Women in Coffee: Céline Jaffredou

What do you do? Tell us a little about your journey.

I currently work as a business developer at Belco in France. My role is to assist roasters in France, the UK and Ireland with their green coffee sourcing as well as their growth.

I’ve always been passionate about the culinary arts and everything that surrounds them. I’ve had the privilege of working with artisans, farmers, chefs, coffee roasters, and entrepreneurs, all driven by their passion and the desire to share their craft. Helping some of them bring their dreams to life has been an incredibly rewarding experience.

For the past ten years, I lived abroad for both study and work. My journey started in the U.S. and then took me to Canada, the UK, and Latin America. Along the way, I’ve supported projects and entrepreneurs in their growth and expansion across different industries—from cosmetics and perfumery to cheesemaking and coffee. These experiences taught me discipline, commitment, and the importance of doing things right.

In 2019, I decided to return to France, my home country, to be closer to my family. I moved to Bordeaux to work at Belco and started to learn about the other face of coffee: looking towards the origin.

For me, coffee simply started as a product I loved and a great carrier of happiness. I see coffee as a link that brings people together. We almost all grew up waking up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee, had maybe our first date, gossiping session with friends, family time or even job interviews over a cup of coffee. For a long time, I didn’t think that the drink that was with me all those times had a story too.

I was introduced to specialty coffee when I started at Belco. The first step was understanding the quality: I spent three full months at the quality lab. I was mind blowing!

I remember my first cupping session, it was almost ceremonial, where I learned to appreciate the coffee with everything it has to offer. Then, you learn more about the people behind the cup, what it takes to get the said cup we’ve been so casually drinking without thinking about it. I got hooked, now there isn’t a cup of coffee I don’t fully appreciate.

Now, I ‘m learning more every day on the topic. The definition itself of specialty coffee is being challenged today: is it about the score? The sustainability? I love being part of the controversy.

There is so much to say on the topic. Like many other industries, it’s a man’s world--at least traditionally speaking.

Thankfully, things change, and I can see women taking on bigger, more strategic roles within the industry. There are so many aspects within the coffee industry and all of them treat the subject of gender differently.

Personally, the challenges I faced were very different from one country to another. In New York, I was young, unexperienced, and ready to take on everything! I frequently interacted with male F&B directors, and on occasion, their conduct crossed professional boundaries, veering into inappropriate. This experience, I believe, is shared by many women in sales, where one can feel objectified and that their personal presentation is conflated with the product being sold. While I acknowledge that men may also encounter similar situations, the nature of these interactions for women often carries a distinct inappropriate, undertone.

When I moved to Latin America, I was quite surprised about the role of women in the business. Here, I worked mostly with women. They were running the F&B department for the hospitality groups I was prospecting locally. The topics of the conversations where (as they should) mainly focused on the products and the service I had to offer. The sorority was also very strong there, women supporting women. It was quite new to me. In the US the environment made us compete with each other rather than support each other. There were also men in the industry but they rather challenged me on the fact that I was young and French rather than on my gender. The same as women did.

Today, I’m surrounded by women! About 80% of the workforce at Belco are women, even is the agencies at the coffee origin. The origin is where the disparities of gender are the most obvious, especially in the farms and cooperatives. More and more women are taking bigger roles, but it is true that the agricultural world is mostly run by men.

I’m very hopeful about it though, lately we imported coffee by cargo sail and the captain was a woman. It is true there are in minority, but the change is happening.

I feel our role is to talk about it and most of all, act upon it.

This is a hard question for me. I grew up surrounded by men and few women. However, I was lucky enough to be treated as equal. I had to be as good, as efficient, as fast, as intelligent as the others. My gender wasn’t accepted as an excuse. I’ve always been given the same opportunities than the men around me. My dad was raised by his grandmother, Amélie, and he always talks about her. I never met her, she passed before I was born, but my dad had the upmost respect for her. I guess she is the reason why I grew up in such an environment. I’m grateful for her and how she raised the men of my family.