”I’ve learned that you should never judge someone of their bad behavior, because you never know what they’ve just gone through.”

Walter Cook. Store Manager at Starbucks. Copenhagen. April 2018. By Lilli Grothe.

“I was on cocaine as a 16 year old; at that time working hard – to help make ends meet in relation to my family with my mother being ill.”

Walter grew up in an Amish family in Pennsylvania. His father had walked out on alcohol leaving his wife and their 5 children, when she was ill with cancer after 28 years of marriage. As a homosexual, he never felt like he could be himself. His family was crumbling so he used drugs, while he was also working hard at Starbucks to help out in the family.

Walter loves horses and his dream is to be an Olympic horseback rider. Through his hard times horses were his way of escaping his addiction.

“As I’m older and looking back on my heavy times doing drugs etc., I think I did so I could mask, who I was – because I couldn’t without being beat up or picked on.

When I first visited Denmark as a 18 year old – that was the first time I felt true to myself. I felt comfortable, proud and accepted. I just needed a change in life and a different outlook.

-  "I love being able to inspire someone and make their day better with a warm greeting or a great cup of coffee.”