Dr. Geo Banks-Weston: How Social Media Builds Community

08/10/21 • 45 min

Dr. Geo Banks-Weston was an early adopter of social media. Back in the day, when filters flooded people's Instagram feeds, he learned just how powerful of a tool it could be in building communities and how digital media as a whole could be leveraged to become a powerful platform for voices of color.

Since starting his blog, Geo's Table, in 2014, Dr. Geo has focused on promoting Black owned restaurants, sharing recipes from the African diaspora, and giving his readers resources on how to support under represented communities in the food industry. He channeled this passion into his Doctorate of Education in Educational Technology where he further researches how technology can be used to drive diversity and representation in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (AKA the STEAM careers).

In this episode, Dr. Geo shares with host Kae Lani Palmisano how social media and other virtual collaboration tools can be used to build community, offer mentorship, and provide access to other career growth opportunities for underrepresented professionals. If you're a beginner blogger or an expert whose been in the field for years, this is an episode for you!

If you’re interested in learning more, check out Dr. Geo’s blog, Geostablephl.com and listen to his podcast Table 86 wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also follow him on Instagram at @GeosTable.

Follow Amuse-Bouche at @AmuseBouchePod on Twitter and Instagram. For more food stories and recipes, subscribe to the Amuse-Bouche newsletter at amusebouche.substack.com. And to see what our host Kae Lani Palmisano is doing check her out on Twitter and Instagram at @KaeLaniSays.

Previous Episode

Alexandra Jones: How to taste cheese

There's eating cheese and then there's tasting cheese. Like... REALLY tasting cheese. We're talking about engaging every sense and being present in the moment while indulging in the ultimate dairy bliss.

That's just a brief description of how a proper cheese tasting is done, according to dairy expert Alexandra Jones, author of Stuff Every Cheese Lover Should Know. In this episode of Amuse-Bouche, host Kae Lani Palmisano chats all things cheese with Alexandra Jones touching on everything from a brief history of cheesemaking in the United States to how to maximize your cheese experience. There's a lot of delicious dairy talk in this episode, so if you're hungry, pause the episode and build the most Instagrammable cheese plate you can imagine!

If you’re interested in learning more, get Alexandra’s book, Stuff Every Cheese Lover Should Know available everywhere books are sold! You can find more of Alexandra’s work on her website AlexandraJones.net. And be sure to give her a follow on social media — she’s @arockjonestown on both Twitter and Instagram.

Next Episode

Matt Hershberger: Food Taboos

What are food taboos? How are they created? And how do we break the power they hold over us?

Matt Hershberger is back to explore the world of food taboos. We talk about the lobster's rise from taboo to luxury in colonial American history, we dish about bug eating and unpack how a lot of these food taboos are really just learned forms of disgust that we picked up from our society.

Matt Hershberger is a writer, librarian, author of two books in the works, and a stay-at-home dad. If you’re interested in seeing more of Matt Hershberger’s work, go check out Better Strangers on Substack. You can also follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @MattHershberger and you can follow him on TikTok at @BetterStrangersBooks.

I’m not sure what the future of this here podcast is, but Amuse-Bouche continues to be a monthly Muse-Letter on Substack examining life through the lens of food.

This show has always been a one woman band - produced, hosted, edited, and researched by your’s truly, Kae Lani Palmisano. If you like what you’re hearing please go support my personal work. You can find me on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok at @KaeLaniSays.