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>> From the Library of Congress in Washington DC.
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>> Mary Jane Deeb: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the African Mid East Division.
I am Mary Jane Deeb, Chief of the division and I'm delighted to see you all here.
This is a very special program we're bringing back to the library some of the people we love.
And Ms. Tambra Raye Stevenson is one of the people who have done a great deal in her life and has contributed in her work to a better understanding of a region for which this division is responsible for Africa.
And she would share her thoughts and her ideas with you in a moment.
Before this, before we get into the meat of the program I always do a little commercial for this division and highlight the fact that we are responsible for seventy eight countries in the world.
We're responsible for the whole continent of Africa, sub-Saharan, North Africa and the Middle East and the Hebraic world.
So there are three sections, the Hebraic section which connects from the whole world in Hebrew and Yiddish like you know.
The Near East section which extends to another already the Arab world, Turkey and Iran but also Central Asia and the Caucuses.
And as I mentioned Africa is the whole continent, we collect in the vernacular, we serve people here in the reading room and we do programs and conferences and exhibits.
And concerts, sometimes we show films as well and we invite scholars to come and share with them the research and the work and the work they're doing.
So that we are all kept up to date with the developments in the region and that we help our patrons also get a better understanding for the culture, for the society, for the history.
And today is a case in point so Miss Stevenson will be talking about a very important aspect of culture which is food.
And food is not only to feed the body, to keep us going but it has a great many other implications and she will share with us.
Our division is also made up researchers of the specialists who help the researchers and they are the ones who are responsible for these programs.
And so today Eve Ferguson who is a reference librarian in the African section has organised this program and will introduce the speaker.
So Eve.
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>> Eve Ferguson: Good afternoon.
I'm glad to see you all here today on what promise to be a really horribly rainy day, but as my speaker who will come up has said when you're on a mission the weather cooperates and obviously it did, it stopped raining.
So, what can I say about Tambra Raye Stevenson that I'm not going to read right now except to say that she is perhaps the most dynamic young woman I know.
Always comes up with new ideas, always doing something and when I saw little WANDA I fell in love with little WANDA.
She is a wonderfully cute little character based on a wonderfully cute little girl.
I'll let my speakers say more about how little WANDA came about and I just love the mission and I said, you know, this is something that we need to let the world know about.
Well, before I did a flyer or anything she had tweeted it out to everybody and it went all over and I understand we're on Facebook live now.
So, I love the way the younger generation uses social media to get the word out, you don't necessarily have to be here.
Of course if you're not here you're not going to get any of the light refreshments that we're to serve later.
So, that can't be Facebook lived but everything else can and before I read my introduction I just want to get everybody in here to wish Miss Tambra Raye Stevenson a happy birthday.
It's not today it was about a week and a half ago but close enough.
It's in the month of September and so happy birthday Tambra, you know, I know that there are great things ahead for you.
Now I'll read her bio.
Miss Stevenson is the 2014 National Geographic travel of the year.
An author of the forthcoming Where's WANDA book series which creates the first girl character exploring Africa through its foods and female farmers to help heal her community.
As founder and CEO of Women Advancing Nutrition Dietetics in Agriculture because WANDA is not just a name, it's an acronym.
She supports equitable opportunities for women and girls and to improve their communities through food and nutrition.
As founder of native soul kitchen she educates, advocates and advocates for preserving the health of Africa and beauty of African food through lectures and workshops.
And of course you can learn more about WANDA at I am WANDA dot org and native soul dot com.
I know that upcoming WANDA is got lots of exciting trips that she's going on and so without any further I do I want to introduce my friend and I'll repeat defender not offender because she defends the health of the African diaspora community.
So please welcome Tambra Raye Stevenson.
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>> Tambra Raye Stevenson: So it's such a great pleasure to be back here at the African and Middle Eastern reading room.
I definitely see you all as dear friends who enjoy good food and also history as I do.
So, I want to start off with a small video that I actually had prepared that kick started Where's WANDA through a crowd funding campaign.
Just to give you a quick preview of how far we've come.

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[ Video and Music Playing ]
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So, is as what has been shared since the last time I was here which is just two and half years ago.
I became National Geographic travel year of sharing my personal story of really looking at the health issues in the Afro-American community and realizing what can we learn when we go back to what I call the original soul food.
African heritage foods and unlock the secrets from those foods and that was my last presentation back just two years ago in 2014 here at the Library of Congress.
And so since then between overcoming Ebola, Boko Haram, the presidential elections in Nigeria I fairly made to track this summer to Nigeria which really prompted me creating WANDA as a way to give back to the community in northern Nigeria which is heavily impacted by malnutrition right now.
And also recognizing that we have shared commonalities in the struggle around good nutrition in our communities.
It's estimated that more than 3 billion people have low quality diets that impacts eighteen of the sustainable development goals listed by the United Nations.
So, nutrition really is the heart of our economy as well as the health of our community and so since then having recognized that this double burden is not simply just malnutrition in the form of what we perceive it to be. But it's also in the form of obesity as well in many countries including America to Africa and the Middle East are facing this issue right now.
And people are asking the question, well, how do we make ag cool again?
How do we inspire young people to go into this sector of food security in ag?
And so since then I had an opportunity to go to the African Union Summit on food security and ag in 2014 and wrestle with that question we had to make a pledge how were we going to address youth unemployment.
And I look within and said, you know, with the issues going on between.
As a child I did not embrace my womanhood, I did not embrace my heritage, I didn't really embrace my culture and I think that was a survival technique.
And I think over time having gone on to become a mother, having gone on to realize that yoga retreats helped as well that everything I needed was already within me and so from there that's where I found the source of inspiration of creating WANDA because of everything led up to that point.
So, one interesting stat that I couldn't believe that NCD free which is an international NGO shared that in 2015 more people die from heart disease, diabetes which are known as non-communicable diseases than HIV, TB and malaria combined.
And these diseases are all preventable, it's based off lifestyle, it's based off developmental policies that create jobs in the name of fast food chains across Sub-Saharan Africa and Northern Africa and the Middle East.
And how do we harness the potential of the local foods, the local women and girls to be able to provide a better viable option that improves the health and the economic outlook for these communities.
And so some of these diseases I've already stated and the some of the risk factors I've mentioned as well such as unhealthy diets, obesity as well as even gender which we'll focus on now with WANDA.

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So, when you Google black women in agriculture and when you're try to overcome stereotypes this is the kind of images that pop up and I think when we think about people who aspire to go into sports or music you have characters that are portrayed in a really bright light, right?
But when you Google things like agriculture you don't see positive images and that really reminded me why I choose not to go in this sector even though I grew up in Oklahoma in a very agricultural state cows across the street.
Is that an ag town, Stillwater, Oklahoma and surrounded by livestock and I wanted to get out of there and I think a lot of people in the room whether here again in America or Africa head for the city's thinking life will be better for you.
But ultimately it is the land that is part of our survival and so it's taken time for me to recognize that again everything being already within me and looking at, well, how do we retell the story through imagery, through narrative.
And so I looked at these little girls, the first is my daughter Ruby and how does my daughter's generation have positive role models in images and narratives that inspire them to want to be these food sheroes in their community.
And, you know, a lot goes to dynamic women like Michelle Obama who has inspired a generation and thinking about how do we continue to hold that torch up even after she leaves the administration.
And so the other two little girls that I highlight is Hailey Thomas, who's a vegan chef, not even a teen and then we had Michaela Omar who wrote this multimillion dollar contract deal with Whole Foods, with her grandma's recipe in selling sweet pea lemonade.
Phenomenal little girls and this is what we need for our communities, healthy food, entrepreneurs who are looking within themselves and being that source of inspiration for not only their generation but really adults as well.
And so I took time to put this collage together because I asked one friend the question about, can we remember anyone before the civil rights movement that was known as a food fighter, a female food fighter for our community?
I can only come up with anything and so I realized it is only until now that we start identifying and start collecting the history and documenting women in food movements and how that's another form of owning your feminine power and being able to turn that narrative of back in the 60s with the whole liberation in 70s that I was that kid who got a congressional nomination for West Point.
I wanted to hightail it again out of Oklahoma and I did not see anything related to gender being a positive thing.
And so it has taken time to really, in therapy, to really recognize that again we need new images to inspire us to go blaze trails in a sector that has not been in that positive light.
Because home economics most times we can acknowledge that we thought, you know, who wants to be Susie homemaker, right?
That's not a part of the movement for liberation for women but I now being a mom have realized that is where the power was, is in the kitchen.
And realizing that women have provide the first foods for the babies, they are the first in the markets selling the foods, working the farms in many countries and just owning again that intersection of women, food and power in a dynamic way that wasn't really told before.
But something that we needed to escape from but really that's where the power is again now.
And so for me it's been how do we share the story of these big WANDAs to inspire the little WANDAs in our community?
And so that meant coming up with new imagery, the women you see here are part of WANDA either as a volunteer or a board member representing Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Eritrea, Jamaica, America and we need to have again new imagery that inspires a new generation.
And so that means also providing mentorship and service learning opportunities and being able to create a safe space for women to be able to be that full that food sheroes that they want to be that they never thought that they could exchange between geographies, generations and sectors to really help be that source of inspiration for their community.
And so this is me and my daughter, Ruby, and I truly believe in this idea that when you empower women and girls you nourish the world.
And the thing is for us to own that power as women again becomes really important a part of that inspiration.

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And this is my son, Elliot, he didn't really feel that he had a role to play in WANDA but I had and a lot of men were asking, where is MANDA?
I was like what, MANDA, what do you mean MANDA?
I'm like there go, there they go, was like why can't you just embrace WANDA and be there for us and so the reality is I knew that that conversation will come, and I simply ask men, do you have a mother?
Do you have a daughter?
Do you have a niece?
Do you have a loved one who happens to be female that you believe that, if given the opportunity, that she could make a difference in her community?
And when they begin reflecting on that question and realize the hard labor that the mothers have gone through as either single mothers or had to be doing everything even if they did have a husband, they realize like wow, yeah, my mom deserved to be more than what she was in her life and I looked at my own mother doing the same thing.
They make sacrifices for us, that's what they do and I think if we just realized that as men they become gate openers of opportunities and little boys as the same way I can count the number of stories of men who've have already made a difference for WANDA.
And so this is a space that, again, we have half of the population in DC alone, alone in the world are women and so there is a strong stack that if you want to overcome poverty in the world you empower the women and the girls to do so.
And so everyone has a role in supporting WANDA.
So, Dangote of Dangote Foundation in Nigeria made a great quote about "I believe the single most important intervention I can support is better nutrition in Nigeria" and that is definitely the truth given the fact that it has some of the toughest nutrition challenges right now facing the continent.
And it becomes really a prized opportunity to be that model for everyone else in the continent and really the world.

And so when we inspire women and girls it means about having stakeholders, people beyond just the gender sector or nutrition sector but law and media and economics and investments.
Everyone plays a role in creating a new pipeline of opportunity and little WANDA really is just that Smokey the Bear that champion, who is tooting the horn along the way of making sure that everyone creates the village that surrounds her and supports her in providing those opportunities.
And so in doing so what we do we educate, we advocate and we innovate meaning that it is not simply enough to provide nutrition, education but nutrition, education that speaks of their cultural food ways.
And understanding that those food ways have not been documented in a substantial way on the continent; a lot of the nutrition books are coming from America, from India, from the UK.
But again how are we documenting the knowledge of the nutritional value of these foods and making sure that not only are the future nutritionist on the continent is getting that information but also those who serve after the immigrant community here in the US and in Europe as well.
And using technology to fuel that scale and impact becomes really important.
We were just at Microsoft winner just this past weekend and using the artificial intelligence and being able to create instant messaging for people that ask questions related to food resources in their community.
It becomes a real key opportunity to see the intersectionality of technologies to drive the change that we need.
And so in visiting Nigeria and in sharing little WANDA, I went to a Steam International in Abuja and the kids are awesome.
Ramatu Saani is the head schoolmaster there and the girls had phenomenal questions from diabetes to gluten-free issues.
And wondering can they tune into little WANDA on Saturday as a cartoon and it just gave me new ideas about what can we do in providing a creative educational but entertaining narrative for them to use storytelling as a means of educating them in a way that they really grasp the information.
It's not simply enough to spit out a lecture but putting and packaging in a way that has a gender lens, a cultural lens is really important and lies at the heart of how we develop our programing for little WANDA and the Where's WANDA series.
And so in visiting one of the parents who's a dietician at the local hospital in Abuja, she shared how they're using local foods from cinnamon to garlic to turmeric to cloves to tamarind as a means of providing a nutritional prescriptions to their patients.
And she was saying malnutrition in the pediatric unit is not as high of an issue as diabetes is rising there.
And so that was very telling about what needs to happen and shifting our focus in preparing for a healthier workforce tackling NCDs.
And so that means how are we preparing the next leaders to be able to understand nutrition whether they're in medicine or pharmacy or whether they are community health workers.
Everyone needs to be able to embrace nutrition and little WANDA helps to champion that and make that intersectionality to inspire the next generation.
And systems changes is with that from looking at it, from a healthcare lens we see farm farmers rating incorporating their food products within the hospitals.
We also see that with the cultural lens of meeting to make sure that we have the cultural foods available that it's not enough just to say that we have farmers' markets but how those farmers markets providing foods that are culturally relevant to that community.
And everyone plays a role as I was sharing in terms of stakeholders from those in government to those who are family and friends and sharing resources among ourselves.
But most of all I find that is the self-talk that we say to our ourselves of saying that well am I able to be that food shero in my community?
And what you say to yourself matters in making that first step to creating the change that you need.
And so this is the dietician at the Abuja hospital that I was referring to.
A lot of the hospitals have about three dieticians, they're busy round-the-clock, they take calls even on their cell phones when they're even at home and so a lot of the information is not documented when they provide patient education.
And so that's another opportunity of how do we start creating nutritional educational materials that is culturally relevant, that is factored in.
There are local food ways and also the fact that there is a nutrition transition happening in the community with the new soft minerals which we call soda here and the Indomie [phonetic] noodles that we call Ramen noodles here.
All of this is also changing the food patterns and also the health outcomes for the community that has to be factored in.
And so I had the opportunity to visit one of the IDP camps in Abuja and Moringa was growing in the camp.
Many of the folks where coming from the north where they were farmers but had to flee because of Boko Haram.
And so in providing again educational materials that can benefit Africa and the Diaspora our creative team out of Lagos help to create these informatics materials such as Mama Moringa.
I provided the content and they provided the creative design about how do we start talking about the local foods.
We call them super foods here once they come to America but these are readily available, low-cost, health options available already in these communities, but they simply may not know the nutritional value of what they have already within their own community.
And so it becomes really important of how can we start providing cultural-based nutrition information and a character that can help provide that championship that these little foods need, these local food needs.
And so these are some of the women, that Ramatu, our other board member with WANDA helps to bring together the...
It's a coalition of Muslim women who assist with the IDP camp in Abuja and I had seen a child eating dry Ramen noodles and it was pretty alarming as a nutritionist to see that and I said we cannot leave without providing a proper meal.
And so we, you know, took some of the funds from the crowd funding campaign and provided a meal for everyone.
And it was really beautiful down to the jollof rice to the oranges, the bananas, the water with chicken and vegetables in the meal.
And you know it was a hot proper meal that we also provided through a local caterer and so to me compared to the Plumpy'Nuts that are provided to address severe malnutrition I acknowledge that that is a different status.
But if we can do things in a way that helps build the local economy and also introduces the local foods that is a win-win situation for everyone in my opinion.

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And so creating healthy eaters is the other part that little WANDA champions.
One of the professors out of Nigeria said that the Nigeria soft drinks have been shown to be high in sucrose, fructose which are much higher than the brands in South Africa.
And already in South Africa more than seventy percent of the population is either overweight or obese, and that's really problematic when we think about the projected number of 42 million is to have diabetes by 2030 on the continent.
So, what is the intervention that will happen?
Who will be that food shero in the community to help turn these numbers around, that's the question that we ask.
And again the Trojan horse is in the name of job development, bringing fast food into the countries.
Case in point, when I was in South Africa last year the local KFC was open for breakfast and they had motorbikes to transport your food and they were open around-the-clock.
We don't even have that here.

So I was like oh my God that's like a real issue and so I thought again how do we compete again a David Goliath battle?
And really little WANDA competing in the David Goliath battle between these large multinationals and...and how can they actually start directing resources in a way that supports the local food economy in a meaningful way.
And so again the education in going to the camps, going to the universities and the schools, meeting with the parents, doing teacher training workshops, providing information on millet.
We have here in Tiger nuts, they were just very impressed and they were like the nutritional value of their local foods to know that they can help tackle different disease states and they're low cost and available on the street easily just for a few Naira.
I think that was very powerful for them to able to recognize it.
In millet, one of the, it's about Nigeria's one of top producers of millet commonly found in northern Nigeria where you can make the Flo donono [phonetic] which is a milk millet dish available either in the Ruger [assumed spelling] which is the village or also through one of the well-known chains Habib's yogurt.
It's a very nutritious drink and when we think about, you know, consuming this particular product it actually has a lot of pre and probiotics.
Tiger nut definitely has prebiotics and so when we're thinking about the new frontiers such as the microflora of the gut.
Having foods that help provide healthy bacteria in the gut becomes really important and these two foods help to do that.
And so in introducing the story, I have a copy of one of the books that we had prepared in Nigeria and I just want to share the opening letter that we provide to the little WANDAs.
We say the Where's WANDA series is made especially for you, we need superfood sheroes who will help our community heal with our heritage foods and that's why little WANDA matters to find the healing and beauty of African Foods to nourish our community.
And through her travels in Africa, little WANDA meets female farmers also known as big WANDAs who grow and share African heritage foods to feed and heal her people in Africa and the Diaspora.
And as part of the WANDAs wisdom, you realize that all we need is already within us and we hope you'll enjoy the story and share with your family and friends.
And most of all being inspired to celebrate your heritage and learn and prepare the foods.

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And so with every story we actually highlight a real female farmer and a little girl and so we took the journey to Kano Nigeria to meet with Salama Togarber who runs WFAN which is the Women Farmers Advancement Network.
She is by far a great example of what a WANDA woman is.
She runs a women's cooperative, they make their own Made in Nigeria rice.
They also produce groundnut oil; they also produce kulikuli which is made of groundnut.
Think about peanut butter cookies before it had white sugar in it, that's what the kulikuli is.
And so it was just fascinating and phenomenal to be greeted by just a room, outdoor room full of women bringing, who were happy to first be graduating through a training program that WFAN was having.
But also unveiling their new rice product that they've been making for Nigeria, and so little WANDA who in this story I highlight my daughter Ruby.
Part of every story is about how do we take a different woman story and turn it into a children's book, and so this first story really is about my journey of finding my heritage in Nigeria and being able to capture my story of my grandma having diabetes and my curiosity as a kid wanting to know the answer on how to help heal her.
And my father who passed coming to my dreams to tell me what the secret was which was everything I needed was already within our heritage.
And so I turned that into a storybook and the idea is that every book hops to a different country being either Kenya or Benin or South Africa and highlight who are those champions on the ground?
What are their local foods?
And how can the help not only their communities but really our communities everywhere?
And so in the first opening we have little WANDA who she's always curious wanting to know what's going on and so she eavesdrops because that's what she does, nosy, and she wants to know what's grandma or Nana and her mom talking about.
And so in designing the characters I went back and forth with the designer but I wanted to have relatable characters that people can say, hey, that looks like my Nana.
And it was important for me that little WANDA had a little Afro with the whole big care natural hair movement and again realizing that that wasn't something that I easily would've done back in Oklahoma.
I would straighten my hair the moment I got off the plane but embracing again all that are ready have within.
And so the pictures on the back of her uncles who she later goes to visit and she overhears her mom talking to Nana that she had just came from the hospital and had learned that she has diabetes.
And so WANDA didn't know what to do about this and so she thought about how did we get to this place and she started to think because she's very cerebral.
She was thinking about all of the different foods Nana has been eating down to the soda and down to the cakes and the pastries and it reminded my grandma.
My grandma loves going to Brahm's dairy store in Oklahoma and every time I knew she always has some kind of sweet around the house and she was always offering that to us as well.
And at that time I didn't have a clue about nutrition, I didn't even know it was a field at the time and so I'm enjoying the sweets just with my Nana because that's what we did together.
Not realizing that, you know, perhaps they contribute to her complications of diabetes in her dying later and for me it was a moment of being able to share that through the magic apron that WANDA gets which is her great Nana's apron that she finds in her trunk that this becomes her way to travel and to be on a journey and explore how can I find a cure for Nana's diabetes?
And so the father actually looks like my dad and I thought it was really important to have the visuals that come to mind like Africa in the backdrop versus the princess theme that the designer first one is like, no.
And I thought about how important dreams are and how, you know.
There is a beautiful story over at the American Indian Museum called the Little Boy and Seven Grandfathers and the power of dreams become opportunities of where you actually find the answer, that's when spirit speaks to you.
And so it was so important for me to capture that in the story about the power of spirit as another form of communication and as a way to unlock the answer.
It wasn't something that could happen in the daytime only unless she's in a meditative state and so dreaming it's kind of like that same meditative state that I was capturing through the story with the communication that was happening between her late father who died and talking to her in her dream.
And so when she puts on her apron she is able to travel to different countries and so she travels to Northern Nigeria where she is greeted by two gentlemen Ashru and Yussif who are real friends of mine who've helped me to travel to Nigeria.

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And I asked them how do I get the secret for Nana and we go on this journey exploring parts of Africa, parts of Nigeria and they were like I know who you need to meet, big WANDA who is also known as Mrs. Garba who I later met this summer.
And so through that conversation of being with big WANDA, little WANDA learns about different foods such as millets and in the book we actually have characters for all the foods.
So in this case, she needs Mamadou Millet and she learns about the power of millet and how to prepare the dish in order to feed that to her family.
And it was so important that the farmer looked as gorgeous as Mrs. Garba did when I met her and contrast the imagery that I showed you when you Google.
Because again, we want to show empowering images of women embracing their foods and becoming stewards of healing and health and unity that our community needs.
And so for me I would want to be like a big WANDA like Mrs. Garba after meeting her.
So, I just wanted to just end and share how important it is that we have positive narratives for our children.
When I think about the characters that we have now like Ronald McDonald who promotes, yeah, another choice of foods I wanted little WANDA to be in that dynamic of David and Goliath battle.
You can give with this or you can't give with that but little WANDA's where it's at.
And it's really important that we have characters that represent our children who are to be the future food sheroes of our communities.
And so I just want to thank everyone who's come out for those who are interested in that Where's WANDA book series we will be having those books available online and also for November which is diabetes month is when we'll have another book signing opportunity.
So I just want to thank the Library of Congress for having WANDA here today and I'm open for any questions that you may have as well.
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[ Audience Clapping ]
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>> Eve Ferguson: So now you all kind of see what I mean about being dynamic but I'm going to jump in front of everybody and then we'll take couple of questions to ask a question about I hear little WANDA is going Sweden where she would be talking to the Somali community there about some of the Somali things that make your some [inaudible].
>> Tambra Raye Stevenson: So the beauty of WANDA, we're building this really first-ever pan-African women's network from farm to fork so we have WANDA board members in Sweden and in Ghana, here in America and other countries.
And so we were invited once learning about WANDA to come there to recognize world childhood obesity day is October 10th.
And so it was an opportunity for us to help facilitate a workshop on the migration and the food environment and how does that impact childhood obesity.
And so we will be at Upsala Health Summit being able to share the story of WANDA and how do we connect African Diasporan women in Europe to this movement and become the champions that our communities need there as well.
>> Eve Ferguson: Okay, so can we take some questions to the front, okay.
Janet.
>> Great.
Personally I'll just sail through all.
Food is a global issue, on mind, body, spirit, everything is related to what is within our bodies so I'm really proud of what you're doing.
I have worked in the health food industry and very much want to support your cause as well.
I work in media and I will definitely be getting work out on this.
>> Whatever I mention is my son, I'm so proud of him, seventeen years old.
He wants to go into the food industry, he can't go [inaudible] he is also concerned about nutrition and I think he would be.
He actually works at KFC currently, he's probably not [inaudible].
He's also looking for [inaudible] family business, an African food business.
Regarding the multinational business is likely KFC, I know they can vary their menu.
>> Tambra Raye Stevenson: Yes.
>> I think it's important to be advocates and suggesting some meal, you know, selection [inaudible].
It's just, you know, for [inaudible] that work you're doing.
We got do in it another way or.
Tambra Raye Stevenson: Yeah, it definitely can happen in both directions, you know, having worked for commerce department, recognizing that we want to support local small businesses and I'm now on the DC food policy Council where we're supporting local food economy.
It's definitely coming in at both angles on how do we support the small businesses in the community that makes up majority of the business in America and really across the world.
And at the same time how do multinationals do a better job of providing a range of healthier options and many of them are having to do that just on a competitive edge.
We see what's happening with McDonalds right now, many of their shops are being closed and I formally worked there.
That was my first job actually in high school and so because of that I've been able to recognize that we all have to play a role in supporting little WANDA.
Because along her journey she may get tired and she wants to grab something what are healthier options for her along the way.
And so that's everything for big WANDA to big corporation.
They all play a part in her nutritional status for sure.
>> Thank you so much.
>> Tambra Raye Stevenson: Yes.
>> Mary-Jane Deeb: [Inaudible] want to learn the [inaudible].
I want to ask you about the individual items; so for example, I could not pay what farmers are doing nobody because for example here may not be so easily available like say DC or Oklahoma.
But they may have other [inaudible] maybe, it could be [inaudible], it could be [inaudible].
So are you suggesting that certain foods be incorporated in a general diet or I think that locally grown foods [inaudible] should be the dominant for any diet.
>> Tambra Raye Stevenson: So for instance millet, sorghum they actually are being grown in the Midwest and there are more ethnic crops like African Western, African vegetables being grown locally as well.
So part of it is, yes, number one how do we cultivate those ethnic crops, USD runs the ethnic crop block rate program and those foods are being grown here locally in the DMV area.
And at the same time those foods are being exported out of the continent here as well just packaged as superfoods and so for me the conversation about ethnic foods.
I think taking a visit to Ellis Island is a very fascinating because it just shows how foods it seemed very exotic at one point are so normalized now on.
And I think that's kind of the frontier we're heading when it comes to African foods.
It really is when we think about just from the economic development lens, what is happening globally we've gone from Latin America to Asia and so really Africa now is the next frontier over the next 50 years even documented by the World Economic Forum.
So you're going to see that that transition happen in more investments in the gastronomic landscape of African foods and that will be reflected in the speciality food markets space.
When I go on food show visits and hopefully, you know, when I see these shows, you know, it's like Italy looks like a food mafia.
And hopefully over time Africa is not the size of Gambian, in these food shows in that it does explode and there are more local food entrepreneurs in that space as well.
>> Eve Ferguson: I did want to just add that I actually met Tambra walking across the field with a basket full of African vegetables grown in the United States.
And she gave me a couple and said go home and try them like it was gardner [phonetic].
>> Tamba Raye Stevenson: Yes.
>> Eve Ferguson: Gardner [phonetic] and some little.
>> Tamba Raye Stevenson: Cheap leaf.
>> Eve Ferguson: Yeah and I went home and cooked them all.
They were delicious, you can get millet and yes Whole Foods go to the bulk things, you can get your own millet, I grew up eating millet in East Africa and I like to eat it now.
So you don't have to wait for it to come and sell you, you just have to seek it out.
And previously Tambra has given us some information about the programs that seek to grow African vegetables.

^M00:50:05
I know they have amaranth; amaranth is a grain I think they're trying to go grow teff in the United States now too.
>> Tamba Raye Stevenson: Yes, so there's local farmers here and that's part of WANDA.
We try to...I operate kind of like a talent scout at this point.
Identifying what WANDA women are out there who are doing dynamic things that really most people don't even know about.
We have Gail Taylor who has a CSA right here in DC, where she's growing ethnic crops.
We have Yall Gidisi [assumed spelling] who is growing ethnic crops and they're expanding what the work that they're doing as well you.
>> [Inaudible] production of foods that someone wants to grow and grow here in the United States and you also talk about Monsanto and [inaudible].
>> The GMO food?
>> No, [inaudible] I'm not talking [inaudible] the genetically modified food [inaudible].
>> You sure that.
>> [Inaudible] and so they're introducing other seeds from other parts of the world.
Just be aware of that danger, that, we could be [inaudible].
And there's some recent [inaudible] plans to bring and destruct [inaudible] Monsanto.
And they continue to grow [inaudible] that their seeds [inaudible].
The argument that [inaudible].
So you have to be aware and everyone has to be aware of that danger, the dangerous.
>> Eve Ferguson: You know I want to add one thing and that is that when you reference the drug companies, the companies is like Pfizer and Lilly are all over Madagascar in the rain forest taking the natural medicines that you can find in the rainforest and pulling, identifying their chemical compounds and creating the chemical compound.
They are not only clearing out the rain forest in Madagascar which is a problem for the people who've lived there and depend on it, but they are creating synthetic versions of what you can get naturally.
So, people need to do their research about what they are eating.
Some people think tofu food is great, tofu was genetically modified and highly processed.
You really have to do your research on your food.
I know, I see a big WANDA here, there's a big WANDA back...
How many big WANDAs are here?
That's great.
I'm going to call myself a big WANDA now because I grow food in my backyard and I eat it.
So last night I made something with turmeric roots, ginger, lemongrass and the peppers out of mine and tomatoes are out of my garden.
Those are some of the things you can do to know where your food comes from because you grow it.
>> Tambra Raye Stevenson: So I do want to give a shout out to Lolo [assumed spelling] who is on our board.
She's in the back from Acts Accountability which has been behind the US movement of bring back our girls and also Miss Africa USA, Francis Aduko is here as well who also is a new founder of an NGO empowering girls in Nigeria.
And so I just want to thank them for being there.
>> Eve Ferguson: Can you stand up?
>> Tambra Raye Stevenson: Yes.
Can you please stand to be acknowledged, so now [inaudible] is in the house.
^M00:53:54
[ Audience Clapping ]
^M00:53:57
And so we were all just last week at the United Nations General Assembly meetings and so it's so important to have our generation be a part of the leadership that our community needs and being able to speak out and be a voice to the issues.
Because when we look at the issue of intersectionality of not just women in America but black women, African women, the numbers change drastically about health and economic outcomes.
And so having the voice of those women who are tend to be marginalized in the media and in these larger conversations becomes really important.
And for me even down to little black girls having a voice as well becomes really important of what are their needs and so that's why little WANDA is so vitally important to give a positive image for our girls to say, hey, I can be a change maker in my community, food can be a healing and an empowering way to do so.
And I'm going to do that with little WANDA because I am little WANDA.
So thank you so much and I hope that you join us in the conference room for more conversations and snacks.
>> Eve Ferguson: And healthy snacks.
>> Tambra Raye Stevenson. Yes.
>> Eve Ferguson: Healthy snacks.
Thank you very much for coming.
And you can just make your way to the conference room.
I will go round open up the side door and enjoy some healthy snacks.
>> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at LOC dot gov.
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