Danny and Tiarzha were recently named Living Treasures by a joint committee of the Rotary Club of Ojai and the Ojai Rotary-West. After this episode, you'll understand why.
They met at UCLA where Danny was a standout sprinter and Tiarzha a student leader and athlete herself. It was an interesting journey for both of them to get to that place — Danny grew up in central Texas before moving to south central Los Angeles, while Tiarzha hails from Anchorage, Alaska. Danny participated in two Olympics and won several medals in the 400 meter race, including a gold medal as part of a relay. Tiarzha went on to a distinguished career in education. They have raised three children in Ojai with those values of community service, social justice and involvement that they themselves were taught by their parents.
Tiarzha is past president of the Ojai Education Foundation and a key member of the Ojai Women's Fund. Danny is a well-regarded chef, owner of Soul Feté - which fuses his extensive travels with the love of cooking he learned from his soul-food-cooking mother. Danny also coaches track and field.
We go deep into sensitive issues around race, justice, history and the wounds that Americans continue to inflict on each other during this strange time in which we live. Ojai, for all its inclusiveness and natural beauty, is not immune to these challenges, despite our self-regard as a progressive, tolerant community. Danny and Tiarzha also have a few laughs about Ojai's quirkiness, fishing and lots of food talk.
Producer of this episode is Dylan Petrucci of Old School Beats. If you enjoy this podcast, we ask you to leave a review on iTunes. If you don't, don't.
