Paola Trujillo was born in Pescador, a beautiful and small coffee paradise located in the north of Cauca Department, where she grew up surrounded by the fragrance of coffee blossom and quiet natural landscapes.
– “I’m a blessed person because I have the most loving and cute family. My mother taught me the values of sharing knowledge and my dad gave me the opportunity to work with coffee “the project of my life” and my sister gave me a big reason to wake up day by day – she taught me the values of true love. I went to the National University in Manizales and studied Chemical Engineering, at the beginning it was a difficult experience because I was away from my family. After I finished studies, I worked in a soap factory for a few months and at that point I had a big dilemma and I realised that I didn’t like my job and I didn’t have any idea what my objectives in the life were, then I decided to return back home. At this moment my grandmother passed away and my father was very sad, I proposed to manage the farm during the harvest that year. I never imagined how this proposal will change my life forever. Little by little, I learned the diaries and activities at the farm and I got to know more neighbours who invited me to their farms and gave me many tips to practice back at Patio Bonito. The first year was a disaster because the prices were very low and the quality of coffee was very bad, we had one option “Reinvent Patio Bonito” and the only way was to invest our time in specialty coffees. We started working in small changes and we learnt from many coffee friends who had been with us for 9 years helping us to increase the quality of our coffees. During seven and a half years I worked with Exporter, when I started working with them I was convinced that I can change the lives of other coffee families, because I experienced that change myself at my own farm with some positive results. I had the opportunity to work with many producers in Cauca, Huila and Nariño. It was wonderful to share experiences, learning with them and growing together. They gave me the most important reason to love my job, with each meeting I had a new opportunity to motivate the coffee workers to work together with sustainable productivity and quality in mind. I was very happy because I gave them a new perspective to sell their coffee, I saw in their eyes the hope of a better well-being for their families and the feeling was priceless. Four months later, I returned to my family farm because I wanted to strengthen the processes and quality of Patio Bonito. Our vision as a coffee family is to offer transparent high quality coffee with traceability and above all – made with a lot of love”.