tash straker
Creative Facilitator weaving inner practice, interdependance and regenerative principles into real-world food systems change.
I help people and organisations bring about real systems change by tending to the relationships that hold everything together - inner practice, creativity, and bioempathy. Based in Nairobi, I founded Give a Scrap, where we create intentional spaces and experiences that dare to matter.
Creativity for me it's an inescapable yearning to produce, to play, to immerse my soul in a golden moment of raw vulnerability - whether in visioning workshops, collaborative food events or in the kitchen and studio.
I was raised in rural Scotland and have since been lucky enough to live and work in three continents, most recently in Kenya. I am a potter and painter with a reverence for the the written word. I can happily spend hours devising recipes from whatever’s at hand (or foragable)! We grew up close to the land, and that sense of interconnection runs through my work - whether I’m in an office, on a farm, at the pottery wheel or by the stove.
The thread through my story is an unwavering curiosity about food and health - kept alive through my work and the magical, imaginative journey of @giveascrap, where we remember eating as medicine and the art of gathering as meaningful. @earthyplates is deeply rooted here too: ceramics grew from agriculture’s need to store and share food. Perhaps you’ve even noticed that when you eat out of an imperfect handmade creation you subconsciously slow down and hold a greater appreciation for what is before you?
“When we change the quality of our attention, we change the quality of our food systems”
Weaving inner development into real-world food systems change
I’m interested in how we can better approach systems change by nurturing human vitality and the inner capacities needed for today’s dynamic, interconnected challenges. With this, the through-line in my work is inner practices that shift how we relate, paired with creative practical pilots that move food systems on the ground.
Curious how this looks in your context?
earthyplates
Original, one-off artwork and ceramics designed and created by tash. Each piece is flawed, chaotic and characterful as a mirror of what it is to be wonderfully and wildly human.
consulting
Expertise in sustainability, innovation, systems change and facilitation across corporates, international non-governmental organisations and not-for-profits.
giveascrap
Revitilising experiences designed with intentionality to provoke thought, build communities and gently create shifts in engaging, vibrant and playful ways.
Over the past five years, I have taken on a diverse range of collaborative work, all with the core ethos of social and environmental innovation centred around systems change. I also host creative workshops and craft ceramics commissions.
Do please connect if you are interested in collaborating in any of these capacities or if you have any questions about any of the current creations I have for sale.
“Nothing is waste, everything transforms“ ~ anon