rooted expression of coffee that she runs there.

So that is Mo, and any time I've interacted with Mo over the years, and anyone who knows Mo will attest to the idea that there is a lot of joy and exuberance around people and coffee and where the two meet.

That's what Studio Tigre's about.

That's what Mo's about.

And so we need more people like that.

That's why I wanted Mo to come on the show and talk about her story, what she's creating, and inspire us to do likewise.

So here now is my conversation with Mo Maravilla.