Q&A: Diana Naramore, Owner and CEO of Sip & Ship

Executive’s name, title, and company name

Diana Naramore, owner and CEO, Sip and Ship

Tell us what your company does and what attracted you to this business.

Sip and Ship is a coffeehouse inside a mailbox store with a gift boutique tucked inside. Our mission is to lead people, products and businesses to a better path. What attracted me to this business is that we’ve taken one-dimensional services and transformed them into an experience for our customers where they can get their personal, family or business “to-do lists” taken care of with a high level of efficiency and comfort.

What book/TV show/podcast are you reading/watching/listening to and why?

Currently, I am reading Kevin Hart’s I Can’t Make This Up. My guilty pleasure at the moment is watching Netflix just finished Ozark and now Narcos in anticipation of Stranger Things, which I look forward to enjoying with my three sons (ages 17, 15 and 12).

Whats your favorite spot in Seattle?

I have fallen in love with sports through my children they all play a sport. My oldest plays basketball for Ballard High School so we enjoy watching any basketball game. I have a girl crush on Sue Bird, so whenever we can catch a Storm game, we do. My middle son plays football for Ballard High and even though he’s a Patriots fan, the rest of our family roots for the Seahawks! My youngest son is a baseball player for a city league and we have season tickets to the Mariners so we are diehard fans of the Ms!

What kind of car do you drive and why?

I drive a Lexus SUV because it allows me to optimize shuttling kids and business supplies while enjoying the comfort it affords me.

Tell us something people dont know about you.

When I was a little girl, my dream was to become an Olympic gymnast. I wanted to be the next Nadia Comaneci. However, when I was 14, I was in a roller-skating accident that left me paralyzed from the waist down. With surgeries and extensive physical therapy, I was able to walk with the help of leg braces (which no one can see under my business pants). Even though the physical side of my childhood dream was crushed, the physiological attributes of that dream get exercised every day as a small-business owner, which is extremely gratifying and rewarding for me!

What are you passionate about outside of work?

I am passionate about finding ways to empower youth. Knowledge is power and jobs change lives. Sip and Ship lends a hand in a variety of ways to give back to our community through public schools, Boys and Girls Clubs, community centers, ZGiRLS organization and Seattle Goodwill. We also invest in our crew teams by instilling the value of having a strong work ethic and the power of being in service to others, which has a ripple effect in the community we serve and beyond as our workers grow their work and life experiences.

Tell us about your Off the Clock activities for a future Q&A here.