Meet Nancy Beyda | Midwife and Nonprofit leader

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nancy Beyda and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nancy, how does your business help the community?
In my professional life I’m a midwife who has helped welcome more than a thousand babies over the past twenty five years. I believe that the way we birth has a profound impact on how we move through life and also on our confidence to parent from our own truth and in a way that creates healthy whole human beings. I’m also the Director of a nonprofit FoodCycle that connects excess food with people in need. I believe that we all have a role to play in healing our planet.

Currently there are deep systemic issues in both the way that our culture views birth and how we use natural resources. Up to 40% of food in this country is wasted, it ends up in landfills where it releases methane gas and contribute to climate change. Meanwhile 1 in 4 Angelenos is food insecure. This is a situation that shouldn’t exist and FoodCycle is working to change that. We currently deliver around 70,000 meals a week to nonprofits that are feeding people in their communities.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
There is a deep connection between the work that I do as a midwife and my commitment to environmentalism and feeding people. I showed up for many years as a volunteer to collect food donations, and still continue to offer my time without compensation. I’ve reached a stage in my life where it’s deeply rewarding to see the results of my life work around birth and around healing the planet and feeding people.

We have a long way to go towards creating a healthy culture around birth and revolutionizing the way we relate to Earth and natural resources. Making a commitment to do something is the most important part. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
I like to remind people – No one can do everything but everyone can do something.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I love the Los Angeles River around Frogtown – it reminds me of the capacity that nature has to heal itself even under when we entrap it in concrete. It’s so fun to see the ducks, cranes and other wildlife. Villas Tacos in Highland Park are a must visit – LA has such a wonderful array of tacos and food trucks to explore. That’s a favorite.
El Cholo is celebrating its 100th birthday and we should all celebrate there with them.
A hike in Griffith Park and a trip to the beach are musts.
I love hiking up Boy Scout Trail to the Observatory on a clear day

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
As a midwife I owe a huge shoutout to my mentors Deborah Frank and Sue Wolcott who always generously shared their knowledge and experience as I began this journey.

As the director of FoodCycle I want to recognize the support created by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation RecycLA program and their transportation project grant that enabled us to add more electric vehicles to our fleet and help rescue more food that would have gone into landfills.

Website: nancybeyda.com foodcyclela.com

Instagram: foodcycle_la

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/foodcyclela/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoodCycleLosAngeles/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@foodcyclela3534

Image Credits
Thanks to RJ Shaugnessy and Valerie Defert