LOUISVILLE, Ky — Economic growth continues in Louisville’s West End for Black-owned businesses. One West End native has turned her love for coffee into a business and this month has opened her first brick and mortar shop: Julee’s Mocha.
“This is a food desert and a lot of people think, ‘Oh they are not going to want a coffee shop,’ but that is actually the total opposite,” Ausha Hilliman, owner of Julee’s Mocha said.
Hilliman spent years as a barista, even becoming a Starbucks Coffee Master, before deciding to go out on her own. Julee’s Mocha began as a mobile-only business but now occupies an area inside the Nia Center on West Broadway. The shop will have its grand opening on June 24.
As a West End native, Hilliman explains on this side of town, coffee shops are few.
“Some local chains were not willing to come past 9th (street) and major chains were not either,” Hilliman said. “So, I bought my house on the West End and I said if I’m going to continue this coffee journey, I might as well try to open something in my neighborhood.”
Through the help of organizations like the Russell Business Incubator, AMPED (The Academy of Music Production Education and Development), and the Urban League, that dream has turned into a reality. All while showing the next generation of Black business owners they can succeed too, regardless of what they want to pursue.
“Hopefully, I can be a role model for people who have a passion, a strong hobby, they want to take it to the next level and have some doubts to if they can pull it off,” Hilliman said.
Hilliman hopes to break the stigma of the West End and show everything that you can find success there, even if it’s one cup of joe at a time.