At 26, Jasmine Diedrich already owns 13 espresso stands

This is one of 12 finalists for the Herald Business Journal’s Emerging Leaders award, which seeks to highlight and celebrate people who are doing good work in Snohomish County. The winner will be named at an event on April 12.

Name: Jasmine Diedrich

Age: 26

Profession: Owner, Diedrich Espresso

Jasmine Diedrich knows how much of a struggle it is to grow a small business. She started her coffee chain, Diedrich Espresso, seven years ago.

She said she remembers working at her stands from open to close five days a week then coming back to pull half-day shifts on the weekends.

“I was sleep deprived and sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag with four roommates because I wanted to reinvest every dollar I made back into my business,” Diedrich writes. “I am happy with where I have gone in seven years and what my business has grown to.”

Now, she owns 13 Diedrich Espresso locations in Snohomish, Island and Skagit counties and has contracts with the Aquasox and Angel of the Winds Arena. It took ambition and analytical skill and help from her guardian angel — her father — to succeed, Diedrich said.

“Through all of this I have been able to grow from a punk 19-year-old who didn’t know how to run a business or what she was doing and blossomed into the 26-year-old I am today,” Diedrich writes.

Diedrich is also one of two returning Emerging Leader candidates who made the Top 12 list last year.

She describes her mother as a hippie who instilled in her a commitment to volunteer. She’s done so through a variety of causes and organizations, including the Marysville Strawberry Festival, South Everett Mukilteo Rotary and Economic Alliance Snohomish County. For the latter, she has been nominated to the Ambassador of the Year award and has joined the leadership team.

She hopes what she’s done with her business and outside of it will inspire others.

“After working with so many groups it is where my passion lies and I want to continue to help the groups grow and adapt to the crazy world we live in,” Diedrich writes. “I am hoping that other businesses will see what myself and the select few do for our community and set an example for others to uphold.”