Rowin' & Roastin': Finding Success & Becoming Seaworthy with Jenna Hetzel

In this episode of Great American Underdog we speak with Jenna Hetzel, Owner and Roaster at Seaworthy Coffee Roasters! Starting off life in Jamesburg, NJ, Jenna quickly developed a go-getter mindset and competitive spirit in her very tight-knit town, organizing sports and clubs with friends and always wanting to "beat the boys". She started her athletic life in field hockey and basketball being inspired by her moms competitive spirit and her two uncles who both served in the Military at high levels. Starting off as an Underdog and wanting to be great and perform at a high-level, led her to learning how to become consistent with her work ethic which built her confidence. After graduating high school ranking in the state as a goalie in field hockey, Jenna accepted a full ride scholarship to the University of Rhode Island on 1 of 3 awarded ROTC scholarships. Looking to follow in her cousins shoes and having a strong sense of justice, Jenna began ROTC training at URI. After only a short while, she ended up trying out for the rowing team and was accepted as a walk-on due to her natural ability. After falling in love with the sport and the process, she knew in her heart rowing is what she wanted to do more than anything at the time. She gave her ROTC scholarship money back and went right into full-time rowing. As a D1 rowing team she quickly had to adapt to some intense initial challenges as she got acclimated. After rising above those initial challenges Jenna helped the team go from second to last and went on to win 3 conference championships in 4 years. She was then given the opportunity to coach and was inspired to do so by her first rowing coach that helped transform her. As a coach she helped the URI rowing team reach the NCAA tournament. She has continued her involvement in rowing and coaching for the last 9 years. After college, she found a job at Starbucks and quickly realized she loved the process, making coffee all different ways and was intrigued by a local roaster to learn the process of coffee roasting. After being invited to help roast by a local roaster, she had a realization that she could roast her own coffee in a unique and different way. Knowing that coffee comes in generational waves of roasting and having become a student of coffee roasting, Jenna decided to take her passion and turn it into a business. Seaworthy coffee roasters was born out of hard work, determination, inspiration taken from rowing and Jenna's proprietary and unique slow roasting process. Competitiveness and curiosity fueled her business through the Covid-19 pandemic and she quickly had to pivot to online retail which kept her business going and is a staple of her business today. Jenna explains the parallels of competitive rowing and slow roasting coffee and what it takes to be successful in business and athletics. She gives real-life actionable insights that you can use in your own life, that propelled her success as an entrepreneur.