Shanita Nicholas and Amanda-Jane Thomas
Sip & Sonder | Los Angeles
April 2024
Growing up an army brat and traveling around the world, Shanita Nicholas always longed for a third space; a place where anyone could belong. She went on to study chemical engineering in college and found herself drawn to agricultural systems and, more importantly, the social responsibility that comes with them. Nicholas attended Columbia Law School, focusing on private equity and entrepreneurship. While working at a law firm, she met friend and future business partner, Amanda-Jane Thomas. The two often chatted about their ideas, hopes, and the challenges they faced, especially those that come with being among the few Black women in a white-male-dominated field.
Amanda-Jane Thomas never thought she would find herself in the food and beverage industry. With a degree in Sociology from Harvard College and a law degree from Harvard Law School, Thomas was eager to make a difference while working at an international law firm. However, she felt that her career as an attorney did not fulfill her desire to be an agent of social change. Thomas’ time with Nicholas, along with a community of fellow Black women in law, became a safe space for her, and even when the two parted ways, they continued to stay in touch. Their conversations turned towards social change, shared environments, and, of course, coffee. Thomas and Nicholas founded Sonder Impact soon after; a non-profit committed to empowering Black communities by supporting professional and personal development.
In 2016, Nicholas and Thomas continued to zero in on coffee, specifically as a medium to share their experiences. Thomas’ mission to create accessible public gathering spaces that could transform communities, coupled with Nicholas’s rising interest in coffee and roasting, led to the creation of their coffee shop, Sip & Sonder, in 2017. With their first location in Inglewood, an outpost at The Music Center, and wholesale accounts across the country, Sip & Sonder offers not only sustainable, thoughtfully roasted coffee sourced from global communities of color, but also an inviting meeting space for all members of the community.
