We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ethan West. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ethan below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Ethan with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
My work ethic comes from multiple places as most character traits do. One of the most present in my reflections would be tied to my upbringing and being raised by two incredibly kind and hard-working parents. My mom taught me to lead with my heart while working with my hands. Day in and day out she would be taking care of the land, taking care of our family, and ensuring that at every step of the way there was an understanding amongst me and my siblings of our relationship to the earth and our responsibility to life around us. My dad was a farmer at heart and a Chiropractor by trade and alongside my mom helped instill in me that you don’t stop until the job is done but paired that with the joys of serving a purpose larger than yourself in helping to heal those around you through your work and presence. I became this beautiful blend between leading with your heart and not giving up in service of my community and I owe that almost entirely to the formative years and childhood that my parents afforded me.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My story starts and ends at the farm. Growing up being connected with our primary life-giving source helped to set the foundation for the rest of my life and one day it;s my goal to get back to farming full-time. In the mean time I’m working on giving families all over the world access to healthy, safe, delicious local foods at their first taste of life.
For the past three years I have been at the helm of a regeneratively sourced local baby food company called Piko Provisions. It started as a way for me to honor the 6+ generations of family farmers that came before me by providing food to families at the first taste of life from farmers directly in their community taking care of the earth the way that it deserves. In the past three years we’ve been able to take that idea across the state and over the next three years we will be launching dozens of new products across the continental United States in communities that need them the most in order to raise the next generation on healthy local food. Starting next year in 2024 we will be expanding our product offerings to include additional stages of purees as well as finger foods and juices not just for grocers and retailers but for classrooms across the state as well.
It’s our mission to increase equity and access in the food system for farmers and families alike through market-driven food system regeneration and it’s our honor and responsibility to play our role in serving our community, paying farmers what it takes to thrive and ensuring radical transparency along the food chain so families know exactly what they are feeding their little ones when they buy a Piko Provisions product.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Asking the right questions. Curiosity may have killed the cat but complacency kept the cat from achieving anything. Get curious and continue to chase that little spark that we’re all born with. One of the best questions you can ask is, how can I help? 2. Get comfortable getting uncomfortable. Periods of stress are also periods of growth. If you’re a founder, a startup or really in any profession you are going to have to get outside of your comfortable and be very self aware at what your strengths and weaknesses are. Being able to identify them is just one step being able to actively work on bettering yourself and empowering others to step into their strengths as well is going to be uncomfortable but is one of the best qualities you can have that is conducive to growth.
3. Humility and gratitude — these two characteristics will take you far. Being humble in your successes and skills and gracious for your shortcomings and setbacks. There is a lesson in every interaction and the more gracious and humble you can be when those lessons present themselves the better off you will be.
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
A current challenge I’m facing is discovering how I lead a new and growing team as we expand. Transitioning from the person doing it all to the person releasing control and empowering those around them to get the job done and get it done well is a serious change and one that places a mirror in front of you quickly and often for self-reflection.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://pikoprovisions.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pikoprovisions
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pikoprovisions
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pikoprovisions
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/pikoprovisions
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@pikoprovisions
Image Credits
Piko Provisions
