Rising Stars: Meet Jackie Nguyen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jackie Nguyen.

Jackie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
It all started with the damn pandemic. Before Cafe Cà Phê, I was a traveling Broadway actor. I was happily employed with the Broadway Revival Tour of Miss Saigon for almost 2 years consecutively. Then…boom. Covid-19. All Broadway shows were stopped. canceled and forgotten about for almost a year and a half. This is where Cafe Ca Phe became a thing. I moved to Kansas City (because I loved it here when we were on tour, and my boyfriend lives here. He also was on the tour.) I saw that there was a lack of Asian businesses here, and I also really, really wanted to create space for people who didn’t have space. Sometimes, I still don’t really know what I”m doing, but I hope that following along the crazy journey is enough for people to kinda take interest. I used to be a barista for 8 years, so I always loved being in that industry or in a coffee shop. It’s been a dream of mine to have my own “thing” so I just made it.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Literally the bumpiest, craziest, weirdest road. Some of the struggles have been 100% COVID. From not knowing if I would get funded (I didn’t) to if I would get a brick-and-mortar (I didn’t) to literally getting hate crimed because I’m Asian. The entire road be crazy! Figuring out logistics of a coffee company was hard. Learning about business, learning about finances, learning about marketing. That was a struggle for me.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I consider myself to be an artist. I spent all of high school doing show choir, hip-hop dance team, and cheerleading. Then I studied musical theatre in college and got a BFA in musical theatre. I moved to Hollywood to pursue backup dancing and then moved to New York City where I lived for 10 years as an actor.

I’m really, really proud of Cafe Cà Phê. I’m proud of the community we’ve built. I’m proud of what we stand for and what we don’t stand for. I believe what sets us apart is that we admit we are just like everyone else. We don’t pretend to be professionals, we don’t pretend to know what we are doing. We admit that we are literally just like everyone else: faking it ’til we make it.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
My childhood memories are just kinda flashes in my head. A few that stick out to me is getting the Posh Spice sticker from the Chupa Chup lollipops from the Spice Girl Collection. Another one is the first time I ever read Harry Potter. Then getting my period at the first Harry Potter movie premiere on my 13th birthday. Another is watching Beauty and the Beast and Home Alone on repeat with the VHS thing that rewound your VHS tapes really fast. Things like that stick out to me.

Contact Info:

• Email: cafecaphekc@gmail.com
• Website: www.cafecaphe.com
• Instagram: cafecaphe
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cafecaphekc
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNhgdSAhIq7hSLY0W33hlFA

Image Credits
Travis Young
Pilsen Photo
Cris Crisman
Noah Ursy
Lauren Pusateri