Meet Steven Cota-Robles | Social Wellness Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Steven Cota-Robles and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Steven, how does your business help the community?
Food insecurity is a huge problem, and its effects on kids can be devastating. Of course, food insecurity has consequences felt by the body, but it also affects a child’s cognitive ability. We can’t expect a child to sit still, behave, and absorb the material if their brain isn’t getting the nutrition it needs. It’s physiologically impossible. And because of this, children who suffer from food insecurity are more likely to be suspended, more likely to be held back a grade, they have higher absence rates, and they preform worse on standardized testing. Food insecurity affects a child’s education so much that it will actually limit the types of jobs they’ll be able to apply for later on in life. And studies have shown that children who suffer from food insecurity will go on to make less money in their lifetimes than kids who didn’t. The Tucson Family Food Project doesn’t just want to feed these kids, we want to give them the ability to feed themselves. By teaching them an incredibly valuable life skill, we are giving them something that they can use throughout their lives to fight food insecurity and give themselves their best chance of living a happy and healthy life. Our long term goal, however, is to help the next generation come out of school prepared to enter the modern workforce and be ready to tackle whatever the world throws at them.
Food insecurity has been shown to have effects on our healthcare system, our education system, our criminal justice system, and the job readiness of an entire generation. These are all major issues in the world today and we have to start getting creative and coming up with new solutions to solve these big problems.

What should our readers know about your business?
As crazy as it sounds, I learned almost everything I know about business from my fourteen years working at Whole Foods. I’m not familiar with how it’s done now, but when I first started at Whole Foods there was an incredibly high level of expectation. But I will say that the company gave us the tools and the knowledge to run our departments like they were our own small businesses. So I was able to institute strategies and practices in the real world to see how they would play out without having to risk my own money, and it taught me a lot. I’ve brought everything the corporate world taught me into the nonprofit world, and it has set us apart. It’s not everyday you see a nonprofit executive director out there hustling like a small business owner.
One of the things that I think surprises a lot of people is how The Tucson Family Food Project got its start. During the first actual covid quarantine I just had an overwhelming feeling that I wasn’t doing what I was put on this earth to do. So I started brainstorming possible business ideas when the thought occurred to me, “what about a nonprofit?” It was then that I reached out to some friends who are teachers and asked them what they thought kids needed. They told me some absolutely heartbreaking stories about what food insecurity looks like in real life in the classroom and the idea for TTFFP came to me like a bolt of lightning. That night I started working on my business plan and I started coming up with a strategy for how I would pull this off. Fast forward a few months later and I had sold my house, put in my two weeks at work, and I threw myself into The Tucson Family Food Project entirely.

When I first started telling people about what I was doing most people looked at me like I was crazy. Who in the world would sell their house to start a nonprofit?! I was talking to a former CEO of one of the biggest nonprofits in Arizona and I told him all about how I sold my house to fund the project and how I wanted to market the brand, and he came up with a title that I’ve been using ever since; “Social Wellness Entrepreneur.”

Another thing that makes people’s eyes light up when I tell them about the project, is the fact that our goal is to teach kids to feed themselves as opposed to just giving them food. The way I explain it to people is with the familiar proverb, “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for the rest of his life.” People really understand that it’s more beneficial in the long run to teach someone how to do something rather than simply doing it for them.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Tucson is such an amazing place and it’s grown into a culinary juggernaut! There are so many places to choose from that I’m going to have to break it down into categories! For breakfast, Meyer Ave Café is my go to. They use the highest quality sustainable ingredients, the food is delicious, the staff is SO friendly, and the ambiance is top notch. Plus they have a small market that sells some really amazing products made by local artisan vendors. I love anything that supports the community and highlights local business people. For lunch I would definitely say you have to check out Boca Tacos on 4th Ave. The tacos are so good and their rotating salsas will make you wonder how it’s possible to pack that much flavor into a single bite. There’s a reason Chef Maria did so well on Top Chef!
For dinner my absolute favorite restaurant is Tito & Pep. In my opinion Chef John Martinez is one of, if not the, best chefs in Tucson. His menu changes with seasonality and the flavors are always a homerun. The prices can’t be beat for the amazing quality of the food. It also doesn’t hurt that they have some of the best cocktails in town!
If you’re looking for a beer I would take you to Crooked Tooth Brewing. Their 18th Hour IPA is legit chuggable, and they’ve basically perfected the art of sour beers. Their Cloud People tamarindo sour is in my top five favorite beers of all time.
In a town full of coffee shops, EXO Roast Co. is where I find myself when I need a place to work and get caffeinated. They’re truly passionate about making quality coffee and it shows in everything they do.
The one thing I would want everyone who visits Tucson to experience is watching the sunset from this amazing area just west of the city called Gates Pass. Gates Pass is a mountain pass that overlooks a beautiful valley created by the Tucson Mountains and the sunsets there look like some of Bob Ross’ most vibrant pieces came to life in the desert. The sunsets will literally take your breath away.
Honorable mentions to Barrio Bread and The Loft Cinema!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The Tucson Family Food Project literally would not be possible without the love and support of my amazing wife Ali. She absolutely LOVES food and she’s the brains behind our recipe development! She uses her knowledge as a practicing family medicine doctor to make sure that all the meals we provide are focused on nutrition. And she uses her incredible sense of flavor to make sure everything is delicious! Not to mention the fact that her career has given me the ability to put all my time into growing TTFFP and ensuring our success. I literally could not ask for a better partner! My family has been incredibly supportive as well. When I first decided to start TTFFP, I sat down with my brother and sister and laid everything out. I told them about selling my house, leaving my career, and I even told my brother that I might need to crash on his sofa if things didn’t work out the way I wanted them too. They could not have been more supportive. I think they could tell how passionate I was and knew that I was able to make it happen. My brother and sister actually serve on our board!
One of the things I figured out pretty quickly is how challenging handing the social media was. I initially tried to handle our social media myself, but I really underestimated the time commitment and my learning curve as someone who only uses Instagram sparingly. Luckily my niece Megan was there to help me out and she quickly became our social media Director! She’s responsible for cultivating our growing social media presence and has done an amazing job of establishing our brand online. Her work is critical to our long-term success and our continuing growth!
I also have to give a big shout out to Nick Joe, a board member and our director of Media Operations. Not only was he responsible for introducing The Tucson Family Food Project with the first school to participate in our program, but he also films and edits our weekly YouTube videos! It’s a big time and talent commitment and we are so grateful for all of his hard work.

Website: ttffp.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_tucson_family_food_project/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-cota-robles-b1467723a/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsZscmrHFPTBwP4pJ1cr6mw

Image Credits
For personal photo – Kim Cota-Robles