Starting at age nine, he worked in his father's bodega after school, learning customer service and work ethic. His dad gave him autonomy to make mistakes and interact with customers, a foundation that shaped his later success founding Philz Coffee.
What made you want to go work on it with your dad? When I was like 9 years old, it— that was when it was a bodega, like a little corner grocery store, and I would help him after school. Sometimes I didn't want to, but I think he was trying to teach me work ethic, so I would go and help him. And, you know, there was just a really good bond. And no one loves you like your parents love you. They want the best for you. But when you're a kid, you want to get away from them. When you're growing up into your teens, you kind of want your full independence and You know, you've been influenced by your parents, so you wanna be influenced by the world. So you kind of pull away, but I actually went in a little bit deeper. And you live with your parents at home, but I worked with my dad, and it was amazing because he really gave me autonomy, let me make mistakes. I learned a lot. I love learning. And I got the chance to help a lot of customers too. So that's how that happened. And then we just kept doing it. And then eventually Philz was founded and we got a lot busier.
