My Mentor: Interview with Judy Wicks
After I opened Dandelion, I quickly began to understand that one community-focused cafe wouldn’t (and couldn’t) make it all by itself. Judy Wicks transformed her entire community through her own cafe in Philly & in this interview she explains my own observation about sustainable business so well:
“You cannot have one sustainable business. That’s not what sustainablility is about, sustainability is being part of a whole sustainable system. I couldn’t promote the family farms in my area by just my business, if they are going to survive, you had to have a whole lot of restaurants buying from them. You had to have a whole local economy based on the same values….We need to work in collaborate & cooperation with each other, that’s the only way. If we continue to compete, we are all going to be losers.”
This insight is why I’ve worked so hard in the background on efforts to rebuild our local food connection & synergize our independent business community through the Ourlando, Think Local First movement and support groups like Slow Food Orlando & the Simple Living Institute.
From Yes! Magazine: “Social activist and local living economies advocate Judy Wicks says change comes when we are inspired to protect what we love. Consumerism has desensitized us to the suffering that underlies our economy. Judy Wicks calls us to choose life over lifestyles.”
This amazing woman is truly my mentor, she rebuilt the local food economy in Philadelphia out of the ethos of her cafe & eventually founded BALLE, a National organization dedicated to helping groups like Ourlando, Think Local First develop sustainable local living economies. It’s such a treat to have this amazing interview with such a “local” legend!
Filed under: Localism, Progressive Business Practices, Video
