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The Hot Mama Coffee project is dedicated to the empowerment of women everywhere. Funds generated through the sale of these calendars are used to support women's health issues throughout the world. This year's calendar focuses on supporting breast cancer research and awareness.
Our 2012 calendar features real baristas from Ashland Oregon, the home of Hot Mama Coffee. Strong, dedicated women who get up before the break of dawn to brew our elixir of choice. What would we do without them? They have all donated their time and fantastic energy to be part of this project. You rock! Thank You!!
The Hot Mama Coffee Story
Baristas against breast cancer:
Coffee calendar will help raise funds, awareness
Daily Tidings, 9/14/11
Our core team:
Debra Thornton Photography
Photography
debrathornton.com
Pretty Retouching
Digital Editor
facebook.com
Sarah Petty
Hair & Makeup Stylist
Megan Silverman Design
Graphic Design / Calendar Creation
megansilvermandesign.com
ruby slipper designs
Website Design by Erin O'Kelley Muck
rubyslipper.com
Darby McCue
Wardrobe Stylist
Bella Vita
Clothing and Props
facebook.com
Cobalt Web Designs
e-Commerce by Dee Taylor
blue2.com
Debby's Diner
Location
debbysdiner.com
Gopi
Clothing and Props
gopiashland.com
Ieva Anscombe
Hair Stylist
Newman Images
Photography
newmanimages.com
Tama~Ra~Shell
Custom Clothing, Styling & Design
tamararachelle@hotmail.com
Tiffa Novoa
Feather Headdress & Clothing
opiesnowdesigns.com/modagalactica
I come from a family of strong women. My mother, Joan, lost her parents when she was a small child, and she was raised by her older sister and her first cousin Teddy. Teddy was twenty years older than my mother. She was an elegant and gracious woman and she was my mother’s closest friend and confidant. Though we called her Aunt Teddy, my sister Mandy and I always thought of her as our grand mother. She was The Force in the family and the glue that held us together.
My father’s mother Mina survived two world wars and the Great Depression. When my Grandfather couldn’t find work to put food on the table for their only son Army, Mina went to work to make beautiful hats in the garment district in New York City. Later in life she took in her older brother Paul when he lost his work, his health and his mind.
Joan was a vibrant and generous woman who suffered breast cancer in her early forties and won the battle with that terrible disease for more than a decade. A dozen years later her cancer returned, but through three years and countless surgeries, she kept her sense of humor and her smile and still worried about everyone else in her life more than herself. She died much too young, but she never forgot to fill the lives of her family and friends with the kindness in her heart and the music of her soul.
When I was three years old, a car lost control in front of our house and crashed through the front window. Scared and shaking I ran to the bedroom that I shared with my sister and she held me until I stopped crying. At that moment — even as a small child — I grasped that my sister Mandy was the strong one. Most families have one. It is the woman that everyone always depends on, the one that is first to give and last to ask. When crises strike, she is the rock that the family turns to for counsel and comfort. The genuine article. The Force.
Mandy was not only strong, she lived life large. Unlike most of us who squander little moments that soon become hours, weeks, months and years - she savored every minute of every day. She took nothing for granted, she understood that life is precious — she did not put her dreams off for some rainy tomorrow she seized them and spun them into the fabric of her life. She didn’t live life in color, she lived it in Technicolor. Mandy died of a heart attack in May 2008.
The message that I have learned from the strong women in my life is to: Seize Each Day ! Yes, life can be unfair, but it is ours to live. If we forget to fill each moment with all the love in our hearts, we have only ourselves to blame. We choose to live life large or let it slip away.
The Force is always there...it is within you.
Thank you for your support!
Evan Archerd
Founder
Hot Mama Coffee
