2023 Programs

Sonoma County Forum offers an exciting array of speakers including leaders in business, education, health care, the arts, and local government. Our speakers provide an excellent way to gain knowledge of the community and learn about its vast resources. Meetings are held on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month at 8am at the Epicenter, off of Piner Road, west of Coffey Lane in Santa Rosa.

For information about past speakers click here.

Upcoming Speakers

January 19, 2023

Duskie Estes, Farm to Pantry

Duskie Estes

In 2008, Farm to Pantry was launched to serve a need in our local community: to provide a continuous supply of fresh, healthy produce to our most vulnerable neighbors who lack access to it by cultivating a community of growers and volunteers. Since then, Farm to Pantry has delivered more than 5 million servings of fruits and vegetables.  In 2021 alone, the organization rescued more than 350,000 pounds of produce which would have ended up in the landfill. Farm to Pantry is committed to rescuing food that would otherwise go wasted and getting it to people in need. “The food is out there; all we have to do is go get it,” explained Duskie Estes, “No one should be left behind.” Come and find out how this amazing organization works and how you might help.
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Duskie Estes came to Farm to Pantry  after two decades of dedication to ethical sourcing and advocacy for small farmers in her farm-to-table restaurant, ZAZU Kitchen+Farm and her meat company, Black Pig Meat Co.  A graduate of Brown University, Estes’s career has included critical acclaim as well as television appearances on Food Network and PBS. Duskie and her husband, John Stewart, operated ZAZU from 2001 through the spring of 2019, when the restaurant was lost due to the flooding of the Russian River. ZAZU was named a TOP 10 best new restaurant and was listed for multiple years in the San Francisco Chronicle’s TOP 100 restaurants.

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2023 Program Schedule

DATE	Speaker
Thurs. Jan. 5	Margaret Press, CEO, Co-Founder of the DNA Doe Project ​(rescheduled due to inclement weather)
Thurs. Jan. 19	Duskie Estes, Farm to Pantry
Thurs. Feb. 2	Jennielynn Holmes, Caritas Village
Thurs. Feb. 16	Dr. Steve Charbonneau, Superintendent, Piner Olivet Union School District, "School District Consolidation"
Thurs. March 2	Janae Franicevic, General Manager/Owner, Sunce Winery
Thurs. March 16	Laura Lorman, "Inexpensive Travel Options and How to Travel Safely"
Thurs. April 6	TBA
Thurs. April 20	TBA
Thurs. May 4	TBA
Thurs. May 18	TBA
Thurs. June 1	TBA
Thurs. June 15	TBA
Thurs. July 6	TBA
Thurs. July 20	TBA
Thurs. Aug  3	TBA
Thurs. Aug 17	TBA
Thurs. Sep  7	TBA
Thurs. Sep 21	TBA
Thurs. Oct  5	TBA
Thurs. Oct 19	TBA
Thurs. Nov  2	Sarah Tendall, Rosalind University Prep's Mentorship Program
Thurs. Nov 16	TBA
Thurs. Dec  2	TBA
Thurs. Dec 21	Holiday meeting (for members only)