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

Alright, Jenee thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

One day, they stopped teaching trades in schools and I think we need to bring that back! Men used to build houses with their bare hands. Nowadays, you can’t get these kids to do anything that doesn’t involve technology. Technology has definitely enhanced certain parts of our everyday lives but it has also stunted our growth as humans. Growing up, if my grandmother used a word that I didn’t recognize, I would go sit on her floor and search through the pages of her dictionary until I found it. Now, people just ask Siri. Yes, it’s much easier and less time consuming BUT it takes away the special feeling of finally finding the answer to your question. I don’t know how to explain it but the easier way isn’t always the most fulfilling way, I just wish that we could learn to find the balance between using technology for certain things while not removing the physical aspects of working towards a goal.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Jenee’ Anderson. I am 31 years old and I have an 11 year old daughter Sky. Together, we started FarmBaeNae – a company that focuses on teaching our local Black community how to grow their own food. We started a community garden in Charlotte, NC where we taught beekeeping and organic gardening. Sky, being the star she is, made a video that went viral very early in our social media journey. From then, we have been featured by Fro Babies and The Shade Room, we have had multiple news articles, both print and online, we have been featured in multiple magazines and so on and so forth. I don’t really care about those things, although any time you have the chance for your efforts to be recognized is a great feeling, but what I care about most is the amount of people I have introduced to the magic of growing food. I have educated people around the world about the importance of sustainability. I have sold products on my website and shipped them to every state and 12 countries. I have people tag me in posts almost on a daily basis and show me plants that they are growing based off of the tips I have shown them online. I take the most pride in that.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

When I first started farming, my goal was to introduce the Black community to fruits and vegetables that they weren’t used to seeing and/or having access to. When I first started, I was making it a point to showcase yellow and orange watermelon. In my posting on social media, I caught the eye of the manager for a certain famous basketball player. He told me that he wanted me to ship him a few watermelons to the Midwest. Of course I was super excited and my wheels started turning on HOW in the world I was going to do that. I ended up coming up with the idea of cutting the watermelons up, wrapping them in plastic wrap, putting the fruit on ice, saran wrapping the cooler and overnighting the fruit. Madness, I know! I knew I was taking a huge chance but at the time, I was just getting my feet wet in the farming world and getting my yellow watermelon to such a well known star would be HUGE. I was SO excited for the opportunity. I paid over $400 for overnight shipping just for the package to take an extra day to get there and all of the fruit ended up going bad. I was so defeated. And on top of it all, I never got paid due to the fruit being spoiled. So, I was out of the $400 I paid in shipping, the money I charge for the watermelon AND the chance of promotion from a celebrity. Defeated isn’t the word! I had to keep my head up though, I had to keep going. I ended up keeping the friendly relationship with the manager and a few months later, they ended up moving to Charlotte and I ended up getting a job with them. All in all, that’s how life works. “If at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again.” I could have easily let that get me down but I just kept going. I kept working.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

I also own and run the first and only Black Owned, farm to table bed and breakfast in the United States – The Fresh Eats Retreat. It’s my life’s dream come true. I have always wanted a big old house with a wrap around porch where I could have people from all around the world come visit and eat my food. A place where every corner made you want to cuddle up with a book and spend a couple hours. A place where vegetables and fruit grow in every direction you look. Houseplants in every space, books on every shelf, candles burning and vintage vinyl records playing. It was something that I truly dedicated my entire being towards accomplishing. It is my physical reminder that dreams truly do come true … but not without hard work.

Through my bed and breakfast, I have the opportunity to offer personal chef services for guests who choose a cute date night package. I have the opportunity to offer 1 on 1 cooking classes. I offer basic etiquette classes as well. I am new into the antique China/ dinnerware world but I have recently started sourcing vintage china for a large supplier.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/farmbaenae