AnthroDish - 74: Challah Dolly! Learning to Bake and Building Community During the Pandemic with Dolly Meckler

74: Challah Dolly! Learning to Bake and Building Community During the Pandemic with Dolly Meckler

04/06/20 • 40 min

How many of you have started trying your hand at baking bread since the start of the pandemic? With our lives totally upheaved and our work-related identities really being called into question, it’s allowing us some time to explore different sides of ourselves, and sometimes connect more deeply with our communities even in isolation.

My guest this week, Dolly Meckler, is doing just that! Dolly is a content creator, story teller, and social media strategist based out of NYC and LA. She has a burning desire to bring laughter and entertainment into peoples lives through story – she produces and creates the online webseries and podcast Hello Dolly!, and is the co-founder of Snaplistings. Through her professional experience, she has become an expert in all things digital, social and video, while establishing a social presence and voice for some of the biggest properties in entertainment at HBO + YouTube.

Over the last few weeks however, she has used her time in quarantine to learn how to bake challah, a Jewish bread, and has been selling them to Los Angeles locals. After posting about the challah on Instagram, dozens of of followers asked if they could buy themselves one of the "Challah Dolly's" (a play on "Hello Dolly,"). She’s on the show today to share more about her experience learning how to make and share challah, and how she’s bringing in her digital and social media expertise to not only nurture her own Jewish and creative identities, but bring joy and silver linings to the public as well.

Get Social with Dolly!

Previous Episode

73: All Tea, No Shade - How Minna Sparkling Tea is Building Inclusivity into the Business with Ryan Fortwendel

With the pandemic, we’re seeing much more clearly how food and beverage companies and restaurants treat their employees... and unfortunately in some cases, we’re seeing that many operate under traditional bottom line approaches, without building inclusivity and care into the foundations of their work.

My guest this week, Ryan Fortwendel, is someone who’s striving to do change what a successful beverage business looks like. Ryan is the CEO and founder of Minna sparkling tea beverages, and he’s on today to share the story of how his company is striving to create a better sparkling beverage, inside and out. As the former executive of e-commerce for Marc Jacobs, Ryan spent over a decade working in the fashion industry. After taking some time away from Marc Jacobs to start fresh in 2016, he noticed a shift in the beverage space in New York City – everyone wanted LaCroix and sparkling beverages were becoming more and more popular.

Being a health-conscious consumer, he understood the demand and saw a space to create a better-for-you sparkling beverage – using all organic and non-GMO ingredients, with no sweeteners or added sugars. He created the recipe for a delicious, lightly brewed sparkling tea with a clean and transparent label. Minna is an accessory to everyday life that looks good and tastes great, served in a beautiful art deco inspired can and available in three refreshing flavours: Tropical Green Tea, Citrus Black Tea, and Lime Hibiscus Tea.

As a gay founder, Ryan’s philanthropy inspired the name and the message behind the brand. Minna means “everyone’ in Japanese, and focuses on community engagement and inclusivity. Since launching in 2019, 1% of all sales from Minna beverages goes to non-profits that advocate for inclusion, such as Help Refugees and Choose Love, which are both non-profits that provide emergency aid and long-term solutions for people seeking refuge. Most recently, 20% of their online sales are going to non-profits that support COVID-19 relief efforts. As they grow, Minna is planning to diversify their use of funds to non-profits focused on helping those communities still fighting for equality.

It’s always exciting for me to see entrepreneurs working at changing how and why we do business – and how setting inclusive practices into the foundations of a company sets the path for building a brighter and community-driven future. I’m really excited for you to hear more about Ryan’s story!

Learn More About Ryan and Minna

Website: https://www.drinkminna.com/
Instagram: @drinkminna
Instagram: @ryanfortwendel
Facebook: @drinkminna

Next Episode

75: How Genetic Diets and Health Tech Turn Food into Surveillance Tools with Dr. Tina Sikka

We’re living in a very surreal and increasingly digital world these days, and I don’t know about you all, but I’m finding myself taking a step back each day trying to figure out what this means for how our society is shaped and what our futures will look like. We see a heightened presence of fitness and wellness apps, with extended free trials, or nutrition trackers that give you healthy recipes... but how do they see health? Who gets left out of these fitness and health ideals, and how is tech playing into or heightening the racial and gendered issues around health and food?

My guest this week is the brilliant Dr. Tina Sikka, who’s here to shed light on some of these questions! She is a Lecturer in Media and Culture at Newcastle University in the UK. Her research interests include the sociology of science and technology – which includes environmental science, nutritional science, food culture, and health. She also looks at feminist praxis and the study of race. In addition to her academic work, Tina has written for such outlets as Jacobin, Lady Science and Alternet. Her most recent book is titled Climate Technology, Gender, and Justice: The Standpoint of the Vulnerable (Springer Press, 2019).

Her views on the connections between technology, human health and nutrition, race, gender, and environment are so insightful and I learned a lot from this conversation – I’m so excited for you to learn from her as well!

Learn More about Tina!