IWCA Storytelling: Daniele Alkmin Carvalho Mohallem of IWCA Brazil Shares Her Journey of Innovation, Leadership & Global Impact

In this powerful Storytelling session from SCA 2025, Daniele Alkmin Carvalho Mohallem, board member of IWCA Brazil, shares how she transformed her personal journey into a platform that empowers women and builds new global pathways in coffee.

When Daniele Alkmin Carvalho Mohallem first stepped into the coffee industry, she wasn’t following a typical path — she was stepping into a legacy.

Born into a coffee-producing family in Brazil, Daniele’s early career took her in a different direction. She studied business administration, worked alongside her husband in engineering, and for years balanced her professional life while raising two daughters. But the pull of coffee—and her father's encouragement—never left. In 2015, she made the leap into the coffee sector full-time, joining her father to learn every facet of their family’s coffee operation.

Daniele quickly recognized that producing coffee was only part of the equation. If she wanted to create long-term value, especially for producers like her family, she needed to deeply understand specialty coffee markets. She dove into cupping, quality control, and market education, studying relentlessly to position her coffees successfully on the international stage.

In 2016, she founded Partners Coffee, a company dedicated to connecting Brazilian producers with buyers around the world. Through her work, she began attending global trade shows, building new networks, and opening doors for producers back home. But it wasn’t enough to build her own business — Daniele wanted to create a larger, more inclusive platform that could lift many women together.

The Power of Collective Impact

Back in her home region, Daniele helped form Café Our City, a women’s coffee collective that now includes producers, roasters, baristas, and traders working collaboratively across the entire coffee value chain. Today, Café Our City includes more than 170 women, many of whom previously lacked access to the markets, education, and business relationships that could help grow their farms and businesses.

This local organizing effort also contributed to the extraordinary growth of IWCA Brazil, which today stands as the largest IWCA chapter in the world, with more than 1,100 members across 13 regional subchapters. Brazil’s immense size and diverse growing regions make this network not only expansive but also uniquely dynamic—bringing together women from every corner of the country’s coffee landscape.

“IWCA has been a place for me—and so many others—to learn, connect, and realize what’s possible,” Daniele shared. “Together, we’ve created a community where women support women, across the entire value chain.”

Innovation Meets Purpose

Daniele's entrepreneurial spirit continues to push boundaries. Drawing from her years of experience, she recently launched a new international auction platform designed to directly connect producers and roasters in real time—bringing transparency and innovation to green coffee buying. The project was funded with support from the Brazilian government and reflects Daniele’s ongoing commitment to creating new opportunities for producers at every scale.

“It’s not always easy,” she admits. “There are days when I’ve wanted to give up. But every time I think about my daughters, my mother, and the women coming behind us—I find the strength to keep going.”

A Vision Rooted in Family and Legacy

For Daniele, coffee is deeply personal. It’s the aroma that reminds her of mornings with her mother, who now battles Alzheimer’s. It’s the business her father invited her to join. It’s the future she is building for her two young daughters — a future where doors are open for the next generation of women in coffee.

Her journey is one of resilience, innovation, and community — proving how one woman’s leadership can ripple out across an entire industry, changing lives and shaping coffee’s future.