We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Regina Silas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Regina below.

Hi Regina, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

My niche is community development and the food ecosystem. My grandfather, owned commercial real estate. It was actually a mixed-use apartment building, with a storefront at the lower level and housing units located above. The building was located in Liberty City, one of the most impoverished communities in Miami-Dade County. That’s a bit of where my inspiration comes from. Additionally, I’ve had a brief introduction and exposure to real estate in my teenage years. At the age of 16, my grandfather insisted my cousin and I, sit through our first closing with him.

He purchased an estate in Atlanta. He wanted us in the room when he was closing, for educational purposes. He told us: sit down, shut up and pay close attention. And we did just that!

However, my interpersonal business encounter and  journey with real estate development, started a few years back. I sat on Liberty Square Coalition board, starting in 2018. I served as the chair of the education committee and community service/engagement chair. Where I interacted directly with the residents.

I seen and heard their needs!

I encountered and noticed a lot of challenges the residents were facing with the redevelopment stages. Liberty Square, is one of the oldest housing projects in the world. During my tenure, I noticed the struggle that came with the residents not adapting to the transition process, in a modest way.

There was a lot of resistance, to say the least. At that time, I noticed the economic development component was missing. I believe around this same time, I started traveling back and forth to Washington D.C, establishing my foundation up north. This gave me the opportunity to be exposed to food cooperatives and utilizing mix used developments for our community to pivot.

I joined DC cooperative stakeholders.
DC co-op stakeholder group has a aim to create nurturing co-op ecosystem in the District that supports the vitality and growth of all types of existing co-ops and the successful launch of new co-ops.

Their strong priorities helped me to expand my knowledge base, even more. This is when I became passionate about giving co-op opportunities within our communities, who traditionally have been economically and politically marginalized. I learned about every type of cooperative, and the power of the connectivity when supportive institutions and the city government collaborate.

Furthermore, I was nominated and selected to be apart of Inner City Capital Connections. (ICCC) is a leadership training program designed by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) to help business owners in under-resourced communities build capacity for sustainable growth and resiliency as well as survive the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This opportunity alone, played an instrumental role in the development of my business plan and model. I become more educated on building out effective sustainability. I traveled to New York and California to visit different already established mixed used food cooperatives. I started deeply studying the models and the Value addition it brings.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

My name is Regina “Gina” Silas. I prefer to be called Gina. I’m a philosopher and philanthropist at heart, before I’m a businesswoman. I just happen to do business, if that makes sense. I inherited the dream and the struggle. My goal is to make us all grow and evolve. I believe this process start at a mental stand point. My goal is to elevate the minds of my people. My academic background is culinary arts and agribusiness. I’m very passionate about the food ecosystem.

My agenda tackles mass poverty and decentralization and stops gentrification. These efforts are accomplished through Smart city models. Which is urban infrastructures, namely Smart urban transportation and Smart urban energy systems.

I researched and studied and I noticed that in 2011, President Barak Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act, making it one of the most significant food safety laws in over seven decades. The law shifted the focus from responding to food contamination incidents to proactively preventing them. Food safety is a vital consideration during harvesting, manufacturing, and packaging processes. An element of equal importance is the quality of storage conditions in regard to transportation. With so many modes of transportation carrying foods with different refrigeration requirements, temporary climate control is essential to preventing dangerous contamination. This bill supports the core of my priorities.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Of course, I had to master resilience from being the personal representative of my late grandfather estate. He had such of a massive life. When you step in shoes that big and build your own life, at the same time; it can be frightening. My journey has been full of sacrifices and blood, sweat and tears.

But, what has taught me the most resilience is the response I get when I first tell people my agenda. I’m a young Black woman. They look at me in disbelief, or how could she pull that off? I get this reaction, until they start to hear me speak in depth and hear my knowledge base. Then, it becomes almost shocking to them, that I have so much intelligence. The scenario changes and I always walk away with a smirk. The doubt has made me build up resilience and confidence, like no other!

Regal, Grace and Resilience is my motto.

It’s my intellectual curiosity and my deep love for history that has taken my mind and my life to some amazing places. I’m forever Grateful!

My discipline is fasting and prayer. This is a practice that has kept me grounded and true to who I am, at my core! I’ve found purpose, passion and grace. Right now, I believe we’re at a time to push THE DREAM forward, together!!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Over the years, I’ve read many books and watched countless amounts of documentaries. I’m a person who don’t watch T.V at all. Grace and Power is one of my favorite books. It’s based of John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy Camelot Era. Particularly, I studied Jackie Kennedy. I like to call her my forerunner. She’s a prime example of what could be achieved.

Jackie, became First Lady at the age of 31. She’s one of the youngest First Ladies in history. However, she’s one of the most influential women in history. She restored the White House at the age of 32. I’m 32, and my goal is to restore the City of OpaLocka and introduce the moors and their history. Age, isn’t a factor. What matters is your intellectual ability and your will to get things accomplished. I owe all who I am to the elders and their guidance. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson will always be that close impact for me.

The guy I’m dating is brilliant and very innovative. He told me about an opportunity to study abroad. I applied and I was selected. The program is called Ignite Africa. It’s a very impactful experience, for me. Ignite is a cohort of female agribusiness founders and leaders, from all throughout different countries in Africa and the diaspora. I’m the only woman that’s descending from the diaspora in the United States. This platform makes me feel as if I’m representing our entire country, at large! I’m thankful, to be given this opportunity. My goal is to continue growing and thriving and breaking the glass ceilings and paving a way for my generation and the generations that’s coming behind me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.JBSFoundations.org
• Instagram: ReginaRacquel
• Facebook: Regina Silas
• Linkedin: Regina Silas
• Youtube: JBS Foundation