17-year-old Natalia Jurado was looking for a summer job and ended up brewing one herself.
RIO RANCHO, N.M. — A teenager working as a barista isn’t uncommon but 17-year-old Natalia Jurado is fully brewing up her own job this summer – running her own coffee trailer.
“I’m super happy that I’ve launched my own business and to give it everything that I got and also give school everything I got,” she said.
Jurado is not only the owner of Pink Pour Co. She is a student at Rio Rancho High School and online at Central New Mexico Community College. Back in February, she started serving specialty drinks from home.
“When a bunch of people were coming, it was back-to-back orders but at home and it just wasn’t feasible anymore at home. It was just a tiny little space. So my mom’s like, ‘Let’s just open up the trailer.’,” Jurado said.
By early June, the Pink Pour trailer opened for business.
“I wake up like at 4:30, I hitch that trailer. I make our cold foam. We use No Whip cream here. We use all of our homemade syrups and everything like that,” Jurado said.
Jurado is also in charge of the not-so-fun stuff.
“I never knew about permits, I never knew about business licenses. I never knew about tax gross receipts every single month that you have to be doing,” she said. “I’ve cried multiple times in my truck but I just keep on saying, ‘this is for my future. I’m building a community.’”
Jurado said she has gained quite a few regulars – and she’ll need them this fall.
“Everything is under my mom’s name still but once I turn 18 in September, everything will be transferred to me,” she said.
Building her own career one drink at a time, you’ll often find her in the Rio Rancho Lowe’s parking lot. Her mom still helps out when she has time – and Jurado said she plans to pay her mom back for helping get the trailer opened.
If you stop by the trailer when business is slower, you may see Jurado at work in a different way. She’s doing her senior year of high school online this fall – in addition to online classes at CNM.
“The older you get, the more time you’re wasting and why not start it when you’re still young?” she said.
