Today's interview is with Janice Bartley, the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Foodpreneur Lab. Her personal mission is to level the playing field and open doors in underserved communities for ‘would be’ and established food entrepreneurs.

Founded January 2019, Foodpreneur Lab was created to tackle systemic barriers head on and pioneer new approaches to creating access for those historically prevented from fully participating in the food sector. Foodpreneur Lab is the only Canadian Black-woman founded and led non-profit organization with a fierce national mandate to support underserved communities and address systemic barriers in the food ecosystem.

Foodpreneur Lab is a team made up of diverse entrepreneurs and experts in the food sector. We are led by Janice Bartley who draws on her 30 years of lived experience in food and entrepreneurship to create access, and open doors that have historically been closed to underserved communities.

Janice brings a wealth of experience into the food sector as a former Operations Manager in Culinary & Hospitality management. Her 30+ years as an entrepreneur brought her to Food Starter as part of the Management team. She has mentored many young and experienced Chefs in the food industry and has been able to transition those mentoring skills to food entrepreneurs. Janice has worked with community based Organizations, such as JumpStart Refugee Talent and Ryerson Diversity Institute both support women entrepreneurs and newcomers.

Listen to the interview with this inspiring Social Entrepreneur today!

Timestamps:

Start of interview (3:37)
The origins of The Foodpreneur (4:12)
Challenges that women of color face when entering the food industry (8:46)
About "food accountability" (11:32)
Foodprenuer and underrepresented communites (16:28)
Supporting local food sources (22:40)
What can a new participant to Foodpreneur expect? (31;55)
How the pandemic has effected business (34:19)
Tips for women entrepreneurs (37:47)
How do you define an Alpha Woman? (43:17)

Show Notes:

Foodpreneur social media:
INSTAGRAM: @foodpreneurlab
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/foodpreneurlab