In this episode, Michelle and Jenny interview Kai Nortey, a visionary and socially conscious, Black woman, business leader who is tenaciously building an ethnically inclusive food justice and health economy in the Oakland-Bay Area of California.
Kai shares how she built her business based on a triple bottom line model: restorative economics, racial and gender equity, and climate justice. Learn about how Kai sought out investors and how she raised capital to scale and grow kubé.
Interview:
Kai Nortey
Company:
kubé
Bio:
Kai Nortey is a visionary and socially conscious, Black woman, business leader who is tenaciously building an ethnically inclusive, food justice and health economy in the Oakland-Bay Area of California. She believes that there must be a paradigm shift away from supporting big, broken food companies that use and hide toxic, bleaching chemicals (sodium metabisulfite) in many common foods.
Mrs. Nortey is lactose intolerant and has healed her own gut flora issues with kubé fresh coconut milk and nice cream. Fresh-pressed coconut milk/cream, from mature coconuts, promote a balance of good gut flora due to the immune-boosting properties of lauric and caprylic acids on the medium-chain fatty acids, which are anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-viral. As a result, kubé nice cream is both the manifestation and culmination of Kai’s health needs and her interdisciplinary professional background.
Kai holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and a minor in Biology from Mills College, in Oakland, along with a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications and PR from Golden Gate University. Kai has worked in the fields of biology, biotech, marketing communications and PR, community activism, juvenile justice policy, and restorative juvenile justice programs for youth.
Kai strongly believes that in order to re-build healthier, sustainable food models, we must support locally resilient, artisan food systems. Artisan food systems are making a “come back” and exist to restore economic equity, health, value, dignity, environmental sustainability, and trusted relationships back to diverse communities.
kubé nice cream is a conscious business that exists to restore health, dignity, and trust back to all people, particularly to folks who are lactose intolerant, the allergen population, ice cream enthusiasts, and to people of color who have been historically excluded from employment and ownership within the plant-based, food industry. Kai defines food justice as the right to know what ingredients are in your food, the right to determine new, healthier food systems, and the right to determine healthier outcomes for people, animals, and mama earth.
Get In Touch:
https://www.kubenicecream.com/
https://www.facebook.com/nicecreamkube
https://twitter.com/kubenicecream
https://www.instagram.com/kubenicecream/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaibnortey/
Additional resources:
- Angels of Main Street is a community of investors with no minimum wealth or income requirement to join. If you’d like to be part of a community of diverse investors who want to make a difference with their dollars, please join us in Angels of Main Street!
Episode Credit:
Intro and outro are voiced by Marina Verlaine. She can be contacted at reel.peach.vo@gmail.com