Episode 74: Replenish Yourself Through Giving Back & Food Changes Everything
Podcast
Episode 74: Replenish Yourself Through Giving Back & Food Changes Everything
“Giving back is replenishing to me… especially in a world that is constantly changing… be the change you want to see in the world.” — Carla Contreras
This podcast episode is about my mission and story of working for non-profits.
Ways to Giveback:
1. Give your time, donate services, or volunteer.
2. Instagram: Share in stories, create a donation sticker, or create a 30 day donation.
3. Invest one time or set up a reoccurring donation.
I am excited to hear your thoughts! Listen on ITUNES + Spotify
Some of my favorite non-profits:
World Central Kitchen (see Victoria Granof’s highlight Ukraine)
Please tag me @chefcarlacontreras on Instagram so I can continue the conversation with you. Use the hashtag #showupfullypodcast
Eat Well,
xo Chef Carla
PS: Curious about my Health Coach journey? Listen to this episode
About Chef Carla Contreras
For the last 24 + years, I’ve worked as a trained chef in: Restaurants, hotels, as a chef instructor at three culinary schools, and personal chef in New York City.
Since 2013, I have been sharing my gift of content creation with publications and brands like Better Homes and Gardens, The Wall Street Journal, Shape Magazine, justBobbi.com, Nutritious Life, Well + Good.
In my personal brand, I not only show up for the hard things, I own them and then share them with the world, like my $38,000 lesson I learned in my business and evolution of a Digital Entrepreneur over the last ten years.
In my online courses, I bring my years of experience as a trained chef, content creator, health and life coach, and meditation teacher to help you with you shift mindset around cooking & the content creation process. Learn more here
Find + Work With Carla:
Online Courses & Books: Learn more here
Instagram: @chefcarlacontreras
Full Transcript:
00:00.00
chefcarla
Hey, it's chef Carla and welcome to show up fully. This is a podcast where I share what it's like to show up for your real life if you don't know me I'm a food stylists and content creation coach. You can find me. It's carlu gontreres on Instagram and Tiktok and more information in today's show notes. This episode is about replenishing yourself through giving back and how food changes everything first I'm going to share with you my nonprofit work story it starts in New York city and then I'm going to share with you how you can give back in terms of social media ways that are completely free and then I'm going to talk about giving back in terms of financially supporting organizations. So this is my story when it comes to working in nonprofits. I graduated from and NYU in 2008 with my master's degree in food management and my first job out of school was at west side campaign against hunger is a food pantry in the upper west side of New York city and they were the first food pantry in the country. To start customer style shopping for the food pantry customers and this is very important. It was started by Doreen Wall and she invented this concept of treating people like humans.
01:35.89
chefcarla
Allowing them to pick their own food and this was a revolutionary concept back when she started in because food pantries previously handed people a bag and they're like here you go. This is what you got and Doreen's like no. Food pantry members are customers. They can shop for themselves and pick out what they want and it was incredible to be in this nonprofits who work at this nonprofit as their chef because they also had to. Csa is which is community supported agriculture which operated out of the back of the church where this is located and they donated their extra produce produce that was left over produce that was not picked up to the food pantry. And what I did is I cooked lunch every single day which was incredible I also taught the customer chef program where I taught job skills and life skills to people to nourish themselves and I also. Taught food pantry customers how to use the items that were in the food pantry and also to use the vegetables and the most incredible part of this whole process was that people would come back into the food pantry and they're like Carla I used.
03:03.55
chefcarla
Whatever vegetable, let's say cold Robbie and my family loved it. My friends. Loved it. My neighbor. Loved it. I showed them the technique that you showed me with the knife I peeling the vegetables I'm doing. You know it was it was exciting. It was amazing. It was a very energetic time in my life and then. Ah, job opened at ccap careers through culinary arts and I took it and what ccap is is. It's an organization in New York and throughout the country that works with culinary high schools throughout all all of the United States it's really cool. And there's specific cities that they work in and what I did was specifically work in New York and I worked with the students that were headed into a career in food in food service in restaurants because back in 2008. That's really what the focus was. Focus was getting a job in a restaurant getting a job in a catering hall getting a job in a food service. You know a cafeteria a lunch situation. Um, and so that was what it looked like then but that landscape has changed so much. Because food has changed so much since then and they have added food styling classes like it's incredible. The work that they're doing and I'm actually still involved with ccap and still involved with students and with the west side campaign against hunger I'm still in touch with Doreen.
04:40.67
chefcarla
This is like lifelong relationships that I have with the people that I have worked with and been part of those nonprofits and so this is a huge part of my mission. This is a huge part of who I am and it's also a huge part of. What I teach my children that giving back is part of who we are and they can choose how they do that when they get older. But for right now in the way that I choose to give back is by giving my skills So That's one way that you can give back giving your skills. Giving a physical donation of a food item if you were a chef or you had a catering business or you had a food product Business. You could donate that thing So That's like the physical way so you can volunteer in Person. So. Those are the ways that you can do this when you're actually involved in it and I want to say before I share these other ways that one way is not good or bad or better.. It's just a way that you choose to interact with it. And for me why I said that this is replenishing is that for me, especially in a world that is constantly changing constantly involving things are constantly thrown at me I feel like by giving my skills.
06:15.32
chefcarla
To nonprofits and we'll further talk donations etc that I am able to see the change that I want to see in the world and I do that in my very small way. So those are my ways of suggesting. Giving back in terms of a physical thing either volunteering in person giving your skills giving an actual item the next way to do this is social media and these are ways that you can do that are completely free to you completely free. And I want to like underline and highlight this all that it's completely free to like comment and share on a post at 100% will boost it up in the algorithm whether you're on Tiktok whether you're on Instagram whether you're on Pinterest, it's going to help. So liking commenting sharing it if you can so that's the next step sharing it in your stories that costs you absolutely nothing it costs you like 30 seconds of your time put it in your stories so that your community can see it the next step to this would be adding a sticker to it. What do I mean a sticker. There is a donation sticker on Instagram so this is Instagram specific that you can add to your stories and people can make a 1 time donation and then the next level of this is to create a 30 day donation
07:43.37
chefcarla
You can do this with reels. There's a button you will see it. It will say donation. You can literally just slide it over and you could do this also in feed posts and then for the next thirty days your donation to whatever organization will appear in your profile and people can donate to this. And I want to say here that this can be a very powerful way to give back and to create change through food by literally just investing your time in it and. A perfect example of this is my friend Victoria Granof she actually has been on this podcast. She's coming back on this podcast. She is a food stylist and she did a donation in her profile on Instagram for world central kitchen she raised. $25000 for Ukraine and her story is absolutely incredible. I will put a link to her in the show notes so that you can read about her work and see her feed and posts about Ukraine and then the last. Way that you can give back is to pay for It is to invest in it and you can do this as a 1 time donation yourself or you could set up a reoccurring donation. So this could be to any organization that resonates with you.
09:17.94
chefcarla
And for me the ones that I love personally are world central kitchen charity water no kid hungry city harvest these are some New York specific ones city harvest. The union square green market, Grow NYC, west side campaign against Hunger, CCAP like all of these organizations and I'm sure that you have ones that are local to you ones that resonate with you but you can literally change things through food through. Donating your time donating a service donating an item being active on social media in a strategic way so that you support the nonprofits you support the change that you want to see in the world and actually physically investing your dollars so whichever. 1 of these resonates with you amazing go for it I want to hear about it. I am so grateful that you made it to the end of this episode and that you heard my message and my excitement about nonprofits about supporting through giving back and changing the world. Through food I am sending you and yours so much. Love send me a Dm on Instagram I'm @chefcarlacontreras share this episode with a friend I am sending you so much. Love bye.
