How a Bay Area nonprofit is humanizing the food system through storytelling and generous listening 🍲 Pei-Ru Ko and Jovida Ross, Real Food Real Stories

“I always believe that when you present yourself in that deeply vulnerable, authentic, personal place, almost always people meet you there.” - Pei-Ru Ko 

When Pei-Ru Ko was recovering from an autoimmune condition, she spent a lot of time at farmers markets in the Bay Area and grew close to local food producers. Relishing the relationships she built with them, she saw the opportunity to bridge a gap between food producers, sometimes lonely from their isolating work, and eaters, like herself, who wanted to trust and better understand the food system.

In summer 2014, she hosted a night rich in food and stories, packing 45 guests into her living room to learn about sustainable seafood. Since then, the community has grown to thousands of people attending their events and listening to their stories over the years. This year, Pei-Ru passed the torch to Jovida Ross as the new executive director. Together, they are elevating stories from the entire food chain and reweaving connections in the food system.

In this episode, Pei-Ru and Jovida share the power of storytelling to bring people together, how to create a space for generous listening, and why food plays an important role in building a community. 

Hear more from other community leaders about stage 3 in getting your people together, 🔥Pass the Torch.

👏Learn more about Pei-Ru and Jovida and say hello at https://www.realfoodrealstories.org/

✨Learn more about our correspondent Maggie Zhang on her blog, Commonplays.

📙Grab your copy of GET TOGETHER—our handbook on community-building 🔥

👋Say hi and learn more about work we do with passionate, community-centered organizations, visit: http://people-and.com/