Cake Therapy
Cake Therapy is a heartwarming and uplifting podcast that celebrates the transformative power of baking therapy. Hosted by Dr. Altreisha Foster, the passionate baker, entrepreneur and advocate behind Cake Therapy, this podcast is a delightful blend of inspiring stories, expert insights and practical baking tips. Each episode takes listeners on a journey of self-discovery, emotional healing and connection through the therapeutic art of baking.
Cake Therapy
The Farm as Pharmacy: Chef Leah DiBernardo's Food Revolution
Chef Leah DiBernardo's remarkable culinary journey defies conventional paths, weaving together the threads of family tradition, environmental stewardship, and passionate storytelling. From her idyllic childhood on an Oregon farm where her American-Italian family embraced a "food hippie" lifestyle—growing their produce and butchering their own animals—emerged a profound understanding of food's connection to land and health.
The transformative moment came when her grandmother Conchetta taught young, shy Leah to make gnocchi while singing "Jingle Bells" at the top of her lungs. This joyful culinary awakening sparked a lifelong relationship with cooking, though her path first detoured through film school and a successful career creating MTV campaigns and music videos with artists like Mariah Carey. It wasn't until becoming a mother in 2001 that Chef Leah returned to her culinary roots, dismayed by the processed foods served at her daughter's school.
What started as Delights Fine Food, an organic catering company launched with her sister in Temecula, evolved into Eat Marketplace (Extraordinary Artisans at the Table) when the 2008 economic downturn demanded reinvention. With just $5,000 and existing equipment, Leah created a haven for sustainable, locally-sourced food that nurtures both people and community. Her partnership with Rancho Family Medical Group to create health-focused cooking videos underscores her core philosophy that "the farm is our pharmacy."
Most remarkably, Chef Leah's vision extends beyond personal success. She's actively working toward giving Eat Marketplace ownership to her predominantly female staff, continuing her commitment to lifting other women in the culinary world. As she looks toward writing books, teaching, and supporting her daughter's creative ventures, she emphasizes the importance of discernment—making thoughtful choices about our paths and the people we surround ourselves with.
Join us for this inspiring conversation about sustainable food systems, women's entrepreneurship, and creating a legacy that's "good, clean, and fair for everyone." Subscribe to hear more stories of culinary innovation and personal transformation that nourish both body and soul.
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Welcome to the Cake Therapy Podcast a slice of joy and healing, with your host, Dr Altricia Foster. This is a heartwarming and uplifting space that celebrates the transformative power of baking therapy. The conversations will be a delightful blend of inspirational stories, expert insights and practical baking tips. Each episode will take listeners on a journey of self-discovery, emotional healing and connection through the therapeutic art of baking. There's something here for everyone, so lock in and let's get into it.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone and welcome back to the Keg Therapy Podcast with me, your host, dr Altricia Foster. Today's a good day for me. I'm really excited. Just spoke to my mom. You know I've been going through this heartbreak with my mom having dementia and all, but I had a good day, you know, a good start to my day this morning because I heard from her.
Speaker 2:But you know to keep this on an upbeat note, we do have an exciting guest that's joining us today. Her name is Chef Leah and she is a part of the Eat Catering group and she's part of Eat Marketing, eat Catering, and I'm excited for you to hear from her, from her humble beginnings in Oregon to baking with her grandmother, to becoming her and you know I want to talk to her about that journey itself. Before we dive into the conversation and introduce her to you all, I want to say thank you for subscribing to us and if you're listening and you haven't subscribed yet, hey. And after this conversation with Chef, I want you to leave a comment. Let me know, like what was your favorite part of this conversation with Leah? Also, we will be on YouTube. This conversation is also posted on our YouTube channel. It's the Cake Therapy Podcast on the YouTube channel. Go over there, leave your comment, like, follow, subscribe, and then, when you're over there, we go Stephanie, which is our producer, who is always saying um, altricia. You have to do this, altricia. So okay, promoting it on um on YouTube as well, but just go ahead and listen, you know, wherever you get your podcast, like, subscribe and share. As a matter of fact, share it with your friends.
Speaker 2:Today, right In this episode, we're thrilled to introduce to you the incredible and inspiring Chef, leah Delight DiBernardo. She's the founder and culinary director of Eat Marketplace and Eat Catering. She has redefined what it means to eat well by blending culinary excellence with a deep commitment to health and sustainability. From her earlier days, like I mentioned, from the small town you know in Oregon, she's been cooking with her family because it's been a family affair. Her journey has taken her through film, school, entrepreneurship and her story is truly one of passion. You know when we come on Cake Therapy.
Speaker 2:I talk about my passion for baking and my passion of lifting girls. Leah's is not any different. From farm to table is what she believes in, and she sees this as a form of pharmacy. Right, she does really believe in what she does. She believes that growing your own produce you know, she grew up on a farm, so she believes in the whole concept of from farm to table, and she sees this as the farm of pharmacy. She's really transformed each marketplace into a haven of nutritious, delicious food that supports both personal wellness and local farmers delicious food that supports both personal wellness and local farmers. In today's conversation, though, we will discover how she actually combines her love for storytelling and cooking to create a business that she truly cares about, and she does really care about what's on your plate, what's on my plate and what's on her plate, so I'm excited to welcome Chef Leah in the space. Hi, chef Leah, Welcome to the Cake Therapy Podcast.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Dr Foster. You're rad and I'm so excited to be here. Thank you.
Speaker 2:So are you. I love your glasses and I'm happy that you're here with us. So I typically do like a mental health check-in, like to see how you're doing, how your day's going, so tell us like what's happening around you this morning.
Speaker 3:What's happening around me this morning? Well, you know it's interesting. It's been really hot in Southern California and we actually had to close our bakery for three days because the AC unit went out and it was 96 degrees in the front cafe and 101 in the kitchen. So you know, small business owners were always dealing, but with a good attitude. It's the only way I know how to do things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So let me know, tell me a little bit about who you are so our listeners can hear about you. Know, your upbringing, your upbringing um on the farm in oregon, wow you just you have it's like cia.
Speaker 3:Dr foster's like she's got the deeps careful.
Speaker 2:You need to know, so share with us, yeah that's no, absolutely I.
Speaker 3:And I have such, a, I think, such a cool background because it, because it was such a great way to grow up. My family is American-Italian. My father was second generation, my mom was second generation and they raised the first five kids in New York and then they moved out to the West Coast and I was a surprise number six and my parents, after they had raised their five kids right, they decided to travel everywhere and move and try different careers with me. So I was the experiment kid and we ended up on a farm in Terrebonne, oregon and my grandfather was a chef. So when my father got to this farm he's like he's going to butcher all of his own animals. He was going to grow all of his own food.
Speaker 3:We were total food hippies, so out of place with the New York parents, you know, in Terrebonne Oregon in the 70s. But it was such a beautiful kind of regenerative and sustainable upbringing for me and I got so connected to our food system without even knowing, until you know later on in life, right and um, it was. It was this really beautiful holistic experience that has really fulfilled my life down the road.
Speaker 3:Without it, you know, being this like three, four, five, six, seven year old, running through these beautiful fields and crying every time. My dad, you know, butchered one of the chickens that was supposed to be my pet. Yeah, it was beautiful though I, I it's. It has stabilized me and given me roots within everything.
Speaker 2:I do yeah, you mentioned briefly your grandfather, but I love I've read about your grandmother, connie. I want you to talk to our listeners. Share with our listeners your relationship with Connie and how that actually influenced your relationship with food right now.
Speaker 3:My grandfather, my grandmother Connie Conchetta I did not know really well Again, like I'm the last of the six kids, all the kids grew up with all the cousins right and in this one household. So it was crazy. There was always something going on. Everyone was so incredibly loud and, you know, you cut to Terrebonne, oregon. The last of the kids and the grandmother I never met comes to visit the quiet kid right. She couldn't handle it. She couldn't handle that.
Speaker 3:I was quiet and shy, so she taught me how to make gnocchi. And when she taught me how to make gnocchi she would sing jingle bells at the top of her lungs and clap her hands. It was this whole jingle bells, jingle bells like this crazy New York accent and really loud. And my grandmother was very tall. We didn't get that on my side of the family, but she was. She was like 5'11 and just this kind of this domineering figure but just such a sweet, soft soul too.
Speaker 3:And so that was the beginning of Leah becoming a little bit more, you know, coming out of her shell. And I'll never forget that experience of rolling the dough with my grandmother and the feeling of the flour and how she cut them and then the imprint with her finger and then right into the water and then right back out it was. It was just such a mind blowing experience for me that when she left I apparently so it is said ran around the house clapping, you know, jingle bells and everybody, let's go, we got to cook and I would start cooking, pretend cooking on the stovetop. So I think that was kind of the beginning of my career.
Speaker 2:Yeah, connie left and you, you were still engaged with the kitchen, you know, still completely attached to it, would you say. Is it that because, as you cook, you were able to communicate and bond with your family? What was it that you got from being in the kitchen after Connie left? You got from being in the kitchen after Connie left.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, it's looking back, it's it's. It's interesting to, I think, as an adult, to look back at that child. At the time, I think I don't think I had any any idea, other than there was joy. I related cooking and food to joy and we, we, you know my family cooked in such a way, you know we didn't mass buy things. My mom, my mother jarred, my father had, you know, meat hanging in this dark closet, you know prosciutto, and he would also make his wine.
Speaker 3:And I just knew that food was life and that there was a craft to it and beauty to it and there was always stories. There was always stories at our table and you know, we sat down the same time. There was always consistency around that and the food was made from scratch. You know we weren't going to McDonald's, to Dairy Queen, we weren't going to any of those places. If we got to go to McDonald's when I was like four or five years old, it was like a big deal and it was maybe like once or twice a year, because my father just didn't believe in that. So you know, after Connie leaving and just, I think, coming a little bit out of my shell, I just wanted to mimic her a little bit, without knowing I was mimicking her right, this bigger than life woman.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and singing jingle bells while doing it my, my, my, my follow up for you, then, from that experience you know kind of leaving and you going in the kitchen. Did you always know that this was going to be your path?
Speaker 3:Oh heck, no, Absolutely not. I remember being little and running through these fields and I would wear this windbreaker as a cape and I didn't know what it meant. But I wanted to be a lawyer. Know a friend of ours that was a lawyer and I remember them being around and I'm like, oh, I want to help people, I want to fly in and be Wonder Woman and like save people and help them, and so that has transpired in my life.
Speaker 3:I'm definitely that way as a business owner, as a business owner first and foremost, and a woman in business, I have so much joy around lifting people up and getting them to to the next level and I've learned a lot along the way, just even around that and how to behave. And you know, growing up as a chef and not a chef but a cook in the eighties and working all the jobs I did as a woman in a kitchen, eighties it's. You know people weren't treated very well. So when I first started my career, I, you know I think I mimicked that. You know where he was a chef you were. You know you were hard.
Speaker 3:This is what you did and you know you were just very stern and it took me a while to come off of that box, but mostly because a lot of the staff around me who really cared about the business were in. They were very like hey, like we like you so much. You have such a great heart, but you are not easy to work with and I'm like I'm not right. And that's right. You can either take that and grow or you can just sit in that and fester. So I've never wanted to sit. I'm not one one to sit. I like to grow and I like to improve and I'm I'm the first to go hey, something I'm not doing right, let me know, that's fair.
Speaker 2:I can be better. Yeah, so share with us, then, your initial aversion from not pursuing this career in the kitchen. I mean, you grew up on a farm. You had such great experience with food at home, why not food immediately?
Speaker 3:Well, it was because of the jobs I had. You know, I started working in kitchens when I was 15. You know, I fibbed about my age and I got a job at 15 and then 16 and 17. And I was working in some pretty true kitchens and I didn't. It wasn't fun. The work was so incredibly hard and you were always being hazed and kind of picked on and I felt like I was always having to defend myself or just take it. You know, take being harassed. So I, it was something I just knew how to do. And even when I traveled you know, I traveled through Europe when I was, you know, 18, 19, 20, and I worked in kitchens. I was fortunate to get those jobs you know to, you know to bring in money so I could keep traveling, but it was just always the same. So that was my that was my version for sure.
Speaker 3:And but I knew I wanted to tell stories and I knew I wanted to help people and I knew I could do that through food, but I just didn't see food as a career for me at that time there's a zeal to want to tell stories, and I want to expand on that a little bit.
Speaker 2:How did you eventually get to that, then? Telling stories like following your passion and purpose.
Speaker 3:So I decided to go to film school. I got this whole like bug for film and telling stories and the whole drama of it. And again, like kitchens and food film, you're surrounded by so many people right, it's like a circus of people and you become family. So I went to Vancouver Film School Great shout out to them, by the way fantastic school and I got right into the business and my first film was with Richard J Lewis, who's a fantastic you know producer director right now currently I'm not going to even start to shout out his you know his projects, but he's just a really wonderful person who took me under his wing and that was, and I got to work with him for years and it really helped me get a leg up and find myself and find my voice.
Speaker 3:And I I felt like I was kind of a lost young. Look again looking back, you know I thought it was so grown up. And here we go and I've got my you know what together. I want to anyway, I had my act together, but I didn't. I was a very like, I think, socially immature human, you know, being that Gen X kid later in life where you kind of raise yourself and he. It was just a fantastic experience with film. So I just took off from there and I circled out of film when I got pregnant with my daughter in 2001,. Because I just knew I didn't want to not raise her. I didn't want a nanny or someone else to raise her. Not that I think that's wrong. We all have our choices. For me, I needed that little girl to be with me at all times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know that our listeners might be wondering, like what are some of her projects? So share with us what are some of the projects you know that you worked on as you. Oh, that I got to do. Yes, no, I, I want to know too, as our listeners.
Speaker 3:No, that's okay. It was wonderful. I got to work on some really great campaigns with MTV in the late 90s. Anastasia Pappas was the director that I got to work with as a producer and we did this campaign around mental health awareness for teens. And we got to go to the vice president's house in DC and meet with Tipper Gore and the president of MTV at the time was there and she was a powerhouse and I'll never forget that moment, sitting on the patio with these women and our director, anastasia, and they served us lunch and I'm like I'm sitting with the vice president's wife, tipper Gore, you know the head of MTV and I just it was just such an aha moment for me.
Speaker 3:But that campaign meant everything that we got to touch so many young lives. That really was a pivotal point for you know, for me for sure. And we got to do it in copy. We got to do radio, we did, you know, video, and then it was translated, the whole project, into Spanish and I'm very proud of that project. But then I also got to do music videos with Mariah Carey, the band Train oh my gosh, you name it. I've done, I've done a bunch of indie films, did a lot of commercials, the whole Verizon campaign when Verizon first started. So I've gotten to. You know I've got to do some really fantastic stuff.
Speaker 3:Oh, and my my absolute favorite directors well, anastasia and Charles Stone, who did the whole what's up campaign I'm not even going to try to hey, charles, don't hate me if you see this what's up and I got to work with him and to this day he's a good friend and I just love him because he's so silly but yet so incredibly brilliant and I think that when humans that are that bright and that famous can still be a total goofball, it makes my day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. We had a guest on who had done some extensive work in Hollywood. She's bowed from the Depressed Cake Shop. You should check out that episode with her. She sounds so passionate, just like you're sharing your story. This is how hers is like. She has a similar journey. She is the director of the Depressed Cake Shop. She was on. Her episode was on maybe three weeks ago, I believe. I will, absolutely.
Speaker 3:I'll go visit her too, because we're just in Pasadena with Hello, so I will go zip over there and I love to love on my women in this business for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, she is doing awesome work. So do you think that your work in film actually you know and storytelling, tell me if you see like any intersection with your career in food right now.
Speaker 3:Oh, between film and food.
Speaker 3:Oh a hundred percent. A hundred percent, it's I. So my daughter, who's now 22, she just graduated with her BA and one year of her leg into her master's in film studies. Like, of course, my kid I don't do, don't get into that industry. And she gets into that industry. Long story short.
Speaker 3:She has transitioned and she's taking a hiatus for one year because you know four years of college and all that schooling beforehand. But she's running Hello You're Welcome in Pasadena and she's taken her background in school as storytelling, my background of storytelling and she's taken, and our passion treating people well and voting with our dollars and making sure that everything we bring in is beautiful and has a story on its own and she's weaved that into Hello You're Welcome and she's running with it. So she's, you know it's beautiful coffee and baked goods and this 22-year-old is storytelling. This cafe lack of a better name for hello you're welcome. So I so see the connection because there's both such people. Industry right. One is you're working directly with the public when you're kind of behind the scenes, you know, and then presenting to the public. But the gift of being able to tell a story and really wanting that story to affect other lives is absolutely parallel, a hundred percent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you talk. You mentioned briefly about voting with one's dollars. Talk to me a little bit about your view on. You know, the politics of food and the injustices that happen within the industry.
Speaker 3:Oh, we're going to be here forever. This is my job. This is 22 years of work. I teach culinary part-time at MSJC, mount San Jacinto College in Temecula, and I started teaching because I saw a pathway for job placement that I could come in and intersect the conversation of food with regenerative farming and health and wellness and still give these humans a base of knowledge to get into the industry, because there's so many pathways in the industry. But it really started for me pretty heavily in 2002.
Speaker 3:I got involved with Slow Food, carlos Petrini out of Bra, italy, alice Waters, berkeley, california, and this conversation around garden programs for kids that are edible and academic, you know, in neighborhoods where, you know, you know children just in families don't even have the money for a proper breakfast or lunch treated. And are we aging out our farmers, cause the average age is 55, 56. And then who's picking our food? Are they being paid? You know, a decent wage? Where's the equality? Where's the equity? What is going on our food? Why are we spraying our food with all the crap that you know? We're spraying our food with chemicals from world war two still in Vietnam, right, that war and then. But we're using it to put food in from plastic containers to what's going on food, and then the people who are growing our food are getting sick, the people that are picking it are getting sick, and then we're getting sick.
Speaker 3:So if you take all of that, that has led me down a road to teaching everyone who comes in my door. We're teaching people that eat in Temecula and I firmly believe that every young soul that comes in there, I have something to say and I have something to give them, because as cooks, as chefs, we have an obligation. What we put on your plate here at this bakery, I have an obligation with every donut, every scone I sell you. What is in it? Where's that grain coming from? Who's growing it? What are they paying their staff? You know, why do we? Why can we not start to live against that grain? And you know, rise together as a community and just represent something beautiful and holistic. That's good for our souls and it's good for our bodies.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, true, you mentioned though you mentioned Temecula, this happening in Temecula, but then you mentioned previously that you had your daughter, g Rose, and then moved to Temecula. Talk to us about. To me it seems like a form of anchoring, you know, somewhat of a defining moment for you and food, and I would love to know, like if having this little girl became that clarifying moment for you when you decided that this is going to be my way forward and the work that I do going forward, I think.
Speaker 3:So I'm working on a cookbook now and just telling these stories and as I'm doing this I'm, you know you, you kind of visit the past a little bit. And it was pretty clear for me when she started to go to school she couldn't eat that food and everything was processed out of a bag and I knew she wouldn't have a good foundation for her health, even her mental health, right, because of what's in food and all the plastics and all the chemicals. So I started making everything and it made sense. Then my sister, my family, was like just start catering. Like you know, get out of LA, come to Temecula. No one else, no one else is doing it. There's a lot of farms out here. Start to reconnect yourself.
Speaker 3:So making that transition. And also it was so affordable. I think the first house I bought in Temecula was like $175,000 and you know, versus LA, which was still close to half a million. So there was this easy transition because also the Valley was so beautiful. When I first moved there there was, I think, 38,000 people and everyone was so receptive. And then the farmers I met were receptive and I have this little girl and she went everywhere with me and I went food, food, youth business, food, youth business. So she, she absolutely was a conduit, if you will, for me to get back into food, to kind of go back to my roots.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you know I I see somewhat of an organic evolution to how you move into food and how you are doing the work right. G could not eat the food at school, so here comes Leah creating an organic catering company. Talk to us about that.
Speaker 3:So Delights I think we call it Delights, fine Food. My middle name is Delight. I know no one's going to believe me, but I'm named after my mother's best friend, delight Davis. So my name's Leah Delight, p Bernardo and I always use Delight because no one could ever pronounce deeper dardo, deeper dardo. You know it's like no, just forget it. Leah Delight. So we named the company Delights and and I I just I started pitching organic food to a lot of people who didn't believe in organic food, which was weird to me, because Temecula and Riverside County is a beautiful ag region, you know, with the wine growing, and then you have so many small farms.
Speaker 3:So it definitely took a minute. But again, like I'm coming out of film and I know how to weave that story and I'm also a great salesperson when I believe in what I'm selling. So starting Delights and Temecula was such a really interesting but easy thing for me to do and I didn't even think twice. I just jumped in and my big sister, joe, jumped in with me because I'm you know you can't cook and then do the books, and so she was great with numbers and she came alongside me and helped me out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you moved from Delights to Eat Marketplace. Tell me about that transition and how did you bring that vision to life.
Speaker 3:So my very first desire with food was kind of like a Dean and DeLucas I love Dean and DeLucas from my days in New York and film and you just go in and you're just like there's something for everyone, there's a deli, there's a little grocery, there's a smoothie bar, it's just, it's awesome. I knew that I wanted to take organic food and do something around that and, mind you, I was I've always been very political around food from the way I was raised. And then the beginning of the conversations in the 90s around our rainforest and you know for you know, rainforest being completely depleted so we could raise cattle. So I really just had this whole connection back to our earth and how we were growing food. So when the economy took a downturn in 08, 09, all the way into 10, nobody was catering anymore. Nobody, especially all of my clientele, which developers, banks, brokers, real estate.
Speaker 3:So it was this natural transition to go hey, let's take what we have, let's take the equipment, let's put it into a space and let's just open our doors. And we had $5,000, dr Foster, that was it and we had equipment. So we rented this little space in a not so fun area of Temecula at the time and we just started doing. We started sandwiches and deli, and my dad built this wall that was on wheels and corrugated tin so we could move it back or move it up, you know, to get more space. And we kept moving that wall back to get more into bring, you know, so more people could come in. And it organically happened and we transitioned from delights to eat and we named eat marketplace what it is for extraordinary artisans, all of us at the table making food for you, and that's how the name came up and that's how we started extraordinary artisans at the table.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wow, yeah, that's pretty amazing. So tell me how are you able to really maintain or ensure that you know eat marketplace remains committed to its philosophy from farm to table? In our intro, I was telling our listeners that you believe that from farm to table is really a form of pharmacy. Tell me how you maintain that.
Speaker 3:Well, it's not easy. I believe in being very transparent and honest and I think failing sometimes is the best thing that can happen to any of us. To grow and also admitting it and eat has gotten to a place where in this economy, where everyone's feeling so stretched with dollars and everything, is that much more money and it's a cheaper product. So if you were paying $20 for you know this last year and now I'm paying 40, but now it's cheaper and it breaks more easily. That's where we're at. So it is really tough to be a restaurateur right now.
Speaker 3:But I will say the team that I have in place, that I work with a couple of my leads Courtney, annie, cheryl Des what these women do, these young women, and how much they believe in what EAT stands for. It's that is, and I will tell everybody, your culture, your team is everything and it's it's never been an easy path, because we've had people in and out that you know weren't the culture and you know behaved in a way that wasn't our culture, and so then you have to kind of rebuild each time, but the philosophy of good food has never left and it's attracted the people that work there because we've kept that right and it's whenever I've stepped away a little bit to do something else, like open hello or teach, I have found that, oh, wait, a minute, this, this, um, this kitchen manager's kind of changing things up and bringing this in and bringing this in, no, no, no, like we've got to stick to our.
Speaker 3:We've got to stick to our values so we still work with local farmers uh, sage mountain with um wani and phil, and then um edge of urban with the murray family. We still have local farmers that we get to work with and I love that so much. And it is really, really important that eat stays on track with our mission, even in this economy and with razor thin margins. And I I'm not going to lie Like we're like we didn't make our month in July. It costs me to be in business in July and I haven't had that happen since before you know, years before COVID because we've been in the black successfully. So it's a bummer when that happens, but you've got to always be willing to pivot and figure it out.
Speaker 3:And I do have a great team. It's not just me, it is these girls, and I am like hallelujah, like God has blessed me in such a wonderful way in my life and I cannot take all the credit.
Speaker 2:So you talk about artisans being at the table and farm to table. Being a pharmacy has led you to this relationship with Rancho Family Medical Group. Talk to us a little bit about that, because guess what you know, as leaders in our own space, we often try, maybe wonder how do we effectively align our mission, vision and purpose with the correct partners in our community? So share how that partnership developed and how do you continue to maintain it.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely, I love that. You know that. So Stephen is the head of marketing at Rancho Family Medical Group. He walked in one day. He had these magazines and he was like I'd really love to have you know, have you maybe do a recipe, an article? And I'm like, you know, I'm like how much is it going to cost me? Really, okay, here we go. Here's another. Someone needs something. Which is such a crappy attitude to have. Like shame on me. But again, like you know, we learn right.
Speaker 3:So, long story short, we start talking about all the different things that they're doing and I'm doing, and he's like what about a video series? That could be really cool? And I'm like I'd love to do that. What's the audience, though? What is the messaging? What, you know? What do we want to hit upon? And he's like I want to hit on health and wellness and represent local, and I was like I just like got up, hugged him, you know, six foot two. It was like wait a minute, what's going on? I said I love this. Let me pitch something.
Speaker 3:So, long story short, I pitched a whole year of videos that were around health and wellness, from keto to paleo, gluten free, like anything that would support heart.
Speaker 3:You know, heart health, diabetes, cancer patients, you name it women's health, and we got to do that all the way up until COVID and COVID shut us down for a hot minute because, obviously, rancho Family Medical Group being in that world, they were inundated. So we just kicked off again in September and the first, the first video episode will be up, I think, next week, and I love it. I love that we get to work with them because they have clientele from Ventura County all the way to Palm Springs and their reach is predominantly 55 up. But they care authentically care for their patients, authentically care for their patients. And I resonate with that, because who wants to work with you know anyone, you know a company that doesn't really care and just looks at you as the bottom line or their budget and money, like their eyes light up because, like, oh, you're going to bring in money. Their focus is your health and wellness and I couldn't be prouder to, like you know, partner with them and get to do this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what I absolutely love about you. There are a ton of things that I love about the work that you've done and how you move through the phases of your lives and how your purpose has transformed over the years. But I love that you're so inclusive of women. You focus on women. You talk about women who support you in this space and I'm going to read to you something that actually stood out to me because of the work I do with women at the Cake Therapy Foundation. This was in your Voyager article and I absolutely love this and you're going to hear why shortly.
Speaker 2:You said I got started in food by women, connie, who loved me. I grew my company with women I admired and knew more than me, and I now have the opportunity to support and guide young women in the culinary arts to be all that they can be, all through the love of good food. To me, that was profound because it was all-encompassing. You're not leaving anyone out, and I noticed that, as you were speaking about the growth of your business, that you were intentional about saying that I didn't do this all by myself. So kudos to you. I loved that quote. It stood out to me and it means a lot to me like a woman. Right, it was a. It was a very fulsome statement and I would love to elaborate on. I would want you to elaborate on that, for us a little bit you know just the meaning of that, because obviously it touched me.
Speaker 2:What is it?
Speaker 3:Oh, that's yeah, I I'm. I thank you for sharing that it's. It's interesting what we can forget as we grow, and I am, you know. I'm currently in a place where I want to pivot again yeah and sometimes we don't know why.
Speaker 3:I know that you know, at know, at 56 years old, 56 or 57, whatever, it's all the same, I know that there's, there's more to life. I'm not just a woman aging out. I have a lot to offer and I still have a place at the table. And I say that because sometimes I don't feel like I do because it's you know, even going to some of the groups or the boards that I'm involved in, I still like, I feel that I still get that little pat on the head. You're so cute, you're so adorable. You know we love what you do and I'm like I'm cute and I'm. But I just feel like there's so much more seriousness to you know what we as older women have to offer and we don't have to just be placed on a shelf now but, with that said, without even knowing what we were doing.
Speaker 3:We are one of the things Joe and I really wanted when we started EAT. We really wanted to form a company that could authentically give back to our staff, either as we messed around with should we be a nonprofit? Should we be a B Corp? We couldn't afford to do that. We couldn't afford to be a nonprofit, which is hysterical. So, you know, we formed a corporation, but it's at this stage when I feel, after just 15 years of E not, you know, the other six years of having a catering company I'm done, but in a good way. But what do I do with my team? Because I love them and they love where they're at. So we went back to our original mission statement of figuring out how to give our company to our employees.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So, um, I'm I'm pretty sure I can talk about that. I don't see why I can't talk about that, but that is something that we're talking to a few of them about and that's something that we're looking at. How do we give eat to these women so they can now continue growing and they can have a career? Because I want to go over here now and do this. I want to continue teaching, I want to write books. There's just more stories I want to tell in a different way.
Speaker 3:So, I suppose in a roundabout way, without even knowing it, god is good. My grandmother, who you know, worked for the DAV, the Disabled American Veterans, and was given so many wonderful citations by different presidents because she gave her heart and her soul as a volunteer. And I suppose, without knowing it, that's what we're doing, and I think that there's something to be said for that in this life, and I think that more companies can behave that way. And I am not saying that I am perfect and altruistic and oh, look at me, I am not at all, because I have had my share of failures and I just have, and I don't like to be put on a pedestal. I just know that I want to continue. I want to continue with what I think my grandmother, with my grandfather, with my mother, with my father started.
Speaker 2:And that's really powerful to want to continue one's legacy. I want my legacy to be a woman who advocates for other women, and at our foundation I'm a strong advocate for the use of the kitchen as part of women's therapy to be able to center themselves, you know, and for their own personal self-care. My question to you is would you advocate for such a thing? Do you believe that the kitchen is a form of therapy?
Speaker 3:oh, a hundred percent, absolutely. The from our bake department at eat to the, to line cook, to prep, to just even the, the art of being a barista. I, you, you know it's. Yes, it is such a form of therapy and as chefs, as restaurateurs, we all need to be better around that. We need to be better around our teams of humans. We need to be better with how we're baking and cooking for our guests and what those ingredients are. There's a world of betterness and I think that therapeutically, with the interns we bring in, with older adults who feel like they transitioned out but they still need to work now they're finding because they don't have enough in retirement. I love bringing all these different humans into the kitchen so they can figure out where their journey is and where they belong. It is a big part of my heart for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you mentioned, where you know women, finding where their journey, their journeys are. But then you talk about your evolution as a woman. Seems like you've been putting so much of it yourself into this work and you're ready to step away in some form. You know how do you take care of yourself, how do you unwind when you do so much?
Speaker 3:It's funny what my Annie, who is our catering manager, asked me, that she's like chef, what are you doing for yourself right now? You have a lot going on, there's a lot coming at you and I had to stop. This was yesterday and I was like well, I walk, I have this really great, awesome standard poodle that I walk with all the time and I journal. One thing I do consistently is I get up at 5 am and I journal without even thinking about it and then 30 minutes later I time block my day or I go back and I look at how did you time block your day? And then I go walk. I don't bring my phone, I leave it at the house. Most everybody knows this. If you're going to get, if you want to get ahold of me, you're not going to get ahold of me from like 6.30 to 7.30. And then, believe it or not, I cook. I cook for myself because I won't eat crap and it's so important to you know. I want to age well and.
Speaker 3:I'll tell anybody out there, you want to age. Well, be careful what you're putting in your mouth, right, Careful what's going in your body. So those are the few things that I do for myself, but I am, I am, I'm definitely noticing that I'm not handling stress as well as I used to, so there's something to be said about that. And there's there's something to be said about still finding what balances you. So I'm, I suppose I'm still looking for that, that other bit to nourish me.
Speaker 2:Dr Foster.
Speaker 2:You know what I am guilty of not taking care of myself. No, I started as women journaling, yeah, overall. So I started journaling and I enjoyed it so much. So, you know, that's another story. But I do have like a journal that I created, you know, around mindfulness, mindful, being mindful in the kitchen, having a slice of joy and healing, to kind of help bakers be able to be so mindful in the kitchen. So that's going to be out soon, but I just wanted you know, I just wanted to mention that I do and I've started, you know, journaling and I find it to be very, very helpful in my ability to take care of myself a little bit, but I just don't think I do it enough. What do you want your legacy to be?
Speaker 3:I think that I want my legacy to be that I was. I want the legacy to be good. I want it to be good, clean and fair for everyone who comes after me. I, you know, I want to leave a business that, you know, nurtures others and really supports the people that come in. And, yeah, that I was definitely never afraid to grow and to admit my faults and to be a better person. I think there's a lot to be said for that, because I don't think it's easy. Don't think it's easy at all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you bring so much to this space. You bring so much to this community. You bring so much to this community. You've given back so much to us. You know You've stayed curious throughout it all. You say 56, 57, it's all the same, but you remain curious and I want to know from you as you look back is there anything that you wish you had done differently on this journey?
Speaker 3:Yes, I wish and I'm just starting this now that I really understood the word discernment. I wish I was more discerning in my life and I'm learning that now, at the age that I'm at, and that has to do with everything in life the people you surround yourself with, the people that work with you, choices you make that you don't, you don't stop and think about it enough. It's like my mouth starts talking before my brain even catches up because I'm always in a rush. So, definitely, discernment, patience, learning it now kind of the hard way, so I pass it on to anybody.
Speaker 2:Yep, and they're listening. That's the beauty of it. We have young girls who are listening, who want to become entrepreneurs in their own right. Who wants, you know, food is their, their refuge. So they're hearing you, they're hearing you tell that, telling you, they're listening to you telling them that they, you want them to be a little bit more discerning, you know, and staying curious what's next for you? You talk about writing books, continuing to, to teach. What else is there?
Speaker 3:I love what my daughter does, gabrielle G Rose, and she has a natural ability to write, she's a prolific writer and she's surrounded by this beautiful young artist community of women, of course, and I am really wanting to support that. So we're looking at how I can support that, how I can be a part of it with this whole gaggle of just amazing young women and the stories they want to tell, and we're, you know, we're kind of playing with a few things maybe another project, you know, maybe something to do in film, maybe something to do in food. I think I'll be careful about putting it out there. Yet my focus right now is keeping my oxygen mask on before I go to the next, the next, the next step, the next phase of life. Right?
Speaker 2:When you get to that phase, would you come back and talk about it with us, and we'd love to have Giro on as well to talk about. Hello. You're Welcome oh yes, yes, absolutely so. Leah or Chef Leah. Thank you for sharing you know with us today. I want our listeners to learn more about you. Tell them where they can find you.
Speaker 3:So helloyourwelcomecom as a website. Hello, yr, welcome Instagram. And also we're in Pasadena, right you know, centrally located. And then eatmarketplacecom Instagram Eat Marketplace. You can always DM me. You can DM either one of those channels G will get it or I'll get it, and I love my food community and I love supporting young women. So reach out anytime. But also, if you're in the neighborhood, come visit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's invited you to come and visit her, and you should. I am truly honored to have her in the space and I'm looking forward to speaking with Gabriela in the future. I'd love to hear more about her work and how her mama is partnering with her to bring this to life. Cake therapy we do the work of the Lord I'm joking, but we really do. You know, we really are focused on helping to bring dreams of women alive and helping them to brand themselves and create a future for themselves. I want to thank everyone who's donated, who supported our foundation, and I want to continue to urge you to buy us a coffee. When you buy us a coffee, every cent goes toward the life of the girl. We do not keep a dime for ourselves. I want to thank Chef Leah from Hello You're Welcome and Eat Marketplace for joining us today. I hope this has been your slice of joy and healing on the deep side of my life.
Speaker 3:Thank you, chef, thank you, god bless y'all. Have a great day, wherever you are.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. God bless y'all. Have a great day wherever you are. Thank you so much. Today's mindful moment tells us, a well-prepared dish is a gift of love, not just for others but ultimately for yourself.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning in to the Cake Therapy Podcast. Your support means the world to us. Let us know what you thought about today's episode in the comment section. Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcast and if you found the conversation helpful, please share it with a friend. Also, follow Sugar Spoon Desserts on all social media platforms. We invite you to support Cake Therapy and the work we do with our foundation by clicking on the Buy Me a Coffee link in the description or by visiting the Cake Therapy website and making a donation. All your support will go towards the Cake Therapy Foundation and the work we are doing to help women and girls. Thanks again for tuning in and we'll catch you on the next episode.