While most 17-year-olds are focused on homework and part-time jobs, Mataya Oakland took a different path.
After graduating from high school early, she launched her own business and is already making an impact in her community.
Oakland owns and operates The Bean Machine, a mobile coffee trailer she opened in October before she could even buy a lottery ticket.
"The opportunity this has given me, and the fact that I am 17 years old running a business, is pretty cool," Oakland said.
What makes her journey unique is that she finished school early, graduating from the HiSET program at Salish Kootenai College at just 16 years old.
"I just decided public school wasn't for me and decided to go the homeschool route," Oakland said. "In 30-some odd years, I was the first 16-year-old to graduate from the HiSET program."
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Oakland's drive didn't stop there. She worked multiple jobs, from babysitting to house-sitting, saving up to buy a trailer that would become the home base for her new business.
"I did a lot of this out of pocket for myself. I had some money saved up. I wasn't saving for this. I didn't really know what it was saved up for, but I used that to help in just paying along the way, doing side jobs, babysitting, house-sitting, things like that, just a little bit," Oakland said. "My grandma helped me get a loan for this business, which was not very much, which is actually pretty cool, but I don't have a huge amount to pay back."
Oakland and her grandpa spent two months renovating the trailer. In the late fall, she opened her new window to the next chapter in her future.
"There's never been a day that I hated being a barista. It might take me a while to get out of bed, but I love everything about it," Oakland said.
Oakland starts her day differently from other teens her age. She wakes up, gets ready, then goes to her grandpa's, where the trailer is located, makes sure she has everything she needs, drives it to her location, backs it up, plugs it in, and makes sure everything is set out.
The mobile coffee shop has been welcomed by the community. One customer noted the convenience, saying it's much nicer because there isn't really a coffee shop near them.
Oakland hopes to stay mobile, traveling to local events in the summer, and eventually open a brick-and-mortar coffee boutique.
The coffee shop is located in Pablo at Pablo Family Foods.
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