photo: Mamacitas Cafe
Renee Geesler and Shana Lancaster opened Mamacitas Cafe last year as a mobile cafe and just celebrated their 1st anniversary. They wanted to start a small business that empowers young women with mentoring and professional skills to one day start their own businesses.
photo: Mamacitas Cafe
I met Renee and Shana for lunch the other day and it was really inspiring to hear about what they’re doing. They’ve been popping-up at events around town for the past year, but the plan is to hire even more young women and open a brick and mortar in Downtown Oakland sometime this fall. This will be an incredible training experience because the owners involve the staff in business decisions along the way.
The cafe will be open for breakfast and lunch and healthy comfort food will be on the menu. This includes their famous donuts, as well as hot cereal, fresh fruit, egg dishes and Red Bay Coffee.
But let’s go back to those donuts…
I tasted the Cardamom Donuts at the Oakland Indie Awards and had to get another serving. They were so delicious I woke up the next morning with donuts on my mind.
Let’s just say I can’t wait to try their other dishes too.
Renee and Shana just launched their Kiva Zip Loan campaign and they need our help! Funds raised will be used to hire more staff, get a new mixer and any other necessities. We can donate microloans (starting at $5) that will be matched by an investor. So a $20 loan becomes $40 and on and on….
It’s a local business with an empowering mission and delicious donuts. I can’t think of a better cause to support.
Christina Mitchell
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