← TED Talks Daily
Loading summary
Transcript41 lines
- [00:00]
Sponsor Voice
This podcast is brought to you by Wise, the app for international people using money around the globe. With Wise, you can send, spend, and receive up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps and save up to 55% compared to major banks. Plus, wise won't add hidden fees to your transfer. Whether you're buying souvenirs with pesos in Puerto Vallarta or sending euros to a loved one in Paris, you know you're getting a fair exchange rate with no extra markups. Be smart join the 15 million customers who choose WISE. Download the WISE app today or visit WISE.com learn learn more by visiting WISE.com us compare T's and C's apply this.
- [00:37]
Rose
Is Rose Rose's flight is delayed again. At this point, she has walked the entire terminal twice and has memorized every news headline on the airport tv. All she really wants to do is take off. Good thing Rose has a library of free ebooks with Prime. Suddenly she's chasing bad guys, kissing hot vampires, solving murders. You know, living her best free ebooks library. It's on Prime.
- [01:09]
Sponsor Voice
This episode of TED Talks Daily is brought to you by Upwork. Scaling a business means solving for today and preparing for what's next. And to do that well, you need the right talent at the right moment. That's where upwork comes in. Whether you're looking for support in design, development, marketing, or AI, upwork connects you with highly skilled freelancers who are ready to hit the ground running. For over 20 years, Upwork has been creating a better way to work, helping companies of all sizes tap into a global marketplace of trusted experts. You can post a job for free, browse profiles, even get help crafting your job, post or book a consultation from start to finish. Upwork makes hiring more flexible, more affordable, and more efficient. So if you need an extra pair of hands or 10, visit upwork.com right now and post your job for free. That's upwork.com to post your job for free and connect with top talent ready to help your business grow. That's up w r k.com upwork.com.
- [02:14]
Lily James Olds
You'Re.
- [02:15]
Sponsor Voice
Listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. Today's talk is part of Our brand new 2025 Ted Fellows films adapted for podcasts just for our TED Talks Daily listeners. We will be releasing these special episodes showcasing our amazing fellows certain Fridays throughout the rest of 2025 and into the new year. So stay tuned. Ted's fellowship supports a network of global innovators and we're so excited to share their work with you today. We'd like you to meet food equity champion and TED fellow Dion Dawson. For Deon, it all started with a fridge, a community fridge to be exact, that was set up on the sidewalk in his home neighborhood of Inglewood on the south side of Chicago, stocked with fresh, free food every day for those who need it. Deion shares how that fridge was the impetus for him to start Deion's Chicago Dream, which today has grown into a multimillion dollar nonprofit social enterprise that fights food deserts and food insecurity in Chicago while creating jobs and empowering individuals. But not in the ways you might imagine. After we hear from Deon, stick around for his conversation with Ted Fellows program director Lily James Olds. It's coming up.
- [03:40]
Deon Dawson
If you look historically at food responses, the pantry model has been unchanged since the 1950s. Everywhere in places that looked like mine, it was inefficient. It didn't champion quality or the end user experience. And it just bothered me. I'm Deon Dawson, founder and chief dreamer of Dion Chicago Dream. We're a nonprofit social enterprise that focuses on providing access to healthy food consistently making sure that your zip code does not determine how long you live. We deliver a 10 pound box of fresh fruits and vegetables to more than 4300 households in the Chicagoland region per week. It could be everything from a pineapple to different types of apples, citruses, Swiss chard, spinach, pomegranate. Since 2020, we've provided a little over 3.5 million pounds of fresh produce that we've purchased, packed and delivered. And we've never charged any of our recipients. To date, our produce and our quality is top notch. We've never taken a single piece of donated produce. We purchase everything. It may cost us a little more, but that's fine. You don't want to dictate what people think they deserve. If we're thinking about people living longer, healthier lives, you want to give them the best opportunity to be healthy. You can't do with expiring food. One of the things that we wanted to do a little different is make sure that we're talking to people. We do a bi weekly touchpoint where we collect scores in six different areas like ease of delivery, quality of produce, staff treatment, and even stress after delivery. And so we can see that we're lowering stress levels daily by more than 80%. Quite simple, just serving people and delivering quality food produce. When this all started, I was working overnights at Amazon I knew absolutely nothing. I didn't know any statistics. I had never done non profit management or grant writing, none of it. That blind ignorance will get you way further when you just don't know what you're up against. On Juneteenth in 2020, a Gen Zer came up to me that I had grown up with and said, hey, what are you doing for Juneteenth? And I had no idea. You know, I just, I tried to kind of play along, but he said, no, what are you doing? And I just said, I'm going to feed 100 families. I didn't think about it. I don't know where it came from. And from There it was. Two GoFundMe campaigns later and buying 800 pounds of food and bagging chicken leg quarters at 4 in the morning. What started as someone challenging me to do something for the community for Juneteenth turned into a day in an event that made me feel like I had never felt before. And wanting to chase that feeling of not having to convince myself that I wasn't the problem, or not having to convince myself that something was good, but just feeling good from there it was on. It just lit a fire in me. We're up to 48 employees, about 15 vehicles. We're opening up a 20,000 square foot location later this year. We've grown in an environment where growth has been difficult. The average black led nonprofit never makes it to a million in revenue. We did it in 18 months. As a company. We've never been in a raid. It's a social enterprise nonprofit that is still a business. Early on it was really about individual donors and grants. And then over the years we've tried to continue to figure out how to diversify the revenue so that we can be sustainable. We've never missed a payroll, we've never lost an employee, we've never had a volunteer. I just think that if someone does a job, they should get paid for it. It's a commitment back to people. Without a wealth building vehicle attached to whatever social impact work you're doing, then you're just perpetuating the circumstances that you're trying to. You can still do good business and do good by people and you don't have to build like everyone else. There were so many people early on that tried to guide us into taking donated food, into using volunteer hours and trading board seats for money because of us rebuffing a lot of those things. Here we are almost five years later and this work has really not only defined a lot of people's lives, but it's allowed me to wake up and go to sleep knowing and never questioning. I have no goals. I just believe that anything is possible. Part of just being a dreamer is understanding that I decide what I focus on. We've gotten the opportunity to write our own story. It's really about joy, happiness, being okay knowing that you gave everything you had. All of these are things that are important and we don't champion them enough. It's always about reminding each other what difficult is a difficult day, as the chief dreamer of Deion's Chicago dream pales in comparison to the words that I've ever had as Deon Dawson. You evolve, you learn. This is the first time in my life where I can honestly say I've never stopped learning. Every single day I learn, I apply, I try. Probably failed more in this five years than in my first 30, but I don't have it figured out. I think that's the fun part. Yeah, it's pretty, pretty crazy.
- [08:56]
Sponsor Voice
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you can save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money when you bundle your home and auto policies. The process only takes minutes and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
- [09:27]
This podcast is brought to you by wise, the app for international people using money around the globe. With WISE, you can send, spend and receive up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps and save up to 55% compared to major banks. Plus, wise won't add hidden fees to your transfer. Whether you're buying souvenirs with pesos in Puerto Vallarta or sending Euros to a loved one in Paris, you know you're getting a fair exchange rate with no extra markups. Be Smart join the 15 million customers who choose Wise. Download the Wise app today or visit wise.com learn more by visiting wise.com us compare Ts and Cs apply.
- [10:09]
And now a special conversation between TED Fellow Dion Dawson and Ted Fellow's program director Lily James Olds.
- [10:19]
Interviewee
Hey Dion.
- [10:20]
Lily James Olds
What up, Lily? How you feeling?
- [10:22]
Interviewee
I'm feeling great. I'm excited to talk to you today, so I'm going to jump right in and ask you. Talk about the traditional food pantry model as being unchanged for decades and, you know, really not prioritizing the experience of the person using it. What is missing or outdated in those traditional pantry models that made you do things differently?
- [10:42]
Lily James Olds
Well, I think first and foremost, the pantry model, emergency food, food equity, health equity, I try to look at it like a product, right? And so if you look at it like a product or a paid service, then you would see that the end customer is not highlighted or illuminated in the process. And so if we're just talking about bettering our product, we would ultimately better our product if we had user feedback. And the problem is, is this, in its entirety, has been created, uplifted, and sustained without any modifications or improvements based on the experience of the people it's serving, as opposed to the people that control it. I had to be critical of something that was created for good, and that is extremely difficult when you talk about the human experience. Most things that are created for the social good, for altruism, for the betterment of humanity, there's less judgment on the efficiency and efficacy of the thing. And it took a lot for me to kind of get there. So I think the first thing that's missing is having that questioning attitude around, if this is working, can this be better? What are we missing? Because what we've seen is the human predicament. Society right now is it requires so much nuance to gesture, and yet the things that are created to serve us are really, really one note because they're so outdated. It's almost like, you know, pulling out a floppy disk. Not only would, you know, a lot of people not know how to use it, but more importantly, it would immediately show how dated that thing was. You know what I mean? And I just think that if we look at it, you know, food emergency, it's a floppy disk right now, and I just want to kind of find ways to improve it and innovate in it.
- [12:42]
Interviewee
No, I think that's so smart. And I think this also makes me think about when you say, who am I to fight capitalism? And I feel like you're working in such strategic ways within this system and economic model that we all exist in. I'm curious to hear you go a little bit deeper and hear how you think about how you do think about working within that system strategically, as a social entrepreneur.
- [13:08]
Lily James Olds
No, no, absolutely. You know, one of my favorite quotes is basically saying that when it comes to entrepreneurs, I think that they're just too much on execution, and when it comes to social entrepreneurs, I think they're just too much on intent. And I think that we have to find a balance there. And so when I speak about the role in the relationship of capitalism and philanthropy. I think that a lot of times we spend so much time and language on trying to dismantle this thing that is deeply rooted and foundational in the American experience. And so, you know, what I say is, okay, cool, let's not look at it from a dismantling place. Because I think that if I focus on my emotional response to it, I'm wasting my time of figuring out how within this thing can we serve people? Because that's the key thing. If you're wondering what is the underlying theme, it's immediacy. I don't have time. This will not be solved in my lifetime. So while I have the baton, how can I look at capitalism, how can I look at philanthropy? And how can I figure out ways at which we can have elements of both while making sure that people are treated better, are fed better, and live longer lives? Because, you know, you need money to move money. You know what I mean? This is capitalism. You can't just, you know, with no money, say, hey, you with a billion need to do this. And so what I. What I realized was, okay, you know, philanthropy, nonprofit work, it's all big business. And so I'm not upset about that. The saving grace for my journey has been the economic activity, has been the procurement of the produce and of the food, as opposed to just hoping people donate something and we can do something with that. There's no quality assurance there. And so looking at the economics of it is, okay, cool, well, if there's billions in emergency food and food equity, health equity, then how can we make sure that some of those billions of dollars are used to pay the farmers, but not just because we're saying they need to be paid, but paying for their product so that they can then build out their infrastructure and they can connect back to the supply chain? And so this is something I want you to think about. When you hear food system, how many parts do you think of?
- [15:40]
Interviewee
Well, I think. I mean, it's so funny you say that, because I think one of the things in the conversations we've had that's really stood out to me is also the bureaucracy of it. Like, you're understanding the game board and where to put the next move. And so I'd love to hear you talk a little bit deeper, too, about those different revenue streams that you've talked about. Of course, kind of how you've looked at that game board and said, hey, here's how we're going to utilize this towards the end result that we want for our Users and clients.
- [16:09]
Lily James Olds
Well, I think the first thing is, you know, I'm a comms guy, you know what I mean? And so none of my communication is by accident when thinking about that game board. First and foremost, I made the decision early on to do all of this out in the open, you know what I mean? I don't have to code switch, I don't have to tailor all of my messaging to that specific audience because number one, I want to build trust that's with anyone that interacts not only with me, but with my organization, with our model, with our impact, with our community, with the job creation, everything. I don't want this to be something where someone who's in my community on the south side of Chicago has one understanding of who I am and someone with a billion dollars have a different understanding. And so I think first and foremost what I decided to do was I decided to focus on how I showed up on that game board. Because a lot of times we don't take power and control in how we show up. What role can we play independent of all of the bureaucracy and how can we show up even when things are pretty heated and we don't agree? And I think that, you know, for me, what I try to boil it down to is our core product and program has to be so great, it has to add so much value that it cannot be dismissed. It has to be viewed as an option. It doesn't have to be an option for everyone and understand that it's not personal. Granted. Do I feel like there are strong systemic issues that we have to get a hold of and fix? Absolutely. But I also can't only lean to my emotion. And so I think when we started talking about the bureaucracy in food and when we talked about, you know, non profit and for profit and social entrepreneurship, after the emotional visceral response, now I have to figure out, okay, well, what are we going to do and how can we be the best at it? So if you're looking at that game board, first and foremost, we're in supply chain and delivery. And so in supply chain and delivery, how can we be the best at what we're doing, continue to innovate, continue to scale and grow and so that more people can be motivated and inspired by it before we continue to go back out and look at the thing as a whole, the bureaucracy and the politics will be there. But I really, truly believe that anybody that is going to stop and or beat me has to work as hard as me and as often as me. And I just don't think that's possible.
- [18:48]
Interviewee
I don't know if any of those people exist. Actually, I want to get a little bit in the weeds because I feel like this has been so fascinating to me from our conversations about that bureaucracy and specifically some of those revenue streams as it relates to food as medicine programs, how, you know, that relates to hospitals, Like, I'd love to kind of hear just the like in the nitty gritty in the weeds of it so that those of us who are familiar with these models can start to see that strategic thinking that you've worked your way towards for so long now.
- [19:20]
Lily James Olds
Absolutely. So in terms of the earned revenue opportunity, it happened because we owned our assets, we buy the food, so there's a quality assurance involved, and we pay our team. And so that's important because you can scale up or down paid operations. You cannot scale volunteerism because you cannot count on it to be consistent. The biggest thing there that I try to get people to understand is a lot of times when you hear about food is medicine, you hear about it through the lens of people living longer, healthier lives. And there's nothing wrong with that. But I want people to understand that it's still a market and a market opportunity exists. The food is medicine industry right now is about $26 billion. And so when you think about that, imagine how detrimental it is if this market that's already here is not viewed as a market or market opportunity for the very communities that it says it's trying to help.
- [20:26]
Interviewee
So when you say it's that, you said $26 billion industry. Right, the food is medicine, can you define for those of us just what that encapsulates? Do you mean how much people want to be buying healthy food to live longer lives like that market? Is that what's embedded in that?
- [20:42]
Lily James Olds
So food is medicine, basically, like that is the amount of money when you're talking about procurement, contracting, and delivery of services from end to end, from the prescription being written from the doctor to the actual produce being provided throughout that supply chain, Right now, that market is $26 billion.
- [20:59]
Interviewee
So that the prescriptions are written by the doctors saying that their patients need a certain kind of food to live healthy, to recover from illness, etc. So that's what's encapsulated in that $26 billion industry.
- [21:13]
Lily James Olds
Yes.
- [21:13]
Interviewee
Fascinating.
- [21:13]
Lily James Olds
So you don't help with blood sugar, different things like that. And so, you know, what we stumbled upon is understanding that, okay, cool. Outside of food is medicine, you have dion Chicago dream, which is here. And our model is not only procuring the food, but delivering. Whereas in most other companies, you can procure it, but you don't have the ability to deliver. And so now we're collapsing two parts of that supply chain into one contract and one opportunity. So for us, we're shortening the amount of players that's involved, and we're also representing the very communities that we're trying to save. We're not waiting for someone to give us a piece of the pie. We're contracted to provide not only this product, but these services when we deliver. As a result, we're able to make earned revenue to sustain what we're doing. And so now you're talking about a $6 million business. That one third of the earned revenue has come not from grants, but not from independent donations, but from earned revenue through food is medicine.
- [22:20]
Interviewee
Yeah. That's so fascinating and so strategic. And I'm curious with that in mind, you talked about you can't scale a volunteer organization in that same kind of way. How do you think about either scaling or evolving this model, growing it? What are your plans or hopes for that in terms of continuing to fight hunger in many communities?
- [22:39]
Lily James Olds
We have something that we've been working on in the background that's going to be announced in the next few months. But I think the biggest thing is, you know, if you're asking where has this led me, it is actually quite clear. We don't have a universal system where everyone is speaking the same language. There is no core product or platform where all of these food organizations and companies can connect their people to their inventory and then connecting the people in inventory to potential delivery. So that's something that I've actually been working on in the background with a certain product that's going to be launching fairly soon. What I learned is, is that this is not complicated. I think, you know, it takes a lot to pull off big ideas. But I think just with where I am in my journey, I'm starting to look and see more and more what's missing in terms of just the tools needed to ultimately just connect the food system. Because right now, by and large, the food system is disconnected from home. All the way upstream to the farm is just inefficient. It's disconnected. Nobody's talking to each other. And a lot of times that just leaves a lot of room for innovation and improvement.
- [23:53]
Interviewee
I think one question that's been on my mind a bit in thinking about this conversation with you is, you know, you think so intentionally about the customer, the user, and you talked about how that was how you decided to switch this kind of traditional pantry model. So then on the other side of that you have the fact that there is so much food waste. Right? Like perfectly good food is often just, you know, thrown out because of sell by dates or whatever from a grocery store. In your kind of system's mind, what are the ways that we could start to connect the dots overall on that in terms of both of those issues, how can we think about still giving the user the best possible experience of food, no matter their zip code? And then simultaneously, how do we think about scaling back on food waste or utilizing that food that could be donated in certain contexts?
- [24:42]
Lily James Olds
Well, I think the problem is also, you know, how food waste has been positioned. The problem is that it was communicated as the solution, not as one of the solutions. And so even though that's, you know, not really what we focused on, there is a place for food waste to really get under control because it's out of hand right now. You can't have people starving and wasting, you know, millions of pounds of food. I think that immediately speaks to number one ordering issues. It speaks to how we've yet to evolve what happens when we've ordered or procured too much. I just think that right now when we think about food waste, first we have to get beyond the liability conversation. You can have a way of changing the liability language so that this food is not being wasted. But I think also I want to hit on the words you said is intentional. And I think that what we're seeing is that this system, you know, there is no big focus on really cutting down food waste. Why? Because so much of it is written off to prop up emergency food. So there's money that can still be made or written off from this food that did not go to use. There's still value there in capitalism. So you have to be careful because no one's going to turn down millions of dollars in write offs just for the sake of saying they did something that was socially good. So I think really taking a moment to kind of reevaluate, what do we want to do? I understand that there are a lot of organizations out there that try to redirect food waste and prevent food waste. But I think where we are now with food waste orgs, it's the expectation of millions of pounds. And if we're expecting this and it to never change so that this entity that saving the food can survive, then we're not looking at changing anything because the very survival of this org depends upon the food Waste in the millions. It's a chicken and egg situation. But I feel like it opens the conversation of, well, what are your expectations and what do you really want to do? The bigger thing is looking at companies that are contributing the most and saying, okay, well, are you planning to get this under control? Because I don't think that the food system is as fed up as it wants to be or as it thinks it is with food waste. I just don't think it is right.
- [27:08]
Interviewee
No, it makes sense. And just that future looking perspective, right. Instead of just what's right in front of you. So fascinating. I'm curious, is there anything else I didn't ask you about that you want to talk about today?
- [27:21]
Lily James Olds
I think what I will speak on just for a moment is this is a pivotal point not only in world history, but US history. Food zoomed out to geopolitical, to science, to stem, to AI. It's one of those industrial revolution esque moments. And what I'm trying to do is make sure that those leaders and those thinkers and those builders are in a position to be as impactful as they can be. One of my favorite quotes this year was Timothee Chalamet when he said, I want to be great and I'm not shying away from it. You know what I mean? And I think that my acceptance and other leaders acceptance of this moment and taking the responsibility of it is extremely important. The moment that it clicked for me was when I decided to stop wrestling with whether or not I'm a leader. I would hope that the moment that we're in, we're understanding that we have to take responsibility. Now is the time to really dig deep because there's a lot going on. And I leave it up to that individual to decide what they can take in this moment. Because it's not for everybody to do everything, but everything is so interconnected right now that I would hope that a lot of leaders kind of take the moment to recognize that, okay, leadership looked different a year ago and now the idea of that has evolved. And I would hope that, you know, we can kind of continue to meet that moment because it's not easy. I find myself as a food leader in a lot of conversations that aren't food based, you know what I mean? But I think that the thing that has made it a little bit easier for me is accepting that leadership is not only leading when you want leads, but it's leading where you have to and when you don't want to.
- [29:16]
Interviewee
Thank you so much for this conversation, Dion, as always, it's such a joy to get to talk. Thank you.
- [29:21]
Lily James Olds
Of course, definitely appreciate it.
- [29:27]
Sponsor Voice
That was Dion Dawson, a 2025 TED Fellow. To learn more about the TED Fellows program and watch all the TED Fellows films, go to fellows.ted.com and that's it for today. This episode was fact checked by Aparna Nathan and Eva Dasher. The audio you heard at the top comes from the short film made by Divya Gadingi and Owen Maclean. Story edited by Corey Hajim and produced by Ian Lowe. Production Manager is Sering Dolma. Additional support comes from Lily James Olds, Leone Horster and Allegra Pearl. This episode was mixed by Lucy Little and Christopher Faizy Bogan. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Greene, Lucy Little and Tansika Sangmar Nivong. Additional support from Emma Tobner and Daniela Balaurazo. I'm Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening.
- [30:37]
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
- [30:57]
Rose
This is Paige, the co host of Giggly Squad. I use Uber Eats for everything and I feel like people forget that you can truly order anything, especially living in New York City. It's why I love it. You can get Chinese food at any time of night, but it's not just for food. I order from CVS all the time. I'm always ordering from the grocery store. If a friend stops over I have to order champagne. I also have this thing that whenever I travel, if I'm ever in a hotel room, I never feel like I'm missing something because I'll just Uber Eats it. The amount of times I've had to Uber eats hair items like hairspray, deodorant, you name it, I've ordered it. On Uber Eats you can get grocery alcohol everyday essentials in addition to restaurants and food you love. So in other words, get almost anything. With Uber Eats. Order now for alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Prime delivery is fast. How fast are we talking? We're talking puzzle toys and look pad delivered so fast you can get this puppy under control fast. We're talking chew toys at your door without really waiting. Fast pads, Cooling mat. Pet fast and fast. And there's training. T R E A T s faster.
- [32:12]
Lily James Olds
Than you can say sit Fast.
- [32:15]
Rose
And now we can all relax and order these matching hoodies to get cozy and cute.
- [32:20]
Sponsor Voice
Fast. Fast.
- [32:21]
Rose
Free delivery.
- [32:22]
Lily James Olds
It's on Prime.