It’s Alive!
For as long as I can remember I have parroted experts’ opinions related to feeding the world’s hungry that we have a global logistics problem — not a food problem. Through 2022 and 2023 I inspected myriad models and start-ups dedicated to “ugly food” and food waste strategies. I was disappointed by most risk profiles and scalability. I then found Sierra Agra thanks to my dear friend, Sahr. I learned that 30-40% of what is grown in the Central Valley of California is never converted to calories due to size-outs, blemishes, or timing of harvest.
Sierra Agra is dedicated to processing this “unseen harvest” into juice, juice concentrate, puree, and ingredients for the cosmetics, oil, and perfume industries. I have joined to assist in corporate strategy and development. Incredibly proud of the economically exciting and wildly impactful model that the team has built.
In 2023, after learning about the devastating outcomes of post-consumer textile, I discovered the founding team of Helpsy. Circa 2023, Helpsy looked like a manager of those bins you see filled with crap around churches, schools, and dry cleaners. Their scale, though, and collaboration with big cities like Boston, made me dig in. I discovered that they are the tip of the iceberg for brands to distribute their returns through, while keeping highly discounted items off of the internet – a key initiative of brands who understand they should or must avoid burning their excess inventory. The more I learned, the more I loved this team. Excited to help in a series of small ways.
I joined GK Fund in June of 2021 with great excitement about its prospects. Throughout my life I have been focused on stretching philanthropic dollars to have their maximum impact, which generally meant nearly exclusively making contributions internationally. I care greatly for my community, but am so lucky to have been introduced to a global perspective, and a dollar simply goes further to save lives outside of the US.
As I became involved locally in North-Central Massachusetts, where I grew up, and in the landscape of BIPOC owned businesses in Greater Boston, GK Fund and its leadership stood out to me as a wonderful opportunity to contribute resources toward catalytic investments more locally. COVID-19 had a far outsized impact on BIPOC businesses and it is my honor to align with this group of community leaders to identify opportunties where $10,000 – $15,000 non-dilutive grants can keep businesses open and thriving. Increasingly, locally and globally, I work through advisory roles to leverage enterprise to create jobs and avoid the need for philanthropic capital at all. Sometimes this comes in the form of social enterprises, and sometimes not. Entrepreneurs who chose a structure first are often missing an opportunity, and for this reason I am thrilled to be of service to the GK Fund and its target opportunties to take moderate capital grants to change the lives those within the local business.
I wrote Ojie the Honeybee to offer those who use plant-based medicine to revitalize, relax, and rejoice, or those who work in the field, a way to tell their kids what it is they do and why. There are hundreds of thousands of employees engaged in the legal cannabis industry, which has undergone decades of catastrophic mismanagement by unjust political actions – many of which perpetuate still today. Meanwhile, adults are finding medical and joyful alternatives with fewer side effects to pharmaceuticals, alcohol, et al. As we discover more, and healthier, ways our bodies and minds benefit from plant derivatizes – from lavender to tetrahydrocannabinol – age-appropriate dialogue about the professionalization of an industry is critical. Evolution, even perversely back to our roots, should be celebrated and shared in responsible and age-appropriate ways that don’t encourage any irresponsibility, but accentuate healthy life choices.