My day jobs are furloughed entertainment cast member at Disneyland and a leasing agent at a property management company.

Disney was the reason I moved to California—it was a teenage dream of mine to work there. I came here, jobless and knowing no one, got roommates on Craig’s list and a waitressing job to support myself until Disney happened, which actually went faster than I thought it might!

My transition to property management has been a nice break. I’m working for one of the largest property management companies in Orange County and it’s been interesting to learn a new industry. Very different times to be in this role during the pandemic.

My most memorable caffeine was on a hiking adventure in New Zealand. When I graduated from high school, I got to pick a place to go on a trip. This brought out my traveler nerd and I decided I wanted to see where they filmed The Lord of the Rings.

The one thing I hadn’t considered was that our summer was their winter. My mom wanted to go on a two-day hike on the South Island—and in New Zealand, the farther south you go, the colder it is. It was very cold, wet and muddy. Not my speed and let’s just say I was not a good sport about the whole thing.

Everything about that adventure was just unpleasant and it ended with a ferry trip during a huge rainstorm when I was convinced we were going to die.

We came ashore, cold, wet and tired. There was a café and there I found the biggest, most beautiful cup of chai tea. It was warm. It was spicy. It was an absolute lifesaver. For years I dreamed about that chai!

Ten years later my family got to go back to New Zealand and we found the café again: Moa Brewing Company in Picton in case you’re headed that way.

My current caffeine of choice is matcha. I’ll drink it at any temp—cold I especially like it with coconut cream.

My favorite place for caffeine is Dutch Bros, which is a staple in the Northwest. I grew up on the coast of Oregon and it was the “cool place” in high school. There was a whole straw code—a pink straw from one of the servers meant you were cool; an orange or green straw did not! The town cool guy worked there and my friends and I spent a lot of time getting coffee there.

The people I’d love to share a cup of caffeine with are Michelle Obama, Taylor Swift and Vicky Franchino!

I just think Michelle is the most amazing person. I’ve read her book, watched her documentary. She’s used her voice to drive change for women, people of color, kids. I’d just like to talk to her—or even be a fly on the wall.

Taylor has been her own person and navigated a tough industry. I’d love to talk with her and feel we could be girlfriends.

Vicky is far away in Wisconsin and it would be great to have a coffee with her in person!

World problem that could be solved with the right amount of caffeine: There are so many issues that will require more than caffeine to fix. But here’s one we might be able to tackle if we use caffeine to become more awake and aware: reducing plastics and trash in the ocean. If that caffeine helped us reduce/reuse/recycle, maybe we could save some turtles and protect our oceans.