PROXIMAL IS PEOPLE

From fifteen years of age, in the little town of Lilydale, I started my first job as a hopeful hospitality worker. A simple job of serving people, waiting tables, and if I was lucky, making coffees. With a selfless attitude towards work and a lust for learning, I continued to work in cafes throughout my years studying teaching at Deakin University. Making coffee for friends and locals became more like a hobby than it was work. I loved it. My passion for people and hospitality lead me to question if I should pursue a career in secondary teaching, so I made the decision to travel, intending to discover who I wanted to be. Drawn towards coffee shops like a magnet, I found myself searching for local businesses to become a part of, share a community, and feel at home.

There is something magical about cafe culture that creates endless opportunities to build real and close relationships with people, and through featuring as the 'Aussie barista' at countless coffee bars in Ireland, Spain and Germany, I realised that I had found who I wanted to be, and how I wanted my life to look. Culture and community are incredibly powerful and captivating concepts, guiding us into how we live, and influencing the decisions we make. Personally, they have opened doors for me that I am so fortunate to have stepped through, and have created friendships that I am lucky to share. 

I returned from travel, inspired and with the world at my feet. An opportunity came to me to start a mobile coffee business, and I eagerly grasped it, and built what is now known as 'Double Park', a coffee cart mounted onto the sidecar of a vintage Royal Enfield motorbike. This was an incredible business to put my seemingly unlimited energy into, and it quickly became an icon in the Melbourne coffee community. I learned what it meant to create culture, maintain relationships and run a business from the ground up. After the success of building a great business, my partners and I decided to sell the company and head down our own paths. My path, however, was a parallel road continuing along the same direction.

I started roasting coffee. A big change from running events and barista-ing at the cafe, a big change but with a familiar purpose. I wanted to expand my ability to connect with people, and create true friendships in multiple local communities, all at once. Becoming a supplier to coffee shops, meant that I could sincerely be a part of others' lives on a genuine level. Creating deep relationships with more people speaks to the importance of the concepts of culture and community, and opens the doors for me to impact others positively, every single day.

By supporting small establishments, the purpose of Proximal is to create a space for friends, family and strangers to feel welcome, safe, and at home. A seemingly small mission, but one that I feel has, and will have a lasting and important impact on the day to day lives of the loved ones around us. 

Proximal has recently opened the doors to its new home in Lilydale. A space for us to execute our wholesale branch to the highest standard, and a space for you to spend time with us, getting to know each other and creating new friendships. Our doors are always open, so reach out when you need us, and even when you don't, so that we can stay Proximal.

-Ev.