Hey, I'm Germaine! People have me called me a Farm Fairy Godmother, and a Dream Weaver and my all-time favorite, Barbie Grandma.
THE BACKSTORY:
As a certified GenX-er, I raised myself, lol. Life was easier during the Reagan era because friend groups came together for meals, money gaps and entertainment. For the last two decades, I've built community and directed my gift of making a dollar out of fifteen cents to the field of ancestral gardening practices and nourishing local meals.
From a Kids' Cafe chef to a Nutrition advocate and educator for a regional food bank, from co-founder of an urban ag operation, to food systems consultant for social enterprises around the country, I've worn all the hats.
THE HATS:
- co-founded a sliding scale grocery store and urban farm
- organized a modern Black farmer conference
- served as president and co-founder of a statewide Black farmer coalition
- advocated for funding and inter-generational skillshares for underfunded food entrepreneurs
- building farm to store to table models with anti-inflammatory ready to eat meals
- matchmaking for food entrepreneurs and top tier technical experts
- identifying and co-creating non-traditional funds to launch or scale operations
- organized intergenerational skillshares for groups of 10 up to 100+ participants
None of the milestones would have been possible without building radical relationships .
THE STRUGGLE:
I'm in a bind today because like 300,000 of my Black women and femme colleagues, I lost my main sources of income last year.
After my severance, and 401k were exhausted last winter, personal loans from friends and the interwebs carried me through the winter and spring. Now, I'm navigating the unemployment system and falling deeper in the red.
Seeing beyond my own plight, I've actively supported other radical femmes in the Midwest and South stabilize their businesses and even found the resources to fund a local food distribution for elders complete with homemade indoor winter garden kits from yours truly...
I'm in these GoFundMe streets because I have 50-11 bills to catch up on and my mortgage is the biggest one. These doggone overdraft fees are hating on my semi-retired baddie vibes and my credit score is in shambles.
Necessity is a mofo, so I've finally found a professional pivot where my only obstacle is a money trauma brain.
THE ASK:
Dearest reader, can you help a sista crawl out of this hole and get the infrastructure in place for my virtual gardening and cooking classes?
Organizer
