In a wooden building nestled in the middle of Klawock sits Skya’ana Coffee Co., a local coffee roasting company that supplies the coffee shops catering to locals down the road in Craig. Tina Isaacs Steffen has owned and run coffee shops for more than 12 years, and in 2016, with support from Spruce Root’s Path to Prosperity competition, she expanded the business to include coffee roasting. Steffen celebrates tradition and heritage, with deep roots and investment in the community. Even the name, Skya’ana, is a tribute to her native culture and comes from the Haida word meaning “to be awake.” Steffen says, “I could go anywhere, but I want to be here in my community. Building and supporting the people here is what’s important to me.” So far, Tina and her son have attended coffee school and made visits to the farms where they buy their beans, all in the name of bringing better and more sustainable coffee and growth to their community.
