Christine Z

stanford's living room.

on call café was founded by stanford design students who identified the problem that campus lacked a late-night third space to connect, meet friends, and build community. existing spaces either closed too early, felt rowdy, or were overly academic.

in 2023, a group of students designed the space from the ground up. literally. the empty space transformed into a warm, dimly-lit, student-centered café. open sunday to thursday, 7:30–11:30pm — students come in to study, grab a drink, and enjoy events hosted by campus organizations.

just over a year in, on call café has become a cornerstone of the student experience, having served over 88.8% of stanford's population. and it's still growing.

creative captain & everything in between.

i joined on call's creative team as a freshman in 2024 — when they were just under a year old. since then, i've become junior captain, then senior captain, leading a team of 6 creatives to manage the café's physical and online presence.

keeping the whole ship running.

as an executive member, my biggest responsibility is cross-team communication. every week brings a new problem to solve:

• the community and culture team just sent in a request for 100 custom stickers, needed in 5 days. what do you do?
• you hear the molly matcha is consistently underselling. what do you do to increase its sales?
• you're in charge of marketing a valentine's week speed dating event. how do you make sure people show up?
• what angle should the creative team take on a student art grant to ensure funding for the space?

building the room, literally.

trips to sf to pick up furniture sourced from facebook marketplace. routine upkeep of the rugs, chairs, and lights. sourcing student art and frames for new walls. the space is always evolving — and that's a feature, not a bug.

the digital face of the café.

managing the café's online presence across platforms — from content strategy to day-to-day posting. follow us @oncall.cafe on instagram, and visit the website at oncall.cafe.

making things happen.

advertising admit weekend events. coordinating vendors and campus organizations. sourcing funding and building partnerships. events are where the physical and digital sides of the creative team come together.

wearable brand.

[ describe the merch work here — design, sourcing, drops, etc. ]

business is always, always the people.

on call is so much more to me than a job. here, i've learned how to manage a team toward a common goal — how to motivate people to collectively want an organization to succeed, how to mentor someone and be mentored by someone (shoutout my mentors kailani and lucy). i've also learned how to trust in my co-workers — turned friends — while maintaining a cohesive vision.

above all, i learned that business — and any other project — is people. it's always the people, and i try to extend that care for my teammates at any chance i get. and.. i barista! a few great cups of latte art and counting.

i can't help but find myself deeply involved in projects i care about. i've found myself driving lamp posts almost the length of my car back to campus, doing dishes until 1am, and running emergency bread runs to and from whole foods. still, i come back to this community. on call has given me so much, and i aim to give that back.

my goal is to cement On Call Café as not just a startup, but a legacy institution. I might not be here to witness its expansion beyond Old Union within my four years at Stanford, but I know it will one day, and I hope to return to generations of On Call-ers to come.