Episode 20: Leticia Landa - Deputy Director of La Cocina

For today's episode we have Caroline Abu Sa'da, the Director General of SOS MEDITERRANEE Suisse a humanitarian organization that provides aid to people in distress at sea. Since 2014 they have saved thousands of people who have tried to cross the Mediterranean Sea. If you want to support them, you can go to https://en.sosmediterranee.org/ and you can follow Caroline on twitter (@AbuSadaCaroline) and SOS MEDITERRANEE (SOSMedIntl) where you can stay updated on all the work they're doing. 

I met Maevia while studying at the Graduate Institute, Geneva and during her time there, despite being in an academic setting that normally does things in a certain way, she decided to find ways to be creative, specifically making films, to express information she learned and felt was important to share. In this episode we discuss her journey as well two films she made including "The Drop: when a drop of water mirrors the fall of social justice," and "Elles Les Invisibles" a film about 'undocumented' women domestic workers in Geneva. 

For today’s episode we have Jared Koenig, a pitcher for the Oakland A’s who has had quite the journey to get to where he’s at today. While we talk a lot about baseball, I believe Jared’s story is very relatable and anyone can take away useful lessons that can be applied in their daily life. 

It has been a while since I put out an episode and that is because I have had a lot on my plate since last September. But I am back and I wanted to reflect on some of the most important things I have learned from working on Bold Moves Only over the past 2+ years. Expect more episodes and projects to come out soon! 

For today’s episode we have Michael Simmons author of The Pain: A Black Man’s Poetic Reflections On Emotional Pain & Mental Distress. Michael, who has struggled in the past with mental health issues and worked hard to overcome them, wanted to speak out, write a book and inspire other's to be more open and better understand how to deal with them. You can purchase his book here: https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Poetic-Reflections-Emotional-Distress-ebook/dp/B08YP6R5TS

For today’s episode we have Quan Huyn, author of the book Sparrow in the Razor Wire: Finding Freedom from Within While Serving a Life Sentence. Quan was given a life sentence for shooting and killing another man in a gang-related incident in Hollywood in 1999. After many years he realized that prison could be a place of healing as opposed to purely punishment. He began his journey towards inner freedom and despite knowing that he could have spent the rest of his life in prison he dedicated himself to helping others do the same. He was ultimately paroled from his life sentence in 2015 and has continued to help others on the inside and out of prison with multiple initiatives and ventures. One of those being Defy Ventures,” an entrepreneurship, career readiness & personal development training program for people with criminal histories. You can learn more and get the book here: https://quanxhuynh.com/collections/products

Ethan Frisch is an entrepreneur and activist around food systems and social justice. He has had a very interesting journey which has led him to co-founding Burlap & Barrel, a spice company that is a Public Benefit Corporation, building new international food supply chains that are equitable, transparent and traceable. 

Matt Haney is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, representing District 6. He has been the member and President of the San Francisco Board of Education as well as co-founder of #cut50, an Oakland-based national nonprofit designed to end mass incarceration. 

Operation Libero is an organization based in Switzerland that has created a political movement by creatively re-framing public discourse by skillfully turning the spaces, tools and rhetoric used by conservative populists on the heads to reach broad audiences through emotional, simple and accessible imagery, messages and concepts.

Since 2008 Leticia has been with La Cocina, an organization in San Francisco, California that cultivates low income food entrepreneurs, focusing primarily on women from communities of color and immigrant communities. They provide affordable commercial kitchen space, industry-specific technical assistance and access to market opportunities. La Cocina has opened over 30 brick & mortar restaurants, found national distribution for packaged products, and created hundreds of jobs in their communities.