Community Spotlight: Aly Uyeno

This Community Spotlight is an exciting collab between two talented baristas at Groundwork on Traction Ave.: journalism student Nancy Morales and ceramicist Aly Uyeno.

“I have been with the company for a little over five years,” Nancy says. “ I love the community and support I have received over the years. My favorite coffee bag from Groundwork that I always get is the Bitches Brew blend. I’m also a student at Cal State Long Beach where I will be graduating soon!” 

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The Los Angeles Arts District at 6 a.m. is empty and quiet. Traction Ave. is rather dark but the soft glow from the streetlights brings some comfort to a lonely morning. With hours left before the usual city life and noise picks up, Groundwork’s Traction Ave. cafe is ready to open with freshly baked pastries and hot batch brew coffee. The longing for a few extra hours of sleep is the hardest part of opening a café; nevertheless, Alyscia Uyeno kindly greets the morning regulars as they come strolling in minutes after opening. With six years at Groundwork, Aly is a familiar face to those who frequent the café. In a way, she’s become part of their morning routine in which a friendly chat and some fresh coffee is typical at every visit to the café.

Outside of being a barista, Aly is a budding ceramicist with a growing online business, Midori Studio Ceramics. A craft not practiced since high school, Aly decided it was time to get back into it again.

 “Pottery lets me express myself more creatively, it just makes me happier,” she says.

 Aly Uyeno

 A barista’s search for a creative outlet 

A rigid routine to balance personal life and work is essential for Aly. A schedule helped manage her day and put her anxieties at ease. However, she eventually felt like she was missing something in her daily life. She longed to add something onto her plate to be fulfilled.

“I do like routine, and I like doing the same s*** all the time and watching Bob Burgers every day. I think deep down I knew that I needed to get out of the routine. You can't eat the same thing every day. You have to do something else. You have to eat something else. [Pottery] has taught me to be more open with my routine and my choices,” Aly says. 

So, last year, Aly made room in her schedule to take classes at a local pottery studio. The familiarity of the craft started to come back to her and her skills improved. A sense of calm and focus falls over her as she spins the clay and carefully forms her pieces with her fingers. After drying the piece, she glazes it and fires it in the kiln. With hours invested into the process, Aly is excited to show her finished pieces to her friends, family, and coworkers.

“When I'm doing pottery, I feel at peace. It's just you and the clay and whatever you made… it's like a test of your own skill, but it's also really peaceful at the same time,” Aly says.

The Groundwork community came together to support Aly’s business

In late fall, Aly sold and displayed her work in the showcases hosted by her pottery studio. She received positive feedback on her work, and she was able to garner enough clientele to start setting up her online business. Soon after, she opened up her commissions and received a request from Groundwork to make matcha bowls for all of their cafe locations. With the help of her store manager, Groundwork extended a contract to Aly to sell her other pieces at the Traction location. This opportunity led to more commissions placed by the regulars that Aly sees every morning. The past three batches of her ceramic pieces have all sold out: 

“This happened because I had so much support from the people I work with. The first people who get to see my work are my coworkers. Their support is really important to me because if they like my stuff it brings me joy,” Aly says. 

Finding balance between business and creative expression

Currently, Midori Studio Ceramics is on hiatus. Aly’s break in selling was spurred by her personal desire to study ceramics more for artistic expression. Aly continues to create more pieces at the pottery studio so she can comfortably try different techniques and new materials that are challenging to handle, such as porcelain. Her style of minimalism and soft colors is evolving as she tries to create bigger sculptural art pieces with an emphasis on intricate details and sophisticated designs. 

“As a creative, if you're constantly making stuff for other people, you're emptying your own cup. It’s never going to be as fulfilling as just creating what you feel,” she says. 

She plans to come back with more pieces for her business soon. Customers should keep an eye out for more pieces from Midori Studio Ceramics.

The fulfillment Aly has received from pottery has grown more than a hobby and it means more than a business; it’s become personally influential in Aly’s life.

“I enjoy the mindfulness. It's almost meditative. It helps you learn to let go. It helps you learn to be okay with s*** not working out. A lot of stuff breaks or fails. You spend so much time throwing stuff out or having to let something go mid-process that it helps you learn to let other things go in life that aren't important,” she says.

Aly exemplifies what Groundwork finds important, as her role as a barista helps create a friendly community around the Groundwork cafe, where her creative work also highlights the local talent in the Arts District neighborhood. 

Written by 

Nancy Morales