Social Impact Entrepreneur Charity Blanchett

Social Impact Entrepreneur Charity Blanchett

Charity Blanchett is a storyteller, social impact entrepreneur and food bon vivant. She is also the founder of the Dipping Spoon Foundation whose work includes identifying and cultivating the next generation of Black, Indigenous, women of color and youth culinary rockstars.

Born and raised in Alaska to an African American father from Philadelphia and a Yupik native American mother, Charity has fond memories of how food has influenced her work today.

“My mother cooked and we ate our traditional foods which she called Western-style food as well. We had lots of cookbooks but the one cookbook I really remember my mom using was the Better Crocker spiral cookbook with red cover and I would always ask my mom if I could help her and she always said no. It wasn’t until I started Dipping spoon, I was like, ‘Why did my mom say no to me,’ and then I realized, oh I would have slowed her down. She was on a roll. My mom really enjoys the mise en place part. Now in my life, that is what I enjoy, I enjoy the mise en place, but my mom would say no, but I still stayed in the kitchen and I would watch her and I would observe her.”

Charity would always see females in her mother’s village helping their aunts and cousins in the kitchen and so the natural talent she picked up by just hanging around her mom grew to helping her cook for major holidays.

A chance trip to Los Angeles introduced Charity to the world of food festivals and different foods and it was there that she began thinking more about the Native American foodways. She founded the Dipping Spoon Foundatio to nurture upcoming talent in the culinary industry through programs and scholarships.

Be sure check out the episode to learn more about her work and what lies ahead for her and the organization in 2023.

Learn more about the Dipping Spoon Foundation on its website and follow along on Instagram for updates on scholarships, programs and more.