All month, we’ve been introducing you to some of the fastest rising stars in Black entrepreneurship in Los Angeles. They face an uphill battle at work every day and have to traverse overwhelming obstacles to survive, let alone become successful. But not all of the adversity they face is rooted in the business world. Many of the persistent issues facing Black Americans, especially those living in Los Angeles, are problems that threaten their survival as a human, not a business.

Over 60 grocery stores serve the South Central community in LA, comprised of roughly 1.3 million residents. However, only one of them carries a reasonable amount of organic product, and none of it is organic produce. How do you explain a lack of access to quality food in a city seemingly obsessed with healthy food and wellness?

Food deserts. Areas on the map completely devoid of access to the kind of food that keeps your body running at top performance, where fast food and convenience store junk reign supreme. Let’s look at Inglewood, where you have to drive 25 minutes each way or take a two-hour bus ride to get organic groceries.

Olympia Auset recognized the enormous inequality in organic food availability in South Central and made it her mission to eliminate the gap. Since founding SÜPRMARKT in 2016, Auset and her team have provided more than 70,000 pounds of organic fruit, veggies, and grocery staples to South Central residents who otherwise wouldn’t have had access.

But the mission is nowhere near accomplished, and SÜPRMARKT is trying to scale up to serve more people and make more impact in the community. The goal is to open South Central LA’s first organic grocery store, but it doesn’t even end there. Nearly 25 million Americans lack access to quality organic food, and almost 8 million children in this country are considered food insecure. Olympia and SÜPRMARKT are trying to create a future where neither of those statistics is a reality.

How did you first become aware of food deserts in urban centers?
I grew up in food deserts. I wasn’t aware, however, of that reality until I was an adult. When I was little, I was happy to eat junk food. Adults would say, “you have to go to the white side of town to get the best stuff… don’t embarrass me around these white folks.” I never thought about how messed up that was until I was an adult.

As an adult, I started to see things more clearly. While attending Howard, I became aware that lack in my neighborhood wasn’t normal. I understood that food was either a weapon or a tool for upliftment.

As people I cared about started to pass away, it became very clear to me that if I didn’t do something, I would be going to my friends’ funerals when we are turning 40 and 50.

Do you feel a responsibility to blaze a trail and open the doors for the kids from your community that come up after you?
Most definitely. Everything I do is for the people coming up after me. Growing up, I ate every day, but I never had the chance to buy groceries from someone that looks like me. Food deserts aren’t just low on food. They’re often design deserts, low on green spaces, art, and so many necessary elements for growth. Everything I achieve now is to make a way for my peers and successors to innovate their way out of injustice and create healing. SÜPRMARKT will always model and enable success in the neighborhoods it inhabits.  

What challenges did you face last year, personally and as a company? How did you overcome it? Were there any surprising positives that came out of 2020 for you or your company?
SÜPRMARKT has been hard at work keeping others fed during the COVID Crisis. On 3.19.20, we sprang to action by procuring and providing 1,400 pounds of grains and seeds to people in need with our “Feed the Hood” giveaway. Since then, we began partnering with healthy food providers in South Central to provide free + discounted vegan meals weekly. I was surprised at what 2020 did for my growth as a business owner. The pandemic forced us to grow sooner than we were ready.

What’s the biggest thing you learned last year that you’re keeping top-of-mind this year?
Stay ready. Everything you want is possible and is coming. You can wish and complain about something you never think you will really have. Then when it comes, you may not be ready. That is so true for business owners. You have to expect and prepare for growth. Similarly, black, brown, and oppressed people must expect and be prepared for their liberation.

How can combating food deserts lift up, amplify, and support the black community  — not just during Black History Month but consistently?
African Americans lead every ethnic group in deaths from preventable diseases. Living in South Central makes you 3 times as likely to die from a preventable disease. Food deserts are stealing our generational wealth, intergeneration wisdom, our grandmas, aunties, and sons. Combating food deserts ensures Black futures by keeping us alive and well. Healing our bodies gives us the inner strength to outwardly heal our minds, homes, and our societies. As quiet as it’s kept, but food is the future and we can’t heal our Earth until we heal our health.