A speakers bureau that represents the best original thinkers,
writers, and doers for speaking engagements.
Food is the sum of our collective origins: history, technology, culture, and more. It can help us make sense of who we are—and where we're going.
“The only shared cultural connection that we all have is food,” says Stephen Satterfield, social entrepreneur and host of the Peabody-winning Netflix docuseries High on the Hog. Stephen argues that by understanding the complex, multi-faceted stories behind the dishes we create (a process he calls “origin foraging”), we can better understand not only ourselves but also the people around us—and even the collective experience of being human. One of the most respected voices in the food and culture landscape, he has won two NAACP Image Awards, been profiled in The New Yorker, and been featured across the media from Fast Company to The Washington Post. In talks, he reveals how companies and individuals can find power in their unique story, and how food can be a powerful vessel for storytelling and empathy in a divided world. “Food has a singular ability to connect all of us to our own origins,” he says. “It is the most efficient way of helping people to see themselves.”
Stephen Satterfield has spent his career redefining food and beverage as means of organizing, activating and educating. He is the founder of Whetstone, a groundbreaking magazine and media company dedicated to food origins and culture from around the world, as well as HONE Media, a culinary talent agency.
Stephen is the host of the critically acclaimed Netflix docuseries High on the Hog, which won a Peabody Award for Documentary and two NAACP Image Awards for Best Documentary Series. On the show, he puts Black cuisine at the center of American history, offering a fuller picture of the many people, cultures, and events that make up the story of this country. He and his work have been covered in a massive profile in The New Yorker, as well as in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fast Company, Business Insider, Slate, Harvard Business Review, and many more.
Prior to his career in media, Stephen was a sommelier and social entrepreneur promoting wine as a catalyst for socioeconomic development for Black wine workers in South Africa.
When we understand the complex factors that make up an individual’s origin story, we unlock a new path to empathy, says Stephen Satterfield. In this talk, the host of the critically acclaimed Netflix docuseries High on the Hog reveals his framework of “origin foraging” and how it can help us understand not only ourselves but all the people around us.
“Foraging for origin just means understanding where the things we eat come from, as a way to better understand the experience of being human,” Stephen says. A former sommelier, he reveals how the stories behind the food we eat can reveal our personal terroir (“where we came from, and how the soil, climate, slopes, and human intervention played into how we are and who we are”). And he shows how, in our divided time, this insight can help us forge new paths towards community, connection, and belonging.
“Story and power are synonymous,” says Stephen Satterfield, host of Netflix’s Peabody Award-winning docuseries High on the Hog. A good story is the most influential form of power in the world—nothing else comes close.
Stephen has spent his career wielding the power of story to influence culture, shape perspectives, and reframe our understanding of our history. In this talk, he unpacks the function and utility of story, showing audiences how to use it to gain and wield power or hold it to account. He teaches leaders, marketers, and everyone else how to choose the right narrative for your audience and articulate a compelling message. And he offers new inspiration to use this knowledge to make your own voice heard.
