“Only 10% of our farmers are under the age of 40,” Felix says, translating what Guillermo has just said in Spanish. “This is a real problem.” I nod my head. This is a problem. And that’s why I’m here. In San Jose, Costa Rica. Meeting with the CEO and other employees of Coop Libertad, a cooperative company working to empower small coffee growers facing economic and social injustice in the Central Valley.

We are hoping together to address inequality and the aging crisis within the coffee industry.

The espresso machine hisses, stretching milk into silky foam. Across from me, at a table worn smooth by years of elbows and coffee cups, sits Mirah. The chunky wooden beads in her hair clink softly as she turns her head, catching the afternoon sun.

Before I ever dive into tactical questions, I like to ask our graduates how they want to be portrayed in these stories. Powerful? Victorious? Beautiful? Confident? Mirah hesitates before answering with a quiet, “I don’t know.”

Jane looks like they could be an artist. Their curly bangs fall over red, cat-eyed glasses, and when I first sat across from them at our Minneapolis shop, I caught myself thinking how easily they could be a character in one of their own sketches. Black headphones rested around their neck, an almost casual detail, but one that felt like part of their quiet armor.

I’d already written about Jane before I knew them.