By Tyler J. Vivas | Contributing Writer
Tallahassee local Matthew Nazareth cherishes the memory of his grandmother baking cookies for an orphanage near her home in Goa, India. Through these actions, she taught her grandson to give back to others without compensation.
After her death, Nazareth traveled to several parts of South Asia where he learned how those less fortunate than him survived. Watching their struggles put his grandmother’s teachings into perspective and inspired his future business model. A business where community and understanding were above anything else.
Years after, Nazareth noticed how both the FSU and FAMU campuses were segregated by a train track. Living in a cliché, he knew that bringing the students together will help end the divide in his community. This inspired space for cultural exchange to occur at Serenity, his coffee and kava bar near the tracks on Railroad Avenue.
Nazareth said that he wanted to connect two communities that were divided by a train track. Shortly after opening Serenity, he saw his goal coming true after two groups, from FSU and FAMU, came together after playing Cards Against Humanity.
“These two groups that were literally from, like, the two campuses coming together and like laughing and playing this game together,” said Nazareth. “And like that, Like, just all the work that I did to that point was paid off at that moment”
Serenity’s oldest barista, Alex Laubach, has witnessed the evolution of the cultural exchange through the years. It has taught him to notice his societal blind spots and how to address them.
Laubach said that the best way to engage in cultural exchange is coming to it with an open mind. It’s okay to have an opinion and voice it, as long as you consider others.
“I think a real community and a real cultural exchange, you know, you still can have your opinions,” said Laubach. “But you know, you, you voice them, you care about the people around you.”
Serenity has become a second home for many of its patrons. It’s a place where people are strangers for one minute and friends in the next.
David Ryder, a loyal patron since Serenity’s opening, has watched the cultural exchange grow. Ryder said that the bar is, above all, a community.
“The space that Serenity kind of lends itself to is cultural exchange,” said Ryder. “It’s meeting new people to be a part of a community.”
