Feeding the Soul: Grief, Loss, and Healing in a Pandemic
Whether it’s a sacred ritual for a holy feast or a casserole gifted to a neighbor after a funeral, food is an important thread in the tapestry of mourning. Join us as we reflect on this more-than-year-long period of illness and death arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, and ways that planting, harvesting, eating, and sharing food has helped—and can help—us navigate loss together.
Featuring: Brittney Doyle, MPH, Wise Health, San Francisco; Emanuel Brown; Executive Director and Steward, Acorn Center for Restoration and Freedom; Sharon Ka’iulani Odom, Program Director, Roots Kokua Kalihi Valley, Kalihi, HI; Wilfred Labiosa, Executive Director, Waves Ahead, San Juan, PR, and moderated by Andrew Ingall, Senior Programmer, Reimagine
Andrew Ingall is Senior Programmer at Reimagine where he recently produced the series Last Suppers with Kirsten Johnson and Guests. His writing has appeared in Gastronomica and other publications. He holds an MA in Performance Studies from New York University.
Emanuel H. Brown (he/him) is a Black Caribbean Trans Masculine Non-Binary and is currently the Executive Director and Steward of Acorn Center for Restoration and Freedom located in occupied Muskogee Creek Territory in Georgia. As an Embodied Freedom Practitioner, Emanuel works with BIPOC, and Queer/Trans* folks creating new strategies for liberation and freedom using healing/arts/spiritual (HEARTS) Justice. Since acquiring property in 2019, Emanuel has been deepening his relationship with the land creating a community medicinal and chef’s farm and offering plant medicine to the community. He has been invited as a speaker, facilitator, practitioner and curator by Auburn Seminary, Faith Matters Network, St. Luis University Institute for Healing Justice and Equity, RESIST, and Facing Race. Emanuel was Senior Fellow for Pop Culture Collaborative, received the 2021 Southern Healing Star award, and was recently featured in the New York Time’s article Four Studies of Black Healing: Space.
Sharon Ka’iulani Odom is a nutritionist and the program director of the Roots Cafe at Kōkua Kalihi Valley, a nonprofit community health center in Hawaii. Roots café serves traditional Hawaiian and Pacific Islander. At Kokua Kalihi Valley, they work toward healing, reconciliation and the alleviation of suffering in through strong relationships that honor culture and foster health and harmony.
Brittney Doyle is the Founder of WISE Health SF, a public health consulting company that develops tailored community engagement strategies designed to reach under-served communities throughout the Bay Area in California. Ms. Doyle's efforts focus on advancing strategies related to increasing health equity, HIV prevention, and overcoming social isolation. WISE Health provides services within housing sites, homeless shelters, community centers, churches, and wherever there is a need for a community health impact. Ms. Doyle collaborates with community organizations, government agencies, health clinics, and academic institutions to ensure that these populations are reached where they work, live, play, and pray. She is very passionate about developing innovative, interactive, and effective health programs that will appeal to diverse communities of all ages. In March 2021 Ms. Doyle was honored by the Mayor of San Francisco London Breed, for the work done through WISE Health. She also received the Community Innovator 2021 from the Powerful Women of the Bay and the Entrepreneur 2021 Award from 100 Black Women SF Chapter.
Brittney earned a Master of Public Health degree with a concentration in health education and communication from Saint Louis University and an undergraduate degree in consumer science and education from the University of Memphis.
Wilfred Labiosa, PhD, has been a community leader and advocate for the last thirty years. He has been working in the public health field for more 25 years with marginalized communities such as the Latino and LGBT communities in the United States and Puerto Rico. He has published extensively his research with the dually-diagnosed Latino community, mental health and a substance abuse diagnosis; works as a consultant and/ or supervisor on state, national and international projects that focus on mental health, HIV/AIDS prevention, homeless, youth, Latinos, LGBTQ+, people with dual diagnosis or evidence-based treatment modalities. He has worked with LGBT and HIV organizations locally, nationally and internationally for many years, as a mentor, mental health provider or evaluator. Born and raised in Puerto Rico; He graduated with a doctorate degree from Simmons University, School of Social Work, and Master's Degree from Northeastern University's Department of Counseling Psychology, and a graduate certificate from Suffolk University’s management of non-profits. His Bachelor’s degree is from Boston University. He is currently the CEO of Waves Ahead Corp, a non-profit organization in Puerto Rico focusing in the elder and LGBT+ community, managing two Community Centers focused on the LGBT Older Adult.
