As an original cohort member of the reNourish Studio, I’m honored to say that I’ve been here from the moment the virtual doors began welcoming us to the field in May of 2022.  Being a part of the studio has not only disrupted my thinking and supported my business through virtual guidance, but in the first two years it has allowed me to participate in 6 powerfully different in-person retreats. I can say with conviction that it has been those in-person experiences that have truly brought the educational aspect of reNourish to life through tangible examples and personal relationships. 

I often reflect back to my decision making process when I chose to say yes to the studio, and find it difficult to explain it as anything other than a calling to the work.

Through my years as an entrepreneur, I’ve often felt resistance to ‘the way things are” in business. Phrases like “It’s not personal, it’s business” and “It’s all about the bottom line” were not only phrases that deeply disturbed me, but at times, would even make me question if my personal constitution could endure the extractive parameters of what I believed it meant to be successful. I couldn’t name how I thought it should be different, but definitely sensed there was a better way. Occasionally, this sensing could be felt in community conversations within the natural food space. I can recall feeling surprised and supported when conversation after conversation confirmed an underlying rumble of frustration- with all of us seeking not only a better way of doing business, but in redefining success through non-extractive practices.

Have you considered that your business could contribute to the evolution of our food system in a way that nourishes all of life while simultaneously being financially viable?   

What I have discovered and can relate to directly, is that people within the natural food industry don’t typically make, grow, manufacture or distribute food for the sake of becoming the next billionaire. We are a community of entrepreneurs driven by a force greater than ourselves. We want to make a difference by seeking a solution that will contribute to a global imperative. Whether it’s born of deep seeded fear around climate collapse, personal or familial health challenges, or an uprising of environmental and ecological health, many food-focused entrepreneurs want to see viable and vital changes in a bigger system. The spark starts off bright and inspired, but can quickly fizzle in the deep waters of “business as usual”.  We often struggle to find funding and support in an extractive economy, focused on mostly short term returns on investments. The philosophical passion that directs our cause can sometimes feel so big that it seems impossible.  Yet, it still directs us without fail. It keeps us motivated and inspires us to become resilient.

 I recall what I refer to as a “light-bulb moment” in the studio, when the faculty had us seek our own passionate calling through, what Carol Sanford refers to as, “A promise beyond ableness.” Simply put, this promise beyond ableness is a way to recognize that the calling matters beyond our own shortcomings. It’s a force that follows an energy asking for a change. It’s a whisper in the wind that reminds us to sense beyond our perceived solutions, to a greater perspective. It requires a surrender of right and wrong, while trusting the direction of the momentum. It’s that force that keeps us doing the work, even if we cannot yet perceive the how or the what will get us there. It helps us keep going in times of doubt.

Each of us in the studio carries one such promise within our souls. Each of us holds value in the financial capital that is the lifeblood of our  businesses, but at our essence, we all want to see impactful changes in the food system by carrying our shared aim – that the system may support all life. This promise beyond ableness guides us all and helps us to lift each other when doubt and struggle can overwhelm us.

Do you find that sometimes your passion (your promise beyond ableness) feels like a mission to convince others, or can you detach from your perceived solution and allow a new conversation to emerge that may reach the same destination on a more efficient road less traveled?

In Real Life. There may be nothing as powerful as our personal experiences to cause conviction and faith in a concept that we’re striving to adapt or understand. Our most recent in person reNourish retreat to Greensboro, North Carolina was no exception to this premise. There, we were able to witness a historic, impactful system changing event, and imagine its significance in our own work. 

How do you hold in mind something that is “alive?” Do you find yourself attached to an idea of a defined living being like a plant or animal, or can you see an energetic system as alive in other ways? 

For me, this experience  became one of the most tangible exposures to living systems principles in action. We explored stories we have been told of seemingly heroic, change-making events, and how they are so much more than the visible acts alone. It’s the conditions that lay the groundwork for the acts that fuel them and give them life. Like healthy soil and water to a seed, it’s the environment that creates the greater effect. 

The quick and very over simplified story of one of these acts and the system that nourished it,  is that on Feb 1, 1960, four brave young college students, known as ‘The Greensboro Four’,  decided to walk into a Woolworth’s  lunch counter to take a stand, demanding to be served food at a counter that was reserved for whites only. These young men, through acts of calm resilience, set an example of truth and bravery that ultimately lasted for 5 months – joined by many community members filling in at the counter as one group left and another stepped in to support the cause. The men are heroes of the town, but the change, when we seek to understand it, rose from more than just the act alone.

When we got curious about what made this 5 month long sit-in at a lunch counter so effective, we realized that the single act of nonviolent protest lasted so long and expanded to so many other cities across the south because of the conditions in which the city was founded and the essence it holds today. These conditions, including the cultural value of nonviolence, rose out of the existing field that was building across the country throughout the Civil Rights Movement. What may appear to be one simple act was actually the result of preparation and support cultivated by an often overlooked community center called the HIghlander Center, where many people developed their own abilities to self-reflect and self observe ways to incite powerful and effective communication without being antagonistic. 

Through our own process within the studio, we were able to observe the impact the city had within the existing civil rights movement. By observing it through the lens of our own goals, the principles of living systems that we study, an awareness of our own biases and our desire for better understanding, we were able to correlate this effect into our own businesses and promises beyond ableness.  Place is powerful, and without our in person experiences, “place” would just be a concept ungrounded in our learnings. reNourish in person events, curated with incredible intention, are by far the most impactful ways for me to fully immerse myself in living systems work.