We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Diane Mora. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Diane below.
Diane, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?
The simple answer is necessity. Throughout my life, I’ve been at junctures where my desire for a specific lifestyle or the necessity to provide for myself pushes me forward. I always commit myself 150% to any endeavor, and because I’m a perfectionist, I have a great ability to focus. Most importantly, I’m not afraid of learning and practicing, which always involves risk.
It also helps to surround myself with people who support and lift me up. My mentors Chef John Joyce and Dr. Judy Levin always supported me so that I could approach risks with confidence. My daughter and many people I’ve worked with as colleagues over the years are always betting on me. I’m not immune to the internal voices of self-doubt, but my support network helps drown out the noise.
The biggest motivator to me, though, is that I relish proving to naysayers that I can do anything I set my mind to. I have a history of proving others wrong—I now hold several degrees in unrelated disciplines, proving that I am college material after being told otherwise on a high school “aptitude” test; I’m an internationally recognized chef, having proved myself in a male-dominated, top-down environment; and now, I’m tackling the challenge of creating a first-of-its-kind community service program that can be implemented in high schools and communities across the country.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’ve worn many hats throughout my career, including being a chef, a teacher, an entrepreneur, and a volunteer for many different local and international causes. I’m also passionate about environmental sustainability and reducing food waste, both personally at home and on a larger scale in my community. All these experiences have merged into my current passion project: Kids Feeding Kids (www.kidsfeedingkids.org), a Kansas City program that empowers high school students to prepare free, nutritious meals for low-income families. My role as the Program and Education Director is to design a high school curriculum and recipes that teach students about food justice and the environmental and social impacts of food waste. Teachers get to sign up for me to visit their classroom to lead the instruction and help with food preparation of up to 1,000 meals for donation to low-income families, all prepared by high schoolers.
I love working with teachers and students. It’s incredibly fulfilling to know that I continue to shape education in ways that produce measurable outcomes and inspire students to become life-long volunteers contributing to their communities. My favorite part of each project is reading the comments from the students after they’ve prepared the meals. Without fail, they get entirely fired up about doing something that directly helps someone in their communities, while also learning new skills and proving that they can contribute! Our capacity has grown steadily since I accepted my role almost three years ago. During the 2023-24 school year, Kids Feeding Kids will have funded cooking projects with more than 750 students and their teachers who then prepared over 10,000 take-home meals distributed for free to low-income families. It’s incredible to see the impact these classes are making on multiple levels.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
My greatest skill is turning weaknesses into opportunities. Many of the pivotal moments in my life have occurred because of challenges, like changing careers from being a professional chef to an English teacher when personal and health issues came up for me. Or when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world as we knew it, and I ended up volunteering with Pete’s Garden and meeting its Founder, Tamara Weber. Eventually, Kids Feeding Kids grew out of my relationship with her and my current position as Program and Education Director for Kids Feeding Kids. So I guess the second thing is, building relationships by getting directly involved to learn about someone else’s passion, like Tamara’s for example. And finally, enjoying the adventure of it all. Neither my personal life or my career has turned out to be like anything I would have imagined for myself. There have been hills and valleys, twists and turns but somehow I always manage to find myself exactly where I feel I’m supposed to be…until the next adventurous turn, that is!
A related quality of mine is that I am a diligent lifelong learner. When something piques my interest, I want to delve into it and learn everything possible. My path to higher education didn’t happen on a perfectly timed, well-orchestrated schedule. I’m the epitome of a “non-traditional” student who held jobs before she held diplomas. I never let the lack of a degree hold me back from doing something I am passionate about, and eventually, I followed many of those passions to school and earned degrees in multiple disciplines.
Above all, what drives me is my skill of listening and engaging with my community. Kids Feeding Kids is rooted in these skills – we know from our conversations with stakeholders that we can meet multiple groups’ needs through the project. Teachers get greatly needed instructional support for creating real-world learning, students learn a skill while giving back to their communities and earning community service hours, families in need get nutrition-rich meal support, and our environment benefits from redirecting what would otherwise be food waste in our communities.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
Our goal is to continue scaling Kids Feeding Kids from a local Kansas City project to something that can be replicated nationwide. Our successes in schools across the states of Missouri and Kansas tell us that every community can benefit from increased food security and teaching philanthropic values to the next generation. Patrick Mahomes and his foundation, 15 and the Mahomies, have encouraged our vision from the start through financial assistance. This year we were honored that the WellSky Foundation chose to express their belief in Kids Feeding Kids with a generous $200,000 two-year grant. We’re working on leveraging those contributions to demonstrate to other potential funders that we will be good stewards of their support as we expand Kids Feeding Kids to schools in many more states. There’s so much excitement about this project, and we can’t wait to reach more communities! We’re looking for like-minded people or organizations to engage with us – is that you? Learn more at kidsfeedingkids.org/donate.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kidsfeedingkids.org
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/dmora4
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/dianemmora/
Image Credits:
JCCC (Johnson County Community College, 2024)
