First Light Coffee: Brewing a New Beginning After a Government Layoff

First Light Coffee: Brewing a New Beginning After a Government Layoff

From A Bright Idea by Amber Key

November 5, 2025 · 46 min

About this episode

Annie Leverich shares her journey from a government role to founding First Light Coffee after a layoff.

On this week’s episode - I sat down with Annie Leverich - founder of First Light Coffee. a Maryland-based coffee company rooted in connection, community, and giving back. Before launching her business, Annie led the press team for USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance and held communications roles with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the UN World Food Program. Annie worked for USAID for over a decade and When the Trump Administration shut down the agency, her role disappeared overnight. At first there was shock… and then she did the only thing that felt true: bet on the dream she’d been saving for…A coffee company. In this episode, Annie and I get into how we went from working at USAID to taking a leap of faith into entrepreneurship, how she is blending her background in storytelling and humanitarian work to fuel her business, and her mission of giving back. Resources: Website: firstlightcoffeemd.com Instagram: firstlightmornings

People in this episode

Host: Amber Key

Guest: Annie Leverich

Topics covered

  • entrepreneurship
  • coffee industry
  • government layoff
  • storytelling
  • community impact

Keywords

  • First Light Coffee
  • Annie Leverich
  • entrepreneurship
  • government layoff
  • coffee company
  • community
  • storytelling

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: First Light Coffee, USAID, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, UN World Food Program

Places: Maryland

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