Annie Leverich founded First Light Coffee earlier this year and operates the online coffee and wellness merchandise brand from her home in Deale on Chesapeake Bay's Western Shore. The company sells freshly roasted coffee and plans in-person pop-ups for coffee service and bean sales this fall and winter while expanding green coffee sourcing. First Light currently donates 5% of profits to World Central Kitchen. Leverich spent eight years at USAID as a press and communications adviser in the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, focusing on crisis response, food security and livelihoods. Former colleagues have provided connections to coffee-growing communities. Leverich received notice in late March 2025 that her final day would be July 1, 2025, took voluntary leave in April, and launched online sales in early 2025.
Since starting First Light, former colleagues have reached out with connections to coffee-growing communities, and I'm excited to build on that,
While I worked around food security and livelihoods more broadly - and many of those communities certainly include coffee production - I didn't manage coffee-specific programs,
I came in [to the coffee business] as a serious home coffee nerd who really focused on self-education and relationship-building.
Collection
[
|
...
]