Conscious Living, Culture & Community

How individual choices create collective impact. Exploring the intersection of daily habits, community building, and cultural shifts toward a more intentional world.

39 Episodes

S11 · Ep 12

Food Justice & Community

Farming Hope: How Haley and Andie are Seeding Community and Cultivating Justice

A culinary job training program that pays apprentices every hour. See how Farming Hope turns 12 weeks in a kitchen into a lasting career path.

Listen Now →

S11 · Ep 1

Sustainability & Food Systems

Regenerative Wine: Jeff O'Neill & Allison Jordan on Land Stewardship

Regenerative organic wine is reshaping California winegrowing. See how Ram's Gate Winery founder Jeff O'Neill and Wine Institute VP Allison Jordan prove sustainability and great taste can coexist.

Listen Now →

S10 · Ep 20

Wine & Culture

Breaking Stereotypes: The Rise of Israeli Wine

Discover the rich history, unique terroir, and innovative practices shaping Israeli wine. Joshua Greenstein shares insights on how Israeli wines are breaking stereotypes, embracing ancient heritage, and advancing sustainability.

Listen Now →

S10 · Ep 18

Food & Culture

Reimagining Food Justice: Black Women Leading the Way

Justine Reichman hosts Maame Boakye and Nina Oduro, co-founders of Black Women in Food and Dine Diaspora, exploring the power of African food culture to connect communities, elevate Black women in the food industry, and promote social justice through culinary innovation.

Listen Now →

S10 · Ep 10

Food & Culture

The Future of Jewish Food: Innovation and Tradition with Manischewitz

Join us as we explore the rich history and innovative future of Manischewitz with marketing manager Talia Sabag. Discover how this iconic brand is blending tradition with sustainability, inclusivity, and modern food trends, all while honoring its cultural roots.

Listen Now →

S10 · Ep 7

Craft Food

Craft Vinegar: The Art of Fermentation and Flavor

Rodrigo Vargas built American Vinegar Works around a simple conviction: vinegar made from first-quality alcohol tastes dramatically better. He traces the journey from concept to craft, the culinary applications most people overlook, and why consumer education is the biggest challenge in artisan food.

Listen Now →

S9 · Ep 79

Food & Education

Healthy Habits Start Young: Making Food Education Accessible

Food education gets treated as optional, even though it shapes health, culture, and opportunity from the very start. Carolyn Federman, founder of The Charlie Cart Project, explores why bringing the kitchen to kids — not the other way around — is the most powerful thing we can do for the next generation.

Listen Now →

S9 · Ep 72

Agriculture & Wellness

Rethink Your Plate: How Agriculture Shapes Everyday Wellness

Jennifer Waxman, founder of Seed2Source, explores how individual ingredients, the farmers who grow them, and the shortcuts that are or aren't taken shape our mood, physicality, and overall health — because everything about our waking being is affected by the food we eat.

Listen Now →

S9 · Ep 71

Food & Community

Community Baked In: PACHA Bread's Secret Ingredient

Maddie Hamann, co-founder of PACHA Bread, shares what it means to make a bread that could heal the planet and our bodies — and why communicating that essence is as hard as the baking itself. A conversation about purpose, patience, and the magic in a really good loaf.

Listen Now →

S9 · Ep 63

Agriculture

Transforming Agriculture: The Living Water Solution

Mark Spoone, regenerative agriculture specialist, explores how treating the soil right — and working with living water systems — could transform our future into something richer and more sustainable for generations to come.

Listen Now →

S9 · Ep 58

Agriculture

What Does 'Regenerative' Really Mean? Your Food Label Decoder

Anthony Corsaro, co-founder of OSC2 and Regen Brands, cuts through the marketing noise to explain what regenerative agriculture actually means on a food label — and what consumers need to know to make choices that truly matter.

Listen Now →

S9 · Ep 48

Food & Education

Taste Training: How to Turn Picky Eaters into Food Explorers

This special episode explores the science and strategy behind taste training — what it actually takes to expand a child's palate, and why picky eating is often more about exposure and environment than preference.

Listen Now →

S9 · Ep 43

Agriculture

Farming Forward: How Regenerative Methods Are Rewriting Agriculture

Jason Walker, regenerative agriculture practitioner, explains what it actually looks like to transition a farm toward regenerative methods — the ecological logic behind it, the financial reality, and why he believes this approach is the only viable future for food.

Listen Now →

S9 · Ep 25

Food & Family

The Busy Parents' Partner: Wholesome Alternatives to Kids' Midday Meals

Lisette Howard and Katy Tucker, co-founders of Yumble, share how they built a business around the most persistent problem in parenting — getting real food to busy kids at lunchtime — and what they've learned about building trust with families.

Listen Now →

S9 · Ep 21

Food & Education

From Classrooms to Communities to Perpetuity with Stephen Ritz (Re-release)

A re-release of Justine's conversation with Stephen Ritz, founder of Green Bronx Machine — the educator who transformed a South Bronx classroom into a thriving food garden and built a national movement for food education in the process.

Listen Now →

S9 · Ep 19

Agriculture

Graze the Day: Sustainable Secrets from a Sixth-Generation Ranching Family

Mandy Schmidt, a sixth-generation rancher, shares what sustainable grazing actually looks like from the inside — the land stewardship principles passed down through generations, and why she believes ranching done right is part of the climate solution.

Listen Now →

Kate Rogers, Nelson German & Michael Bauers

S9 · Ep 17

Food & Community

Serving Up Second Chances: How the Sprouts Chef Training Program for Youths is Transforming Lives

Kate Rogers, Nelson German, and Michael Bauers share the story behind the Sprouts Chef Training Program — a hands-on culinary program giving young people with barriers to employment a path into the food industry and a genuine second chance.

Listen Now →

S9 · Ep 8

Agriculture

Rethinking the Grain: Regenerative Approach to Sustainable Rice

Caryl Levine and Ken Lee, co-founders of Lotus Foods, share how a regenerative approach to rice cultivation is transforming the lives of small-scale farmers while dramatically reducing water use — proving that the world's most consumed grain can be produced sustainably.

Listen Now →

S9 · Ep 7

Agriculture

Safeguarding Agricultural Legacy for Generations to Come

Lily Verdone explores what it means to protect agricultural land from development pressure — and why the decisions we make about farmland today will determine whether the next generation inherits a food system capable of feeding them.

Listen Now →

S9 · Ep 6

Food & Education

Taste of Learning: Bridging the Gap Between Food and Academics

Laura La Vacca explores the powerful intersection of food and learning — how introducing students to real food, cooking, and agriculture in the classroom improves academic engagement and builds the kind of foundational knowledge that lasts a lifetime.

Listen Now →

S9 · Ep 5

Food & Education

Raising Kids to be Food-Literate Adults Through Hands-On Education

Charlotte Steele shares why food literacy — the ability to understand, grow, prepare, and evaluate food — is one of the most essential life skills we can give children, and how hands-on education makes that knowledge stick in a way lectures never could.

Listen Now →

S9 · Ep 4

Food & Education

Bye Bye Bland Bites: How to Make Lunch Time the Highlight of the School Day

Betsy Rosenbluth, Director of Edible Schoolyard NYC, explains why school lunch has been the butt of jokes for too long — and shares how transforming the cafeteria experience can change a child's entire relationship with food.

Listen Now →

S8 · Ep 34

Food & Culture

Flour Power: Preserving the Flavor of Tradition to Nourish Local Communities

“The flavor and the taste of our regions, as soon as you start industrializing it… it strips the flavor of the grain. It might be good as a crop that will bring in money, but it's not going to have that same soulful value that the type of flour that is stone-milled.” —Jennifer Lapidus

Listen Now →

S8 · Ep 32

Food & Culture

Eat Adventurously: Embrace the Unexpected Flavors of Overlooked Local Ingredients

Becky Selengut joins Justine Reichman on Essential Ingredients for a conversation about eat adventurously: embrace the unexpected flavors of overlooked local ingredients.

Listen Now →

S8 · Ep 25

Education

Reinventing Regenerative Systems Through Bio-Regional Approach in Education

Laird Christensen joins Justine Reichman on Essential Ingredients for a conversation about reinventing regenerative systems through bio-regional approach in education.

Listen Now →

S8 · Ep 16

Food & Culture

Beyond the Seder Plate— Springing into Season with Matzo Recipes

Ashley Albert & Jeremy Nelson joins Justine Reichman on Essential Ingredients for a conversation about beyond the seder plate: springing into season with matzo recipes.

Listen Now →

S7 · Ep 15

Food & Culture

A Taste of Discovery: Bridging Cultures by Sharing Diverse Flavors Around the World

Jia Liao on using food as a bridge between cultures — how sharing diverse flavors fosters understanding, connection, and a deeper appreciation for the richness of global culinary traditions.

Listen Now →

S7 · Ep 12

Regenerative Agriculture

Back to the Roots: The Principles of Regenerative Agriculture

Philippe Birker on why regenerative agriculture isn't just a farming method — it's a philosophy for healing land, rebuilding ecosystems, and creating food systems that work with nature rather than against it.

Listen Now →

S7 · Ep 10

Food & Beverage

From Bean to Green: Roasting a Solid Foundation for Growth

Melissa Villanueva on building Brewpoint Coffee from a single location into a community institution — why investing in people, culture, and intentional growth creates a brand with roots that run deep.

Listen Now →

S7 · Ep 7

Regenerative Agriculture

Regenerative Farming: Beyond Organic and Biodynamic Practices

Gregory Kalinin on why biodynamic regenerative farming goes beyond the organic label — how a holistic, rhythmic approach to land stewardship produces food that is more alive, more nutritious, and more connected to place.

Listen Now →

S7 · Ep 1

Food & Agriculture

Boosting a Healthy, Accessible Local Farm-to-Table Revolution

Andy Naja-Riese on how the Agricultural Institute of Marin is building a more equitable local food system — making farm-fresh produce accessible to everyone, from farmers markets to school cafeterias, one community at a time.

Listen Now →

S4 · Ep 27

Dine & Design

Cheers to the Champagne of Water, Bottled in Eco-Friendly Aluminum with Justin Mahy

Water is the elixir of life and these days we're getting it in bigger and bigger bottles. Unfortunately, these bottles tend to be made of plastic that ends up in our landfills and oceans. It's an issue that's being discussed around the world and rightly so. Fortunately, many organizations are taking steps to help make a difference and one of them is KOPU Water.

Listen Now →

S4 · Ep 28

Dine & Design

Cooking with Sustainability & Health in Mind: Fisher & Paykel with Hilary Pisor

Cooking is one of the top sources of indoor air pollution. Many of us are used to cooking with a gas range, yet few of us are aware that the resulting smoke coming out of our kitchen's chimney is hazardous to our own household's health. But now innovation has produced eco-friendly solutions to this problem.

Listen Now →

S4 · Ep 29

Dine & Design

A Relatable Story of Sweet Success with Elizabeth Colling

Elizabeth Colling owns an artisanal cafe in Santa Barbara, CA, but building this mecca of confections wasn't her childhood dream. Elizabeth is a perfect example of how one thing leads to another, no experience is ever wasted and how embracing the concept of pivoting is so powerful.

Listen Now →

S4 · Ep 30

Dine & Design

Is Impact Investing a Win-Win? Positive for Your Portfolio and Society, too? with Michael Pierce

Post-seed investment is the most underrated stage of investing. Post-seed investment is a venture capital investment that comes after a startup's initial "seed" round. New startups often raise a seed round after launching their product to gather the funding they need to grow their operations and help their companies grow fast enough to make them valuable.

Listen Now →

S4 · Ep 31

Dine & Design

Will the World Wake Up to Revolutionize Our Food System with John Roulac

We are at a crossroads. There's a very large transition that we need to make as humans, in order to ensure the future of our planet. We must shift away from industrial agricultural methods as, without question, these methods currently fall short in many ways. They create soil degradation, water pollution, deforestation, and other global environmental issues that we are trying so hard to combat.

Listen Now →

S4 · Ep 32

Dine & Design

Product Labels Should Tell Your Brand Story with Matt Dees, Mail Road Wines

We tend to love things that are pure, natural, and simple. Think of all the qualities that are prized in a fine wine like a fresh fruit taste, smoothness, and mild tannins. Yet, most wines have confusing names that make it hard for the average consumer or even a pro to know what they're getting when they buy a bottle. What's missing?

Listen Now →

S4 · Ep 33

Dine & Design

The 3 H's of Tea: Harness Harmony, Hospitality and Healing Powers with Zhena Muzyka

From a single mother who had an infant badly in need of a life-saving surgery and only $6 in her wallet, Zhena started blending teas that would eventually become her multimillion-dollar fair trade tea brand, Zhena's Gypsy Tea. Her vision extends not only to bring health and healing to the world but also to empower tea growers who lack the proper healthcare and recognition they deserve.

Listen Now →

Executive Chef Sieger Bayer, Etta Restaurant

S4 · Ep 34

Dine & Design

Designing the Perfect Plate with Executive Chef Sieger Bayer, Etta Restaurant

Most people want to eat the healthiest foods available, but it can be difficult to do when we don't know where our food comes from. Buying directly from local farmers gives us the ability to shop at places that care about our health as much as we do. In addition, when we buy locally sourced food, we know that we're getting quality foods year-round rather than eating something grown elsewhere.

Listen Now →

The Essential Ingredients Letter · Free

Get the letter. Stay in the conversation.

Enjoyed this episode? Justine sends one newsletter every Thursday on conscious living — food, wellness, sustainability, and the choices that compound.

Every Thursday · No spam · Cancel any time

Subscribe to the podcast

Never miss a Tuesday conversation. Subscribe or follow on your favorite listening app.

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Subscribe on Substack →

Or get it directly from NextGen Purpose

No spam · Cancel any time