Artist Spotlight: The People’s Champ: As Told By Champ Green (S1/E4)

More than anywhere else, our ancestral origins are found in food, and while migratory patterns and industrialization may have created a few degrees of separation, our memories help ensure that the lived experiences of those before us never really die.

To kick off Season 5, Kahja is talking to Award-Winning Writer, Bush-Holbrook Endowed Professor, and Poet Laureate of Kentucky (2021-2023) Crystal Wilkinson about her latest book, Praisesong For The Kitchen Ghosts, in which she recalls the influence of her family's matriarchs and patriarchs, and what her upbringing in the foothills of the Appalachian region and regional foodways have come to represent.

In this episode, Crystal talks with Kahja about giving voice to our ancestor's stories, the depth of ways Appalachian culture has shaped her culinary sensibility, the sacredness in communing over food as a learned process, love and grief as kitchen ingredients, and how looking back converges with the path to looking ahead.

Crystal Wilkinson

Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts

@crystalwilki

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Recorded on location at Fairmont San Francisco

In just over a week, food reviewer Keith Lee's trip to and exit from the Bay Area took us from excitement and fervor to disappoint and questions; was his perception of the Bay accurate? Why did he have so many disappointing food experiences in a region revered for its culinary breadth? And what has this revealed about the state of the food and restaurant industry and overall state of business in a city that's currently experiencing significant civic shifts?

On this episode, Kahja sat down for an impromptu chat with Charlese Banks, founder of The Town Experience, freelance journalist Brandy Collins, and journalist/editor/filmmaker Niema Jordan to unravel what this moment of reckoning for Oakland means, and where it has the ability to take us.

@thetownexperience
@story_soul_collecter
@niemajordan

Brandy Collins for Oakland Voices 

Brandy Collins for Substack

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Episode recorded at Stay Diff

It's the end of Season 4, and we're raising our glasses and celebrating with Fern Stroud, founder of Black Vines, the longest running annual Black wine festival in the country, celebrating culture, art, and Black winemakers and vintners!

This week, Kahja talks with Fern about taking the leap from a career in Silicon Valley to preeminence in the wine industry, leading a team dedicated to creating spaces of Black joy and celebration, being on your own personal journey to enjoying wine, and the value of creating community and sustainability within a Black economic ecosystem.

Black Vines

@blackvines_

Black Vines 2024 Tickets

What does it mean to build? What does it mean to serve? Whatever it means, Chef Matt Horn understood the assignment and got busy leveraging his memories of barbecue and studied the process of creating it, eventually transforming those learnings into the launch of Horn Barbecue and a career as a restauranteur that would go on to include two additional concepts; Kowbird and Matty's Old Fashioned.

This week, Kahja talks with Matt about the road from pop-ups to opening three restaurants in just over three years, curating spaces where hospitality is the main focus, the ups and downs that come with highly visible success, and honoring tradition by pushing the envelope.

If you enjoyed this episode, please contribute to the GoFundMe established to help with efforts for the Horn Barbecue Fire Restoration.

Horn Barbecue

Kowbird

Matty's Old Fashioned

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Episode recorded at StayDiff

The worlds of technology and music are converging now more than ever, and  for this season's Artist Spotlight episode, Kahja talks with Bosko Kante, Grammy award winning music producer and inventor of ElectroSpit, a revolutionized version of the talkbox technology made famous by musicians over the last 4 decades! 

On this week's episode, Bosko talks about his serendipitous path to music production, how his background in mechanical engineering helped enable design thinking to improve existing technology, finding his way through ElectroSpit to working with music legends like Stevie Wonder and Kanye West, and partnering with other artists through Hiii Wav, an incubator program focused on artist development in the areas of business, education, and the emergence of AI in the music industry.

ElectroSpit

Hiii Wav

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Episode recorded at StayDiff

Cash Rules. Guap. Skrilla. Once you get it, how do you make sure it's there for you when life starts life-ing? The last 3 years have definitely taught us to expect the unexpected, and one thing unexpected times always impacts is your pockets! This week, Kahja talks with personal finance expert Qiana Davis about how our upbringing impacts our money behaviors, getting comfortable with the B word (budgeting), understanding critical financial documents to protect yourself against the what-ifs, and how responsible money management is an act of self-care.

Qiana Davis

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Episode recorded at Stay Diff

Change is inevitable, but what happens when you wake up one day to suddenly find you've lost your livelihood? This week, Kahja talks to Bay Area writer Kendra Williams about being one of thousands impacted by the layoffs that swept the tech industry this year, meeting yourself under unexpected circumstances, holding space for grief in the process of change, and the value of owning your own time and attention.

kendravalerie.com

blacknbrownitm.com

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Episode recorded at Stay Diff
 

In a world of food influencers where everyone has a platform, the voice of actual food journalists reminds us there's more to the story of culinary culture than reels! 

In this first episode of Season 4, Kahja is talking with Dianne de Guzman, award-winning journalist and deputy editor for Eater SF covering the restaurant, bar, and pop-up scene in the East Bay about what it's like to have the dream job of food writing, striking a balance between authenticity and grace when reporting on a dining experience, the positives and negatives of food content creation, and the contributions restaurants make toward shaping the culture of the Bay Area.

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Episode recorded at Stay Diff

A lot can change in a year and a half, and the last time we talked to MarQuita was way back at the beginning of Season 1, right as she was about to start her full time entrepreneur journey. Since then, as the founder and owner of That's My Jam Company, MarQuita's been busy positioning her low sugar, pectin-free jams as an exciting, artisan alternative to the norm, taking you well beyond just toast and biscuits!

In this last episode of Season 3, Kahja catches up with MarQuita about life after quitting her 9-5, the myth of preparedness as a business strategy, the evolving landscape of friendships when life is changing,  why centering people's experience is key to being effective, and the pride of having a business that honors tradition.

That's My Jam Company

@thatsmyjamcompany

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Episode recorded at Stay Diff

With Oakland’s food scene growing, it seems like there’s a new restaurant opening all the time, but not all are as anticipated as the opening of Burdell later this year! Led by Chef Geoff Davis, Burdell has been building a reputation that pays nostalgic homage to the culture of Black American food. With pop-up dinners that invite diners to linger over homey plates of food that simultaneously bear the mark of a classically-trained chef, Burdell is here to help us remember that food is more than just a meal, but a celebration of what and who has come before us.

In this episode, Kahja and Chef Geoff talk about balancing modernity with honoring food traditions, the significance of exposing children to culinary experiences early on, the importance of the Black migration and misnomers about the healthiness of soul food, and bucking trends to maintain your true identity.

@burdell_oak

Chef Geoff Davis

Resy contributions

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Episode recorded at Stay Diff