Kaia Shivers didn’t set out to disrupt the food supply chain. But when the pandemic hit and she found herself stranded in Florence, Italy, something clicked. As a professor of liberal studies at NYU, a journalist, and a media entrepreneur, Kaia was used to documenting problems. But what she wanted to do was solve them.
So she created the Black Farmers Index.
In this episode of Business Schooled, Kaia shares how her Southern roots, her journalistic instincts, and her commitment to justice came together to build something urgent and necessary. The Black Farmers Index is more than a directory—it’s a lifeline for small to midsize Black farmers who have been historically excluded from agricultural networks and markets.
What makes Kaia’s story so compelling isn’t just what she built, but how she thinks. She calls it “creative research,” an approach that prizes curiosity, human connection, and cultural context over rigid process. It’s a mindset business students can learn from, especially as they navigate challenges that don’t have off-the-shelf solutions.
She also speaks frankly about the limitations of well-intentioned corporate programs that fail to accommodate farmers who operate outside conventional business models. For Kaia, the answer isn’t just inclusion, but transformation: shifting how business is done so that it holds space for communities long excluded.
Her call to action? Stop waiting for permission. Start where you are, with what you have. And if you can’t grow the food, at least help the growers get seen.