Community roots Community roots Community roots

If you ask Claire Sumadiwirya, ’05 about the through-line of her work, it always comes back to the power of community. She’s the founder and chief engagement officer of Bellden Ventures, a social enterprise with a cafe, a line of lifestyle products that help give back to charity partners and a social club focused on connecting people across generations and culture. I sat down with Sumadiwirya to learn more about how social entrepreneurship means to her, how her degrees in sociology and business administration from the University of Washington inform her work and what the distinction of Bellden Cafe being named “The Nicest Place in Washington” by Reader’s Digest means to her.

Claire Sumadiwirya runs Bellden Ventures, which includes a cafe that donates a portion of drink purchases to local non-profits. Photo by Emily Anne Gish.

Did you always know that you wanted to be a small business owner and social entrepreneur?

In college, I wanted to be a human rights lawyer. I started to shift my interest to entrepreneurship because I liked that I could be more creative and have more autonomy to create a mission-oriented business. I knew I wanted Bellden Cafe to be a place where all customers feel like they mattered, regardless of how much they spend or what language they speak. 

Bellden Cafe was named “Nicest Place in Washington” by Reader’s Digest because of our focus on giving back to the community, something we did by doing diaper and grocery drives, opening our space to vendors and creating opportunities for people to connect. I’m proud to have earned that title, and we want to keep it that way. And every time we accomplish something, we celebrate with our community.

In what ways is your business rooted in community and informed by the identities you hold?

I was a first-generation immigrant and when I moved to the U.S., I didn’t have family or friends here. It took me time to find a sense of belonging. I remember an instance when I was in the hospital because my son was really sick, and I was all by myself for a few weeks. A janitor walked for 40 minutes to bring me coffee and homemade soup, and I had never experienced that much kindness from someone I had never met before. I wanted to create a business that makes people feel as cared for as I did at that moment.

How do your degrees in sociology and business from the UW prepare you to run Bellden Ventures?

The UW taught me a lot about running a business, including how to solicit feedback through surveys and by sending samples to the community to see what people think. Studying sociology taught me how to listen openly, understand where people are coming from and build meaningful relationships.

For folks interested in running social enterprises, what advice would you share?

Many people working in social enterprises are driven by the desire to support others, but it’s equally important to recognize the power of community when asking for help ourselves. While my primary responsibility is to elevate and promote my team, I also remind myself that, as a minority-owned business owner, I am part of a larger network of change-makers. We all deserve to celebrate our efforts and lean on each other for support. Together, we create a ripple effect that strengthens both our businesses and the communities we serve.

Lead photo courtesy of Claire Sumadiwirya. Learn more about Bellden Cafe.

About the author: Aleenah Ansari (she/her) is equal parts storyteller, creative problem solver, and journalist at heart who’s rooted in the stories of people behind products, companies, and initiatives. She writes about travel, entrepreneurship, mental health and wellness, and representation in media for Insider, The Seattle Times, Byrdie, and more. You can usually find her searching for murals, reading a book by a BIPOC author, or planning her next trip to New York. You can learn more at www.aleenahansari.com.