about us

Okay, so here's the story. My name is Zoe. I am one of the owners of The Moth Coffeehouse in Allentown, NJ. I am a certified Barre and Pilates instructor and I am a professional potter. This is how I got to where I am.

When I was 17, I was the text book definition of lost. I had zero direction, zero hobbies, zero interests. I found it to be very troubling because college was fast approaching and I had no desire to go to college. This time in my life was very formative for me. I developed severe anxiety and my life could go one of two ways. I could've stayed stuck or I could get moving. I decided to move.

At the time I was working in this little shop, and that is where I discovered that I would want to have a shop of my own someday. I would go to work and I would look around the space and think "what would I do here?" "What would I sell?" "How would I display?" It was the first time in my life I felt inspired, motivated, and excited. And then suddenly that shop closed and the space become available. I thought to myself, this is it! I knew I wasn't ready being only 18 but I wanted to go for it.

lol, well my dad just so happens to be the landlord and he also knew I wasn't ready and rented the space to someone else. Was I crushed? Yes. But I knew I had to get to work on myself to become ready.

So what did I do? My first step I did was take a pottery class. And I know, what does pottery have to do with anything? Well, if you could remember I said that I had zero interests? I developed an interest in pottery and I wanted to learn. I never took a class like that, I felt like a fish out of water. In the first class I went to the teacher made a cylinder. I watched with awe. I thought to myself "this is what I want to do". If I can't have a store, I want to be a potter. So then I found a wheel and started throwing. At first, I was horrible. I was getting very frustrated and I was thinking of ways to get out of this class that I paid for already. My pottery teacher was the best teacher I ever had. His instruction was very inspiritional to me. I learned more than just pottery during this time. Shortly after taking up pottery is when The Moth Coffeehouse came into fruition.

My dad bought the mill in 1975 with the intention of putting a coffee shop in the building. That coffee shop didn't actually open until 2015. We worked as family to get it open and running. The Moth and pottery became my whole personality. The Moth was thriving. However I still felt a void.

In the summer of 2023, the space I had always wanted became available. Together with my partner Tim, we worked to renovate and design the space of my dreams. Now here I am 10 years later, happy as a clam with my store, my coffee shop, and my best friend Tim.