I wanted to write about what’s happening right now, but I feel like I can’t put the right words on paper right now. The tension is thick, and my opinion isn’t necessary but I want to support in any way I can.

My Food Job Rocks is all about showcasing stories about how people got into the food industry. So I want to showcase some amazing interviews from My Food Job Rocks. These are some of the most passionate people in the industry right now. Not only because they love what they do, but because they worked hard to get there.

The thing that makes me happiest about the 220 episodes of My Food Job Rocks is the diversity of guests that I’ve interviewed. Age, race, gender, and from all different cultures all over the world.

I wanted to highlight several passionate individuals I find very important as the world is going through a lot of pain. Links to their social handles are included if they have them as well as a short description on why they are just really awesome.

Dr. Maya M Warren – Sr. Director of International Research and Development at Coldstone Creamery

Maya is a Rockstar ice cream scientist who works at Cold Stone. She’s also participated in the amazing race. Her whole job is to create amazing flavors of ice cream all over the world. Though she can’t travel too much anymore, she is doing some awesome stuff on Instagram. Check her out.

Michael Bunn – Sr. Manager QA and R and D at Sam’s Club

I have a quick story about Michael. When I moved to Texas, someone reached out saying she had listened to his episode. Michael used to mentor this person and she ended up introducing me to a lot of cool people in Austin and made me feel right at home. Michael has an interesting twist and turns as he first was in the military and then transitioned to food.

Louis Edmond – Food Technologist at Advanced Pierre Foods

Louis Edmond is an extremely inspiring fellow. He has loved food his whole life and decided to be a chef, until he realized that the chef isn’t the most stable job in the world. Then he dived into the world of food science in his final semester. Though he didn’t get a food science job, he worked darn hard until 6 years later, he applied for his masters, and now works as a food technologist at Advanced Pierre Foods.

Bryson Bolton – Manager of Sensory and Sample Collection at Synergy Flavors

Bryson is one of the youngest board members in IFT and his enthusiasm to serve others resonates throughout his being. Bryson and I met at IFT where they piloted a TED-talk-like session for young professionals. I really enjoyed his presentation so I asked him to be on the podcast. This episode is extremely inspiring and if you like sensory or want to get into sensory, it’s a good one.

Susie Fogelson – Founder and CEO of F&Co (VP of marketing for the Food Network)

Susie Fogelson made me love the Food Network. She was the VP of marketing there when I was just starting to cook in middle school. When a PR agency talked to me about interviewing her, I was so shocked. Definitively a close interview to my heart.

Tara-Ann Dugan – Director of Consumer Marketplace Insights for the National Pork Board

Tara-Ann has marketing experience working for McDonalds and now works at the National Pork Board. Her career trajectory and insights are absolutely amazing. If you want a refresher on how consume insights are collected and then taken into effect, it’s a great interview.

Seronei Cheison – Senior Scientist at Mars Petcare

Seronei’s story is an interesting one. He grew up in Kenya, worked in China and now lives in Germany. Not only is Seronei an academic, but he is also a teacher and mentor. For the last 6 and a half years, Seronei has worked in Mars Petcare and I recall this was our first petfood episode.

Darryl Neal – Podcast Host of Beer Talk Now

Darryl interviews me for his podcast and for more than an hour, you just here me talking about my life and drinking beer. I met Darryl at NCIFT and then he took me out for drinks and I convinced him to do a podcast. Beer Talk Now is still going on strong on instagram.

The last two episodes are part of the Norteastern series thanks to Darin Detwiler. Though they are not necessarily food jobs, they bring important topics to the table. Darin’s class digs deep into the interconnectedness of food and what Ted and Keenan talk about are very important.

Ted Johnson – Senior Fellow at The  Brennan Center of Justice

Ted is a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, Dr. Johnson was a national fellow at the New America Foundation, where he undertook projects on black voting behavior and the role of national solidarity in addressing racial inequality. Previously, he was a Commander in the United States Navy and, most recently, a research manager at Deloitte. The Brennan Center of Justice really focuses on the timely topic of racial inequality, something we are going through now. The initiatives Ted talks about are very actionable such as raising money from underserved communities and solving food deserts.

Keenan Davis – Entrepreneur

This was my first off-the-cuff interview. Before, I would do a script of questions but this episode made me uncomfortable and adapt quickly. Why? Because Keenan had nothing related to food! I interviewed him because he was teaching ethics at Darin’s class. Overall, I think I did a great job. I think it was until the end where things really started to shine. Keenan is all about the hustle so we break that down as tactical as possible. It’s an extremely inspiring interview that will just make you feel like you want to take on the world.