We had the good fortune of connecting with Hanh Nguyen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hanh, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
July Moon Bakery & Café is a new Asian bakery and café concept in Alpharetta, Georgia located at The Maxwell featuring bánh mì, bubble tea, coffee, and dessert. We are committed to providing our community with consistent and high-quality Asian food and beverage specialties made in small batches with local, fresh, seasonal, and natural ingredients. Many gluten-friendly and non-dairy options are available.

Our mission is to promote a unique cultural experience while unifying diverse communities, partner with local minority- and women-owned businesses, and raise funds for our favorite charities.

Ten (10%) percent of all monthly event proceeds benefit Rescue : Freedom International, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that exists to empower the rescue and restoration of those in sexual slavery and to prevent exploitation.

Our monthly Ladies Night Market, on our rooftop, offers a platform and an opportunity for minority-women business owners to network, fellowship, and promote their products and services.

Our monthly Kids Event empowers young and aspiring chefs to learn the science and math behind baking while developing business and leadership skills.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Hanh Nguyen, the owner of July Moon Bakery & Café, is a first-generation Vietnamese immigrant born in a Malaysian refugee camp. She worked her way through college earning a degree at the University of Washington in Seattle concentrating in Geographic Information Systems and International Development.

Hanh has over 20 years of IT experience at Fortune 100 companies leading global operations, hardware/software release management, and system administration. She achieved the Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA) Star Award and certified TSIA Rated Outstanding Assisted, North America…two years in a row! Hanh is a relentless catalyst for proactive changes with outcome-based results to accelerate business growth and drive lean operational efficiencies. She is a champion for quality and continuous improvement when developing comprehensive business requirements and priorities—while maintaining a strong business acumen and an entrepreneurial spirit in a sales-driven, metric-intense environment. Hanh has demonstrated expertise in complex business process automation and mission-critical IT application implementation and training.

I learned that building positive relationships and communications with people is an important part of any work environment. Tomorrow is not promised and people can be gone the next day. How do you want to remember that person? What exchange did you have with that person? Was the work that you produced together fun and fulfilling? What personal facts do you know about the person? And how do you want to be remembered? What impression and legacy will you leave behind?

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When my friends and family come into town, I first take them to my shop at July Moon Bakery & Café for my favorite drinks (Vietnamese drip coffee with pellet ice topped with pink Himalayan salt cheese foam and dulce de leche drizzle and/or fresh taro milk tea with brown sugar boba), inhale pandan dessert waffles with fresh shredded coconut, delight in matcha green tea soft serve ice cream, and soak in the sun on the rooftop.

Then, I would take them to eat and shop their way through Downtown Alpharetta, Ponce City Market, and Buford Highway, watch live sports at the various Atlanta stadiums, and go hiking at Amicalola Falls.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
All glory to God! He continues to give me strength, creativity, innovation, strategies, kingdom people, and kingdom resources every day in order for me to succeed and carry out my assignment according to His will. He made this path for me.

How else would you explain the fact that I have no restaurant background or experience and was able to secure a business loan and a prime location? Banks normally require that the borrower have a minimum of two years of industry experience and one year of generated revenue and business operations; however, I have none of these. The developer passed on restauranteurs that have multi-businesses with 25-30 years of industry experience and deep pockets. Again, I have none of these.

God kept me motivated through visions and dreams, equipped me to stay prepared and focused, and reminded me of my mission. #perseverance #grit

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julymoonbakeryandcafe

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julymoonbakeryandcafe

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/july-moon-bakery-and-caf%C3%A9-alpharetta

Other: https://goo.gl/maps/P39LmGYqpPVm8BB78

Image Credits
Photo credit: Fred Brooks

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