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Boba and business: A young supervisor does it all


Photo by Paola Valenzuela.

As you make your way through Convoy District, you may come across The Korean Rose: a small boba shop with hand painted artwork hung up on the walls and staff polaroids near the register. Behind the register is Carly Cochran, Lead Supervisor – that same lively worker that painted the artwork you saw as you walked in. As she starts a cheerful conversation, you might forget what drink you were planning to order – but don’t worry – she can help you with that too.


As Lead Supervisor, Cochran has the main responsibility of running the boba shop all on her own such as taking and preparing food and drink orders, calculating tips and payroll and ordering supplies needed for the shop.


Photo by Paola Valenzuela.

Holding the position of supervisor since July of this year, Cochran is also balancing an international business major as a third year student at San Diego State University.


“At first it was really stressful, especially because I was just doing online summer classes and I was kind of thrown into this position, but as time has gone by, I found little tricks I can do to make it more easy and efficient,” Cochran said.


Cochran has only worked at The Korean Rose since April and has struggled being taken seriously as a young supervisor running the whole establishment on her own.


“It is weird for me to have to be the boss sometimes, especially because I am one of the youngest people there, but I think it’s definitely given me a lot of lessons,” Cochran said.


Andre Nguyen, a barista at The Korean Rose, has also learned lessons about work dynamics through his three years working at the boba shop.


Photo by Paola Valenzuela.

“I appreciated the flexibility in the schedules which allowed me to be able to balance work and my personal life very well. I met a lot of good people that I still keep in contact with today, but I also have had my fair share of bad experiences where I had to deal with people overstepping boundaries and putting work onto me and others,” Nguyen said. “Since stepping in as supervisor, Carly has done well at bringing the store back up on its feet and making sure that the needs of employees are mostly met.”


Cochran enjoys the time she’s spent at The Korean Rose and hopes to further improve herself, not just for her own sake, but for the wellness of her employees.


“I love my employees, they’re like my family,” Cochran said. “I want to make sure my employees have a good working experience, especially because a lot of the time this is people’s first job and I want them to have a good starting point. I want to be beneficial to them.”



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