Distance Learning Spotlight: Ana Luiza Pellicer
Originally from Monte Santo de Minas, Ana Luiza was in management of contemporary art exhibitions before beginning her journey into specialty coffee.
SCA certificate programs are designed to help you create a successful career in the coffee industry. As of June 1 2020, the SCA increased accessibility of the foundation courses allowing Authorized SCA Trainers (ASTs) around the globe to teach selected foundation courses in-person and in a virtual environment so that learners can continue growing and learning during these unprecedented times. This week we share Ana Luiza Pellicer’s distance learning experience.
In 2018, she moved to London to dedicate herself to study and open a green coffee business to import and sell her family farm’s coffee, called Mió, back in Brazil.
Since the launch of distancing learning courses, Ana Luiza has taken two SCA Coffee Skills Program foundation courses: Green Coffee and Sensory Skills. She also plans to take the Brewing Foundation module in October.
Distance learning can have it’s challenges, but Ana Luiza found that by joining a virtual environment, you learn things you may not have the opportunity to learn in a in-person classroom setting. In the courses Ana Luiza experienced, learners were provided with all the instruments and coffees they would need to complete the course and were expected to prepare their own cuppings, something which Ana Luiza hadn’t done before but found very valuable. “It was surprising to see how much you can learn about a hands on activity by talking to other people in an online environment. It gave me the opportunity to learn different things, like how to set my own cupping, instead of having the school do that for me in basic courses.” And, even if things should go a bit wrong, there’s a lot of value in learning from your mistakes in a hands-on exercise, too. “I remember quite vividly the mistakes I made when preparing my own cupping, and that was much more learning opportunities than if I had the teacher preparing it for me.”
When considering how else distance learning was beneficial, Ana Luiza highlights the increased accessibility that distance learning offers: “For people that live in small cities or at farms that have no access to a physical SCA courses, it is fundamental to have that option. You can get knowledge to many more people that way.”
Dreams keep us motivated and driven, and for Ana Luiza, that dream is to continue working towards giving back to the family farm and the team running it. She hopes to grow their UK client base to a point where everyone in their supply chain is able to live their life in better conditions. “What matters to us is to validate the process of farming and what true direct trade and traceability should represent. To change the way people think of coffee, remind people that coffee is planted and harvested all around the world by hard working people that should be seen and respected in every cup brewed.”
Are you interested in taking an SCA distance learning course?
Check out the SCA course calendar here, filtering your study method to “distance learning.”