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The CSU Spur of the Moment Podcast tackles the issues of food, water, health, and sustainability by talking with people making a difference in these fields and exploring the unique pathways that have led them to their current roles. Hosted by the Colorado State University System's new Spur campus in Denver, this podcast builds on its mission of addressing global challenges through research collaboration, experiential education, and a shared vision of inspiring the next generation.
LaKisha Odom (00:00):
I always feel like agriculture is this amazing gift of a field because I feel like there's nothing that you're interested in that you can't find a home in agriculture, which is why I love it so much.
Jocelyn Hittle (00:14):
Welcome to Spur of the Moment, the podcast of Colorado State University's Spur campus in Denver, Colorado.
LaKisha Odom (00:21):
That farmer in California is going to be very different than somebody in Alabama raising watermelon or sweet potato or field peas, so I'm often thinking about how do we ensure that no one gets left behind As we think about this new future of agriculture.
Jocelyn Hittle (00:42):
On this podcast, we talk with experts in food, water, health and sustainability and learn about their current work and their career journeys. I'm Jocelyn Hittle, associate Vice Chancellor of the CSU Spur Campus, and I'm joined today by Lakeisha Odom, the scientific program director for the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research where she's been since 2016. Dr. Odom is committed to promoting the use of innovative science and interdisciplinary thinking to tackle today's complex challenges in food and agriculture. Prior to her work with FFAR, Dr. Odom held positions in the U-S-E-P-A in the Office of Research and Development and the Brownfield Redevelopment Program. Dr. Odom was also an early career intern for the Public Policy board of the American Phyto Pathological Society and a Aass Science and Technology Policy fellow at the USDA Biotechnology regulatory service where she managed a diverse portfolio, which included working with the OECD working group for the harmonization of regulatory oversight and biotechnology. And I know we're going to talk more about all of that. Lakeisha received her bachelor's degree from Tuskegee University, her master's degree from the George Washington University and her doctorate from Tuskegee University. Welcome Dr. Odom.
LaKisha Odom (01:47):
Thank you so much for having me.
Jocelyn Hittle (01:49):
I'm excited to dive a little deeper into all of these experiences. As I was reading your bio, I was thinking, oh my goodness, so many different things, such a journey and I'm interested to hear more about them. But maybe we can start with what is a day in the life like for you right now?
LaKisha Odom (02:04):
Right now at the Foundation for Food and Ag Research or FFAR, I'm a scientific program director and what that consists of is a mixture of things. So there's identifying new areas for research, so we look for gaps. The foundation is based on developing and increasing research funding through public private partnerships. So it's very often I'm building relationships, I'm engaging with industry NGOs, international partners. We also award grants, so we've awarded about 360 grants since our inception, and that's about 713 million I believe total. And so that's a lot of managing those grantees. And so it's constantly either managing, looking for the next exciting idea, developing fellowships, which is something else that I do within far. I manage our workforce development. If you can't tell from my resume, I like a lot of different experiences and I like new challenges and so far often offers me lots of opportunities to explore and learn and continue to grow as a professional.
Jocelyn Hittle (03:12):
Can you say more about some of the big projects that you and your team are focused on right now?
LaKisha Odom (03:17):
Absolutely. So right now we are funding a number of exciting projects and some of them I will talk about tomorrow at the conference. Ecosystem services is something that we're really quite excited about. We funded a larger project called Open Team that focuses on interoperability of data and increasing decision support tools. And then I would say some of the other projects that I'm quite excited about are around DEI in the soil health space. So they're not necessarily our biggest dollar amounts, but I think they're quite exciting. So understanding perspectives of bipoc or black and indigenous farmers and ranchers, recognizing that the needs for them as far as we think about adoption and technical assistance and support might be a bit different. The profile of farmers and ranchers is different, and so we recognize that we know some about a particular profile, but not necessarily what are women ranchers in Arizona thinking about, for example, and what do they need and what are their research needs.
(04:21):
So one of the things that far is really committed to is looking at the needs across commodities, specialty crops, but also size and scale of operation. And I'm from Alabama and I come from a history of subsistence farming. So for me, I'm always thinking about what would my grandfather respond to, where would he get his information and what would he need? So it's not always the same thing. A farmer in California is going to be very different than somebody in Alabama raising watermelon or sweet potato or fill peas. So I'm often thinking about how do we ensure that no one gets left behind as we think about this new future of agriculture?
Jocelyn Hittle (05:00):
Absolutely. It's so interesting to think about the transect of diversity within agriculture are various. You've got different geographies, you have different crops or commodities, you have different weather patterns, you have different amounts of water, you have different soil types. All of these things require a more tailored approach than some other industries might. Just the diversity of circumstances pretty intense.
LaKisha Odom (05:26):
That's what makes agriculture so exciting to me though, is that there are so many different factors, but also so many people that are just committed to trying to feed the world and protect their environment, protect their water, protect their soil, and protect their legacy. And something about that is so beautiful to me.
Jocelyn Hittle (05:47):
There is something to our agriculturalists are the real stewards of our lands and have been for generations. So there's real, that legacy piece is so critical to so many people.
LaKisha Odom (05:58):
Absolutely. And I think that as we think about issues around labor and workforce and robotics and so many other challenges are really making it difficult right now I think. But I don't sense any less passion or commitment to agriculture. So one of the things though we are a research funding organization, one of the things I take pride in is we're coming up with solutions or trying to come up with innovations that will make this important hard job potentially easier, more profitable, more accessible. But I think that's part of the reason why I get so excited about the work that I get to do.
Jocelyn Hittle (06:41):
You also mentioned ecosystem services as something that you and your team are focused on. Can you tell us what does that mean for someone who might not be familiar with that term?
LaKisha Odom (06:50):
So we use the term ecosystem services to describe any additional service that our land provides us. So if you're thinking about if you protect your soil, you reduce the amount of a chance for erosion or runoff. If you think about when it heavy rains and then you just see soil running everywhere, but you keep something on the land cover crops or some cropping, then you tend to break that down or you reduce that ecosystem. Services are just these multitudes of additional services that are provided many times through agricultural practices. The challenging part is that they are not often valued. And so what you have is you have producers that are adopting some really interesting and innovative environmentally conscious practices, but they're kind of doing it on their own. They're not really getting support for it financially. Some through federal programs, but not nearly to compensate.
(07:48):
And those additional beneficial characteristics or practices they adopt enable us to do things like sequester carbon from the environment or protect our water sources. So it's a gift in a way, but it is a gift that has a cost. And so much of what I think we wanted to try to fund and support is figuring out how we can identify sound clear researchable evidence-based decisions that would enable farmers and ranchers to adopt practices that not only are profitable but also are beneficial to the environment. I think sometimes we feel like you can have either or, but I think with certain sets of practices, definitely within soil health and water management, you can have the best of both worlds, but it is an investment and it is a different way of being and that has a cost. And so is there a way for us to monetize that and provide resources or some sort of compensation for those producers that are adopting those practices?
Jocelyn Hittle (08:51):
So just to use an example, maybe to highlight what you're talking about, a farmer has a crop that they plant over the course of the summer and then they harvest it and then they might plant another crop that holds the soil in place that doesn't make them any money. They pay some money to actually put that crop in the ground. It doesn't make them any money, but it keeps all that soil from running off into the river that then the water utility for example, has to do less treatment or the water is cleaner for the environment in general. So what you're looking at is how can you pay the farmer back essentially for the cost that they incur that other people reap the benefits of?
LaKisha Odom (09:30):
Absolutely. And I think that's always a struggle with environmental issues is that it's kind of a tragedy of the commons. These resources belong to everyone and no one. So if a small group of folks are doing things to protect them in a way that is within their purview to do, how do we enable them to continue to do that?
Jocelyn Hittle (09:51):
That's really important. So tell me a little bit about the team that's around you doing this work. What kinds of skills do you need on your team?
LaKisha Odom (09:59):
It's pretty exciting because our team is comprised of not just scientists, right? Yes. You have scientific program directors, scientific program associates and assistants and officers. That's our science team. But on each of our teams, we also have a grant person, at least one person in communications, folks in development to help us to identify partnerships and build those relationships so that we can fund. So actually we have a pretty multi-talented team. So I think any expertise in any space around either the scientific side, but if you love communications, that's a space for you. If you really love figuring out how to develop relationships, development team could be awesome. And then our grants team, so if you like numbers or making sure that documents are accurate. So I always feel like agriculture is this amazing gift of a field because I feel like there's nothing that you're interested in that you can't find a home in agriculture, which is why I love it so much.
Jocelyn Hittle (11:00):
And you may not know this, but the CSU Spur campus, a lot of what we're focused on is trying to introduce people to careers in food and agriculture, water health and sustainability. And so I agree with you, there's a wide variety of careers within agriculture. You could fly a drone, you can be an analyst of really intense data sets, big data sets. You can be a writer and a communicator, you can be a filmmaker. All of these things are really part of agriculture and it sounds like even just part of your team.
LaKisha Odom (11:31):
I recently was at a meeting where they were talking about future workforce needs in agriculture. And I saw this statistic that made me very sad, which is only about 3% of millennials consider agriculture as a career path. And I just feel like there's so much opportunity that we don't often think about. And so there's a very specific view of what agriculture is. And I'm from Alabama, I'm a black woman from Alabama. I know what people feel about agriculture and I did my dissertation work in cotton. So my whole family was like, we did all this work to send you to school to get you out of agriculture and here you are again. But I absolutely adore it. It has been the most rich experience. I never failed to find new things to love, to explore and to learn in this space. And you're feeding people like you're taking care of the world.
Jocelyn Hittle (12:25):
Yeah, it's nourishing on all fronts, right?
LaKisha Odom (12:28):
Absolutely. I love that. Yes, that's what it is.
Jocelyn Hittle (12:31):
So let's talk a little bit about your work on the diversity side of things. You've talked a little bit about it, but maybe you can be a bit more specific. You said 3% of millennials are interested in going into agriculture. What does that look like when you start to break it down across different racial and ethnic groups and what are you doing to try to get more of those folks into agriculture?
LaKisha Odom (12:50):
It looks like I'm a little concerned at who will be at the table. I often say this where I'm often in conversations or asked to speak around sustainability and regenerative ag. And for me, those are the future. We're talking about sustaining the world for the future, but very often there aren't a lot of women in the room. There aren't a lot of people of color in the room. So I'm a little worried sometimes when we're talking about the future, how are these voices not in the room? If you're not in the room, how are you weighing in on what the future should look like in these spaces given, especially in the us, agriculture just has a very storied past with minorities, but I don't think that that's a reason for us to stay away from that. I think there's a reason for us to engage more in this space.
(13:36):
Some of the things that we are funding, we have a couple of fellowships that I'm pretty excited about that we've gotten off the ground. One is with the Native American Agriculture Fund, and that is looking at bringing more indigenous students into agriculture. One is a pretty exciting one with the Kirschner Foundation where we're looking at HBCU students historically back colleges and universities, but we're training them on how to engage with venture capital because that's just a space. That's another opportunity that people don't think of that does exist. And so a number of scientists that I know now are tiptoeing into that space, and I think that's very exciting. And there's also a lot of venture capital interest in agricultural research right now. So helping students even understand that that is a possibility, I believe, I don't know if the status is accurate, but I think it's less than one or 2% of venture capitalists anything is a person of color or a woman. And so finding these opportunities to just expose like you're doing here. And so much of it is just if I don't see myself there, I don't think it's possible for me to be there. But if I see me there and I've had so many students walk up to me and just say, you look like me, and that makes them feel like this is a space that they can work in and thrive and be excited and give and contribute to the world.
Jocelyn Hittle (15:00):
Yeah, it's so important for people to be able to see themselves in these career paths. So thank you for the work that you're doing to ensure that they see more people like them and that we're continuing to keep doors and options open. Let's talk about some of the challenges in your day. What are some of the bigger challenges? How do you get around them and is there anyone that you call for help?
LaKisha Odom (15:19):
Oh yes. It's a group chat in WhatsApp. That's all they're there for. I think sometimes the hardest challenge for me is sometimes maintaining that joy. Life is hard lately, and ag is hard and some of the things that you recognize that we're up against feel sometimes insurmountable. I mean, that's just the truth. So you think about the IPC reports when you read about climate change or you read about we're losing land, and when you hear about all of these things just in agriculture, not all the other things in the world, but that is sometimes a part that I struggle with because when you look at the enormity of it, it feels like what can one person do? And then send a bunch of text messages in my group chat and remind myself that there are so many people that are committed and passionate and intelligent and capable and competent, and we're all thinking about the same things and partnering in some really unique ways lately that I haven't seen. And that gives me a lot of hope. And that kind of brings me back
Jocelyn Hittle (16:29):
One last question in the day in the life and then I do want to talk a bit about your history, how you got where you are. I think we all maybe have days. I hope we all have days or moments where we think I was just good at my job. What has just happened for you when you have that thought?
LaKisha Odom (16:46):
So I recently had the opportunity to participate in a climate underground virtual meeting. I was asked to participate, and it's a really cool event. It's been going on for about three years now, and it's sponsored by Vice President Al Gore. And so I was like, yes, I'm invited. I will be on this panel. And also on this panel was Dr. Ratan Law, who is a person that I cited religiously during my PhD. So now I'm on a panel with Dr. Ratan Law. And I didn't realize this, I don't often read all my emails, but Vice President Gore was moderating and I did not know that until I got on camera.
Jocelyn Hittle (17:29):
That's quite a surprise.
LaKisha Odom (17:30):
And I was like, I should pay attention to details, but probably it's better that I didn't would've freaked out. I was just like, yeah, it's great. It's great. Good. And it was just this amazing moment of a person that I read their work religiously when I was doing my own research and we're on a panel together and we before, but I was just like, man, Dr knows my name and then Vice President course had my name. So for me, I think that was probably like, wow, this is pretty cool. And then I think the next week I had a chance to go to Tuskegee at their professional agricultural workers conference. I got to see the folks that, and I went there for undergrad. So some of these people knew when I was 18 years old. And to be able to present to them and talk to them about possibilities and talk to the students that, so I don't know which one is higher or lower, but they both are pretty cool.
Jocelyn Hittle (18:30):
It sounds like a good sort of one-two punch of experiences, particularly the sense that you were on a panel with someone that you were looking up to and then you got to go and sort of reach a hand back to the younger generation.
LaKisha Odom (18:43):
Absolutely.
Jocelyn Hittle (18:44):
At the same time. So it's a nice moment within
LaKisha Odom (18:47):
Three days of each check because one happened on Friday and then I left for Saturday for the conference. So I was back to back. I was like, oh, this is great. I'm killing it this week.
Jocelyn Hittle (18:57):
We all have also moments that don't feel that way. So we're not going to talk about those today. But I have one question for you. It's one of our spur of the moment questions. So when you were four or five, what did you want to be when you grew up?
LaKisha Odom (19:08):
I think I wanted to be a judge.
Jocelyn Hittle (19:10):
Excellent.
LaKisha Odom (19:11):
I don't even know if I knew what one was, but I felt like that was a thing I should do.
Jocelyn Hittle (19:15):
There you go. I think a lot of us when we're four or five don't have a clear concept of what a job actually is. Okay. So let's go back a little bit. Can you tell us in the broad brush strokes how it is that you got to where you are?
LaKisha Odom (19:26):
I think I often say that I'm just a person who chases really complex things. I like challenges. It's just a thing that really excites me. It's figuring out complex situations. I think I started out in environmental science and then I was like, oh, I got a fellowship and decided to go to EPA and was there for a couple of years and then got my master's there. And then I said, well, this is window of time where I think I might want to go back and get my PhD. Part of that was I was in a policy space, but I was in offices with a lot of people that were making policies that were quite scientific, but they didn't necessarily have scientific background. And so I was like, well, if I really like this space and I think I want to stay in this space, I feel like I need to go back and get this undergirding.
(20:13):
And I'd already had a fascination for genetically modified crops, crop breeding, soil science. So I would always handle a lot of, even though I was an environmental science student, I came up through the Ag school. So a lot of my classes were ag classes. And so I said, well, if I want to go back and get a PhD, this could be really cool. And so I decided to do that and study the impact of a genetically modified cotton that had been designed. It had a synthetic peptide and more I wanted to know the effect of it on the environment. So I wanted to know the impact on soil health and on enzymatic activity. And then after that I'd heard about the AAA S policy fellowship and I said, well, this sounds like a thing that's made for me. And so I ended up going to USDA and I thought, this is it.
(20:56):
This is where I'm going to go federal. That's all I want to be. And then I was like, no, maybe not. And this is one of those moments that I'll share that wasn't so great. So I thought I was going to get a position with USDA and I did not. I did not have another plan for my life. So I was a little bit like, what is happening? And this position came across when I was doing job searches and I was like, no. And then another friend said to me and I was like, no, I don't think this is a good fit for me. I don't know about nonprofit. And then I had another friend, the people kept calling me, you need to apply for the shop. And I was like, I dunno, I don't think so. And then I had a friend call and say, apply today.
(21:35):
I was like, fine, I'll apply. And then the executive director at the time called me because the way they wrote the position description wasn't accurate. Once she described the job, I wanted the job. So I say that to say sometimes your original plan, you're not exactly where you think you might need to be, but you end up in a better place. This is the best job for me. I mean, I think there are skill sets that I've discovered in myself and capabilities that just a job like this calls it out. It's a nonprofit. We're a smaller organization. You kind of have to have multiple hats and wear multiple hats. Surprise, surprise. I like hats,
(22:14):
(22:14):
And so then after I got to the foundation was really where I realized that all these seemingly disparate opportunities or experiences made me really well suited for this position. So it's been amazing. So I always encourage folks, even if you don't think you'll like it, talk to somebody that does call 'em up, find 'em on LinkedIn. Just ask 'em, will they give you 10, 15 minutes of their time? Most of the time they will surprisingly enough, and ask them exactly what you're asking me. There are probably some things that you don't know that you would love because you haven't been exposed to them yet.
Jocelyn Hittle (22:49):
I forget the book that outlines this, how people are particularly bad at predicting what's going to make them happy in the future, but a much better way, a more accurate way to assess whether or not somebody's going to make you happy is to talk to somebody who is in that position or has made that decision. So I think your advice is great. Can you talk to someone who's in that space and have that help inform what your next step might be? Even if it's something unexpected,
LaKisha Odom (23:14):
I encourage it all of the time because there's no way to know sometimes just reading a position description or just articulating even what that job is. Before I had the job of scientific program director, I had no idea what that meant. I was like, I do something with science and programming, but I had no real idea the breadth of experience that I would have or be exposed to. And I think the only way sometimes is to take that internship, do the thing that scares you a little bit, right? That might be most exciting thing. Well,
Jocelyn Hittle (23:46):
And it seems to me that it is frequently the case that the person who comes into that role then shapes that role. So it's not just, do you understand what it is now, but what is it that you're bringing that turns it into something that is a little bit different. So can we talk a little bit about some of your experiences? So I saw in your bio that while you were getting your doctorate, you are a CRE egert fellow. That is an acronym. I have no doubt. But I don't know that you need to spell out exactly what all of those letters mean, but tell us what the actual fellowship was.
LaKisha Odom (24:16):
So the fellowship was a partnership between Tuskegee University and UC Davis. And it gave us an opportunity to share learnings. They could come to our campus, we could go to their campus. I'll be fair and say we probably went to their campus more. And also they had a relationship with Chagas, which is agricultural institution in Ireland. And also I think it was Dublin University where some of the students, if they would like to, could go there for a set amount of time. And I decided the second I heard about this, that I was going to Ireland and I was going to work with this one particular researcher, I looked him up and I fixated on him. I don't know why. And they told me, no, LaKisha, you can't go this year. I was like, yeah, I'm going to Ireland. I kept saying I got a passport.
(25:02):
Nobody told me I was going anywhere. I was just like, I am going. And then about eight months later, somebody was called UC Davis called and said, do you still want to go? Absolutely. And do you want to work? And I wanted to work with you. And when I got there, they assigned me someone else, but I was supposed to work on a potato project and my seeds didn't come in in time. I said, oh, well, while my seeds come in, I'll just go work in Ewens lab. So I just weasel my way in there. And once I got in, I refused to leave and they would see me, the other folks would see me say, oh, the person that was supposed to be our intern, I was like, sorry. And it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, just getting to see how research is done in a different place. And their PhD program is very different than ours. So we have to do so many hours of classwork prior to going to the lab. They go straight into the lab. Their programs are a bit shorter, a bit more intensive. But I loved it. And I've been back to Ireland once or twice since then just because I fell in love with the country.
Jocelyn Hittle (26:04):
So you talked a little bit about maybe a partial answer to this question, but have there been transitions along the way that have been particularly difficult transitions? I
LaKisha Odom (26:12):
Feel like for me, I often struggle with transitions as much as I enjoy it on the back end, the change in the beginning is also sometimes very disruptive to me. But I would say probably the hardest shift was when I got to far, I remember distinctly I was asked to design an event. It was my first month and I went into the executive director's office and I said, do you want to see this list? Do you approve who comes to this meeting? And she looked at me, she's like, no. And then I remember going back in my office, I sat down, I was like, I'm now the decider.
(26:48):
And it just gobs me. I was like, oh, I now decide the things. And it took me a while to get really confident in that. I mean, the reality is that I was younger in my profession. I'm a woman, I have a little voice. I'm not very tall. And so walking into these rooms with people that have been doing this work longer than I had been alive, and I now have to give them something or move them in some way. And for me, it took a while to find all my superpowers. I have a number of them, they're not like anybody else's. And at first I was like, am I going to be very good at this job? Because I'm not doing it the way I see other people doing it, but it is perfect for me. It is just right for my personality.
Jocelyn Hittle (27:39):
Definitely getting that. And I should note that Dr. Odom is here to speak as part of CSU Spur Water in the West Symposium. So I'm very much looking forward to hearing more about your work during your remarks. Anyone who was particularly influential? Teachers, bosses, coworkers?
LaKisha Odom (27:55):
Absolutely. I think definitely mentors from graduate school. I always talk about Dr. Lynell Ogden. I only had one class with this woman, but she said certain people will say things that just stick in my brain and then become post-It notes that I carry everywhere I go. So there are probably three people I think about that have said things. So Dr. Al Ogden told me, don't get upset when they give you more work. That means you know how to do more things. And it just reminded me, now that's a slippery slope. Let's be honest as a woman, you got to balance that out. But there were so many things that I took on because I thought it would be interesting or exciting. And later they were really great additions to my toolkit later in my career. And then Dr. Luther Williams, he was an ex-pro at Tuskegee, used to tell us to be unapologetically great.
(28:48):
And I write that down and it is on a post-it everywhere I have ever been since then. And then Dr. A Dolores Alexander, one of my mentors from Tuskegee used to tell me, you got to row your own hole. Don't look at what somebody else is doing or how they're doing it or their pace. That's not your concern. You have to focus on what you are doing because it's really hard sometimes. And you start to compare. And that is just the worst thing that you could ever do because you don't get to develop your own skillsets because you're trying to pantomime somebody else's. And I think as a woman, especially for me, I was like, I have to sound this way and I have to be. I don't know what I was trying to be, but it wasn't me. So for a while I was like, no, no, no, I think I can do this as me. And when I started to do this work and move through the world completely as me and unapologetically me, it really got easy.
Jocelyn Hittle (29:41):
So this might be related, but if you were going to give a 15-year-old some advice, what would you say? And then maybe a 25-year-old.
LaKisha Odom (29:47):
I think I would tell most people much of what I've been saying now, which is you have your own superpowers. Everybody has gifts and the world will make room for your gifts. I believe that 100%. And so don't waste so much time worrying about the gift you don't have and develop the gifts that you do have, and there will be a space for you. I thought, oh, I can't be bubbly and silly as a scientist, I must be stern. That never really felt right for me. And over the years, I've been told my presentation style. I enjoy the things I do. I laugh, I get excited. And that sometimes excites others. And so those are spaces where I maybe have been told to be more measured and more stern, but I found that that's not my personality and that's not what I bring to the world. So when I come into the room as my full self, I think it allows other people to be their full selves, and that's the best part. So I would say just look for your own special gifts and don't worry if they don't look like anybody else's.
Jocelyn Hittle (30:55):
It's interesting. I was having a conversation with a partner of ours recently who's in the K 12 education space, and he said, I got into K 12 education because when I was younger, I looked around and I had this vice principal who just seemed like he was having so much fun at work, and I thought, he's having so much fun. I want to have fun while I work. Maybe I'll look into this. And so it turned out that it was fun for him as well. But I think if you're not having fun and you're not laughing and you're not bringing all of that into it, then I mean, I think it's inspirational for people to see you laughing and having a good time while you're talking about science and while you're talking about your job.
LaKisha Odom (31:27):
I think so. I think I have a really fun job, I feel like, and I meet people that have super cool things that they're doing and problems they're solving, and they seem to really like it.
Jocelyn Hittle (31:40):
Yeah, that is what we all aspire to, is having a good time at work. Okay, my second Spur of the Moment, question for you. Do you cook? Yes. You're in agriculture. What's your special dish? What are you most proud of?
LaKisha Odom (31:51):
I'm most proud, I think of my baking because I am a baker and so I've been doing this thing. My mom passed away about two and a half years ago, so I've taken all of her older recipes and when I tried to make them exactly as she made them, I didn't like them. But I've started to try to mix them and make a new recipe based on her traditional recipe, and that's something I'm really proud of.
Jocelyn Hittle (32:17):
That's great. I love it. It's a hybridization of the legacy and your innovation.
LaKisha Odom (32:22):
Absolutely. I love that. I love that.
Jocelyn Hittle (32:25):
Alright, so where can people find more information about FFAR or your work? Are there some websites we can send 'em to?
LaKisha Odom (32:32):
Absolutely. So if you type in FFAR and Ag, we will come up foundation far org, which is really long. That's why I said
Jocelyn Hittle (32:42):
Just Google. Yes.
LaKisha Odom (32:44):
And our information is there, and I make this offer to your listeners. If there's anybody that just wants to ask me about my job in more detail, people send me emails about it all the time. I love talking to people about what I've done and learning about what they want to do. So I make that offer. If you find me on LinkedIn, I'm there. And just send me a message
Jocelyn Hittle (33:05):
That is an echo of your networking hack. If you all have something that Dr. Odom can help you with, she's here for you.
LaKisha Odom (33:12):
She loves that.
Jocelyn Hittle (33:14):
Great. Well, Dr. Odom, it has been an absolute pleasure speaking with you. Thank you so much for your time today, and we look forward to your remarks at the Water in the West Symposium tomorrow. And if anyone is listening and wants to see her remarks, we will be posting those videos@csuspur.org beck slash ww. That's water in the West in the coming weeks, so you'll have a chance to see her laughing and having a good time while she talks about science and her job. Thanks so much for being here.
LaKisha Odom (33:39):
Thank you.
Jocelyn Hittle (33:41):
The CSU Spur of the Moment Podcast is produced by Kevin Samuelson, and our theme music is by Ketsa. Please visit the show notes for links mentioned in this episode. We hope you'll join us in two weeks for the next episode. Until then, be well.