Meet Sierra Madre's Baristas: Part III

I was in near closing last night as I still have a couple of employees to interview for my lifelong quest to blog about all of Sierra Madre's baristas.

Before moving a few doors up to continue covering the folks at , I notice there are some new faces. I mentioned this to Lisa Hitchcock who has been working at Starbucks since she sold off her business as a stockbroker in Northern California. 

Lisa has been at Starbucks for two years. One year up north and one year here in Sierra Madre. Her daughter Nadia attends Cal State Fullerton and Lisa came down to be near her and to regroup after being in the financial business for twenty five years.  

She tells me that in two weeks she is moving to Colorado and may work at a Starbucks there as well. She'll also be looking for other job opportunities while living near her sister in Durango.  

I realize I need to get this all down so I pull out my iPad. Who would have thought?  Wait, there’s more. 

Lisa had her own company and was a long-term trader, as I mentioned. But before all that she was born and raised in Pasadena and went to USC where she was a psych major. 

When she graduated, Smith Barney had a stockbroker training program that she got into and graduated number one in her class. In her business she had clients who were with her for 25 years. 

After that amount of time the business wasn't fun anymore and she needed a change. The timing also coincided with her daughter entering college at Cal State Fullerton to study Cultural Anthropology.

She always wanted to work at Starbucks.  She loves the people here and had  become interested from the company a long time ago from a management and investment POV as she watched the company develop. When her daughter got a job at Starbucks she told her mom she’d love working here. So when she sold her business and came on board.

At another point in Lisa's life she lived with her daughter in a rural wilderness area  on 20 acres in Grass Valley, CA.  While living there she published a book called Heart with Wings.  In it, she tells the experience of raising a daughter as a single mom in the wilderness. Check it out on Amazon by clicking the book title link.

What Lisa will miss the most about leaving Sierra Madre Starbucks are her partners and the family atmosphere of the store. She has made real friends here.

But she’s ready to go back to a small rural town, Maybe do some more writing, and spend some time with her sister. Thanks for a great story Lisa. We will miss you.