When Myles Ogea enters his coffee shop in the Village, he often stops to chat with his customers. Some of them are long-time friends. Others he has met briefly before and only remembers their faces, not their names.
Either way, he stops for a friendly conversation with them. He always knows their names when it's over. It seems he puts all of his time and effort into the store. Most people would not have the energy to do anything else.
Ogea is different.
"The biggest difficulty is when you have more than one passion in life," says Ogea.
He knows how that feels. The Ball State alum is the owner of the mt Cup, a coffee shop in the Village, and this is how many in the Ball State community know him. But maintaining the store has never been enough for Ogea.
The former Ball State student is an established singer, and he originally came to Muncie to study vocal performance. Recently Ogea has been attempting to launch a career based on performing his own music.
He has been performing songs by other composers internationally since the age of 12, when he sang with the Boys' Choir of America in Mexico.
"Myles is a very talented guy," said Bill Pritchett, fellow musician and Ball State alum. "As a singer it's pretty impressive that he can do 'Ave Maria' or a Sinatra thing."
Ogea grew up in Ishpeming, Mich., with 13 other siblings, 11 of which are still alive. The first performance he remembers was a duet he sang in kindergarten. He continued to perform throughout his academic career, but also developed an interest in athletics, choosing to compete in sports instead of attending on of Michigan's schools of fine arts.
Today he says he regrets the choice, but would not change it if he could. He still enjoys athletics, having run in this year's Boston Marathon.
Despite placing sports above music, Ogea won first place in the Michigan Youth Arts Competition for singing his senior year of high school. Today Ogea continues to perform for audiences all over the world. The electricity he receives from a receptive audience exhilarates him, he says. It doesn't matter where he performs - Emens Auditorium or a crowded, hot gymnasium - as long as the audience is a good one.
A few years ago, Ogea decided he wanted to share the songs he wrote, which contain lyrics coming straight from his soul, with the world. He has no favorites - it would be like picking a favorite child, he says - but he mentions a song he is yet to finish called "Take Me Back Home."
The song is about going back to the things that shaped one's life - the things that are important and that many people tend to lose sight of as they live their lives.
"You start to lose some of your foundation," Ogea said.
The work on both the song and the career continues to this day, having been interrupted by some of Ogea's other ventures.
"It's kind of disgusting that it's taken so long," Ogea said. "(But) that's something that's going to happen."
"The biggest difficulty is when you have more than one passion in life."
Myles Ogea, owner mt Cup, musician, marathoner
His peers have faith in him, hoping he will make it big. But Ogea's selfless character may put a damper on his ambitions.
"Myles has great potential as an entertainer," Pritchett said. "(But) Myles does not choose himself over all else. If Myles made those choices, he wouldn't be in Muncie, Indiana."
Right now, though, Ogea is focusing on his store, which will undergo an evolution of its own this spring. He mentions a wine bar, but will not go into further details.
The mt Cup will also open a new store downtown later this month or in early May. Despite failed attempts in the past to expand the mt Cup outside of Muncie, Ogea believes he is doing the right thing by expanding downtown, aiming for the same type of customer.
Ogea's cafe' was originally opened after he received a master of arts degree in executive development in 1994. Since then, the Village has evolved around it, and it has become a neighbor to newer establishments.
When his work is done, Ogea's personality will be more visible in the store.
"The store (now) is somewhat a reflection of me," Ogea said. "It will be (more of) a reflection of me."
However, Ogea stresses that he also wants the store to reflect his customers' desires.
"The artwork is artwork of customers," Ogea said. "The design is the design of customers. The demands are the demands of customers."
Either way, Ogea says the majority of his time is devoted to working in the store. His face will remain a familiar sight to those who come to visit.
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