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OUR STORY

 

We started the Real Food Real Talk podcast to tell the food stories of the day through interviews with amazing food justice advocates and entrepreneurs. Eventually we decided to pursue a more comprehensive story-telling format by bringing together different voices to speak on a single topic, so that we could begin to peel back the curtain and shine a light on serious food issues facing the public today. We believe that these conversations will help to cultivate a love of food and a greater understanding of where it comes from, laying the groundwork for meaningful changes in our food system. By creating a space for information to be shared, we can further elevate the voices of the incredible group of people working to develop a sustainable and equitable food system.

  • Jaq Gleason
    Jaq Gleason
    Host & Executive Producer
  • Ray Gonzales
    Ray Gonzales
    Executive Producer
Jaq Gleason
Host & Executive Producer

Jacqueline is a Colorado native, a proud Oakland, California dweller, an enthusiastic storyteller, and a passionate food policy warrior. She recently earned a Master of Public Policy, with an emphasis on food policy, at Mills College in Oakland, California. During her graduate studies, she worked with Food Chain Workers Alliance to complete her Master Policy Report, Creating an Equitable and Sustainable Food System Through Local Policy Change, an analysis of the success of the Good Food Purchasing Program in Los Angeles. This report will help to inform future Good Food Purchasing Program campaigns across the U.S. Her previous work includes expanding access to healthy, affordable food for low-income school children across Colorado through community outreach and nutrition education efforts with Oakland based Revolution Foods. She also worked on a permaculture farming collective in Patagonia, helping to connect local farmers to each other to share resources and fresh food.

She believes strongly that local policy is critical to creating meaningful change in our food system. She is a member of the Oakland Food Policy Council and believes our food system should provide all people with access to healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate food that is produced as locally as possible by workers treated with dignity and paid a living wage using sustainable techniques. In her spare time you can find her puttering in the garden and exploring the magical outdoors with her partner and their adventurous pup, Mala.

Ray Gonzales
Executive Producer

From his first job as a dishwasher to VP of Operations with Real Live Foods in Los Angeles, Ray Gonzales has extensive experience in nearly all aspects of food manufacturing, retail, CPG, and restaurant operations.

Currently he is the National Director of Commercialization with Revolution Foods, a mission driven company dedicated to building lifelong healthy eaters by making kid-inspired, chef-crafted food accessible to all. Before he embarked on the commercialization of Revolution Foods products, Ray held the title of National Senior Director of Operations for K-12 school lunches. In this role he helped to expand the operations to serving 1 million meals a week across the country.

Ray has extensive experience working with numerous organic, gluten free, vegan, and vegetarian concepts. Previous to joining Revolution Foods, Ray worked in product development and operations for Trader Joes, Real Live Foods, Leaf Organics, The Chaya Group, and has worked as a consultant to many west coast food manufactures. He specializes in taking food manufacturers, retails stores, and consumer packaged goods to the next level by bringing his experience in the natural foods business, assessing need, and partnering with them to achieve their goals.

As a natural extension of Ray being around the food industry, his interests have now expanded to ways to provide access to healthy food in underserved communities. He is a member the North American Vegetarian Society and the Southern CA Fine Foods Group. As one of the hosts of the Real Food Real Talk podcast he is excited to share his experience, love, and passion of food with everyone. When he’s not hosting the show, Ray likes to explore new restaurants, follow new food trends, learn to brew beer, get creative in the kitchen, and spend time in the fresh air, especially if there’s a beach involved.

Real Food Real Talk 2015

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