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Activists Around the World: Paola Velez · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny and Samantha and welcome to Stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I Ever told you production of iHeart Radio.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And welcome back to another edition of Activists Around the
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  Speaker 2: World on March tenth, Lord, twenty twenty six. Hey, I
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  Speaker 2: got it right this time before I throughout any random
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  Speaker 2: date right. And as per spring season, I have once
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  Speaker 2: again lost my voice. It may partially have to do
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  Speaker 2: with the fact that I'm now teaching and yelling over
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  Speaker 2: loud music, but I'm gonna go with the changing of
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  Speaker 2: the seasons because that's usually what happens. And I do
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  Speaker 2: sound like an eighty year old grandma who's been smoking
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  Speaker 2: since two But apologies in advance if you hear my
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  Speaker 2: creepiness and are disturbed, I'm okay, though I'm still here.
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  Speaker 2: We're still here, Annie, I'm proud of us. Still here
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  Speaker 2: to win is a win. Speaking of being proud, today
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  Speaker 2: we are talking about the works and inspiration of baker chef,
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  Speaker 2: social justice activists and author PAULA. Vellees. Very excited because
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  Speaker 2: I love talking about food anyway, and I have a
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  Speaker 2: feeling this might come back up because she did release
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  Speaker 2: a book a year ago called up Bodega Bakes, which
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  Speaker 2: sounds like something that would be fun in general, just
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  Speaker 2: to have. Yeah, you know, like I love a good bodega.
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  Speaker 2: And I say this as a person who's never grown
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  Speaker 2: up around bodegas, and I feel like that's something I
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  Speaker 2: have missed out on.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, me too, you know.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely had little stores where I would visit
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  Speaker 2: as a kid, Like I went to a drug store
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  Speaker 2: near our elementary school to get our little snacks. I
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  Speaker 2: got crackers Minnesota, and we would sit on our public
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  Speaker 2: library steps and hang out after school. Oh okay, did
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  Speaker 2: you have anything like that.
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  Speaker 1: No, not that I'm thinking of off off the top
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  Speaker 1: of my head. We had like restaurants the place. The
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  Speaker 1: place I lived was far away from like a lot
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  Speaker 1: of stuff.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it kind of was a This was when
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  Speaker 2: I would like walk from my elementary school to my
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  Speaker 2: grandmother's house, which was in Little Town Square, so it's
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  Speaker 2: close enough that we could get a few things. I
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  Speaker 2: think we got a little older. We would get breadsticks
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  Speaker 2: from the Papa's Pizza, not Papa John Papa's Pizza. Yeah. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: and I think they still exist in l J by
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  Speaker 2: the way. But anyway, I was just thinking about all
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  Speaker 2: those childhood things and bodega's you know, as we read
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  Speaker 2: in different stories, especially when it comes like the Bronx Brooklyn,
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  Speaker 2: New York City, like that, they have a whole. They
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  Speaker 2: are a historical icon for so many people growing up
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  Speaker 2: and obviously for a valas it was something that was
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  Speaker 2: big to her and she talks about it. But we're
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  Speaker 2: not necessarily talking about her book, although again we're gonna
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  Speaker 2: put this as one of our comeback tos, but we
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  Speaker 2: are talking about what she has been doing. She has
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  Speaker 2: been growing in her field. She is known as an
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  Speaker 2: Afro Dominican chef who has made sure to go beyond
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  Speaker 2: just her love of cooking and baking, but using her
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  Speaker 2: profession her talents to give back to her community. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: she talks about how her community influenced her in her childhood,
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  Speaker 2: talking about Bodega's growing up in New York City, inspired
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  Speaker 2: by nearby bodegas and neighbors who are always kind and giving.
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  Speaker 2: Here's a bit where they interviewed about her book for
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  Speaker 2: amNY dot Com. Two pala Las, New York City begins
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  Speaker 2: in the Bodega corners of Kingsbridge Heights. Bronx raised in
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  Speaker 2: an environment with three neighborhood shops. She remembers not just
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  Speaker 2: the snacks and staples, but the core of the community.
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  Speaker 2: Everybody knew everybody. When somebody did not have a dollar,
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  Speaker 2: the owner of the bodega would tell him not to worry,
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  Speaker 2: it was an iou and they would not cash it
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  Speaker 2: in the lessas the lesson of that generosity was the
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  Speaker 2: kind of chef she would grow up to be, and
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  Speaker 2: that kindness in community are as basic as flour and sugar,
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  Speaker 2: and I love that. Again, there's something so sentimental in
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  Speaker 2: these thoughts. Once upon a time when children would just
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  Speaker 2: go from place to place. There's like TikTok videos right now,
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  Speaker 2: even like neighborhood gas stations and Bodeka's where it is
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  Speaker 2: obvious that the community love the owners or the workers
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  Speaker 2: there and would come back and have conversations and meaningful
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  Speaker 2: moments where they were just like kidding around. There's one
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  Speaker 2: dude who actually gives money to the kids if they
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  Speaker 2: make a's and like he's changed his perspective for those
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  Speaker 2: kids because he would let them have anything in the
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  Speaker 2: in the store, as well as giving them a cash
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  Speaker 2: prize saying great job. Like there's such a level and
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  Speaker 2: community in this But the fact that she has used
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  Speaker 2: this to create her first and write her first book
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  Speaker 2: as Phenomenal. I'm always excited about the stories like that,
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  Speaker 2: But again, like it's not surprised. She's raised by her
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  Speaker 2: mother in that area, and just like we see in
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  Speaker 2: those types of communities, she had a lot of help
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  Speaker 2: from people around her, including her cousin who owned a
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  Speaker 2: tex mex restaurant, so she kind of was familiar with that,
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  Speaker 2: and also that she would actually visit her grandparents in
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  Speaker 2: the Dominican Republic and watch her grandmother cook and talk
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  Speaker 2: about how it inspired she was to see the fresh
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  Speaker 2: food and vegetables that would be around those areas and
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  Speaker 2: how her grandmother would make magic with all of those
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  Speaker 2: fresh ingredients, and she talked about again the love of
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  Speaker 2: food and the generosity of our people. Eventually, she would
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  Speaker 2: go on to graduate from Lake Cordon Bloom in two
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  Speaker 2: thousand and nine, and she spent two years under the
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  Speaker 2: mentorship of Jacques Torres, a master chocolate tier. I think
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  Speaker 2: she called the mister Chocolate, which is kind of funny
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  Speaker 2: to me. And here's a bit about her background from
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  Speaker 2: the Kennedycenter dot org. In twenty sixteen, Paula moved to Washington, DC,
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  Speaker 2: to work with celebrated chefs Christina Tosi at Moltbar, then
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  Speaker 2: as lead pastry cook at the critically acclaimed Edros. Paula,
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  Speaker 2: served as a patriy chef at neighborhood restaurant groups iron
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  Speaker 2: Gate Restaurant in twenty eighteen, Keith and Kin in twenty nineteen,
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  Speaker 2: and most recently served as the executive chef of critically
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  Speaker 2: acclaimed Compass Rose and Michelin starred Maiden and by the way,
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  Speaker 2: she was also nominated for James Beard Award as well,
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  Speaker 2: So of course she's got all these accolades under her belt,
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  Speaker 2: not surprising, and she became more successful in her career
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  Speaker 2: she started reaching out to do more for the community.
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  Speaker 2: In twenty twenty, she co founded a donut pop up,
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  Speaker 2: a Donia Dona, which raised money to help support an
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  Speaker 2: organization that provides services and legal help in DC for
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  Speaker 2: immigrants as well as Bakers Against Racism. And here's what
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  Speaker 2: NPR wrote about her work. Specifically, they were preparing for
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  Speaker 2: their virtual bake sales as part of the Bakers Against
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  Speaker 2: Racism movement that was founded by three Washington DC chefs.
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  Speaker 2: Was started with a goal of eighty participants, now has
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  Speaker 2: thousands of professionals and home bakers raising money for organizations
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  Speaker 2: that support black lives. So we love to see that.
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  Speaker 2: I believe they raised a million, at least a million
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  Speaker 2: dollars in funds through these types of things and is
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  Speaker 2: currently again I'm gonna put this with an asterisk because
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  Speaker 2: you never know, with verse the largest bake cell ever
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  Speaker 2: to have raised that much money. So like it's a
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  Speaker 2: pretty big deal. Oh what she has done with them.
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  Speaker 2: And this is a little more information from that Kennedy
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  Speaker 2: Senator dot org article about her. During COVID nineteen, valaz
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  Speaker 2: Co founded Donia Dona, a Latin American pop up to
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  Speaker 2: fit benefit I U that DC, an organization that supports
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  Speaker 2: a restaurant industry undocumented workforce, and later co founded Bakers
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  Speaker 2: Against Racism, a worldwide bake sell that has raised over
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  Speaker 2: two million. I was wrong two million and counting for
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  Speaker 2: organizations that support black lives and black communities globally. So
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  Speaker 2: I was I was off double what I said, y'all.
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  Speaker 2: So obviously she is doing some amazing works, and she's
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  Speaker 2: talked about how this is so important to her. She
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  Speaker 2: even talked about the fact that the first uh Donia
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  Speaker 2: Dona I believe raised like eleven hundred dollars, and she
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  Speaker 2: was so disappointed that she thought they could do so
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  Speaker 2: much more, and so that kind of the rise of
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  Speaker 2: the Bakers against racism was really encouraging for her to
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  Speaker 2: continue in her work. She talks about how COVID really
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  Speaker 2: impacted obviously the whole restaurant industry, and then seeing undocumented
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  Speaker 2: workers at restaurants, which pretty much make up a great
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  Speaker 2: big portion of the service industry, and how they did
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  Speaker 2: not have funding and how they did not have the
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  Speaker 2: support that was really needed during this time when so
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  Speaker 2: many things and so many restaurants were closing down. So
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  Speaker 2: it was something that she felt really passionate about, and
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  Speaker 2: in an interview with Food and Wine, she talked about
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  Speaker 2: her leadership work outside of the kitchen and how she's
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  Speaker 2: kind of blown up in this industry as a leader.
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  Speaker 2: She said, at Yale, I talked about sustainability and equity
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  Speaker 2: with the Latino and a Black community, and I tried
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  Speaker 2: to expand it even as far as all people of color, women, LGBTQ, everyone,
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  Speaker 2: because I was like, this isn't us one group. I
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  Speaker 2: explained to the students that when we band together, united
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  Speaker 2: one voice, we become so much more powerful than if
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  Speaker 2: we're all fighting for our individual causes. So I love
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  Speaker 2: everything about this. I really do want to check out
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  Speaker 2: the Bodega Bakes. I have a hard time with a
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  Speaker 2: lot of cookbooks because they're so difficult, but I'm so
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  Speaker 2: interested in what this is because she would describe she
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  Speaker 2: describes this book as not only about food, but about
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  Speaker 2: neighbor and community and what it looks like when that
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  Speaker 2: all comes together, and something that she loves and has
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  Speaker 2: a passion for, which is baking. And obviously she has
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  Speaker 2: talent way beyond my own skills. My skills who has
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  Speaker 2: to watch and reread recipes fifteen times to make sure
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  Speaker 2: I've got the right you know, measurements because oftentimes album
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  Speaker 2: like it's a teaspoon or tablesoon, teaspoon or tablespoon, And
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  Speaker 2: when it comes to baking, it is really specific to science.
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  Speaker 2: It's a science. And of course she has gotten the
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  Speaker 2: claims for this book as well as many other things.
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  Speaker 2: Gus constantly winning, y'all, and we love to see it.
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  Speaker 1: We too love to see it, and I am very
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  Speaker 1: excited to check out that book as well. That sounds
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  Speaker 1: really cool. Well, listeners, if you have any recommendations for
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: us for the segment or for cookbooks. We do love
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  Speaker 1: a good cookbook, as intimidating as they may be. You
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  Speaker 1: can email us at Hello at stuffnevertold you dot com.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: You can find us up loose Guy at mom Stuff podcast,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff We Never Told
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: You for us on YouTube. We have the merchandise at
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Coombureau and we do have our own book wherever you
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: get your books. Thanks as always too our superduce Christine,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: our executive produce My and your conturder Joey. Thank you
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening Stuff and Never Total
• 10:45
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