Fanya Randall's Story...

Fanya Randall is the founder of NOW COFFEE

Here’s her story.

I have had many incidents with bullying but 3 stick out in my memory. The first story is about my father, who was originally from Spain, who immigrated to the US at 18 and became a legal citizen to find a better life for himself. He met my mother and they moved to Montana to be near my mother’s family. Back then, there weren’t many Hispanic families in the small town where I grew up. My father who had a thick accent and a unique name definitely stuck out in a crowd. 

He worked at an Aluminum plant as a welder. My mom told me that he would be drinking coffee at work and would find cigarette ashes in his coffee. I remember countless times strangers would give him dirty looks or say things under their breath when we would walk by.  One time he was stopped by patrol and they searched his whole vehicle for several hours for no reason at all. Luckily my father had a good personality which helped him when he was faced with constant challenges. It’s heartbreaking to hear about all of the stories he endured, and yet he still had so much respect for the US and was proud to be an American citizen.

The second story is about my sister who was diagnosed with Leukemia when she was nine years old.  After chemo she had lost all of her hair and so my mother bought her a wig.  I was in Kindergarten at the time and one day during recess there was a lot of yelling and commotion on the playground. I ran over and I saw my sister without her wig on.  Some kid had taken it off of her head and was making fun of her bald head. I remember standing there from a distance, frozen about what was happening. I didn’t want her to see me and feel more embarrassed, so I never spoke up to help stop it.  A teacher’s aide saw what had happened and quickly got the wig back and took my sister inside the school to console her. Ever since that incident, I promised myself that I would always speak up to help someone even if I was the only one.  My sister passed away when she was 13 but even though she had a short life, she was wise beyond her years. She had to endure what most wouldn’t even dream of and she always had a beautiful soul during the darkest times. I named my daughter after her to ensure that my sister’s spirit is remembered.  

The last story is about my son, who is the reason I started NOW Coffee. My son has Autism and sensory processing disorder and has been a target for bullies.  He has certain developmental delays and one of them is comprehending if someone is joking or being serious which makes him vulnerable when communicating to others.  One particular incident influenced my decision to change my entire career and mission in life. I was told by one of his therapists that a weighted vest would help him tremendously with his focus and help him calm down in a classroom setting.  I bought him one and he wore it to school the following week.

One night when I was tucking in my kids, my son had said “head hurt, head hurt” so I asked my daughter (who is in the same class) if she knew what had happened. She said that an older kid pushed him down at recess and kicked him in the head and said that he was weird.  I immediately asked my daughter, why didn’t you help your brother? At the same time, I could relate to my daughter about why she froze and didn’t know how to help her brother (since I did the same with my sister). Since that day I talk to my kids daily about speaking up and speaking out to help themselves or others if someone is being unkind and to tell an adult.  I am clear that this is something that needs to be actively taught, just like we teach our kids to say please and thank you. My goal is to help educate children on empathy, inclusion and embracing those who are different so we can raise kind leaders for the future. Mental health awareness education and anti-bullying curriculum is critical to have in our schools so we can change the statistics on bullying and suicide.

Thank you for reading my story and I am so grateful for your support.