Help Twelve Twenty Coffee: Back Victoria's Dream

Beloved community,

We are reaching out to folks in the DMV area to gather urgent support for our dear friend and local coffee entrepreneur, Victoria Smith. Since 2019, Victoria has been building and running one of the few Black woman-owned specialty coffee businesses in the area, Twelve Twenty Coffee. She and her small team have been working incredibly hard, through the challenges of a new business and the trials of the pandemic, providing excellent service and some of the best coffee in the DMV. It’s clear from simply stepping into Twelve Twenty Coffee that she has poured her heart and soul into her beautiful shop.

Despite clearly being a talented professional and dedicated business owner, she has been subjected to ongoing manipulative and discriminatory treatment by the people who own and manage her current space. This has gone on for years, and has culminated in them being ousting with little notice. We are sharing her story and fundraising in support of Victoria and her otherwise thriving business.

Her story began in December of 2019, three months before the pandemic hit. She started as a modest coffee pop-up, and, amidst all the chaos, landed a permanent residency at the Urbanspace activation in the Tysons Galleria food hall in McLean, VA. Through this partnership, she was promised a unique place in a buzzing community space full of other amazing food and beverage vendors, tons of foot traffic, and the opportunity to grow her business in the years ahead. Unfortunately, due to poor management by the partnering companies, almost none of what she was promised ever came to fruition. The food hall still stands almost entirely empty, with only a handful of vendors currently operating there. In addition to falling short of their promises to activate the space, the two entities involved–Urbanspace Tysons and Brookfield Properties (Tysons Galleria), the management arm of the development company that owns the property–have consistently mistreated and neglected to support Victoria.

Urbanspace Tysons and Brookfield Properties have all but refused to promote her businesses, despite having several marketing channels at their disposal. They have yet to replace the signs on the outside of the building with one representing Twelve Twenty Coffee’s presence (the previous occupant’s sign remained for years after leaving). With very little promotional support, Victoria organized pop-up events with other local businesses to help increase traffic and customer awareness in the largely barren food hall space. She was met with accusations of “illegal activity” from management, even with her experience and previous title as the events director for Urbanspace Tysons. With Urbanspace’s departure Brookfield unexpectedly demanded payment from Victoria without explanation or verification, and upon investigation, the accountant for Twelve Twenty found no discrepancies with payments owed. Without notice, they have billed Twelve Twenty for CAM (Common Area Maintenance) charges that were not laid out in any agreement. Yet, Brookfield refused to provide Victoria with a working dishwasher for her shop–that is, until just recently, when they secured a new tenant to take over the space once Twelve Twenty is pushed out. She has been accused of taking up too much of the barely used shared kitchen, of which Twelve Twenty is only occupying two shelves. When Victoria reached out to the mall manager for help, he outright dissuaded her from applying to their small business initiative program. They have bullied her into attending meetings that were not mandatory for other vendors, and when she addressed this, she was told to “shut up and worry about your own business.”

This is only a fraction of the unacceptable treatment Victoria and her team have endured in their time in the Galleria. This experience has exposed Victoria to ongoing harassment, gaslighting, countless micro-aggressions, and being actively silenced. These actions do not align with any of the agreements she made with Urbanspace, and have affected her business to its core. The toll is not just financial: Victoria is Type 1 diabetic, and the stress of this experience has severely affected her physical and mental health. She is battling extreme fatigue and anxiety on top of the struggles of her condition. Her well-being, hardworking team of baristas, and the health of her painstakingly built business are all now at huge risk due to the actions of the companies who promised her support. This has been a years-long struggle, for which Victoria has been hesitant for help. After a great deal of consideration and urging from her friends who have encouraged her to share her story, we are asking for help from the community.

Victoria’s dream goes beyond just Twelve Twenty Coffee. She dreams of shared success for the broader community, and of creating a haven in her hometown. Born and raised in the area, she has deep roots here. Her parents passed on their entrepreneurial spirit, and she carries that forward by bringing people together through her love of coffee. She has dreamt of opening her own shop all throughout her 10+ years of experience in the coffee and hospitality industry, where she has spread nothing but kindness and authenticity to everyone who she meets and works with. Anyone who knows Victoria will gladly speak to her upstanding character and incredible work ethic. Anyone who has been to Twelve Twenty Coffee can attest that these qualities are apparent not just in the excellence of the coffee, but also in her interactions with customers and the bonds she builds with them. She is devoted to uplifting other small BIPOC and women-owned businesses in her shop, from the milks and sweets, all the way to the design and retail products. Through Twelve Twenty Coffee, Victoria and her baristas have served coffee to over 55,000 people and they would love nothing more than to be able to continue to do so.

We know how much the people of the DMV value small businesses and all the vibrancy and excellence they bring to our amazing local culture. As members of the coffee and service industry community, we understand how challenging it is to open and maintain a small business in the face of so much corporate dominance and bias in the marketplace. We want our local food and beverage culture to retain the creativity, quality, and diversity that the people of the DMV have to offer, including Victoria and the Twelve Twenty team. As they face this storm, we humbly ask for your support. The total fundraising goal is $60,000 which will hold them over until the end of the year. Below is a breakdown of what the financial support will be going toward:

We hope that the funds raised will secure the opportunity for Victoria and her team to get back on their feet and continue to serve the amazing community they have grown over the last few years. Your contribution means more than just finances: it signifies unity, resilience, and a shared belief in the power of collective action towards a future where all of us are supported.

On behalf of Victoria and the Twelve Twenty crew, we extend our deepest gratitude for your support, financial and otherwise. Thank you endlessly!