Kerry Brodie is Cooking Up Opportunities for Refugees

TUP EP 079

Kerry: [: 00:00:00

Nomination: Carrie Brody is the founder of Emma's Torch, which is an organization that empowers refugees, asylees, and survivors of human trafficking through culinary education. In addition to teaching them in the classroom and [00:00:30] also at their restaurant in Brooklyn, where they have experiential training, they have a catering business, but they also teach them English as a second language, interview skills, they provide child care for them.

job placement and they build [: 00:00:45

Aransas: Welcome to the Uplifters podcast. I'm Orenza Savas and today I am here with Keri Brody, who was nominated for our show by the [00:01:00] wonderful Sandy Sandberg. The response to her episode was so incredible and it was so inspiring to hear from so many others whose lives had been touched by Sandy.

so now to meet her nominee, [: 00:01:15

Kerry: Thank you so much for having me. I'm so honored to get to participate.

Aransas: So can we start by just talking about Emma's Torch and learn more about what you're doing?

is to ensure that the newest [: 00:01:30

are given the tools they need and the opportunities to chart their own paths and to have their own new stories in this new community. And so it's been an incredible journey over the last eight years. We have operations in New York and in DC, but more than anything, it's just been amazing [00:01:45] to get to stand beside our students and our alumni and watch how they've built new lives for themselves.

Aransas: Incredible. So how did this become?

ng to work in public policy. [: 00:02:00

I was able to volunteer at a homeless shelter on my way to work because it was on the way. And I started having [00:02:15] conversations with people there about food. About what food meant to them, about the memories they associated, you know, food isn't just about the calories you need to get to your next meal.

same time, I was focusing on [: 00:02:30

But I, [00:02:45] I discovered something about myself that pretty sure my parents could have told you from the time I was a toddler, I'm really impatient. And so while I loved doing public policy, I really missed it. And I realized that for me, my calling was to be doing more on that [00:03:00] end of the spectrum. And so I'm very fortunate that I was able to start exploring what would it take to do something like this?

id, whose permission are you [: 00:03:15

Aransas: What was your early vision?

So I went to culinary school [: 00:03:45

And so that was the [00:04:00] earliest iteration, which was really exciting. At its core is not that different. If you walk into an Emma's Torch restaurant today, you're still eating food that people are using as a tool of learning. You're still bringing people together around a table. But what started then as, you know, a shoestring budget, I was [00:04:15] washing the dishes, my friends were cleaning basil overnight.

Now we have a team that gets to do that and does it in a sustainable way. But the through line of that vision has always been there.

Hey, we're going to, I don't [: 00:04:30

And that feels [00:04:45] incredibly exponentially more complex and

works, all of these complex [: 00:05:00

None of it works on its own. Like, I have no interest in just running a restaurant. That's not my calling. It's not my skill set. But the restaurant has to work to serve the educational [00:05:15] outcomes. But if people aren't staying in the workforce because they don't know what they're getting themselves into, they don't know the norms of working in an environment, well, oh, well, then could we use this restaurant to change how people think about working in a work environment?

mplexity, Crosses each other [: 00:05:30

Aransas: [00:05:45] When I say that, I'm thinking about the fact that there's just so many rules associated with each one of these. But you sound very unafraid of all of that. And just my guess, and I'm totally making this up, but my guess is that you are a [00:06:00] person who's like, tiny problem, tackle, tiny problem, tackle, and you just break it down.

d the book or seen the movie [: 00:06:15

But the [00:06:30] whole approach of the book is, the problem isn't getting off of Mars, the problem is that I need to have enough fuel to get there. Well, how am I going to get fuel? And so, when I was starting Emma's Torch, instead of a to do list, I had my Mark Watney list. If we want to be able to do this huge thing, first of all, I'm never going to do it on my own.

That's not [: 00:06:45

So then success becomes inevitable. You can't fail when you're bringing all these people together.

t of these stories, they say [: 00:07:15

Yeah,

ble mentors who I've seen do [: 00:07:30

Aransas: And then there was that initial big question. Your husband said, whose permission are you waiting for? Whose permission were you waiting for?

Kerry: It was such a great [: 00:07:45

No, why not me? What barrier is in front of me that's making this impossible? Who is the gatekeeper whose opinion matters more [00:08:15] than my conviction on this? Or whose opinion or whose rules matter more than the needs of this moment? And it's when you start framing the question like that, you start to realize that the people you respect the most, the people [00:08:30] Who's permission you might need.

It's not permission. You want them to be with you. And for the most part, those people already are. What a beautiful distinction.

Aransas: You don't want their permission. You want their support.

Kerry: Exactly.

: Wow. And how have you used [: 00:08:45

Kerry: I used to get very nervous and I still do going into different meetings, whether it's with a funder or an employment partner or a reporter, there's some element of [00:09:00] it that you're, you're trying to sell an idea.

n that room. And that if you [: 00:09:15

And that reason probably has something to do with why you're in that room. And so you can find that commonality and bring them along together, which has been, I [00:09:30] look at our, our network of employment partners, invariably every one of them is not with Emma's torch because they had a great conversation with me or with Emma's torch because they It is an extension of their values of the type of work they want to be doing of who they want to be employing.

Our funders, it's [: 00:09:45

And there are times where people don't. have an alignment. But coming into the room with that curiosity, it was just some really good advice that somebody gave me early on and that has helped me a lot along the way.

t is easy to get distracted, [: 00:10:15

What do you ask in order to find out what they want to learn?

's interested in potentially [: 00:10:30

And more than that, if impact means something else to you and I've never thought about it that way, well, then I'm missing an opportunity. At some level you reach a point where you have to say, there's so much need in the world. And my heart or my gut or myself, [00:11:00] something that is not quantifiable is also playing a role in this decision making and that's okay because that's what makes us human and so getting at that with people for me is really effective and I learn a lot even outside of Emma's Torch hearing from people who are thinking about it.[00:11:15]

How they want to give because of how they want to teach their Children or their grandchildren or because of their great grandparents experience. There's this multi generational level to it, which I just find endlessly fascinating and has made me think differently about my family history and about parenting.

Aransas: Oh, that is [: 00:11:30

Kerry: The answer that I hear most or is a [00:11:45] through line for most of our supporters. It usually ties back to the idea that I see myself in the newest arrivals that I can picture whether it was a school field trip to Ellis Island as a kid or my parents arriving in this country, my grandparents arriving in this country, whatever it is, [00:12:00] we're a nation of immigrants.

the catalyzing moments was in: 2016

And I remember seeing that. I think that that photo was award winning. It was everywhere. And that picture was a wake up call for me because I knew my own family history. I knew how many people hadn't opened doors for [00:12:30] them. And it had been easy to think about, well, people should have. Well, I'm a person.

not what I stand for. Those [: 00:12:45

It's, hey, come buy a cup of coffee. The couple of dollars you're going to spend buying that coffee is a way of saying, I'm not just sitting by while the [00:13:00] world continues in this direction. And I think that for a lot of people, that's really important to them to be able to look themselves in the mirror, to look at their children, whatever it may be, and say, I've made a stand against this.

ma? Emma is named after Emma [: 00:13:15

And she used her power, her voice, her time and her resources to say that it's not just important for them that we welcome them. The beauty of her poem is that she was told, [00:13:45] write something that's symbolic of America. How radical is that? That you're being told something about America and what's the most famous line?

called it the new Colossus. [: 00:14:00

Aransas: I didn't know that story. What are [00:14:15] some of the success stories that you've heard from this work?

level. What we're looking at [: 00:14:30

So that's just brass tacks, amazing people have money in their pockets, but it's the stories behind it. It's the mother of six children who's just driving the United States, who's able to ensure that her children [00:14:45] go to summer camp. One of our first graduates just opened a restaurant and they've just expanded into a specialty grocery store.

becoming a business owner or [: 00:15:00

We have our metrics, we have our [00:15:15] goals, but at the end of the day. Our biggest goal is to empower you to pursue your goals. And so we want to make sure that we're, we're sitting next to our students. We're not telling them what to do, but we're celebrating the successes that they're working towards.

as: What an amazing question.[: 00:15:30

And it's really the question we should all be asking when we're in a role of support.

the needs as they are right [: 00:15:45

Not as we wish them to be, or as we assume them to be, but what's, what's actually happening on the ground.

o many uplifters, there is a [: 00:16:00

What does that look like for you? It's less balance,

g. Yeah. I think it was Nora [: 00:16:15

I've definitely dropped some glass balls in my time. But I think for me. It's important [00:16:30] for me to make sure that I have the time I need to take care of myself, which is a tremendous privilege, and also to ensure that I'm showing up as my best self for others. Nobody is served by me burning out, whether it's on the parenting side, as a wife, as [00:16:45] a daughter, a granddaughter, all of the different hats that I'm so fortunate to wear that sustain me.

der is a martyr and one is a [: 00:17:00

And so I don't always get it right. Believe me, there are [00:17:15] days where I get very stressed out or I'm working late hours or just I'm not being who I want to be, but I'm very fortunate to have people in my life who can. Help me ensure that I, I stay in some form of balance and balance is always shifting.[00:17:30]

Aransas: How do they do that that feels good to you as opposed to unsupportive?

hen I've said, you know, you [: 00:17:45

I think for me and. I found that for a number of people at work with the framing around the mission versus the self can be really [00:18:00] helpful. Like you working all weekend or you not taking PTO or you even apologizing for leaving work early when you have to go to your daughter's Daycare graduation indicates that you are not mission aligned because part of our mission is ensuring that we can do this work [00:18:15] sustainably.

up has been very helpful for [: 00:18:30

Please leave. None of this is that all of us will be here tomorrow. Please just do your thing, which has been helpful too.

e the hard stuff without you [: 00:18:45

We know we are resourceful and we can [00:19:00] handle things and we can figure it out. And we don't always know that other people can because we get so good at solving those problems. And it is an act of trust to hand those things off, but also an act of courage to surround yourself with the people who will call you out [00:19:15] for it.

with Emma's Torch or beyond, [: 00:19:30

Kerry: It's interesting. I'm coming up on eight years at Emma's Torch, which isn't like a particularly huge milestone. It's a pretty good long time.

this is, I mean, five years [: 00:19:45

And I think for me. Early on, I was at a [00:20:00] cocktail party or something and someone asked where I worked and I said, Oh, I run a nonprofit called Emma's Torch. Oh, Emma's Torch. I know them. What do you do there? And that to me is what I want as my legacy. I want Emma's Torch to be an enormous success changing the lives of not just hundreds, but [00:20:15] thousands of people and their families.

, in some ways, the legacy I [: 00:20:30

leadership of it, but I want to ensure that Emma's Torch is able to bar out Last Knee.

k about the children and the [: 00:20:45

And again, the ripples of having an on ramp to a new life, because we do make it so freaking hard for people to start a new life. What do you hope people listening to this [00:21:15] will be inspired

Kerry: to do? Aside from, of course, coming to visit Emma's Torch and getting some coffee from us or hiring us for catering.

We should talk about that because we're going to

e would love to cater. Can't [: 00:21:30

Kerry: Done. Oh, brilliant. We're there. It's going to be amazing. But I think I was really lucky that. Not just my husband, like literally asking me whose permission do you need?

ere teachers, my parents, my [: 00:21:45

[00:22:00] And then you discover that. Maybe there isn't an answer. Maybe there is no one stopping you. And so I know that I was fortunate that people forced me to, to ask that question. So I think that would be the one thing I would offer to others as well.

, who [: 00:22:15

Kerry: Oh, wow.

y well positioned to do this [: 00:22:30

So. Yeah. Yeah, I'm kind of the only one who can do it this way. I love that. Yet, that quiet question in the back of, not me, I can't, too hard, too much, is [00:23:00] paralyzing. And so, to your point, even just asking the question, getting it out in the open can be transformative. But then to keep answering those questions and looking for the stories that empower you.

What a privilege. [: 00:23:15

I think every time we get to hear from somebody [00:23:45] who's doing that, it helps us all be a little bit braver. And a little bit smarter about how we do that in our little corner.

Kerry: Well, thank you for bringing this incredible platform and elevating these stories. I've I've learned so much so i'm so grateful

Aransas: I'm so fortunate.[: 00:24:00

Thank you so much carrie for what you're doing for our collective community For these families the newest members of our neighborhoods And for all of us, we all rise higher [00:24:15] together. Thank you for listening to the Uplifters podcast. If you're getting a boost from these episodes, please share them with the Uplifters in your life and then join us in conversation over at the uplifterspodcast.[00:24:30]

lifters and it'll ensure you [: 00:24:45

Music: Big love painted water, sunshine with rosemary. I'm dwelling, not perplexing.

You find it. [: 00:25:00

I cried. It's [00:26:00] that little thing you did with your voice. Right, in the pre chorus, right? I was like Mommy, stop crying. You're disturbing the peace.