Episode 2 : D’Onna Stubblefield
AIR DATE: April 18th, 2021
In this episode we chat with long time food and beverage industry professional, D’Onna Stubblefield. After taking a much needed break after being burnt out and feeling used up by the industry, D slowly inched her way back in with some new perspective on how to move in the space and setting boundaries to protective herself. We dig into the type of toll it takes working at these types of jobs and how they rob you of energy and time to take care of yourself. As a manager at the new Philadelphia restaurant Sally , D has taken everything she has learned in building support and education in the workplace and talks about how she has implemented them in hopes that this will be a place employees feel comfortable and empowered to speak up and feel supported. Workers in the restaurant industry often know the fucked up owners and management and how they treat people, we talk about how the pandemic let workers, including D, feel comfortable in speaking up about the nonsense. We also touch on white guilt in the form of tiny amounts of money being given to black people to assuage any culpability white folks felt. The podcast Reply All did a wonderful episode on this which is linked here. How working twice as hard as a black person when others give half as much to be recognized, wine, the love for Philly’s aggressive love, and so much more. Burn out is real, especially in the restaurant industry where it is accepted to treat employees like crap and use them up with little to no pay. This episode is a beautiful guide in how to take a step back, re-asses to see what is important, and coming back on your own terms.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Reply All episode on “Reperation Funds”: “Black people all across the US are receiving the world's weirdest form of reparations: Venmo payments from white people. Producer Emmanuel Dzotsi investigates”
Be Wary Spreadsheet: Public list created by Adesola that people can anonymously submit to that allows service industry workers to report unfair treatment, missed wages pre-pandemic and businesses not creative safe environments during the pandemic.
