'Empowering through free training': How a Filipina chef and their café are shaping the success of international students on the Gold Coast

Despite facing harsh discrimination in her early years in Queensland Australia, Esther Hoy rose to become a successful chef and café manager. Passionately, she now mentors international students beginning their journey on the Gold Coast, sharing the skills and lessons she has learned.

Having faced discrimination and the challenges of being new in Australia, Esther Hoy, now a chef and co-owner of a café on the Gold Coast, is determined to help more international students find their footing in the community. Credit: Euphoria Espresso and SBS Filipino

Key Points

• Together with her husband Richard, Esther Hoy aims to support more students, particularly Filipinos, through their Euphoria Espresso Café on the Gold Coast.
• A skilled barista herself, the Ilocos Sur native launched free barista workshops for international students on the Gold Coast in 2015.
• Trade and Investment Queensland data show that in 2021, over 25,300 student visa holders were enrolled on the Gold Coast.

Euphoria Espresso cafe owner Esther Hoy has been offering free barista training to international students since 2015. "Me and my husband thought of taking the weekend off, but we opened [the cafe] for them because for some, that’s the only day they can work since they are full-time students". Credit: SBS Filipino/Annalyn Violata

Former domestic helper in Hong Kong, Esther Hoy, returned to school to study culinary arts and management, eventually becoming a fully qualified chef and managing a second branch of their café on the Gold Coast.

We don’t earn much from it, but it’s rewarding to see that some of the students I have mentored are now residents here and they are mentoring younger students too.

Chef and cafe owner Esther Hoy

"One café would have been enough for us as a couple, but because we also wanted to help, we opened this second café to serve as a hub for the Filipino community here on the Gold Coast," shares the current Ilocano Ti Australia president Esther Hoy. Credit: Gold Coast Filipino Australian Cultural Ensemble (Facebook)

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