After high school I studied Public Relations, this time influenced by Edina Monsoon from Absolutely Fabulous, all the while earning my money as a barista. Try as I might to branch into other sectors, hospitality always called me back, specifically the coffee industry.

In 2016 I moved to Australia, where I worked in an independent bistro café in Melbourne, I was blown away. Up until Australia, I had never seriously considered a career within the hospitality sector. Vastly based on Scotland’s typical view of hospitality jobs as “something you do when you’re trying to make it in something else”. Melbourne blew this view to smithereens.

In Australia, hospitality staff are well paid (£13 ish per hour!), small independent businesses offer progression and opportunity and the industry as a whole is highly respected. For the first time I felt like I could enjoy the fact that my skills lie in service. After Australia, I spent time in Vietnam, motorbiking the entire country. In a wonderful place called Dalat, I visited a coffee plantation for the first time after 8 years of working in the coffee industry. Blown away by the processes from farm to export, this insight motivated to strive to learn the craft of coffee roasting.​

When I returned to Scotland, I moved to Glasgow where I worked at one of the cities independent roasteries, learning the craft of coffee roasting, how to develop profiles and work differently with different beans.

In 2019, I finally decided to back myself, to take the risk and jump head first into running my own little operation. Thanks to the help of friends and family, Canary Girl Coffee Co. has grown from an idea to a reality.

When it came to my brand, there was never any question. In 2017, whilst in Australia, my Great Granny lost her fight with dementia. She was such a huge part of my upbringing. Afternoons in her house were spent building Anderson Shelters out of couch pillows and learning about life growing up in the 1920s and working as a Canary Girl in Glasgow during the war.

Her stories inspired me then and they continue to inspire me now.

Robbie x