After the historically cruel hurricane season of 2008, my family moved from Haiti to the United States where my parents became fieldworkers in Immokalee, Florida—a rural migrant farm town where nearly half the families live below the poverty line. Today I am a full-time college student and I support daily operations at a sustainable farm-to-table business that’s changing our community’s narrative.
I grew up as one of eleven children with parents who tirelessly contributed to the flow of mass agriculture in Immokalee, where we harvest 90 percent of the nation’s tomatoes. I grew up surrounded by hard-working people dedicated to providing for their families, and I understood the difficulty of that life.
Immokalee的味道was created forthem.
2014年，Immokalee高中的学生创立了社会企业，即Immokalee（TOI），两年后我加入了团队。最初的想法是在希望活动中回来时引发的。当学生意识到他们回馈他人多少时，他们也致力于建立Immokalee。
我们与专业导师，厨师和食品行业专家合作创建，并受到家庭食谱的启发，我们创建和出售了从社区中丰富的新鲜农产品收获的美味产品。每种购买的产品都反映了我们的文化，家庭食谱，并希望结束我们社区的贫困。
我们的学生监督业务的所有元素：在导师主导的课程中进行集思广益的食谱，与当地厨师一起领导测试 - 智商会议，与我们的共同包装设施的食品科学家合作，以确保产品符合优质标准，并促进市场与当地企业志愿者一起研究，并量身定制新产品风味概况。与Publix合作，TOI在商店和在线上出售各种莎莎酱，烧烤和辣酱。我们将利润循环回社区，以使救济计划受益并减轻饥饿和贫困。就个人而言，没有什么比在经过数月的持续经过深思熟虑的工作之后在新产品上出现的TOI标签更好的了。我总是渴望了解它的销售速度，知道我们正在帮助他人。由于这个原因，我们的会计，销售和营销团队专门致力于他们的工作职能。
And that is one of the best things about Taste of Immokalee—we work to help families like mine and others. The product sales help my friends and neighbors in Immokalee, which is a fulfilling and humbling duty—and it makes my parents immensely proud of me, too.
My exposure to the right opportunities has completely altered the trajectory of my life—opening new doors and possibilities outside of fieldwork. Before joining TOI, networking was an uncomfortable, awkward experience that I dared not try. However, encouragement from TOI’s directors made it impossible for me to default to my reserved nature—they provided me with the necessary training for personal development while instilling business savvy and a hustler mentality that pushed me out of my comfort zone. Within months I was a confident and passionate spokesperson for the company, spouting bold enthusiasm during speaking events throughout the county, and taking advantage of dual enrollment college business courses. Running this business did wonders for my growth, and I now plan to pursue a career in marketing.
TOI provides scholarships and paid internship positions to students in their program, which has secured opportunities for several TOI grads currently attending universities like Columbia and Cornell. Taste of Immokalee breeds leaders who always come back home to sow back into our community, and I’m proud to say I’ve become one of those leaders.
Immokalee的味道is home.
Photograph courtesy of Taste of Immokalee
