(Photos by Jason Halley / University photographer)
Rebecca Turri is the type of person who makes everyone feel like they are an old friend. If she feels someone is spending a tough day, she aims to lift their spirits with a warm smile and a cup of hot coffee. And while she may not remember your name right away, it will remember you as your Americano with vanilla and JUST the right amount of cream.
Turri (Business Administration, ’21) is the owner of Lovebird Cafe Company, who has caught inside a renovated renovated 1960 Kenskill trailer turned into mobile cafes. The venture quickly became a favorite of Wildcat, attracting long student lines, staff and faculty at the Daily for its latches, cold products and strawberry matcha.
The coffee business was not initially part of Turri’s career plans, but graduating from college as Pandemia presented unexpected challenges. Lovebird came up after a series of unfortunate events involving the fall of the victim of a pyramid scheme, a short blow to a technology company and several stressful unemployment months. But the native of Southern California said she knew she had the confidence and gravel to become an entrepreneur, having grown up by a single and independent mother since the age of 15.
“I didn’t know I wanted to own a business,” Turri said. “But I knew if I were to risk, and if the differentiation was based on my work ethic, no one would stop me.”
In May 2023, Turri discovered a Facebook market list at Grass Valley for Kenskill trailers and bought it for $ 500. With a loan from a family friend, she, her husband, David Turri and her best friend, Kennedy Johnston, spent six months stripping old old paint, cleaning a squirrel, replacing windows Broken and rotting wood and removing layers of the channel strip and the old gloomy slab. Their hard work turned the trailers into a fully functional coffee cafe that rose out of Holt Hall in the spring of 2024.
Lovebird’s success did not happen overnight-and was not luck, claims Turri, 26. It is a result of the sustainability and the 60-hour work week dedicated to making her dream in reality. Long 10-hour days inside the trailer, managing business orders, building relationships, focusing on strong marketing and carefully gathering all the moving parts have been essential for its growth.
Turri takes care of every excellent detail, said Johnston, who was transferred from southern California to help start lovebird. She is an observer and always thinks of things that other people can never think. She also cares about the people around her and how they are feeling and what they need, Johnston said.
The beginning of lovebird with Turri has given the life of johnston meaning, she said. This allows her to spend time with her best friend and solve problems together. It also means working on one of the most beautiful campuses of the College, having the privilege of employment and working with amazing students and finding a place in its new community.
Turri, who as a student was part of the Seufferlein and Sigma Epsilon sales program, is afraid of overwhelming support from the Wildcat community.
Only one year after the start of her dream business, Wildcat’s roots of Turri are deepening as she moves from her beloved trailer, “Gertrude”, in a place of brick and mortar inside the new building of behavior and social sciences.
“There is extraordinary incred to be here,” she said, sitting in front of the new spacebird space. “Something is something I will never take as a good thing. My best years were in Chico State as a student, and now, being here – doing my entrepreneurial spirit – it’s incredible. “
Almendra (Journalist, ’11) is a bilingual manufacturer of content that helps to empower and inspire the audience through the story. It also helps edit and manage the communication project. She is a proud alumna and former Orion editor.