In today’s episode, I interview Jon Katz who is a personal coach at Food Ways Coaching.
Jon had an intensely neurotic upbringing on the Upper West Side of Manhattan that left him with the best and the worst that the neighborhood has to offer: extreme cultural acumen *and* a ton of intergenerational pain, respectively.
He lived in New Orleans from the age of 18-32, first in college and then wallowing on-and-off in the degenerate filth of that city's service industry: a localized hell of drugs, alcohol, hook-ups, broken dreams and lack of commitment.
Jon spent years in his 20s traveling the world, working on sustainable local agriculture projects. This gave him a deep and abiding love for local food, food systems, and alternative ways of living and being. It was also a way for him to run from his problems (fun fact: one can never run from that which they carry within themselves).
In late 2020 Jon went through a horrendous breakup after his fiancée came out as a lesbian. This drove him to the absolute PIT of temporary pleasure-seeking, and was the catalyst for him to, after a period of intense pain, turn his life around.
Since getting healthy Jon has established a citywide food rescue program that currently feeds *thousands* of families a week with edible but unsalable food donations that would otherwise be thrown out. This is an extension of his love for self and his drive to heal his own system: healing a broken food system.
Then Jon experienced an apartment fire on August 1, 2022. This was a massive blessing in disguise--by stripping him of "everything", he learned that, with the proper perspective, nothing of value can ever be taken from us, because what is truly valuable are our internal assets. Following the fire, he didn't skip a beat with his program, either.
Jon has found that coaching others others is THE GREATEST FEELING IN THE WORLD. There is NO GREATER HIGH (and this is from someone that went to Burning Man, twice) than helping to absolve people of pain--the same pain that he managed to absolve himself of. This is his life's mission. His calling. His purpose.
To connect with Jon, please visit:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-katz-1844881a3
IG: @nycfoodways
