Dope Coffee Company Story
The Founders
Michael Loyd
CEO / CoFounder
The Dope Coffee team is led by former Marine Officer & Combat Veteran Michael Loyd who is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer. As a serial entrepreneur & innovator, Michael founded Solar Cafe in 2016 while serving as an Officer in the United States Marine Corps, and generated over $800k in 3 years. As a specialty coffee connoisseur and expert, Michael is passionate about premium coffee.
Michael's vision is to change the culture around specialty coffee and make it more inclusive of all humankind.
B.A. Wake Forest University 2006
M.S. North Carolina A&T SU 2009
[email protected]
Michelle Loyd
CPO / CoFounder
Registered Dietitian & Chef by trade, Chel brings an expert background in food and nutrition and is the heart and soul of Dope Coffee's product development team. She led the design of the menu which gets rave reviews. Chel is a food and beverage expert with a talent for creative fusions and recipes. She currently leads the marketing effort to introduce innovative products into the cultural coffee market.
Chel's vision is to change the perspective surrounding specialty coffee by fusing the worlds of self care and consumables that inspire positive thoughts and individual transparency.
B.A. Wake Forest University 2008
M.S. Eastern Carolina University 2010
The Team
Mike Steadman
Brand Development Chief
Mike Serves as a Brand Advisor & Ambassador to Dope Coffee.
Mike is the Founder and CEO of IRONBOUND Boxing, a veteran owned company that specializes in the teaching boxing. IRONBOUND Boxing strives to strengthen community, relieve stress, and promote physical fitness as a way of life.
He runs a free boxing gym for kids in Newark, NJ.
Stace Loyd
Chief Operating Officer
Stace Loyd is Dope Coffee's Chief Operating Officer and Creative Director and leads the company's internal growth efforts as well as the companies public story.
Stace is the Founder and CEO of Why I Create which is a collaborative space online and at events that seeks to bring together artists, entertainers, and entrepreneurs in a way that creates financial freedom and value for their intellectual property.
Stace is also a professional content producer and hip hop producer with over 15 years of experience in music and film production experience.
Bruce McTague
Marketing Advisor
In a career spanning over 20 years, I’ve been involved with a wide range of industries including packaged goods, restaurant, pharmaceutical, retail, business-to-business and tourism. I won’t bore you with all the details, but the bottom line is I have touched so many businesses across so many categories the headline for my career should probably be “Collector of experiences and knowledge.”
Shafi Mustafa
Growth Advisor
A self-described “serial killer of old ideas”, Shafi wakes up in the morning to challenge the status quo…a trait that has served him well in the agency business. He’s worked with big brands, small companies and everything in between giving him real perspective on the opportunities in the media space. Frustrated by his own experience with archaic processes in traditional media, he was convinced there had to be a better way. Shafi’s frustration was the inspiration behind Savveo. When he isn’t busy working on the next big thing, he’s spending time with his wife and their two daughters in Charlotte, N.C.
Nikishka Iyengar
Accelerator Advisor /Consultant
Nikishka Iyengar is a systems entrepreneur working at the intersection of finance, climate action and racial justice. She is the founder and CEO of The Guild, a real estate company creating spaces for social change through new economic models focused on community wealth building. She is also the owner of Whole Systems Collective, an impact consulting collective working towards a just and regenerative economy through two key initiatives – the transformation of our financial systems, and climate action through carbon drawdown and responsible stewardship of our natural resources. Previously, as a sustainability consultant at a top management consulting firm, she helped her clients unlock ~$1B worth of value from renewable energy, water stewardship, and emissions reduction opportunities.