WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:26.720 Alright, now the latte, do you want to throw the hot latte or ice latte? 00:26.720 --> 00:28.720 Any plans for the weekend? 00:28.720 --> 00:30.720 Hi, I'm David. 00:30.720 --> 00:35.720 David James is still new to La Crosse, but he's loving it. 00:35.720 --> 00:37.720 She's like, I didn't get it. 00:37.720 --> 00:40.720 And I'm the owner of OO Coffee. 00:40.720 --> 00:43.720 I love what I do. I love this place. 00:43.720 --> 00:46.720 I love what this place means to a lot of people. 00:46.720 --> 00:50.720 If this is the most complicated your day gets, that's going to be a great day, right? 00:50.720 --> 00:53.720 When I can get somebody to fall in love with coffee, 00:53.720 --> 00:57.720 or when I can get people to fall in love with the community, 00:57.720 --> 00:59.720 I'm just happy. 00:59.720 --> 01:04.720 David has happily fallen in love with his new community. 01:04.720 --> 01:08.720 Just what he was seeking after a move from the big city of Denver. 01:08.720 --> 01:12.720 Thank you. Have a good rest of your conference. 01:12.720 --> 01:16.720 Growing up, he'd spent summers in rural Wisconsin. 01:16.720 --> 01:21.720 My grandma passed away and me and my wife went to her funeral 01:21.720 --> 01:24.720 and we just sat on my uncle's porch 01:24.720 --> 01:28.720 and just listened to just quiet. 01:28.720 --> 01:31.720 And in that conversation, we were just like, 01:31.720 --> 01:35.720 what if we lived in a place this peaceful? 01:35.720 --> 01:40.720 That quiet moment set in motion a move to Wisconsin. 01:40.720 --> 01:44.720 This is just like the most beautiful area of the country. 01:44.720 --> 01:47.720 We felt pulled here. 01:48.720 --> 01:50.720 Okay. 01:50.720 --> 01:56.720 Just finding this location to open his dream coffee shop was picture perfect. 01:56.720 --> 01:58.720 We're right here. 01:58.720 --> 02:03.720 David brought this painting from Denver where it had sat on his living room wall. 02:03.720 --> 02:09.720 There he had been a champion barista, an owner of a coffee truck. 02:09.720 --> 02:13.720 The landscape was painted by his grandmother decades ago 02:13.720 --> 02:18.720 and it shows this view where today, O.O. coffee sits. 02:18.720 --> 02:21.720 Something David took to heart. 02:21.720 --> 02:23.720 I just think that it's fate. 02:23.720 --> 02:28.720 I've been staring at this place my whole life. 02:28.720 --> 02:33.720 Another thing that seemed just right to David was the name O.O. 02:33.720 --> 02:37.720 Essentially it's named after my brother in a roundabout way. 02:37.720 --> 02:40.720 Two hands make up the logo for O.O. coffee. 02:40.720 --> 02:42.720 It's a tribute to David's brother. 02:43.720 --> 02:45.720 Still want to share a beat with you guys. 02:45.720 --> 02:46.720 I just made it. 02:46.720 --> 02:47.720 Check it out. 02:47.720 --> 02:52.720 As a musician and activist, he was known as Iggy Igloo. 02:52.720 --> 02:58.720 In a nod to the brothers shared native Alaskan heritage. 02:58.720 --> 03:03.720 He understood his path really early. 03:03.720 --> 03:10.720 He knew he wanted to follow in the guidance of our ancestors from an early age. 03:10.720 --> 03:12.720 He was at Standing Rock. 03:12.720 --> 03:18.720 He was a water rights activist and he got colon cancer and stomach cancer 03:18.720 --> 03:22.720 and then passed away a few years ago. 03:22.720 --> 03:30.720 His signature tattoo went across his knuckles, spelling Iggy Igloo. 03:30.720 --> 03:36.720 Me and a lot of my family, we all got this pinky tattoo to remember him, 03:36.720 --> 03:40.720 which is the O.O. from Igloo on his knuckle. 03:40.720 --> 03:46.720 O.O. became the name of the shop where David pays honor to Iggy. 03:46.720 --> 03:51.720 Hey, do you want a latte? 03:51.720 --> 03:56.720 So many things in this cafe are just shrines to him, basically, 03:56.720 --> 03:59.720 including the activism that I do. 03:59.720 --> 04:02.720 David maintains a food pantry, 04:02.720 --> 04:07.720 donates coffee service, and insists on paying a fair wage. 04:07.720 --> 04:13.720 My barista is the highest paid barista in the state of Wisconsin. 04:13.720 --> 04:17.720 I thought he made a typo at first because I'm like, there's no way that 04:17.720 --> 04:20.720 this is a starting wage for a part-time barista. 04:20.720 --> 04:22.720 He's also banned tipping, 04:22.720 --> 04:25.720 and you're all set, while still elevating service. 04:25.720 --> 04:30.720 You've got to pay a wage that respects the person's time. 04:30.720 --> 04:36.720 But second, you have to make sure that that employee is respected here. 04:36.720 --> 04:43.720 And then third, you make a promise to your customers that you're going to give good service. 04:43.720 --> 04:45.720 Mary? 04:45.720 --> 04:50.720 The promise of O.O. Coffee is the product of David's intentions, 04:50.720 --> 04:54.720 to start anew in a peaceful place, to honor his brother, 04:54.720 --> 04:58.720 and create community around his love of coffee. 04:58.720 --> 05:03.720 Being able to see myself in what I produce is really important, 05:03.720 --> 05:05.720 and I think that we've lost that. 05:05.720 --> 05:10.720 It's something that I can look at every day and really be proud of. 05:10.720 --> 05:12.720 Thank you so much. 05:28.720 --> 05:31.720 Thank you.