Nonprofit Pioneer in Farm to Early Childcare and Education with Tiana Kamen, Farm to Keiki: Cooking, Gardening and Nutrition with Children

Tiana Kamen created the nonprofit Farm to Keiki, which offers preschool curriculum along with a gorgeous book to teach young children in Hawaii the joys of nature, growing food, and eating healthy. She was an early pioneer in Hawaii and was recognized by Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative for her leadership in the Farm to Early Childcare and Education movement. 

Her passion for ensuring healthy kids by creating healthy food preferences early on has resulted in turning a side project into a full-time career. In 2019 alone, she trained over 500 preschool teachers around the state of Hawaii. Through her hard work, children all over the state experience the delight of watching small seeds turn to big plants, which are incorporated into nutritional, sensory, historical, and cooking lessons.  

Contact Info:
Tiana Kamen
www.farmtokeiki.org
tiana@farmtokeiki.org
@farmtokeiki (Instagram)

Julie - Host
www.womenwithcooljobs.com
Julie@womenwithcooljobs.com
@womencooljobs (Instagram)

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Transcript

Tiana Kamen : 0:00

I really believed in the reason we were doing it. And so I knew that if we'd had more farm to preschool programs or farm to keiki became a thing in Hawaii and the rest of the world. I knew that we could do something about climate change, about children's health, about our education system and the way children learn. So I knew the impact was more important than my fear. Hey, everybody,

Julie- Host : 0:29

I'm Julie and welcome to women with cool jobs. Each episode will feature women with unique trailblazing and innovative crews. We'll talk about how she got here, what life is like now, and actionable steps that you can take to go on a similar path or one that's all your own. This podcast is about empowering you. It's about empowering you to dream big and to be inspired. You'll hear from incredible women in a wide range. fields, and hopefully some that you've never heard of before. Women who build robots and roadways, firefighters, C suite professionals surrounded by men, social media mavens, entrepreneurs and more. I'm so glad we get to go on this journey together. Hey everybody, this is Julie and welcome to another episode of women with cool jobs. I am so excited for you guys to listen today. Because I am talking with Tiana came in who was born and raised on the island of Hawaii. So she has been in the Farm to School movement for more than a decade and she has developed this amazing curriculum and an amazing book is a farm to kicky program for kids. She was really an early pioneer in her state of Hawaii when it came to this area, and she was a founding member in two different Hawaiian professional groups. She also was recognized by Michelle Obama's let's move childcare initiative for her leadership in this farm to early in childcare education movement. So she has done so many cool things. Her book is amazing in and of itself, because it has all these gorgeous colorful pictures, and really wonderful lessons that are so comprehensive on cooking, gardening and nutrition. So she really takes these young kids for, you know, for this amazing journey through how they can interact with nature and a very hands on way, a very sensory way. And she incorporates all these things having to do with nutrition, with cooking with history with the books and reading, and they get to do art projects. And so it's just so incredible from my standpoint, as a parent, but also from the instructional design perspective because it's like she She was able to create something yet so simple like eating right, we eat every day, we eat three times a day. If you're if you have kids, you know that they eat like way more than that. I feel like my kids eat at least five times a day. And so you know, the idea of incorporating these super healthy lifestyle choices into everyday meals and fun projects is so brilliant. She has taken her passion. And she has trained so many teachers over the years. Last year alone in 2018. She trained over 500 preschool teachers around the state of Hawaii. And I think that is incredibly impressive being that there's only 365 days of the year. So with that she has had this huge impact on people in her community. And she's had impact on the children in her community and also just the ability to learn about nature and to in harmony with nature, I hope that you really enjoy this conversation and that you get so much out of it about following your passion and about really asking for support and help along the way. Hi, Tiana, thank you so much for being a guest on my show. So I understand you're recording from the beautiful island of Hawaii in Hawaii. How are you doing?

Tiana Kamen : 4:22

Julie, thank you so much for having me. I'm doing wonderful. It's beautiful and our gardens going great and couldn't ask for anything better. It

Julie- Host : 4:33

sounds amazing. Especially cuz we're faking currently in here in Arizona in the desert so I have to be very jealous of the ocean and anything green.

Tiana Kamen : 4:46

Yeah, it's been it's been a really hot summer but it's been gorgeous and the water has been perfect temperature. So one day hopefully everyone will come to visit again.

Julie- Host : 4:58

Yeah, I believe me. I Definitely would love to be one of those people when we get to it and have you have you been doing anything new, or learning anything new during your time at home?

Tiana Kamen : 5:11

Oh, you know, I have been surfing a lot more. Cuz that's one of the activities we're allowed to do. And I've always been great. And I've actually been learning how to grow some new things in our garden because we really wanted to just become as sustainable as possible, since about 90% of our food is shipped into Hawaii. And we really wanted to be able to be self sufficient. So I've been growing some unique things, and this year was my first crop of onions. And that was excited for me. So So yeah, I think some of the new things is just expanding my horizons on the things that we grew.

Julie- Host : 5:54

That's wonderful. Well, it sounds I mean, it sounds fun. I love looking at you plants growing That sounds exciting for sure. And so that is actually a perfect segue. So I would love to start off and talk to you about where you are in your life now. And I was hoping if you could share what you do, and tell us about your wonderful farm to Kiki program.

Tiana Kamen : 6:20

Sure. Thank you. So I'm a nutritionist, and I'm also an environmental educator. And for the last 10 years, I've been creating a program called farm to keiki. k means child in hoyne. And this program is all about encouraging our schools, especially our preschools and early childhood Childhood Education sites, to grow gardens to purchase locally grown foods and to teach children about environmental and agricultural education. So it's basically Farm to School and I've been currently working on educating preschool teachers throughout the state of Hawaii, as well as just published a book called farm to keiki cooking gardening and nutrition with children. And so I've been training teachers, this curriculum throughout the state.

Julie- Host : 7:15

I know you mentioned that you actually trained last year, I believe it was 500 preschool teachers. Is that correct? Yes.

Tiana Kamen : 7:22

was a big year. I got my traveling done before we couldn't do that anymore.

Julie- Host : 7:28

Yeah, well, that's a lot of teachers. And Was that something that you had done before? Was was doing that teacher training? Or was this something new specifically because you just released your book?

Tiana Kamen : 7:42

Yeah. So about 10 years ago, when I began the program. It started with an initial teacher training. And this was at a time when I didn't know much about the subject either. Even I just knew that these Farm to School really had to happen. So I will was doing trainings in the beginning but really not to this extent.

Julie- Host : 8:04

Okay, yeah. And I know that I got a look at your book and it's so beautiful and made me want to go to Hawaii and eat all those amazing foods, the colors and some of them I've never tasted but they were they just sounded so delicious. And some of the recipes you had I was, you know, excited and even for my kids, if for some of them, we could get those those ingredients here and I would love to try those. It's just such a lovely book, so many beautiful colors. And it was so neat to see how you had created so much curriculum based around you know, those little kids and bringing something you know, the farm and beautiful vegetables and fruit to the table and to their schools.

Tiana Kamen : 8:47

Yeah, well, it's, it's definitely it's taken me about 10 years to create this final product of the book. And throughout this 10 years I really learned that there is so much abundance in what you and other places in the world. And most of our children and adults never have had the opportunity or experience to eat any of these foods. So we really ended up having a pretty bland diet that leads to a lot of diet related diseases, obesity and heart disease. So the more beautiful I could make this book and the more exciting it was for people to do, then I was hoping the more that we could increase the diversity and folks palates, so I'm glad you like thought it was beautiful as the purpose

Julie- Host : 9:37

was, it was gorgeous. So you definitely did an amazing job putting it together. I was very impressed. And I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the background of you know why you chose to do this. I know you mentioned that there was a childhood obesity issue within the state of Hawaii and I was wondering if you could speak to That in relation to creating this book? Sure.

Tiana Kamen : 10:03

So I think I could go a little further back in. I've always been very concerned about the environment, and always wanted to protect her and take care of her. And in college, I did study environmental studies and sustainability. And I got to a point where I really wanted to do something for the whole world and work internationally. And I came home one summer, and I realized that all the issues that were happening around the world with climate change with our broken food systems, with obesity, they were all happening in my home in Hawaii, and sometimes even more so. So I found that if I could create a solution or be part of a solution that we could do really well in Hawaii, then we could do really well anywhere else because we're an island and a lot of our Little communities, they're like little islands. And so as I started to dig deeper, I learned about the Farm to School movement. And a nonprofit approached me and asked if I'd help them to start the Kawaii school garden and Farm to School Network. And this was all about encouraging local schools to have gardens and garden education and get local foods into the cafeterias. And the whole reason for this was multifold. But one of them was definitely the obesity epidemic that's happening with children. And so I was helping K through 12 schools. And then I realized that Gosh, there were so many different difficulties dealing with the cafeteria and laws and with the mass amounts of foods that we needed without having the proper farmers or farm food on the islands. And then I went to a conference in California and I sat by a woman on the bus and she told me that She was working on a farm to preschool project. And this farm to preschool project was so important because she said we were getting to the children's, we're helping to change their food preferences while they were creating them. So that's before age five. And I realized that was such a great point, we weren't really getting to the kids early enough. We're really fighting them to not eat their spam was to BS and instead eat something else. You know, when really if we didn't from the start, we could have a hand up and they would be craving and wanting these foods. One other thing that woman told me is that one out of every three children in California was obese or overweight before age five. And this is really, really shocked me. As I dug deeper into the numbers, realize that this was nationwide and in what you do, and if there are children of Pacific Islander Hawaiian descent One out of every two children are obese or overweight before age five. So after I heard all this information, I started my own little program. I was working for a nonprofit, but ask them if it was okay if I started a separate program, just focusing on preschool, because I saw that the change was really important. And that there was no support for this. Nobody was really working on this just yet. And so that's how I got into it.

Julie- Host : 13:34

That's incredible. And so I was wondering, you know, when you sat next to that woman on the bus, like were was it like a lightbulb moment for you? Were you like, Oh my gosh, like, I should go down this path, or did you just sort of find it interesting. What was that? Like? You know, when you're thinking back on it, yeah, it was like a lightning bolt.

Tiana Kamen : 13:54

So getting so excited. Her name was Zoe Phillips and I remembered I remember every detail of the moment. That's how excited I was. And at the end of the conversation, I even asked her like, well, how would I start one of these projects in kawaii, like, would you be able to help me? And she said, actually, our grant is supposed to be helping other places to do farm to preschool. And so we will give you all of our curriculum, our evaluations, like whatever you need to do a we will help you. And so that was really exciting for me because not only did I have this lightbulb, and I knew it just felt right. But I also gained a mentor, at the same time who was helping me instead of having to create all these new things, especially of a topic, I was just learning about myself, that she was there to really help me get started. And then from there, I could create it as my own with a twist for Hawaii.

Julie- Host : 15:00

That's an incredible opportunity and the fact that you just happen to sit next to her on a bus like that's awesome. It's just seems like it was meant to be.

Tiana Kamen : 15:09

Yeah. I mean, and I think it's so important to pick up on those things. And even though they it wasn't in my path that wasn't what I was going there to learn, it ended up. I'm very grateful for her for that moment. And realizing it, I

Julie- Host : 15:25

do like looking back, do you feel like that was a really big pivot point for your life?

Tiana Kamen : 15:30

I do. I do. I mean, I was young, I was 23 or 24 at the time, and I was very excited about this whole life trajectory that I was on. In general, I just started this brand new job helping to create the school garden network on kawaii and I felt like after so many years of college and searching for and traveling the world searching for what I wanted to do to contribute to the world. I felt I found my purpose. And that felt really good. And it really gave me the strength over all these years to navigate through the not so easy Farm to School or nonprofit world.

Julie- Host : 16:16

Yeah, looking back, you, you start to discuss that, you know, you met this woman on the bus and, and things kind of shifted and you you follow this path. So what were those next steps? Like how did you have the confidence to start pursuing this was it because you had this woman as a mentor?

Tiana Kamen : 16:34

You know, I think part of it was I was already in a secure job working for the nonprofit. At first I started volunteering for my farm to school job. And then once we had funding, it was my first full time job. I think outside of audits and jobs when I was younger, and so I felt the security of the nonprofit I was working for and I also feel really supported in that she was providing me with this mentorship and the documents already made. But I think also something that really contributed was I started to reach out to all different types of groups and people around the islands that were doing similar work, or that could teach me farming or that could teach me about this or that, that were doing similar programs. And that was really my strength. So I helped to as I started to reach out to folks I became really involved and engaged in different workgroups around the islands and nationwide.

Julie- Host : 17:41

So basically, it sounds like you were building your own network of of people who could help support you. Is that correct? Yeah.

Tiana Kamen : 17:48

So So part of it is I was trying to build this network of on my own island of these teachers and trying to find people to bring into this network to support them, but then at the same I was building a network of folks in my position. And the cool thing was is so where they everybody was paving this new road, a farm to school, especially farm to preschool that was totally brand new. And so we all were looking to each other for best practices. And we were looking to each other to help the movement forward. We were working a lot on legislation and trying to change and pass legislation to get support. And then we're the camaraderie made it really fun. It made it really exciting being part of all of these groups, nationally and statewide and on Island. So it was it was fun, and supportive,

Julie- Host : 18:45

fun and supportive are always wonderful things to have when you're creating something new. And, you know, other resources too, for when you did reach out to people. How did you go about that? You know, what did you look for? How did you search for To connect with, you

Tiana Kamen : 19:01

know, it was very organic, I should say. I'm a very kind of outgoing person who can talk to anybody. So I feel like one thing just led to the next like, Oh, you should talk very, we call it the coconut wireless in Hawaii. You know, we should, you should talk to this person. They're doing this. But I was really, I guess I was looking for what I needed at specific times. And sometimes I didn't know what those were until I was in the groups. Or I would just kind of go with my gut. So we I went to a school garden conference on Hawaii Island on the Big Island. And it was they were the only people who were hosting these big conferences to get gardens going in their state. And I was so inspired by everyone. And what they did at the meeting was after the conference was done, they invited the key person who was helping with school gardens from every Island or all the organizations And they brought us all together to say, hey, do you want to start this coalition? We need each other. We want to build this movement in Hawaii, Who here wants to be part of this? And it was very organic. And all of us just came together. And we said yes. And this year is actually our 10 year anniversary of that group. And it's really grown. And the movements grown so I think sometimes you, you're not always even searching for it, but it finds you.

Julie- Host : 20:28

Yeah, it sounds like it definitely found you. And it's, that's a wonderful resource, right? It sounds like even for today, 10 years later, the fact that it's grown and

Tiana Kamen : 20:38

still go and I think another other examples is like with our National Farm to preschool work. The woman Zoey, who included me in her who is the woman from California, I met she was one of the first people to do farm to preschool on a big scale. And so there were some movements going around nationwide that she He was part of and she invited me to participate. So I think on other terms is when you get yourself out there, those people want to find you and they want you to be part of it because we're all building something new. Right?

Julie- Host : 21:14

You know, in talking about when you were building the program, what were those next steps when you were trying to go through the process of taking what you had gotten from, you know, your mentor who is based in California and then trying to transition everything to your your home Island, and then state? What was that transition like? And what were the steps that you took to create it, you know, and specialize it for for you, and what your needs were there. So

Tiana Kamen : 21:48

it took me about a year to change or adapt the curriculum to Hawaii, because we have totally different seasons and cultures and I really knew that I needed to personalize it with the things that I felt were very important from here on that were culturally respectful. But at the same time, it's really important not to just take someone's work and go, we want to take the best practices, but give it our own spin so that folks from wherever you are going to be really excited about it. So that process took a long time. At the same time, I kind of hit the ground running and we went and we gave a, we wanted to get the program going. And I had very little funding for it. So one of the first things was to get funding. But before that even happened, we were trying to figure out, you know, what the program would look like. And so I teamed up with another local group, it was called Get Fit, calm. And we were actually taking tobacco resettlement money and doing good programs for the island. And so they chose my program as a pilot program. And I went and I gave a talk about this new curriculum I found and that we want It's adapted for Hawaii, and we were looking for pilot schools. We're going to give you we had a little bit of funding to give them kitchen supplies and gardening supplies. And I'll give them a training and the curriculum. And we had 50 people in the room, and every single one of them signed up for it, and this is I'm still 24 I didn't know I've never ran a pilot. I've never ran a program. I was never an educator. Oh. And so I had a partner and from the community who was working with me on this and she says, I'll sign up, I'll help you. And the women who were the funders from the tobacco recipient when he said, Yeah, we'll let's try it out. Let's do this project. So when I was supposed to take one or two pilot schools I took or how many I'm not I can't remember how many pilot schools It was a long time ago, but we ended up saying all 19 preschools that signed up, serving 550 Kids could join on looking back and Wow, it was crazy and so ambitious for not having a lot of money to do it. But at the same time, I was like, I want to make this happen. So the teachers were really great and they were really excited about it and at the same time very patient. Well, I formed the program while they were doing it. Every month I'd be like, I'm gonna give you a new curriculum hold on

Julie- Host : 24:28

That's incredible. So do you feel like I mean, cuz that just to be listening to you, I mean, going from what you thought would be a very sort of small launch and then to this clearly very large launch is quite an undertaking. How did you have the confidence to I guess just like go for it and and make it happen? What did you think about it or were you nervous while you were doing it? What What were your thoughts when that happened? And you had all these people sign up? Oh, yeah,

Tiana Kamen : 24:56

I was extremely nervous. My fault is perfect. factionism. And so I really wanted the curriculum to be perfect. And this to be perfect and the evaluation to be perfect. And I think I was a little hard on myself, and it was very stressful. But at the same time, I just, I felt so supported, and by the folks who were my partners that I found through this project, and I was really supported by my, the executive director of the nonprofit I was working at at the time, as well as friends and family and the media. And the teachers. Everyone was excited. So I kind of just didn't even think about being nervous and just fit the best they could.

Julie- Host : 25:40

Yeah. Were you concerned about making mistakes, or did you feel so supported that you felt like if you made mistakes, it would be okay. And you'd fix it and, you know, move on. Were you concerned to know Yeah,

Tiana Kamen : 25:55

I mean, I I felt like then and still today. I just didn't know Enough about the topic. I wasn't an expert. Yeah, I still feel that way. Now, like, the reason I finally published my book is I was like, Okay, I think I'm, I'm finally there. But um, it, I was really just, I really believed in the reason we were doing it. And so I knew that if we'd had more farm to preschool programs, or farm to keiki became a thing in Hawaii and the rest of the world, I knew that we could do something about climate change, about children's health, about our education system and the way children learn. So I knew the impact was more important than my fear. And that's what I think kept me going most is the why and the reason we were doing it.

Julie- Host : 26:48

I love that it's I think it bears repeating that the impact was more important than your fear. I think, you know, it's like if you find that that purpose, you see the vision That's a great thing to just keep going and make it work. It's so that's incredible. And here you are 10 years later.

Tiana Kamen : 27:08

Yeah, if I look back on it, and still today, I told myself this, if I try, if I stopped trying to make things so perfect, I could have got more a lot more accomplished. And if those mistakes and those things aren't perfect, that I think teach us the most and teach the people who were with the most, and then we could go back and shift rather than wasting so much time trying to make it all perfect.

Julie- Host : 27:31

I know perfectionism is, is a hard thing I have to and so it's definitely, you know, something that it's a balance, right? Because you want the product to be so amazing and to serve this purpose and to help people but then yeah, like, actually, what could you do if you weren't worried about being perfect? And you just were, we're doing it you know, what, what would we accomplish so after you started training, all the Teachers there. What happened at that point?

Tiana Kamen : 28:04

So it was crazy, but really exciting. I was so grateful to have my teammate who was she was in charge of four H, from our extension University Extension office. Her name was Laura. And she was she was much older than me. And so it organized. And she really taught me how to be organized, which I realized we needed for when we had so many schools and so many children. And I wasn't dealing with all the children specifically, except for to do some evaluation tests. But it was really exciting. And it was fun, especially when working together with this woman, Laura, and all the teachers they wanted us to come in more than I had time for. And I think that's when I realized the program had to have some sort of replicability and that's what made me think of making this More of a, a bigger statewide program or it needed more support. And so from there, I branched off from the nonprofit that I was working with. I wasn't so passionate about K through 12 schools anymore. I really believed in changing our children's habits before age five, oh, they were growing them. And so I decided to get my own nonprofit fiscal sponsor. That means it's a, I can work under a nonprofit. And so this wonderful woman, she sponsored me as her to be a project under her nonprofit. And so farm to take he was born. And wow. And I started just making relationships with other trying to grow the program. And so, within that point, it was really about raising the funds to do the projects. And so I was really Writing a lot of grant proposals and working with folks like our Department of Health and really wonderful organizations around Hawaii and a couple on the mainland to try to get this program going. But I think if I looked back at it, I realized that it was really difficult to do by myself. And that I probably could have got a lot more done if I had a partner in crime.

Julie- Host : 30:28

Yeah. How did you go about managing that all by yourself? Were you still working at another full time job at this

Tiana Kamen : 30:36

point? Yeah, actually. So pharmacy keiki kind of became my, my little pet project. More so than a full fledged program at the time. And so I became an environmental educator at the most amazing Botanical Garden, Lima hooli Botanical Gardens. That was definitely my dream job. I was at a Gorgeous botanical garden that stretch from the mountains to the ocean. And so I was given the opportunity to be the field trip lady. So as the education specialist, I would take children from all over the island and even different islands or, or even professors sometimes around the botanical garden and do service projects, or just teach them about plants and how to use them. During my time there ended up teaching about 2000, a little over 2000 children. So I got to have really important experience with all different types of children from many different age groups. So I could really see what was making them tick and answer at what are the questions they're asking and what were they engaged in. And so that really helped me in understanding some best practices for teaching farm to keiki Earth based education and then also when I was there, I I had the task of taking care of all the Polynesian introduced plants. So that's all the the canoe plants we call them the taro, Ana's tumeric, sweet potatoes, sugar cane all of those foods, as well as creating a community supported agriculture farm. So across the street of the garden, I was given the task to actually grow food for our community, and ended up being that i was growing food for most of our staff, and many of who never eat vegetables. Because I got to talk I love my coworkers, we're ohana. We're family and I got to really ask them what would you like me to plant and would be able to plant the things that they wanted and to how fun that was and see how they would use them or show them how I would use them. So I got to really experience deeply how to use food. And from there, I felt a lot more confident with teaching children with the act of actually growing food for other people with engaging folks who do not like fruits and vegetables to really like them. And at the same time, when I was at the garden, it opened up this new space. For me with using food as medicine. There was a lot of problems with the community we're working with with obesity and with lack of access to foods and healthy foods. And so I started getting very interested in teaching children about the plants that were growing around us that were good for diabetes and good for heart disease and good for cancers, all different things and I realized it was really important for me to dive deeper into this information. Because people the children started to actually I should go back. I was really excited about the information that I was learning about how these foods could be medicine. And when I would anecdotally tell them to the children, they would ask, Oh, my, my grandma, she has diabetes. Can I take those leaves? like yeah, sure, or Oh my to my, my grandma has cancer. Can I take the tumor? Can we like, yeah, like, I wouldn't know how to use them. I just knew that that was the upcoming research and or traditional uses. And so from there, it was my biggest discovery that before I finished my curriculum, this new farm to kick you edition, I really needed to learn the details of how to safely use foods as medicine so that not only are they safe, but so that they work. And so that's what drove me to get my master's degree in nutrition and leaving my perfect faith. Job five to Katie still on the side to get my Master's of Science in nutrition at the National University in natural medicine.

Julie- Host : 35:08

And was that a really hard decision? Because I can imagine if that was like the most amazing job with views of mountains and oceans and helping kids and adults. That sounds incredible to me like I was I, I think I would be happy doing that. That was that a really tough decision. Oh, leave? Yes. I still think about being back there all the time. At the same time, I think for for where I was in my life, it served its perfect purpose, and I did not get paid very much at all. Probably right many fun, very wonderful jobs, right? We are not doing enough.

Tiana Kamen : 35:49

Hey, we were nonprofit, and if I ever make a lot of money, I'm definitely giving it back to that organization. That's my hope is that, you know, now moving out of that realm and can actually be released. Successful so I can give it back to the programs that I really believe in like that. My, my boss at the time, he was really supportive of me going to get my master's degree and he said nothing can replace your education and what this will allow you to do and the doors that it will open.

Julie- Host : 36:20

Yeah, it sounds like that support from your boss really pushed you as a nest a little bit like give you a bit of a nudge, right. Yeah, here you are flapping away. Yeah. So that's amazing. And so it sounds like after you got your degree, and went off, you know, pursued that path, but then came back to Hawaii at that point. What were you doing then, like were you pursuing your current? Your current business the farm to Kiki in the program? were you doing that full time or was that still part time?

Tiana Kamen : 37:00

So, interestingly, throughout all my years of being an environmental educator at the Botanical Gardens, I kept doing farm to keiki on the side and I was continuing to be on all these boards and groups like our Hawaii Farm to School who we are group. And so within that I had all these farm to preschool was really growing nationally and statewide. So I was being invited to speak at conferences nationwide, the National Farm to School conference, and different special meetings they had. And so I was still on the radar, what was going on, and I really still cared about the program. Mostly I wanted to get this program going. So I could walk away and become a nutrition consultant. Or, you know, this is my new dream job. I was more of the entrepreneur mindset where I wanted to start something, I wanted it to be really awesome. And then start something new while I was in college, I actually worked on a contract with the Department of Health and Department of Education in Hawaii to recreate this farm to keiki curriculum or not recreate it, to make it to publish it online. And they just wanted 15 recipes and 15 lessons. And then I created this whole book. So I felt like I couldn't create it though, until I was finished with school. And so even though I have that contract going when I came home, it was great, because my first job out of my master's program was for me, that's my own. It was for farm to keiki because I already had this contract lined up.

Julie- Host : 38:40

And the focus I think, you know, having young kids myself on that zero to five age range, I think is just so brilliant because the idea of getting them before they're in school, when they are learning about different types of foods and what things look like and what to eat, and even educating the teachers and the parents about these things because as, as a parent, you don't always know all the options, you just know that you grew up with yourself. So I think that's amazing to come at it from the perspective of, of educating the little ones through preschool programs.

Tiana Kamen : 39:22

Yeah, I mean, I, I wholeheartedly believe that. It's a big change for everyone to try to think differently. Like you're saying different foods that we would didn't grew up on. But it's one of the most important things we can do. For our children, it's probably the greatest gift we can give them as their health and they're these healthy habits so that they can choose for themselves to live these lives and also these healthy habits lead to a healthier environment. And without a healthy environment. We have nothing, right.

Julie- Host : 39:56

Yeah. And what are we leaving for kids? You know, that's it. Why don't leave a healthier environment. So, yeah, that the purpose of that also the, the end, you know, if you look in the future is just such a good, you know, such a good, important reason to keep doing what you're doing so I can see why four years later, you're still you're still in it right? And it's a winner.

Tiana Kamen : 40:19

You know, it's, it's interesting because for many, many times over the last 10 years of doing this project, I've lost interest more so in the last half, and I think a big part of it is it wasn't as exciting anymore. I knew a lot of the people and the things to do and the excitement of starting something new of being entrepreneur, I think is something that I've only recently realized that I it was okay to be able to start something and move on to something new. That was really hard for me grappling with not wanting to do this. anymore when I didn't have my own kids, I think I, it wasn't as important to me. I was like, there's so many other things I want. So I think for, for women who are starting to do these new projects, and as they, you know, maybe they've been working on a project for a long time, or they have a new idea. I think it's great to let yourself be an entrepreneur. But also doing it to completion a little bit and knowing what that end goal is, so that you can move on because there's, as I said, I'm still going on this project, because once you put yourself out there, people probably want what you have to offer. Yeah, and, and if they don't, then you got to reevaluate. But what really it took me a really long time to get where I am now, which is, I feel so blessed because folks want me to do more projects and trainings and that's why it keeps going not I'm seeking them a little bit, but more so because people want it to happen and they want me to be involved in doing it? Yeah. So

Julie- Host : 42:05

and So at this point, are you doing it full time?

Tiana Kamen : 42:10

Yes, I am. And I'm finally making a living from it. Which is great. Yes, I'm doing it full time. Luckily from my grant was so beautiful. They let me create the book, put it online. And then they wanted me to print them and distribute them to teachers around the state and give them trainings throughout the state. And we've been the that gave me a little backbone to print copies for myself so I could sell them as part of my business to keep things going. And so I have the farm to kick ebooks for sale and have been making have become an author, which I never thought I would be and giving book talks as Well as I was supposed to be training preschool teachers throughout the state this year as well, but this is funded by our amazing Department of Health in Hawaii, and because of COVID-19 we're switching all of our trainings and resources to be online.

Julie- Host : 43:16

Wow. How has that transition been? I mean, obviously, that's very different from being in person at just with my background, doing, you know, adult edit and training. And online instruction. online instruction is much differently structured than what you are doing, I'm sure with in person. How is that different and how have you had to shift?

Tiana Kamen : 43:38

So I'm still figuring it out.

Julie- Host : 43:41

Fair enough, right? If you

Tiana Kamen : 43:42

think about, you know, one of the most important things about five to cakey is it's hands on. And a lot of folks are really nervous to cook or to garden or get their hands dirty. And so we need to do it together because It needs to watch each other because it builds confidence. And so I'm really, I'm building our online training right now. And I'm still figuring it out as we all are in this online space. But I'm just going to try to do it as much as I can to inspire folks to get their hands, you know, chopping and digging in the dirt while we're doing this online trading. So we'll, we'll see how it comes out. The good thing is we have had a lot of support from Department of Health to make sure that we're using all the right online equipment, and film equipment and website support so that it can be really awesome. And folks all around the nation can take this kind of training. So yes, especially while everyone is a little nervous about their food supply or wants to be more engaged. with their children and teaching them about health because the more veggies and fruits you eat, the higher immunity gets. And we all need that right now.

Julie- Host : 45:07

Yes, for sure.

Tiana Kamen : 45:09

And so do you have? Do you have a team that's working with you to help create the online instruction and resources? Right. So I have a small ish team. It's mostly me and this is one of my faults is just doing it all by yourself. But I have some wonderful folks that have been helping me design the website, redesigning a whole new website, and helping with filming things like that. So and still relying on the old colleagues that I have in the Farm to School world, especially in Hawaii on best practices, because everyone's starting to shift online. So yeah, trying to connect with people. It's it's proving how important those connections you are in Even though they're not necessarily coworkers, we are really important colleagues.

Julie- Host : 46:07

Yeah. Well, and you're using that community that you started, you know, what, a decade ago, and still relying on each other now, which is, you know, as things change, and especially right now so quickly, it's amazing that you still have that as a resource and as support and assistance.

Tiana Kamen : 46:25

Yeah. I'm really I feel very grateful for it. So we'll, we'll see how it goes. I'm very excited about it, though, because it's actually brought doing this online business is what it really is now is brought me into a hole. It feels like I'm being an entrepreneur a little bit, and then I'm starting something new.

Julie- Host : 46:47

Yeah. And do you feel Do you feel a sense of sort of revitalization and like interests because it's got that entrepreneurial spirit again, I do.

Tiana Kamen : 46:58

I'm addicted to that. I think you know, I'm a big traveler, I like new things. So I feel like this is really exciting. And I, last year did a survey of Gosh, a couple hundred preschool, maybe about 200 preschool teachers around the state of how we can help support them. And what almost everybody said is they want a website, like a hub, a really cool farm to keiki hub where they can find all this information. So I feel like part of being an entrepreneur is listening to the folks that you're serving. And by doing this, I feel like I'm paying tribute to the time that they took to fill out my survey and creating something that they want instead of just what I've always thought they need.

Julie- Host : 47:46

Yeah, and and it sounds like too, it's almost with the timing. It's perfect, too, because that is what everyone's having to go towards. Are those online tools and platforms. Do you want to talk about it? any upcoming projects I know you mentioned having resources online. What is that going to look like for people who are interested in learning more about the farm to keiki program in case they want to do it with their kids themselves, or if they're an educator and they want to learn about it for their classroom, you and their children in their classroom.

Tiana Kamen : 48:21

So as I just mentioned, we are launching the new farm to kicky website, it's going to have all types of recipes and resources that are going to enable you to teach gardening, cooking and nutrition to your kids. is really built off supporting the information from the farm to keiki book and the forest keiki books are available on our website. Also, if you want to view the farm, take e book for free. You can sign up for one of our our farm to keiki 101 course that's going to be coming out the course is going to be free And it will give you the option at the end of finishing the course to view the entire farm take e book online. So if you aren't able to have to purchase a book or just want to check it out, you have the option to do that. I'm also working on doing an Online Learning Collaborative for farms keiki for our few preschool teachers on kulai so that's the main things that are coming through the line and right now during this covid crisis I'm really trying to get on social media more am chair Yeah, just try to share more of my knowledge and what's in how you can involve your children in getting healthier because I'm not really a social media person, but I I know that everyone's looking to do gardening and cooking and is forced to do more home cooking. Yes, so that as well as I'm still writing some grads to try for at least Kool Aid getting some fives, cake ebooks and gardens out to our community.

Julie- Host : 50:09

That sounds amazing. And so for people who are interested in taking the course online and going through it, where would they go to find that?

Tiana Kamen : 50:18

So they would go to my website, it's farm to keiki.org. So FA RM to ke iki.org. So we'll have the courses on there and hopefully soon in the future we will have more than just the farm take you one on one course and have more classes on nutrition and cooking and gardening and all that good stuff.

Julie- Host : 50:45

That sounds incredible. And I know I was so happily overwhelmed when I looked at the book online and I literally I went through the whole thing I thought it was just going to skim it but I just loved all the beautiful pictures as I thing is so colorful, and I loved all the activities that you had for the kids and just the educational pieces of, you know, if you want to teach how to plant, what types of planting you can do, whether you're putting in a row or you're sprinkling, and just you know, the amount of detail and the instructional content and, you know, the recipes. I mean, I just thought it was wonderful. So as a parent, but also coming from an instructional background, I was I was really impressed. So congratulations for what you've accomplished with that. Well, thank you very much.

Tiana Kamen : 51:35

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Julie- Host : 51:36

That's I did purpose. I did. So as we wrap up, I want to talk about a few important things for the listeners and mainly if they want to pursue a similar career to yours. The first question is, do you have any advice for them, you know, things to do or things to not do?

Tiana Kamen : 52:00

think something to do is to be bold, but humble. And to be courageous, and just go for it. But at the same time to have your support. So realize who's going to be supporting you mentally, physically, financially, have that all worked out, at least a little bit, so that so that you won't feel like you're going to lose anything, you have everything to gain. So having that confidence is part of who surrounding you, and people who are really going to pick you up. And I would say, to do things, and only choose the things that you really love doing every day. So sometimes, I'll raise a few grants and get funding and it's things that I just no need to happen. But it's not necessarily what I loved. Do. And so moving forward, I'm only choosing things I really love to do. And I want to do that too. We forget about that, especially for, for women who are really very conscious about the things of the way they want to impact the world there and realizing that there are so many of us in the world and someone's going to fill that niche, and you don't have to do everything. Yeah, so being really specific and really focusing. I love being involved in the nonprofit world. But I also love being involved in the entrepreneurial and I would say business world. So I really recommend for people to look into something called a B Corp. And a B Corp is something that's it's a social entrepreneur. It's a social enterprise, basically, and that sort of a model. I've struggled a lot with a nonprofit model over the years, and I believe that if you're going to be doing something good for the community, that there is a way that you can be funded for those projects using grant money. And there's, it's a really incredible source resource. At the same time, I think every business should have another income, because it can be very stressful when you don't get those grants. And I found my perfect co worker and somebody who I wanted to continue to work with forever. And I just, I wasn't able to get the funding in, in time to pay for her whole salary. And so she had to go and do another job and we still connect and I tried to hire her for little odd jobs, but she's so busy though. But um, I think that if I had another way of income that I could actually pay for her salary at the same time, I could have kept her instead of waiting for the grants that I ended up getting, but they took a year Wow. If you're going the nonprofit route, you'd have to, you know, being really patient and being able to take the time, and also starting to work for a nonprofit, a really good one with really great leadership, because they can teach you the ropes of how to secure funding for really important projects, but you might not be able to make money doing some of the work you're doing.

Julie- Host : 55:26

I think that makes a lot of sense. I don't know too much about the grant writing process. But what I do know is I know it sounds like a very time consuming, detailed process. And when that you obviously have to be patient for because a year that's quite a while to wait for a response.

Tiana Kamen : 55:45

Yeah, well, you know, something that I would do is start building your relationships now. And start looking for best practices of people who are doing things that you really love and talking with them and not being shy. To reach out and start building your partnerships and your trust, because the way that I have received the contracts and funding I've done over the year has really been people that I've been working with over many years. And it was because they trust me, because we've done projects together and we support each other. And so I couldn't emphasize it enough to start building those networks and start getting involved in different working groups or committees, things that are in your community that are your community or an online community that you could really bounce ideas off each other. I think this is especially important if you are running a business by yourself. Which is brings me to my next point of Try not to be a solopreneur I regret right now trying to learn being a solopreneur you I try to do everything by myself and learn everything like, Oh, I'm gonna learn how to become a graphic designer. So because I want to make my own flyers, no, go and hire someone to do your flyers, right? I'm gonna learn how to do all this social media stuff, no get a What do they called a virtual assistant to help do these things. So I think from the beginning, you may have to do a lot of things on your own when you are sort of a solopreneur. But try to map out all of the things that someone else could help you with. So you don't get overwhelmed. Because once you're too overwhelmed, that's when you want to quit. And instead of that, just knowing when and where and who to ask help from.

Julie- Host : 57:46

I think that's wonderful advice. And I I really value especially the idea of trying to make those connections with the community. And you know, even going back to what you said that you're starting to rely on those connections that you make 10 years ago, again now, because of the changing times and all the adjustment that we're all making, you know, with, with the pandemic. Following up on that, what are some specific things that someone who would be interested and maybe creating a farm to Kiki and their community? Or maybe you know, their school? What would you recommend to someone as far as like, where would they start? What? You know what they go they do a Google search, you know, what kinds of education do they need? What steps would they have to take to ultimately get where you are as an educator and, and helping you know, your community in Hawaii?

Tiana Kamen : 58:49

Sure. A really great place to start is the farms keiki book. I know it's for Hawaii, but I wrote it so that anybody can pick up these lessons and adapt it to where they Are because it is cultural. So you can think of what's in your own culture and your own space to do that. Second, I would definitely take the new course that I'm coming out with, because it's going to give you all the basic overview of what that could look like in your home or in your school. Third, I would really start experimenting with your own garden, and your own farmers market and your own cooking. Because before you can teach children or get these programs going, it's really important to have some experience under your belt of how things grow and how things taste so that you know how to adapt them for children. But maybe your mom or dad or Auntie your uncle, and you want to get your your school into this. You could approach your school or your preschool and say, Hey, you know, Farm to School is good for this this and this reason And I think that I'd like to help you to grow a garden. This should be part of the kids curriculum. I think we could have healthier snacks here. Some places try to research some of the places they could get local foods and different healthier menus. and talk to them about how can their education be more about food education? And how can their education be more about nutrition education and a lot of that is what we're going to cover in more of our trainings online. But a lot of it is in the farms cake ebook so you can give them the gift of it. And they will have all these different lesson plans that they can incorporate year round, because that's the biggest thing that you want to emphasize is these are things that have to happen every single day. It's not just a one month we teach nutrition all month. That's what a lot of schools Yeah, no, this is an everyday three times a day breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, kind of topic. Great resource is farm to school.org. And a farm to school.org has a plethora of information from around the state of how you can get started in these programs and see if there's a every state has a state lead. And they have lots of resources for everybody in that state of, you know, what's available. Are there? Is there grant funding available is there who are the organizations that are running these programs. And the more you search on that website, you'll find curriculum farm tikkis on there, you'll find trainings, you'll find webinars, all different types of things. So that's a great, a great place to start.

Julie- Host : 1:01:43

Okay, well, thank you. Yeah, those are some great resources. And I you know, I hope that it helps listeners who might be interested in pursuing a similar path or just interested and applying it in their own home because so many of us are educating our children and all ways now and like you said, in cooking more than ever, so definitely some wonderful resources to add to our own knowledge and life.

Tiana Kamen : 1:02:10

Yeah, I think is I didn't answer your question with how to pursue a similar path.

Julie- Host : 1:02:16

Yeah. So if someone did want to pursue a similar path to you, are there steps that you think someone should start with? Like, let's say, someone who's just graduating from high school? How would you suggest for them to get involved in this type of career?

Tiana Kamen : 1:02:36

So I would look at your community who is doing this work already. There may be nonprofits or government agencies or even companies, such as big green is a company who does this I think, Elon Musk's brother, Kimball Musk, maybe it's a nonprofit, but I'm sure they profit somehow and so on Look at all the folks. And you can find a lot of these programs on the farm to school.org website or just a Google search, see who's doing the work. And ask them if you could come in and talk with them and see what kind of opportunities are available. If there's any opportunities they can hire you for. If there's if you have an idea of something you want to do, maybe you want to be the person that goes to convince all the preschools to do this and brings them programs, then maybe you could write a grant with them, and they write the grant to hire you, or something of the sort. But it's really, I would say, try to find the folks who are doing this type of work in the community. It might even be they're not doing any Farm to School work. And what they're doing is just providing more food access to people in your community and you want to add education grant to the work they're doing. So there's a lot of have opportunities because there's so many organizations who are doing this kind of work and I would jump in with them first.

Julie- Host : 1:04:07

To close up, are there any takeaways that you have, you know why you've kept going this many years while you're still going, what is your favorite part of this job, and why you do it every day.

Tiana Kamen : 1:04:24

My primary favorite part of that keeps me going is for the earth. I, the more time I spend time in nature, the more I want to do for her, and I'm just really grateful for that. And it's, I, I know the pero when and I want to do something about it. So that's what keeps me going. And the other thing that keeps me going is when I stopped going in my head planning and planning and planning and I actually get out into the community and I'm doing these trainings and I'm with real people and real estate Teachers, and they're coming to my classes with a burger king of bag on their desk. And at the end, they give me a big hug. They're like, Oh, I can't believe I brought that to the training. I never want this again. You know, that's what gets me really excited because they're excited to make a change in their own life. And therefore, they're going to make these changes in the children's lives. And then I know, we're going to have a whole new generation of children who are healthy, caring beings for the earth and themselves.

Julie- Host : 1:05:36

That's a really wonderful reason to continue. Both of them are wonderful reasons to continue every day. Do you feel like the fact that you were born in Hawaii helps you feel that connection? Because you have so much beautiful nature all around and it's one of the most gorgeous places on earth in my opinion?

Tiana Kamen : 1:05:54

Yeah, definitely. I mean, every, every day I'm out in nature. And that's what I enjoy the most. I mean, kind of like nature has so many different plants, and each one is so important for each ecosystem thrive. And that's the same as people and all these women that you know, hopefully are listening that everyone has something special to contribute. And each one is so important, and is really crucial that they blossom and flourish just like each flower.

Julie- Host : 1:06:28

I love that. That's a beautiful analogy. So I think well, on that note, so I want to thank you so much Tiana for taking your time and speaking with me about how you got here to where you are now. And taking us back through all the things that you've experienced in your education, and hopefully can shed some light on if people want to pursue a similar path or people are just interested in finding out more about the farm to keiki program. I really hope that they enjoy our conversation and I really appreciate your taking time out of your schedule to be here.

Tiana Kamen : 1:07:09

Oh, mahalo, Julie. I love what you do and a very happy to support you and all of your listeners.

Unknown Speaker : 1:07:20

Hey, everybody, thank you so much for listening to women with cool job. I'll be releasing a new episode every two weeks, so make sure you hit that subscribe button. And if you love the show, please give me a five star rating. Also, it would mean so much if you share this episode with someone you think would love it or would find it inspirational. And lastly, do you have ideas for future shows? Or do you know any Rockstar women with cool jobs? I would love to hear from you. You can email me at Julie@WomenwithCoolJobs calm or you can find me on Instagram @Womencooljobs, again that women cool jobs. Thank you so much for listening and have an incredible day. Transcribed by https://otter.ai