Amber Stott, founder and CEO of Food Literacy Center, shares her passion for community service, combating childhood obesity, and getting kids excited to grow, cook, and enjoy healthy food.   

We get inside Amber’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Get” philosophy of taking risks, seizing opportunities, telling your story, and achieving goals by collaborating with others. Amber emphasizes how embracing “failure” and leveraging the lessons that come in difficult experiences can be the path to success.   

She talks about the challenge of prioritizing your health while staying committed to your mission, and the importance of mentorship, delegating, and empowering others so you spend time on the tasks that make a difference.  

Join us and Amber’s story will get you fired up to create positive change in your community. 

Tess’s Takeaways: 

• The Best Time To Pursue Your Dreams Is Now.  
• Take Action To Create Positive Change In Your Community. 
• Welcome Change As Catalyst To Making A Difference.    
• Embrace Failure As Fuel For Your Success. 
• Saying “No” Makes Room For The Right “Yes.” 
• Clarify Your Priorities and Improve Productivity with Time Audits. 
• Mentor And Empower Your Team So They Take Ownership Of The Mission. 
• Keep Telling Your Story And Invite Others To Be Part Of It. 

Meet Amber Stott:   

Amber Stott is a food activist and writer who devised and articulated the concept of food literacy, and founded Food Literacy Center in Sacramento. This nonprofit teaches kids to grow, cook, and eat their vegetables. One of California’s largest school districts built a state-of-the-art cooking school based on Amber’s design. To heighten awareness of food literacy, Amber lobbied the California state government to designate every September Food Literacy Month. She was instrumental in creating a Farm-To-School program within California’s Food and Agriculture Department. Working with the Sacramento Food Film Festival, Amber uses food documentaries to combine public education and hands-on culinary experiences. Through her “Raising Kale” podcast, book, and TEDx talk, Amber inspires listeners to improve the quality of life in their community with better food education.  

Connect With Amber: 

Food Literacy Center: https://www.foodliteracycenter.org/ 

Raising Kale Podcast: https://www.foodliteracycenter.org/podcast 

TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcJPCxpU3fY  

Food Anatomy For Kids: https://www.amazon.com/Food-Anatomy-Activities-Kids-Hands/dp/1648760244/  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberstott/  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmberStottChiefFoodGenius   

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ChiefFoodGenius 

Meet Tess Masters:  

Tess Masters is an actor, presenter, health coach, cook, and author of The Blender Girl, The Blender Girl Smoothies, and The Perfect Blend, published by Penguin Random House. She is also the creator of The Decadent Detox® and Skinny60® health programs.     

Health tips and recipes by Tess have been featured in the LA Times, Washington Post, InStyle, Prevention, Shape, Glamour, Real Simple, Yoga Journal, Yahoo Health, Hallmark Channel, The Today Show, and many others.   

Tess’s magnetic personality, infectious enthusiasm, and down-to-earth approach have made her a go-to personality for people of all dietary stripes who share her conviction that healthy living can be easy and fun. Get delicious recipes at TheBlenderGirl.com.  

Connect With Tess: 

Website: https://tessmasters.com/  

Podcast Website: https://ithastobeme.com/   

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblendergirl/  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblendergirl/  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theblendergirl  

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/theblendergirl  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessmasters/  

Get Healthy With Tess 

Skinny60®: https://www.skinny60.com/  

Join the 60-Day Reset: https://www.skinny60.com/60-day-reset/ 

The Decadent Detox®: https://www.thedecadentdetox.com/  

Join the 14-Day Cleanse: https://www.thedecadentdetox.com/14-day-guided-cleanses/ 

The Blender Girl: https://www.theblendergirl.com/  

Thanks for listening!  

If you enjoyed this conversation and think others would benefit from listening, share this episode. And, please post your comments or questions below. I’d love to hear what you think.  

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We all want the world to be a wonderful place and to have a happy life. And we often see things in our local community and the world that could be better that we'd like to change. And there's different ways that we can be the change that we want to see in the world. We can have conversations, we can raise awareness, we can volunteer or work with organizations that are doing good things to positively impact society, we can donate to causes we believe in, or in the case of our guests today, we can decide there isn't a viable solution. And we're going to create the solution. And we're going to rally people in our community to make it a better place. So back in 2009, I was living in Los Angeles and I attended a food blogging conference when I had just started the Blender Girl food blog, and I met Amber Stott she had her awake at the whisk food blog at the time. And we were just talking about being the change, you want to see community advocacy, and the food system in California. And I watched her create this incredible nonprofit organization that is literally changing the way people have access to fresh food in California. So it's a pretty incredible story. And I think one that is just gonna get you fired up. So let's get the skinny from Amber Stott. When I was thinking about who my first guest was, it was a no brainer. It was always going to be Amba. Because it is the ultimate, it has to be me story, where you see something in the world that needs to change, and you decide that you're the person to change it. And boy, is this a spectacular story. So if you are dreaming of changing something in your community and being part of the solution, or providing the solution, this is the podcast episode for you. So Amber is an author. She's a speaker. She is an amazing cook, and a food advocate and incredible food advocate, genius fundraiser, and she is the founder and CEO of Food Literacy Center, which is an incredible nonprofit organization based out of Sacramento, California. They teach children how to grow their own food, cook their own food and get excited about eating vegetables. So Amber has been instrumental in creating the Sacramento food Film Festival. She is the host of the raising kale podcast, she's got a TEDx talk, she's got an incredible book that's helping 1000s of children eat their vegetables. And she's just the most incredible person. So welcome, Amber, thank you so much for being the first guest on it has to be me.

Yeah. Hi, Tess.

So let's just dive right in. Because there's just so many things I want to ask you. And so many things I want our listeners to hear about that will help them you know, hopefully find there, it has to be mean moments within your story. So let's just start at the very beginning. So when we met Akash, almost 15 years ago, now in Los Angeles, it was my first food blogging conference, and you were doing awake at the whisk. And I just started the blender girl. And we were walking across to these food trucks. And you know, you were telling me about your work in the nonprofit sector. And community service is just in your DNA, isn't it? So you grew up with two parents who were in community service?

Yeah, my dad was a principal and my mom ran our local library. So yes, I always knew I was not going to grow up to work for the man. I didn't quite know what I would be when I grew up. I just knew I would probably want to do something that impacted my community. Yes. So when

you went to college, tell everybody what you studied. Because I think that often when we go to college, and we decide we're going to study this, study that and then we kind of veer off course, we sometimes don't give ourselves permission to see that that thing that we did, or that those things we did in the past intersect with what we want to do now. And I think you've got an amazing philosophy about how food intersects with, you know, what you were studying in college and the things that you were doing before you you found a food distributor center?

Yeah, I have a bachelor's degree in comparative literature, which means you read literature in other languages. And then I have my master's in African Studies and Women's Studies.

Yes. So let's talk about going into the nonprofit world. And then what that path looked like from leaving college doing those studies. And I know you're fluent in Danish, which is so amazing. I didn't know that about you, actually, until a few years ago. And then you you went into the nonprofit sector, let's just talk about the trajectory because we don't just start a nonprofit, you know, for anyone that's listening, thinking, Okay, well, you know, how do you get to that? Yeah.

So essentially, when I left college, I again, I didn't quite know what I wanted to do. But as I read different job descriptions, thinking about where my talents lie. I was a strong writer. And so all the jobs that required writing in nonprofits also happened to be the fundraising jobs. So that's how I entered To the nonprofit sector was as the the human that had to help raise the money. And so I worked for a variety of nonprofits throughout my career. And then around 2008, when all the amazing food books started coming out, like, harvest for hope, and you know, Omnivore's Dilemma, I was reading all of them. And I was becoming very passionate. And I really needed to do something about it. I started my blog awake at the whisk. But that wasn't enough, you know, I was writing for our local edible Sacramento, but still, I just felt like, I needed to be doing something to change our community. And at the time, you know, there weren't a lot of like, the term food system and food movement really didn't exist. And we had food banks back then, but not much else. And so, as I started interviewing, like other peers that worked in food banks, and trying to figure out where I could help, I started to realize that like the food bank, folks would tell me, Well, you know, we were recognizing the problem of the rising rates of childhood obesity. And we want to switch and get, you know, all the pastries and stuff off our shelves and replace it with more healthy stuff. But people don't want to take that. And we don't know how we can get people to eat more of these healthy fruits and vegetables. And I thought, Oh, now here's a gap where I could have an impact. And so yeah, so I started food Literacy Center, to try to address the problem of childhood obesity, but also through that avenue of helping people understand what they can do with a raw cactus or eggplant.

Okay, so I just want to go back a step because I'm, I'm sitting listening, going, Yeah, I'm thinking, yeah, that there's some problems, I'll go and volunteer, or would you? Wouldn't it be cool? If somebody else started? Wouldn't it be cool? If somebody else started that or that was out there? That'd be awesome. I mean, that's what the majority of people do, including myself, right? I mean, our dream is to get our brother but I didn't do it right, or I haven't done it yet. I know, that's what you're going to tell me because I love you. So what was it in you that when it has to be me, I've got the chops. I've got what it takes to do this?

Sure. I mean, context for the time in history that this was taking place is that. So I started the nonprofit in 2011. So we were in deep in the great recession. And what happened to the nonprofit sector was quite damaging. We had a lot of brain drain, because what was happening is that boards were scared. And so jobs were being cut left and right. And many of my peers lost their jobs, multiple times throughout that great recession in this sector. And so, and I was included in that count, right, I had lost a job, fundraising job, and was trying to decide what my next move was going to be. And I had two choices, I could either go to work for someone, or I could start my own thing. Either way. I was the fundraiser. So regardless, in a bad economy, I was reliant on my skill set to be able to succeed in my role. And I had been successful in my role and still lost a job, I had doubled the budget of one nonprofit in the recession. And then in nine months, had pulled another nonprofit out of the red. And so So ending up unemployed in those conditions, you know, I really had to think long and hard. Do I want someone else in control of that decision for me? Or, you know, based on the upheaval of that time? Am I just gonna go out on a potentially scarier limb, but a limb where I'm the boss? So that's the the route I chose? Oh, I mean,

I love that that old saying, if you're not the lead dog, the view never changes, right? And you can either help somebody else build their dream, or you can build your own right and use your superpower to build your own. So oh, gosh, I mean, can you tell everybody the incredible synergy of what happened when we met of meeting Jolina? You know, and how that all played out with with, you know, working with the California government. I mean, that's an incredible story of just actually seizing the moment and going okay, I'm running with this.

Yes, so I knew that I was going to start a nonprofit. And I had the idea. A little bit inspired by what Andrew was. Andrew Wilder was doing with October unprocessed, I thought Okay, we need an awareness month about food literacy because I knew that people, Well, for one, I made up the term. And I made up the definition. So I, I knew that people didn't know what it was. And so I knew we were going to need to do something, to create big awareness. And so I signed up for a food blog conference. And then I signed up for a ride share where you could find strangers who were willing to share a ride. And that's how I met Juliana, who happened to work in the California legislature. I didn't know anything about her, I just only had access to the link to her blog, and universe. Exactly. So she and I start driving down to LA, and we're just an instant friends totally hit it off. And she's telling me all about a post partum awareness resolution that she had worked on in, in her work in the legislature, and was like, I totally know what you're thinking about. And I totally know how to do it, and I could walk you through it. And yeah, by the end of that conference, I had asked her to be a board member.

I mean, you really are a great example of Don't Ask Don't get, right. I mean, you really, really are, and you do it in the most beautiful way, you know that? It's really hard to say no to you, right. I mean, I will talk about that in a second. Because you, I mean, it's you've got such a great philosophy about that. You know, that that was such a pivotal month. You know, we met Andrew Andrew Wilder, who did Oktober impress his dear friend of ours, Annalise. I mean, so many people that we met that week are doing such incredible things. So yeah, it's an amazing thing. So talk us through this, this, I'm going to I'm going to lobby the government, I'm gonna get them to pass this resolution. I mean, again, another it has to be mean moment that does that. And can you just also define food literacy for everybody that doesn't understand what that means? Seeing as you created this term?

Yeah, food literacy is understanding the impact of your food choices on health, environment and economy, and knowing that those impacts are not equitably experienced.

Wow, you've got that down. I mean, it's yeah, it's really incredible. So when you're just diving into these things, I mean, you are a generator. I mean, you make things happen, it is so inspiring. What are your superpowers? Like? What What are your special gifts that you know, that you can harness to make things happen?

Sure, I think together. Words, and action, those are my two superpowers. So I'm pretty good with words, the written word in particular, where I have time to thoughtfully create what I want to say. And I can take very complex concepts and break them down for a kindergartener to understand for example, and so that and then combined with actually getting to work and creating the action.

Yeah. So did those two things serve you? Well, when you were lobbying the government to make that resolution pass? Oh, we're gonna actually totally back it up. Yeah.

Because part of the resolution is that you have to actually write the thing and put it in front of the legislators and then pitch your idea to them. So I was taking meetings with legislators and saying, hey, you know, here's my idea. And would you be interested in in being part of this? And it's interesting how much words do matter, right? When so, so Jolina, who is coaching me about how to do it, we have a hearing, which is the first step in getting any bill passed, whether it's a resolution or another type of bill, and you have a hearing. And she said, usually the hearings, particularly for nonprofit resolutions are just, you know, very easy peasy. You go in, people love it. They say, yes, they vote yes. Well, in our case, five people stood up to oppose our resolution, because we had two words in there, local, and organic. And we so we worked with our legislator afterwards and talked about options. And I was very much open to Okay, while we think eating organic is important, our audience that we're going to be reaching is very low income, and so likely that is out of their budget in the first place. We'd rather they're eating any carrot at all than to go to bat for whether it's an organic carrot or not. So we were fine. Removing the word organic, and then the word local. We just changed that to California grown and we were good to go.

Right. So that's such a great example of being flexible and kind of, you know, really being able to more, you know, into into the situation. Gosh, it's so it's really interesting to me. You know how you've been able to grow this, this organization? So can you just take us inside that process like you decided that you were going to park you're going to start this this organization food Literacy Center. What happened next? You just went to a lease you started going to somebody and another dear friend of ours in the food blogging community, Elise Bauer, who, who started simply recipes, which was the biggest food blog in the world. She has since sold it. Just an incredible human you did you knew you knew Elise, you went to her and you shared your idea. Well,

what's funny about that story is I didn't know Elise, and you know, I was 34 when I started food Literacy Center. So I definitely she was a mentor of mine. I talked to her all the time. But never did it occur to me to say, hey, Elise, would you want to be on my board? I thought she's too busy. She has, you know, her plateful? No way when she wanted to be part of my teeny tiny idea. And she actually I had popped over just to say hello to her at some point. And she was like, you know, you should ask me to be on your board. And I was like, Really, you would be on my board.

This is what I love about Elise. That's how she always does everything. You know, you can blah, blah, blah. I mean, she's the ultimate impresario and you know, that you could, blah, blah, blah. And I could, bla bla bla, like, she just prompts us amazing like that.

So as a great mentor, she told me to ask her to be on my board. And they did. And it was an amazing decision. And she, you know, she continues to be I would say, I call I call it my broccoli brain trust. But one of the most important mentors in my in my life for sure, yeah. Yeah, it's

Yeah it's so incredible. So who are the trusted people that you go to when you don't know what to do? Or you're unsure about a decision to kind of really work through it? And you know, get in the mess and in the weeds and, you know, figure out what the path is.

I've actually received feedback on on a review from my board members that this is another of my superpowers is that I am not the type of person who will pretend that I have all the answers. And I always have an expert on on the dial. For for most things. I don't try to go it alone. But of course, there is my handful of ones that get more phone calls than others, tests, you're one of them.

And what a thrilling story, let's actually just just not because it's me. But let's just tell that story of seizing the moment and really drawing upon your trusted sacred circle to find the answers. So Jamie Oliver and Alice Waters came to this event with Amber and they have sent her an email saying that her program is the best program they've seen anywhere in the world, which is huge. And I remember exactly where I was when you called where you texted me to say, I need to ask you about this. I don't know what to do. This is such a huge opportunity, blah, blah, blah. And I remember I was standing in my backyard. I remember it vividly that conversation. Just tell everybody that story because it's such a great example of going okay, I got to find a solution here. Let's draw my resources. Okay, boom, let's put it into action. I mean, the results was spectacular.

Yeah. So so it was a surprise to us. One of our funders actually was arranging this visit, and they called and they said, Hey, we have this top secret opportunity. And we want to present it to food Literacy Center. You know, are you interested and they were going to have Jamie Oliver and Alice Waters and and Cooper coming to Sacramento. I think they were going to be doing some legislative work with this foundation. And as part of their visit, they also wanted to see programs that were doing similar work in our community. And so at the time, food Literacy Center was really the only cooking program in Sacramento, we still are actually four kids. So yeah, so it's like, okay, this just happened. Who do I need to talk to to make sure that we bring our a game I've never worked with any players at this level? You know? Yeah, my first call was to you test.

It was one of those moments though, where I went balls to the wall and said, right, we are going to capitalize on this opportunity. This is huge. This is going to be a huge payoff in Visibility. This is what you do did it today. And I just remember going this is what's going to happen. When people of that level come in, it is going to be so busy, they're going to be late. It's running over time. Everybody wants a piece of that and they are going to like push you to the bottom and you're not going to get the photo off this or that and I went Okay, go. This is what you say. And I remember you calling me going laid out exactly. He liked that I got the photo, you know, but honestly, I mean, I, you know, when you throw out advice and you go crush, I hope this was gonna work, you know, but anyway, it was one of those moments it was really cool. So yeah, just just just tell everybody, you know what, what happened with that?

Yeah, so, um, so we had the opportunity, they, they granted us the opportunity to do more than sort of just the photo op, which was amazing. So we offered like that we wanted to actually cook a meal. And we also wanted to invite others, right? Because it's kind of like, Sure, Jamie Oliver came and saw your program, I wanted other people in the room who, who would be the people left behind in Sacramento to support us in doing this work. So so they granted us that opportunity. So I was able to invite elected leaders and board members and donors. And so we basically had our kids cook a beautiful little lunch. One of the recipes was my grandma's recipe. And, and Alice Waters was very complimentary, she loved all of the food. And, and Jamie Oliver got to do a little cooking demo with our students. And I remember one little girl being like, he hugged me. And so it was, you know, this amazing moment for our kids to know and feel like they were important enough that these, all of these people wanted to come and visit their program. And so they really rose up. And they just, you know, they they had a beautiful experience. And yeah, and so, and I got to have real meaningful conversations with both Jamie Oliver and Alice Waters and, and Cooper, because at the time, for example, food Literacy Center was only doing after school programming. And those two were in California, really advocating for Farm to School programming during the academic day. And I remember saying to them, Well, why does it matter like I can, from an efficiency standpoint, and a monetary standpoint, I can reach more kids in the after school setting. And, you know, essentially have more higher impact for lower costs by being an after school. So what is the benefit to being during the school day? And they said, it's political you want during the school day, because eventually we want the California School System to prioritize this as an academic subject. And look where we are today.

Literacy Center, one school to 20 schools, right? I mean, well,

And we now have our first the school district built us a school so that we could provide daytime education. Okay, have our first Yeah,

we have to talk about this. Okay. Alice Waters has been an incredible mentor for you. So can you share with everybody the lesson about know that you learned from her? Because it's so powerful?

Yeah. So. So a few years after the Jamie Oliver and Alice Waters visit the our program has really started to take off, it was very popular with the kids, which meant it was popular with the school district. And so the school district had an amazing opportunity to take 2.5 vacant acres and partner with the city and turn it into a public park slash student farm. But they the school district themselves did not have the funding to operate any type of programming on the site, the city was willing to create it into a park. But the school district didn't have funds to add more staff and more programs. So they started looking for a nonprofit partner. And they came to the Literacy Center. And at the time, we were working out of a portable. We didn't have brick and mortar. And so when they asked me if I'd operate a farm, I said, Well, could you build me a headquarters and a cooking school? And oh, yeah, maybe also a commercial kitchen for all the other schools that were provided that we're providing services to in your district. And this is not a tiny ask. Airy

unuseable. What happened. Can we explain to everybody that this just does not happen? It's extremely unusual.

We think it's the first of its kind in the state, maybe in the nation, and so, so yeah, so the school district, essentially, over the years after much advocacy, said yes to this concept, and spent their own $4.3 million to build this facility that we got handed the keys and got to move into and I got to help design every aspect of it. So it was really built for our program in particular. But the piece where Alice Waters comes in is that So there's a small amount of funding. It's, it's nominal, it's not a big pot. But it's significant to me, because I'm a tiny nonprofit. So there is a $26,000 annual farm maintenance fee that the city pays to the school district to maintain the city park. And because the project doubles as a as a public park, and so the school district initially in the MOU that they put together, they were just keeping that funding. And we are operating at all of our programs in their district at no cost to the district, which is also unheard of every after school provider gets paid. And so, so I said, you know, so I went to, so we're working on this MOU. And I'm really upset that this 26,000 isn't in there. And separately, I attended my first training at Alice Waters, Edible Schoolyard while I'm there, she gives a talk to the group about the history of how Edible Schoolyard came to be. And in her conversation, she had been working with a school principal, and she pitched a concept to him, he came back to her with a concept that was less than her dream. And so she said, No, thank you at the time, she was like, I'm a successful risk restaurant tour, I actually don't need this project, this is just a dream that I have. And she walked away, hoping that eventually he would see the bigger picture and come back and offer her the full project. And so I went up to her afterward and and asked her more about this, you know, I was like, wow, you know, in the nonprofit sector, we say yes, to anything and everything, right? We don't say no, like, what gave you essentially the balls to do that. You know, and, and again, she said, You know, I had something that was successful, I didn't need this. And I thought about that. And I thought I don't need this cooking school. Like I'm successful as a nonprofit, my program is sought after, it would sure make life easier. And so I had a meeting have to sign the MOU. And I told the school district, I'm gonna wait, I don't like this MOU the way it is. And I don't think I would have had the courage to do that if I hadn't heard her story and seen that it worked out for her too. So

yeah, I mean, it's such a great example of no being a really powerful choice, because it means saying yes to something that's a better fit. But I want you to tell everybody and share your philosophy about no. Because when you said to me, I never hear no tests. I'll never forget the day that you said that to me. And I've stolen it because it's such Oh, fabulous. So can you please share it with everybody else? Because it's such a great way to move through the world?

Yeah, so it's, um, I learned this early on as a nonprofit professional doing fundraising, because it's kind of best practice or sort of a standard training, that you're supposed to ignore the nose and focus on the next Yes, because you're gonna hear 10 knows, between every Yes. When you're asking folks for money. And so that's where I first heard it. But I feel like I apply it to everything. And in fact, even when someone tells me No, I'm thinking, do you mean like, just no today? And maybe tomorrow? You'll say yes. Or maybe no to doing it this way. But we could for sure. Do it another way. So I never ever hear the No, I'm simply hearing. I didn't present it to you in the way that you'll say yes to right now. Well, I definitely approach pretty much everything. And the other part of when I started this nonprofit. In fact, I ignore the nose, I intentionally do not listen to them. Because there are going to be a lot of people I have noticed, particularly when I was starting a nonprofit because everybody says they're going to start a nonprofit and so everyone rolls their eyes when you tell you them that you're doing that. And it's even from people who you know, and respect right? So being able to ignore that and and look beyond and look for the people who say yes, it's really really important.

What's your biggest fear? Then? If you're just gonna ignore the nose? Um,

I don't really feel like I have too many fears.

I say that and now you're gonna tell me why because

I, I am always aiming for the perception of success. Because I fear you know what I fear the most is those emails where yes send out the email. And it's got an important message in it. But you got the date wrong. And literally everyone hits reply, and all they can comment on is the typo in the date. And they've completely ignored the fact that you just invited them to I don't know, say your ribbon cutting. Right?

Right. So the perception, the optics, the I'm not putting my best foot forward, is that what you mean? Like, I don't want to be perceived to be sloppy or not on the ball or not my A game? So the fear of disappointing others? Would that be a way to say it?

I mean, I'm okay, disappointing others, but I need them to see it in a different light, right? Because I don't see my personal failures as fails, I see them as something that I learned from, like, by golly, I'll never send out another email without having a second person. Check to see if my know if I've gotten any typos in there. But it's, it's managing that perception, I think that drives me to this level of perfection that can sometimes show up as if it's fear.

Right. Okay. So, so I love you are such a big tester. I really love this rite of testing things. And I like your, your perception, or the way that you hold the idea of failure. You know, like, one of my favorite quotes is the Nelson Mandela one, I never lose, I either win, or I learn. And you really embody that right? Where it's just always. Okay, so that didn't work quite the way we want it to what are the lessons here? Just talk us through how you, you teach and model that as a leader of an organization.

And people when they interview here, ask that like, how do you address failure and, and I've heard my staffs responses. And they're like, oh, I don't know that we feel like we fail here. So I do think it's, hopefully I have done an okay job of in, in viewing this in the culture of the organization. But we are constantly it's, it's, we're in food. So it's almost like recipe testing, right? Like, you know, that the first time you create a recipe, it's not the best version, you know, it's just version one. And you're gonna have to go through version two, three, and four, to get to the best one. And so that's the best way I can describe it. Like we are very used to as a team, testing things. We're a brand new organization that makes things up like terms like food literacy, we invented our whole curriculum and program. And so most thing in this building, it's brand new, we just got the keys to the beautiful cooking school, right? So every single thing that we do here, has never been done anywhere else before. The only people who know what we're aiming to do are us. And so I think I've really tried to embed that in the culture of like, you know, we know where we're going. And if somebody shows up to say, our event, or our cooking class, and XYZ goes wrong, you know, the only people who know that it was supposed to go another way as us. So So we really try to approach most things in that way. Of course, some things are more public than others, and you really want to lean in, but we, and in order to not have those kinds of failings, like I don't know, a recipe that explodes on you. We, we test everything, we run through scenarios constantly, like you shouldn't see our meetings, just to put on like the simplest of events, because we are thinking through every element of the customer experience, every element of you know, what if people sit this way, instead of that way, or, you know, if they're, you know, if the air conditioners on, and we want it warm, like we're delicious, literally thinking through everything. So

the other the other thing about your process that I really like, I think, I think a part of deciding it has to be me, and what has to be you and what what is yours to hold is letting go of what is not yours to hold anymore. What does not have to be me anymore. And sometimes we can stay too long at the table. Well, I mean, I promised everyone and I said this is was what I was doing and who I was 10 years ago, but now that it doesn't fit and we still keep kind of, you know, trying to beat that dead horse. One thing that is another superpower of yours is that you're able to adapt and let go of things in order to keep your eye on the prize and you know, do what needs to be done to move the organization forward. So you know, you starting with a wing and a prayer and a dream with one person and now there's 10 of you, right and eight board members, is that right? So you know, it's growing, right? Yes. So you've had to let go of some things that you used to do before. So can you talk everybody through your time audit process, because that's an amazing tool, and how that helps you identify should I'd be doing this or does this need to be delegated to somebody else? Yeah.

So I use something called Box calendaring, where literally every hour of my day, I have what I'm going to be doing. And that's to protect so that because I used to work 13 hour days, seven days a week, and it's not sustainable. So in order to protect, not pushing everything to the weekend, or everything to the evening, I started this box calendaring, and it is amazing. But the other thing it does for me, and what I'll ask my staff to do a couple of times a year is we we basically do a time on it. So I'm looking at that calendar and going, what am I spending the majority of my time on? And does it align with what I say my goals are and the things that only I can do for the organization? Like, is this a thing that I need to be re training a staff member to get it off my plate? Because it's now their time to learn it? And we do that very often. I think one because nonprofit budgets are so lean, you're just constantly like, and what else can a volunteer help us with? So it's like having my I constantly on? Where are we trying to get? And then that means I have to be super efficient. So am I using my time, the best way that I can together? I'm just constantly doing that. Yeah, and

another part, you know that I hear people, you know, in nonprofits all the time, or companies is founder syndrome. So I know that you're hyper aware of that, you know, you and I have talked about that before, about when it will be time where, you know, the baton needs to be passed or something like not that I'm wanting you to do that. Because I know it's not that time right now. But I know that's something that's always in the back of your mind, right?

Oh, yeah. And as I get older, it's certainly more front of my mind in COVID, I was like, I knew I was going to be sending my team out into the world, myself included, before we had had vaccines or knew we would have won or even knew what the heck was going on. So that started to come front of mind to me is like, how will this thing exists? If and when I'm not here? And I've always it really is like your baby? Yes.

Yeah, you put it first in everything, don't you?

I do. Yes. And I think the the thing that I have kind of always conscientiously done is it's not just about the success of me and just about the success of food Literacy Center. But how are we building or rebuilding systems, so that other people can replicate this work, so that there are systems in place that other people can plug into this work. So for example, getting this cooking school, you know, having our school district build this, we have a 10 year MOU so so we I have protected this entity to exist here. So if I'm gone, and the board hires someone else, we get to still be here. Right. And, and significantly, the school district through this process has changed its policy about how much of their budget they spend on Title One or low income elementary schools, and facilities projects. So now, other schools where we teach within the district are also being improved through the facility's budget. So so there's ripple effects that will be in perpetuity because of this project. And another is, is thinking bigger and thinking longer term, like, what happens to the Farm to School movement in not only my community, but in the state, when there's no longer in Alice Waters or an amber stop, for example. And so, in 2017, I advocated at the state capitol to create a department of our program of Farm to School within California's Food and Agriculture Department, just like they have at the federal level in the USDA. We advocated that they create that here in California, and in the pandemic, the governor put its first funding for these projects. So there's a permanent department. And hopefully, we will continue to advocate advocate so that at some point, there's also a permanent part of the budget carve out for granting out grants to programs like ours, so So there are things

that I'm searching about. Sorry, go ahead. It's just such a great example. Sorry, I interrupted you have Be The Change, be the change, hang the lanton. You know, be the example you know, these things didn't just land in your lap. You made them happen. You saw that something needed to be fixed. You advocated you did the work. One of the things that that another thing that I'd love you to share is just that you're always telling your story. You're always putting your story out there. And you also are always figuring out where your story fits into the much bigger story. Yes? Is that something that comes to you naturally? Did you learn that from your parents? Did you? I mean, how did you pick that up? So,

in one of my first nonprofit jobs, I attended a lot of PR training, and a mentor of mine. Very early on, he said, You need to read the newspaper every single day. And you need to constantly be thinking about how your cause fits in with what's going on in the world. And it was awesome advice. I'm, I also tend to be already a strategic thinker. So it made a lot of sense to me, I would say, the space where this I think the times where this matters the most is something like the pandemic, right, because we're a hands on in person cooking program for kids, schools closed, like many nonprofits actually disappeared in that time, because they couldn't make themselves relevant to the current time and situation. They lost funding and, and they couldn't keep their doors open. So I think noticing what was going on, like the one of the very first things we did, I was like, Okay, what are the skills that we have, that everyone's talking about? A people are staying at home, and they're buying up all this stuff like rice and beans, and they maybe don't know how to cook that stuff. We have those skills, we could be putting recipes, our existing recipes, online. Other things we know about food safety, to where all food handlers certified, what are the things that people are afraid of, you know, the bringing home and washing their packaging, right, we can give tips and tricks that we have been using with our kids. And we can share that knowledge, right. And then we translated that when we had to go out into the world. And we started right alongside the school lunch program. So school lunch, right away, started distributing school lunches curbside. And thankfully, I already had an awesome relationship with our Director of the School Lunch Program. And she called me and she said, Amber, I want food Literacy Center to partner with us. You know what ideas you have? And she and I came up with that we would she she thought we should distribute fruits and vegetables. And I was like, what if we took the recipes that we're already making with our kids, before the pandemic started, that we know, they already know how to cook and like, let's package those like a recipe kit. And we'll distribute those. And those to this day continue to be one of our most in demand programs, we thought it would disappear when schools returned. But because rates of food and nutrition insecurity tripled during the pandemic, those rates have not returned to their pre pandemic levels. So we continue to need to distribute these recipe kits in addition to our classroom programs. So yeah, so staying relevant, and really understanding what's happening, and being able to see the need and create something meaningful to just continue. Yeah, it's really important.

I want to go back to the pandemic for just a minute, because you keep circling around this. You it's very easy. You're such a self motivated person to go in has to be me, I'm getting out there, I'm doing it. You are asking your team to put their lives on the line and decide it has to be made as well. Right. So how do you do that? As a leader? How do you really instill or inspire other people to step up and go? It has to be made to? Yeah.

That's an emotional one. Um, yeah. I mean, I knew that is what I was asking. And I also knew that not a single person on my team would say, No, I knew this. And I didn't make it their choice, right. I brought it to the team. I think everyone that goes into nonprofit really is here to serve. Right? That is, that is why you choose these jobs over something that might pay better or better or have better hours or whatever have you. And, yeah, I think all of I would have ideas at the start of the pandemic. But I would sort of facilitate a conversation sort of saying, okay, like, I kind of like I just walked you through what are the skills we already have? I could could have said, here's the skills we already have guys, what do you want to do with that, right? Like, I could have just handed it to them, but instead I said, What are the skills we have? Let's let's whiteboard this right? And so I'm done. I kind of use a facilitation technique to bring them into the conversation so that they're sort of contributing to the bigger idea. And they're taking ownership of the movement. Correct? Correct. And I would say that the pandemic for me, we really had leadership at every level, right? Because somebody took on, I said, Okay, somebody's going to have to develop our plan for how we work with volunteers. Somebody's going to have to develop our plan for how we do we mark the ground with tape power, we social distancing, right. And every single person raised their hand for different parts of it to say, I'll develop that piece. And and yeah, I just, I can't tell you how exactly they said, Yes, I just, I knew they would. And they did? Well, I

mean, it's pretty clear that you create a safe, empowering space where people are invited to step up and make their contribution and feel great about it, and take ownership of it, right. I mean, that's what great leaders do. I don't even need to ask you, how do you stay open to new ideas? Because you are the most open person that I know. What I want to ask you is how do you remember the lessons? So we've talked about your philosophy about No, we've talked about your philosophy about failure, and remembering the lessons, how do you hold the lessons and then recall them to when you're working through your next challenge, you know, so that you don't, you know, repeat things before because that's a really great skill to have.

So I like to give the pandemic yet another example. It was one of the strongest moments for food Literacy Center as a team. And I thought, How did a How did we do this? Because we just did it in the moment, you know what I mean? And I was like, we need to go back, reflect on it, and capture what we did. So that we can replicate it as an organization, again, and again and again. And do you know Simon cynics book together is better? Yeah. So

Oh, share it share that little pearl, because that is a big one. Yeah.

So so. So we were back in person very early on. And I took that book, and we sat around the table, and we read it together as a team. And then I had taken three of the sort of gems out of that book through the little captions. And I had put them on like, poster board. And I was like, Okay, pick, whichever one calls to you the most. You got to share the three with us. Oh, gosh.

Oh, paraphrase them. Yeah,

one is about, sensually about we take risks. And we're not afraid of them. Shoot, I wish I had them on the tip of my tongue. But anyhow, we put those up on whiteboards. And then everybody went to a different one. And, and I just had them write like, Okay, how do we take risks? What do we do? Right? And what did we do through the pandemic? And we've done it repeatedly, multiple times since, because we want to institutionalize what we were doing. And so for example, that leadership at every level that comes out of that story book, and and we really did create that

in the proverb that you share, though, oh,

if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

Yeah, that's a big one. And I know that you, you really believe that, you know, it's, oh, gosh, you know, through this, this central drive that you have, how would you because you're because one of your superpowers is simplifying complex issues, right, and being able to explain it to people really quickly, right. That's why you're such an incredible fundraiser and how you get everybody on board, which is amazing. How would you describe the central beliefs that drive your choices that you just keep coming back to again, and again, like you checking in for the barometer of what a yes or no is?

Yeah. fairness, honesty, or integrity, communication, and creativity. And also one of my values is work. I'm from the Midwest.

community would be one of your words, too, wouldn't it though? You're just so plugged in to that right to connection. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, it's such a big one. So so you're such a doer in a generator. Like I was saying, What's something you wish you had done sooner?

Um, prioritize my health. That one is is the difficult for me, I will give up. Most things for most of the things that are what I consider just mine, and somewhat selfish, I will always give those up for food Literacy Center.

So let's be more specific, though, because you still eat really well. You're talking about exercise and stuff, right in terms of your health. Are you or what are you talking about? Specifically?

Yeah although there are times where, for example, I'm eating a bean burrito five nights a week, because all I can do is open a can of beans and chop an onion, and I'm not cooking, right? And so so sometimes the cooking falls to the wayside. I'm still eating healthy, but I'm not getting what my body needs as far as variety or some of that.

So how do you check in with yourself to to recalibrate and bring yourself back into balance? And just sort of say to yourself, Okay, things are a little bit out of whack here. I know, I've got to focus on this over here with food Literacy Center, but my health is suffering. I haven't gone for a run in a while because you love running on the trails, right? Like that's like one of your happy place. When you give us a little a little talk to Amber session

let's let's get we gotta we gotta we gotta you know deal with this. Yeah, it is, it is still a challenge. Like I, I told my boss, yes. So I block two days a week to work days, I the weekends, obviously, I know I can do my own thing. But on the weekdays, I block an hour, two mornings, so that I will come in an hour late on those two mornings, so that I can run. However, i that is the first time slot in my calendar that I will give back to food Literacy Center when when there is a need, right? When we can't quite all find a meeting that works or there's a funder who can only meet at a certain time, I will, I will give it so it's very difficult for me to not feel selfish, even though I feel like it's where I come up with creative solutions. I feel like my runs helped keep me less stressful. I'm way better person to be around when I'm running. There's certainly all kinds of arguments and benefits for it. But yeah, but you

know, it's the thing about superpower is our Achilles heel, we're not held in balance, right? So your tenacity, your dedication, your unwavering commitment, you know that you have so many superpowers as we all do, right? But, but we're not held in balance. That's what prevents you from going for the run investing in yourself care. I just want to pick apart something you just said. Because about feeling selfish, when you take time for you for self care. And, and I think that we all struggle with finding that balance between self care and care for others. This is something that comes up in my office hours every single week, particularly for women. We feel selfish spending time on us. Yes. So I love that you've been so honest and transparent about that because it's certainly something I struggle with. And I know so many people in our community do. So again, you how would you talk yourself out of that you feel like okay, I've I've put these two days aside but for the past four weeks, they've completely gone by the wayside. Okay, now it's time to kind of actually spend some time over here what what does that conversation in your head look like?

I won't let it go for weeks. So that's better than what it gives you some grace this Yeah, no, I used to in fact, there were years where I didn't run at all or exercise at all other than like some hiking so so I think it just comes down to I just have a have to do it. They like my sanity. So I'll just tell myself you are going to take that run you do you have put in the time. It's okay. Like today everything will be fine. Like the world will not implode if you aren't there that hour. Yeah, so but it's a I do have to convince myself or maybe I have to work extra later that week just to justify it to my

so who who helps you hold things in balance, Brendan your husband is it friends is it family you know who who are the mirrors that present themselves to those voices of voices of truth saying okay, Amber, it's time to kind of rein this in you know, you gotta you got to look after yourself a bit better all you know, what happens there? Ah,

I think I'm the only one who's doing it around my health for sure.

As far as I'm putting my hands up to join conversation now.

I would say though, as far as like humility, to make sure that I stay grounded is for sure. My husband.

Oh, one of the most grounded people I know. That's humble and beautiful. But yeah, he's pretty amazing for that. Yeah. Yeah. He's pretty amazing. You know, I want to I want to close with just some stories about about how it gets real in a nonprofit, right? Because what are some of the things that have just been so joyful and beautiful about getting to be you? But it has to be me, right? Like so. I mean, these incredible things that have happened, you know, in food Literacy Center, you know, that got to be you. What are some of the most fun things about being you?

Ah, the best thing is obviously, getting to play with the kids. I absolutely love it. I don't get to do it as much as when I first started the nonprofit, but I have to, again, make time and make sure I do that. I love pulling up to this beautiful building that I still can't believe and pinch myself every day that we get to be here. And that materialized.

Oh, again, you made that happen. I think that it's good to sit in gratitude for it, but you made it happen. I watched it every step of the way. And it was thrilling. Yeah.

Yeah. And, and getting to be a spokesperson for the cause I do really enjoy that. And I do love how creative like we're a nonprofit that gets to be fun and punny, you know? And, and we really do have a lot of fun with our work. So I really enjoy the creative side of food Literacy Center. Yeah,

you've got to tell the story about the cows and the sheep and the, the farm and I mean, because, you know, listen, when you you know, and I'm sure those of you listening are thinking, oh, gosh, this woman, she's done these incredible things. And you know, when you see successful people like it's so glamorous. Let's just take everybody inside some of the more unglamorous parts of being you.

Yes. So one of the goals in our new space is that we want to have animals because kids who have experienced trauma can learn to learn nurturing by working with animals. So we had some sheets that a friend, a farmer friend lent us, and we know nothing. We have no experience. And so we set up some picnic tables as a barrier, because we owned nothing. It was like the first month we were here. And we didn't have a fence or anything. So we put some picnic tables as a barrier on our beautiful back patio that goes up against our cooking classroom. And I came in on a Saturday to check on the sheep. And they have had, of course, jumped over the picnic tables, and made a home and more like a bathroom on our back patio. And there were sheep poop everywhere. So I immediately got online and ordered a dog poop scoop.

And came in early that day to make sure I had picked it all up before the staff came.

Well, that's a real it's got to be Bebo, but no one else is cleaning it up. Let me do that. Oh, gosh. Jesus. Oh, that's hilarious. That's so funny. Oh, man, that was like just just an oxytocin rush right there. Good belly laugh with you is the greatest medicine. What's your dream for food Literacy Center? And how you want to model this thing that you've created and being part of this movement for the rest of the country? Let's say what would what would be your big dream.

My dream for food Literacy Center is to essentially be able to reach all of the kids in our district. So we're only in 15 schools in Sac City Unified and there are 40 title one elementary school or low income schools. So we're not even we haven't even grown to blanket our own district yet. So. So that's my dream for food Literacy Center, which is a very practical dream, I think. But also still a long ways to go for the the field of food literacy and farm to school. My dream is that food Literacy Center can be viewed as the model that we can be the point at which data is collected and given to our legislators as fodder so that they can help us fight to ensure that Farm to School programs eventually become our requirement in our school districts in the state of California if not, nationally, because it really, we see the change every single day with our kids in terms of what they're eating 50% of Americans currently are sick from what they're eating from their diets. And we can prevent that if we can get to our kids. And what they're learning is very much STEM based. And there's so much research showing that when kids can learn something, by doing it hands on difficult subjects like science and math, those topics are more likely to stick than if they were being lectured at, for example. So there's just so many synergies, and I, I am grateful we're in a school district that gets that synergy, like they understand that our students health is wrapped up in their learning. And I just think that when we can get to that place, as a state and as a country, our kids are going to be better off, but so is our society, because this is costing us billions of dollars as, as taxpayers, to to help people once they already are sick. Let's let's help maybe make sure they don't get sick in the first place. And idea that our schools have to be part of that. That solution.

Yes, thank you so much for being a part of that solution in California. And I am just so excited about the next installment of dude Literacy Center. So you can learn more about Food Literacy Center at foodliteracycenter.org You can connect with Amber at chief food genius is that not the best handle on social media you've ever heard of? We will put how you can connect with Amber and food Literacy Center. In the show notes and on our website, it has to be made.com. And thank you so much for joining. I want to close with one thing. What would you say to everybody listening? Everyone's got a dream in their heart. They've got something they're dreaming about. And something's holding them back from taking action on it. What would you say to somebody who's dreaming of starting something?

You'll never know unless you try it. And the best time to start is today. Yes, yes. Yes. Yes. Another one of my favorite quotes is take a leap and build your wings on the way down.

Oh that's a good one. I love it. Love it. What a great way to close. Thank you so much. My dear friend. I'm just so so grateful that you're in the world. So thank you so much for being the first guest. I'll remember this forever.

Oh, thank you, Tess. Love you. Thanks for having me. Love

you too. Bye. Oh, Isn't she gorgeous? What a fantastic first interview to start this podcast. I'm so excited. So crush so many good takeaways from this conversation. I mean, the big one is Be the change you want to see in the world. And community change starts with you. So how are you going to participate in making the world around you a better place. But some of the broader takeaways for me? Were don't ask don't get, you know, just ask Do you want to be involved? Can you do this for me? Do you want to participate? The worst thing that's going to happen is someone will say no, but they may just surprise you and it may open all kinds of opportunities and possibilities. The other big one for me was the story about Alice Waters not being afraid to say no if it doesn't align with your vision and waiting for the yes, that really feels like the one that you want to give that's going to take you where you want to go. So I hope you found this as inspiring as I have. I can't wait to hear what you think.