a conversation with Charity Blanchett
Charity Blanchett, is the Founder and Creative Director of Dipping Spoon Foundation, a non-profit whose mission is identifying and cultivating the next generation of Indigenous and Black Women-Identifying, Non-Binary, GNC, and Femme culinary youth by providing and empowering aspiring chefs with a fully paid culinary scholarship, housing, and externships to attend the New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute. Charity is also a recent awardee of the Vital Voices and Trèsemme Women's Leadership Incubator Fellowship Program.
In this week’s conversation, Charity shares what it was like growing up as a Black Indigenous Inuit Yupik woman in a small Alaskan town. She talks about how her parents instilled in her their pride in their respective cultures and how this unwavering self-worth helped her in the face of racism. Despite having been secure in who she was, Charity did not see women who looked like her represented in popular media. This lack of representation is what catalyzed the founding of the Dipping Spoon Foundation and we hear about the organizational vision and the support they offer their recipients. Our conversation also touches on the art of food and the need to create spaces for marginalized voices, battling white supremacy, the importance of asking for help, and Charity’s hopes for the future of the Dipping Spoon Foundation. When we create inclusive spaces in the food industry, we also create places for people to tell their stories and share who they are.
Key Points From This Episode:
Charity’s dynamic background, being a Black Indigenous Inuit Yupik woman.
What it was like for Charity growing up in Wasilla, a predominantly white town.
The role that Charity’s mom played in fostering her love of food.
The impetus for starting Dipping Spoon Foundation and the organization’s mission.
Some of the support that the Dipping Spoon Foundation provides recipients.
Realizations that Charity came to about the lack of representation in the food industry.
Representation matters in every industry; spaces have to be representative of the real world.
Narratives that have been sidelined are important and sharing them fosters connection.
Insights into white supremacy, its prevalence, and how Black people deal with it differently.
What inspired the name, Dipping Spoon, and how Charity felt securing funding.
Charity’s hopes for the future of Dipping Spoon Foundation.
Even though imposter syndrome holds you back from asking for help, do it anyway.
