Through BKBF Productions I offer a variety of consulting and supportive services. I’d love to talk more about what you want to create and how I can help.
Selected works. Here you’ll find a small collection of my favorite projects. Scroll over the pictures to learn more.
Pushing for Gender Equity: The Solution Sprint
Women in Hospitality United (WiHU) is an organization I co-founded, born of of the #MeToo Movement and fueled by eight months of community discussion with individuals across all sectors of the industry.
We identified widespread agreement that (r)evolution in hospitality is urgently needed to shift stark, damaging inequities. We designed the Solution Sprint, a concentrated, high touch, high involvement tool for understanding problems, root causes and designing solutions.
At our inaugural event we hosted 70 individuals from across the United States. We investigated 6 stakeholder identified issues: mental health access, supporting working parents, financial literacy, closing the wage gap, mentorship, and harassment interventions.
Leveraging the power of convening: Ladies’ Night
Ladies' Night is a series of networking events that I began in 2013. I believe that bringing people together can be a radical act.
Since 2013, I have co-hosted over 45 events from casual potlucks to climbing mountains to organizing 102 women for a trip to Washington DC for the 2017 Women’s March.
For each Ladies’ Night, I partner with a women-owned or -run business. We aim to create a safe(r) inclusive space for all people who identify as female or non binary. Admission is always free.
Media Representation:Food and Finance High School
Food and Finance High School is NYC’s only culinary-focused high school.
My favorite work with FFHS is student-led design for events and experiential learning opportunities.
Together we’ve worked with students to create promotional events; most recently we took over the entire school for a day. We brought in 70 guest instructors for talks and demos about all aspects of culinary jobs.
People Powered Change: NY GRID
The NY GRID was an experimental pop-up exploring upstate/downstate connections.
We visited Kingston and Cooperstown NY, and gathered 25 local leaders in NYC to explore the perceptions vs. realities of the upstate/downstate divide.
We connected stakeholders across the state to support projects such as a Drug War Memorial, formation of workers cooperatives and more.
Re-imagining Food Media: Heritage Radio Network
Executive Director of HRN, I focused on expanding and diversify food media. I focused on the intersections of agriculture, race and culinary trends.
Who gets to tell the story?: Saxelby Scholars
Students need to see themselves reflected in pop-culture and media. We created Saxelby Scholars to give students the skills to document the stories of their communities in their own voices.
Saxelby Radio Scholars are trained in all aspects of creating radio stories. Students learn how to structure a story, use audio equipment, write a script, ask interview questions, contact officials, and conduct research.
Fun Fact: Everyone cringes a little at the sound of their own voice. Here is our inaugural class of Saxelby Scholars hearing their pieces for the first time.
Creating more Sustainable Food Systems: Goatober
Goatober is a project designed to address a critical distribution and sales gap for farmstead goat cheese producers. A secure and dependable outlet for these animals created new and vital income streams for farmers.
We hosted staff trainings across New York City, Charleston and Las Vegas in addition to a series of public facing dinners and events.
Sustainable Food Systems Part II: Farm Camp
This three day “camp” gave attendees the tools and know-how to effectively support a thriving regional agriculture infrastructure.
Caption II: Here we took campers through the history of chicken production in our country, and the differences between egg and meat birds.
Campers found these hands-on experiences transformational.