Using Your Purpose to Stay Motivated and Create Change with Dr. Caree Cotwright

How are we supposed to stay motivated in today’s ever-changing times and shake the feeling of ‘being stuck?'

In this conversation, we explore how your purpose becomes a source of motivation when resources feel scarce and the path forward isn’t always clear. We talk about the courage it takes to step into opportunities before you know exactly where they’ll lead, and how persistence, creativity and unique partnerships is the fuel we need to drive momentum. 

Lasting impact comes from showing up with purpose, staying the course, and keep moving forward. 

Transcript

C.J. Stermer (00:00)
Hi, Caree. Thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate the time.

Caree Cotwright (00:02)
Thank you so much, CJ. I'm so happy to be here.

C.J. Stermer (00:05)
So Caree we've had the pleasure of speaking before and I have learned about your incredible illustrious career in childhood nutrition, education, so many wonderful things that you have done throughout your entire career. I'd love for you to share a little bit more about that how you got to the point now where you're an associate professor at the University of Georgia and of course, your previous role as the director of nutrition security at the USDA.

How did you get to that point? How does one become these amazing things in this field?

Caree Cotwright (00:33)
it's funny because people, especially in that last role at USDA, they'll say, how did you get this job? And I just want to let people know, especially because we are educating and championing youth, it wasn't that I knew about it. It wasn't that I thought I always knew from five years old that I would be the director. It was a culmination of so many things. And right. So I'll tell you a little bit of story of how it kind of got into nutrition. was pre-med.

C.J. Stermer (00:39)
Yeah.

Caree Cotwright (00:57)
decided I wanted to do prevention more than treatment. And it was my mom that walked by me one day and said, you always like nutrition? And I said, I have. And I didn't really even know it was a major because I was so into pre-med when I was in undergrad. But I decided to go and get my master's. And when I started researching programs, there was this wonderful program in Atlanta Public Schools, which I'm a product of. And my mom was a retired Atlanta Public Schools principal. And they were working with fourth grade African-American parents and their kids. And I thought, this is great.

and it was at Georgia State, but that program had ended. So later I go visit UGA and my mentor is actually the PI or the principal investigator on the grant and she has moved it to UGA. So I had this wonderful opportunity to go back to full circle Atlanta Public Schools and teach nutrition and be involved in this wonderful program. And I just was so passionate and so happy to be doing that work.

And what happens is we're recruiting families and they said, we need a really catchy way to get families recruited. And I said, well, I can write a rap. And everybody's looking at me like, what? So I wrote this rap about nutrition and being really popular. And then I took that farther and said, you know what? I want to do nutrition theater for my thesis. And so I thought my major advisor was going to think I was crazy, Dr. Mollis. And I went to intern with Margo Wooten at the Center for Science in the Public Interest during my master's. And she said,

That's not crazy. a lady that does that in Boston and so in Massachusetts or Northampton. So shout out to Barbara Storper of Food Play Productions. She took me under her wing and helped me to really learn how do you produce a play about nutrition? And so there's this entertainment education component putting the science behind it. But I wrote a play called Little Red riding through the hood for.

young black children to think about how to eat healthy. You might not have all the resources in the world. You might not be able to go outside and play all the time, but how can we do this? So they really relate it to the characters and it just opened up a new world for me, CJ. I knew that I wanted to get the PhD in nutrition. I knew that I was just so passionate about doing the work and it was just, it was just heaven sent. I just felt like I was in my space. And so from there,

I went and got my postdoc. was a Kellogg Health Scholar working in Baltimore, working with Head Start families. And from there headed to CDC to work in the division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity in the early care and education setting. Wonderful, beautiful mentors. I had a perfect CDC family. And then my mentor knocks on the door and calls and says, hey, I'm retiring. There's going to be a position open for community nutrition at the University of Georgia. So again, full circle. Here I go. I'm headed back.

And I've been at UGA, earned tenure, been at UGA about 12, 13 years now. It's just amazing. But between that, I was able to have the wonderful opportunity to be appointed and go on leave as the former director of nutrition security and health equity at USCA. And I always tell my students and those that asked me about it, it was a true culmination of my work in policy, my work of engaging families, community-based participatory research.

and everything to go out and engage and be forward facing and spread the great news about what we were doing around nutrition security at USDA.

C.J. Stermer (04:00)
Wow, that's incredible. First of all, you wrote a rap. How fun is that to be able to write a fun rap for kids to make talking about nutrition and fruits and vegetables just fun. And then you have this huge full circle moment. just goes to show that you never know what the universe is going to push your way and how you really just take what you love and make it something that just drives this whole career moment. And here you are again, full circle 15 years later and you're

Caree Cotwright (04:11)
Yes.

C.J. Stermer (04:27)
back to what you love in such a place that got you started. That is super fascinating that you just stuck with what you love and you just followed a passion and it worked out.

Caree Cotwright (04:33)
Thank you.

And that's the key.

That's the key. And that's what I always want to reiterate to my youth. Like do the things you love and doors will fly open. Those opportunities come. couldn't have predicted those things, but it was beyond my wildest dream. The tour started to play around it. It toured around Atlanta, the play toured around Atlanta, toured around Philadelphia. It was just literally beyond my wildest dreams.

C.J. Stermer (04:57)
It's so creative and it's just so different. It's so outside of the box. Normally you think about work at places like USDA or even in university settings. You don't think about raps or music or theater. It's just such an interesting intersectionality between being creative and doing things that young people are really attracted to, right? Like children aren't attracted to policy. I don't know many kids that are sitting down and reading laws. I just don't, right? But they'll listen to a rap. They'll watch musical theater.

Caree Cotwright (05:07)
You

Right. Exactly.

C.J. Stermer (05:24)
So that's so interesting. Tell me a

little bit about how that works about like this intersectionality of the creativity and policy.

Caree Cotwright (05:31)
Well, I always, it's funny CJ, I tell people that I am middle-brained. I took this test where it's like, I'm right in the middle, not right or left. I use both. So I use this scientific side and this creative side. And again, knowing I grew up writing raps, poems, reading, loving to write. And so I thought about it, like what would appeal to kids? It's not gonna be just me handing them a sheet of paper. They wanna taste things, they wanna get into it. And so...

C.J. Stermer (05:39)
Right.

Caree Cotwright (05:55)
For me, really is, though, and I try to reiterate, it is scientifically based. Even the theory that I use, social cognitive theory, observational modeling, watching my characters as they can relate to and then saying, if they can do it, I can do it. And by the end of the play, the kids were chasing my characters for autographs, right? But it wasn't just that. We also had reinforcements. We gave water bottles. We gave them the rap to listen to with their parents. And the parents were like, that song is all in our head, right? We gave them jump robes. There was a curriculum.

But the play was a catalyst to get them interested. And we had four core messages. The song was called What's Best for Me? And that's four. So it was to drink low fat milk, because that's what we were promoting then, eat fruits and veggies, move more, and eat more protein, right? And so those things that we were putting in there, the hook says, I know eating five a day is the key. Hey, yo, I'm just doing what's best for me. And so as we think about those four things,

they were embedded and it was based on the science at the time.

C.J. Stermer (06:52)
so fascinating. I just love the thinking outside the box and thinking creativity and taking what you love, the passion that you have. It's just, hey, I can write rap. I know how to do that. It it fascinates me how you were able to just domino that into such an illustrious career. as the former director of nutrition security for USDA, so you worked on the federal level and you've obviously seen, you know, there's been some changes over time,

Caree Cotwright (07:01)
Hehehehehe

C.J. Stermer (07:15)
And I talk to a lot of people some of those changes and how that may be creating this feeling or emotion of just being stuck or a deer in headlights and this whiplash effect that we're almost hearing because it's like, wow, things are changing so fast and I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go.

And want to get your opinion on that knowing that had this position and then suddenly things changed for you. Was that a feeling that you also had? what was that like for you?

Caree Cotwright (07:39)
Yes, CJ, and I'm a very glass half full person. So I'm always hopeful that we had worked so hard to make sure that nutrition security would be institutionalized. I was just very hopeful that I would be able to stay on and do the work. And so being very vulnerable, I had a real Alice in Wonderland moment. I just felt like I was falling down the rabbit hole and I didn't know where to go. And my gosh, what do I do with all of this work, this energy? Will it be able to, will we keep the momentum, will we be able to keep going? And I just had to pause.

And I think that that's okay. And that would be my message for everybody. Just pause, reset. Those feelings are real. Acknowledge them. I had a lot of things going on at the time, know, family things and making sure that, you know, I am doing all the things I need to do for my kids and still having to say, okay, this portion of what you're doing is closed now, right? And acknowledging that.

Wow, this was abrupt. I didn't expect this. But thankfully, I had a place to land, right? And so I was on leave from the University of Georgia. I know that, you know, I'm a great professor. I'm a great researcher. I can go back to that, but I still needed to pause. I needed to think about the fact that just because the work isn't happening in the manner that it was when you were in that role does not mean it stopped.

but I still had to pause. had to sort through my feelings. had to sort through my thoughts. And then I had to pick up my toolkit and say, what can I do next? And a part of that is doing things like this, being on podcasts, sharing the good news, sharing the good work that is going out there. And I decided I would use my platform in any way I can. And so I would encourage anybody listening first, acknowledge those feelings. The feelings are valid. They make you swim and they make you swirl. And that's exactly how I felt.

but the work has to continue. And I grew up in Atlanta and I think about all the champions of the civil rights movement and that was hard work, right? And I remember my dad worked for the King Center and I remember running around Coretta Scott King and Daddy King long after Martin Luther King passed away. And just looking at that example, it motivates me and makes me say, you know what, things are hard, but we can still keep going. And so I just want people to know

that as we pause and as we rethink and as we collaborate, we can think of solutions, even with less resources, because we know how to do a whole lot with a whole little. We can figure it out. But as we partner and use our resources, it's kind of like stone soup, right? Everybody brings their little piece and we all are feeding the generation. And that's what it's about. It's about using our platforms. It's about being just as loud as those giving the discourse and making a beautiful harmony by collaborating and moving forward.

and I'll just give an example. One of the things you think about the trickle down from the federal level, had UGA SNAP-Ed. And so SNAP-Ed is now with the recent bill being passed, now for the most practical purposes being eliminated, right? And so a lot of that work that we were doing, the funding is not there. But then I go back to community partnerships. I'm a community-based participatory researcher. What do you need? What can I still do? I can still do online training.

I can still think about how do I raise a little bit of funds to make sure that we get incentives for the teachers? will tell you about an example we were doing. This was after the pandemic. And again, you know, the pandemic was hard, CJ. That was one thing we had to figure out. How do we do a whole lot with the whole little? And we had a small grant to do virtual cooking classes for Head Start families. And I'll tell you, we delivered our ⁓ food boxes to them in a really safe way. They would come pick them up. We did the virtual classes, but we met people where they were.

You have to meet people where they are. And so mom might not have been able to cook while we were on the live presenting, but she had all the ingredients. So while her kids are running around afterward, she could go back and look at the video and prepare the meal. And the only feedback we got was, when will you do more cooking classes? Right? And so that was a way to come up with a solution to partner, to think about how do we use this small amount of funds to make an impact? And I will tell you, those parents are like,

I don't know what's happening. My kid is drinking sparkling water. They're eating the vegetables that I'm preparing. This is amazing. And it's such a small thing. Like you think about that virtual cooking classes, providing food. You know, we think about the food is medicine movement, but it has a major impact. And so I don't want anybody at whatever level you're doing, even if you're just doing it in your neighborhood, you're impacting the lives of others. And that's so important.

C.J. Stermer (12:01)
Right, I think that's a really good point that you made is that there's all this stuff happening at a really high level sometimes, but recognizing that it happens to every single person, right? Everything, it's a trickle down effect, like you said, so even on a local level. another thing I think you said that was really important is taking a beat and stopping and recognizing that the work that you did.

is important and that the contributions that you made even to one person is so important because you never know how that affects somebody else's life, right? I think that's a really good thing to call out and for everyone listening that you're doing great, right? And when you and I spoke to you said something to me that really has just not left my head. And that is the idea of now that we're stopping you we're recognizing the good work that we've done.

Caree Cotwright (12:36)
Yes.

C.J. Stermer (12:47)
but we also have to keep moving forward And one of the terms that you said to me that I can knock it out of my head is get on the bus. Tell me a little bit more about get on the bus.

Caree Cotwright (12:58)
Yeah, so when I was at USDA, I was very external facing. So I did tons of talks, I think 200 podcast webinar speeches. And so I love that. I mean, it's not a burden to me. I love it. But one of the things that I wanted to do, CJ, and that's the thing about bringing yourself to whatever role, is I said, I don't want to just say a script because I do have to stay within the parameters because it's a national federal organization. But I want to tell a story.

C.J. Stermer (13:19)
Right.

Caree Cotwright (13:20)
And so I told my background and how I got into what we were doing to promoting nutrition security and why it was so important to me. But one of the things that I wanted to do was as a metaphor was to say nutrition security is a new vehicle for change. And that vehicle for me was like a bus. And if we travel around on this bus and we keep moving forward, the fuel is going to come.

from local community members. The fuel is gonna come from researchers. The fuel is gonna come from passionate people. And that's what keeps us going forward. So as I would go to different places, I say, this bus is getting packed. Can y'all get on the bus? And so I would have people repeat it, get on the bus. We're gonna use this as a vehicle for change. And now that I'm out of the road, as you said, I had to take a beat, but the wonderful work doesn't have to stop. So when I go out now, I say, stay on the bus, mash the gas. ⁓ Because if we are, you know,

C.J. Stermer (14:09)
Stay on the bus. Mash the gas and there's room for everybody.

Caree Cotwright (14:13)
everybody we can get on this bus. CJ, I'll tell you, it goes back to when I first became a researcher. I actually had a vision of having a bus tour around and give fruits and vegetables to kids. I still haven't given up on this. I was a little ahead of my time. Now these mobile markets are normal. But at first everybody's like, what are you talking about, Caree? But I love that idea again of this bus. You know how that is when you see these tour buses, like a stream makeover and all that you're like.

this is wonderful. You know, this bus is coming. And I remember the excitement of being a child and waiting on ice cream truck, right? What if we could turn that into a veggie truck and get that excitement from kids as well? So I haven't given up on that, but the whole thing is about the momentum of going in the same direction, staying on the bus and having a collective effort as the few.

C.J. Stermer (15:01)
Stay on the bus. Don't just get on the bus. Stay on the bus and don't let those traffic lights keep you from moving forward to stay with that metaphor. I love that. sticking with the metaphor of staying on the bus and understanding that we have to keep moving forward and that sometimes we hit barriers we have to think differently or do more with so little.

Caree Cotwright (15:02)
Stay on the bus. Stay on the bus.

Yes.

C.J. Stermer (15:19)
now that things may have changed for us. do we stay on that bus? What do we do to think differently?

Caree Cotwright (15:24)
Yeah, so I think for me, I was sharing with you before CJ, I am kind of an inward private person. And then I just felt like if something's got to, a ball's gotta drop, it's gonna be social media because I don't have as much time to do that. again, social media is a platform.

Right? And so I have followers on LinkedIn and all of these things just from being out in the field. And I said, you know what? You can post. You can post simple things. Again, even it's for friends. I did a post on Taco Tuesday, right? So like, hey, this is a simple way. These things are on sale. Let's do this. And you know, just kind of motivating. And even though it's not even about the clicks or the likes, people might not be clicking and liking, but they see it. And they'll come to me and say, I saw your post on working out. That encouraged me. I saw your post on doing a MentorBox lunch.

I saw your post on drinking more water. I'm doing that, right? And just challenging people. let's do a water challenge together. Let's try to get more water in. Let's get more steps in. Just motivating people in that way. And then even with my research, again, I do community-based participatory research. Going to my community members, my child care centers, working with the parents, working with the teachers, what do you need?

We don't make assumptions in community-based participatory research. can't go to them say, I you need online training because that's what I can do. It's like, well, what do you need? And let's partner together to figure out how we can do that. And there are still people providing funding. There are. might not be the government. It might not be in the way that we thought. But how can we partner together to keep this great work going? And I have some beautiful community partners in terms of Head Start here in Georgia. And it's funny, we did a...

We were doing a Snap-Ed project and it was Healthy Child Care Georgia. We were teaching them about healthy beverages and all these things. And they were having this big festival and they were going to bring a Kona ice truck. And they were like, we can't do that because we've been saying the healthy things. Can you find something healthy? And I literally personally went to the store and bought, think 200, 100 so they could hand those out. that's really small CJ. Like, I know you said, wow, you went and bought, but that.

C.J. Stermer (17:20)
Wow.

Caree Cotwright (17:25)
That is a small way to reinforce the message and we couldn't find a fruit truck to do it. Right. And so, okay, we did this alternative. So again, that's just a small way of making change. And I want people to think small. I think I want you to think about how can I do this little sliver and all of those things add up to this cumulative, beautiful collaborative effort.

C.J. Stermer (17:47)
Right, it all adds up and I like how you put that, you Miss Caree Cartwright may be private and not an online presence, but Dr. Cartwright has experience and she has a story to tell and she has data and experiences that can help inspire other. Like you took your own persona and flipped it on its head to say, let me think about my own story differently and how I can share that. So that didn't take a lot of effort. Like this is still your lived experience.

Caree Cotwright (17:57)
yes. yes.

C.J. Stermer (18:15)
It didn't have to be complicated. And I like how you put that. And you're doing small things. Again, I like that this message is ringing true. It doesn't have to be complicated. It doesn't have to be this big thing. These small things add up. Are there other things that you've seen in the community that have just impressed you of little small local things that people are doing to make a big difference?

Caree Cotwright (18:15)
Yes.

Yes, and so many community stories. I was on a panel and this lady shared that they started to grow a community forest. And it was a garden where you could just go in this garden and eat berries off of trees. And all I could see myself was frolicking in this community forest and getting these like fresh berries and things that they planted and they just worked together on it. And I have a really good friend.

Deon Dawson, he's in Chicago and his ⁓ organization is called Deon Chicago Dream. And it's really, really just exploded But he started out with one food refrigerator in front of a liquor store in Chicago because he wanted for people to have more access to fruits and vegetables. And now he gives out millions of pounds of food to food insecure individuals in Chicago.

and he does it in an Amazon way and they have dignity scores to make sure the food is high quality and that everybody's having dignity as they are receiving his food. His story is amazing, but it literally started with him having this food fridge outside of a liquor store now and kind of watching and seeing what people would say. And he said, he'd see people say, I wish they had pineapple and he would go sneak and he would put, nobody knew it was him and he would put pineapple in there, but it grew from there and into an entire business to impact food security across the city of Chicago. It's an amazing story.

C.J. Stermer (19:27)
Wow.

Wow, that's really small. a small refrigerator outside of a liquor store the neighborhood where people need it most, right? And that's exactly what you just said earlier is that you have to meet them where you are. It really was that simple. He didn't create this massive program right from the jump. was, me put pineapple in the refrigerator because someone says that's what they wanted. It just took listening and working with the community in a way that you just listen.

Caree Cotwright (19:55)
Yes.

Yes, and-

And again, right here, right here in Atlanta, I love, just have to give a shout out to Gooder Jasmine Crow Houston started with doing spaghetti dinners outside for unhoused individuals. And now she's to the point I just went to about last month, have a grocery store in the neighborhood. It's called a Sweet Arbin district in Atlanta, where there are many seniors, no access to grocery. She's making it affordable, accessible. has a deli partnering with people all across the city.

to make this happen and I could not have been more impressed. So again, starting small, spaghetti dinner, can turn into a grocery store for a community in need.

C.J. Stermer (20:48)
Wow, hold on, we had a spaghetti dinner and now we have a whole grocery store for communities. Tell me a little bit more about that.

Caree Cotwright (20:53)
Yes.

Well, the organization is called Gooder. And so at this this launch, there's a group called Invest Atlanta. And so there was a particular couple that owned the land in this in this area. And they decided to rent that land for a very reasonable price. And then they partnered together to build this grocery store. So there's a deli that has family meals. There was one called Curry in a Hurry. So I took one home so I could show people how to make that.

really quick and easy. There's a family meal for $20. You can get a sandwich for $2.50. And the grocery store in itself, CJ, actually has reasonable prices. know, sometimes bodega prices, it's a smaller store, is higher than the average grocery store, but they made sure to make sure that this was affordable. And then there are seniors that can actually shop for free. It's amazing. just, that type of momentum when you think of where everything started to now is just...

C.J. Stermer (21:31)
Right.

That's incredible.

Caree Cotwright (21:47)
It's literally amazing.

C.J. Stermer (21:48)
So you have healthy and nutritious foods that are more accessible, affordable and meeting them where they are.

the importance of not trying to do it on your own, but asking for help, right? Like you had to get a bunch of different people together and get people on board for a mission and asking all sorts of community members to come together to make this thing happen. But again, it started out as spaghetti dinner. Like it's, it wasn't this let's build this massive brick and mortar store.

Caree Cotwright (21:57)
yeah.

Yes.

C.J. Stermer (22:11)
That's very impressive outcomes for such small start. And I think that's such a good message. Like she stayed on her bus and kept driving and invited other people to get on and used all their passion as fuel to keep it forward. What a great example of how that small bus turned into this huge movement in such a big city. How do we continue to empower others?

Caree Cotwright (22:19)
Yes! ⁓

C.J. Stermer (22:33)
something we talk about on this podcast or even in our work while we champion for youth is the empowerment of others. We have so many people that listen, hundreds, maybe even thousands of people that are all over the place, right? They could work in all sorts of different industries and working with trying to better the lives of our young people around the nation. How do we encourage them to not only get on the bus, but to keep

You

Caree Cotwright (22:56)
Mm-hmm. I think knowing exactly what it is you're trying to accomplish, that's the first thing. Because I think, CJ, I think there's still a lot of kindness and goodness in the world, and most people want to help. So one of the things that we talk about, I just read the Let Them Theory book. I love Mel Robbins. And again, and just thinking about one of her major things was just getting started and not worrying about the what ifs, right? And so if you're putting yourself out there, think about, again, we're doing a podcast. How do you do a podcast? You want to do podcasting?

Go to a CJ, go to someone with experience and say, can I have 15 minutes? I just want to learn from you. I don't want to start from scratch. Can I get these resources or just sit at your feet? I'd love to participate to know how you're doing this. But it's just getting started. Then you do a sample episode yourself, see how it is, work with it. But you might just need to do it, right? And so in terms of that, I just think about.

How do you, one of the things that she was very vulnerable about was that she would post things and if she didn't get the likes and clicks and response, she would take it down. You know, and so she said she did that for about a year, but we do have those fears about getting started. It's kind of like walking on a tightrope, right? my gosh, will I fall? But if we just get started most often, just like I said, Dr. Caree got a lot to say.

C.J. Stermer (23:57)
Hmm.

Caree Cotwright (24:09)
Card might not be posted, but Dr. Card can speak to these things. And so if we just simply get started and we get help, I have somebody that helps me with the social media because it falls down on my priority list. But I still need to put things out there. And so as we think about those partnerships, we can even think about bartering, right? And so you think, OK, I don't have the money. Nobody's going to help me with this.

C.J. Stermer (24:20)
Right.

Caree Cotwright (24:31)
I know of people that might write a communications firm. They might write somebody else and say, you know what, I'm doing this great work. I wonder, you have any pro bono efforts or, or, you know, time to promote to this? This is a community effort. I told you, I wrote that play Little Red Riding Through the Hood. At the time I had not a dime. I was a student and I went to the black theatrical ensemble at UG and I said, do you do community service? They said, yes, we'll put on your play. They gave me the director, the actors, the set, everything. All I had to do was get them back and forth.

C.J. Stermer (24:59)
Wow.

Caree Cotwright (24:59)
to Atlanta, right? And I didn't know that was going to happen, but I had a passion. I had a dream and I kept moving before I was young and naive enough to be like, okay, let's try. I think we get older and we think about all these barriers, but let's give it a try. And we all come into the world with a given talent, with given purposes. And if we would move toward those, I think the world would just be so much more of a greater place. I would just say everybody shine your light and get started. Start small and it will grow.

it will grow, but we got to stay consistent. And so I think that's the key. If we stay consistent and we partner, there are people out here doing what you want to do. Nothing new under the sun, right? So partner, don't be afraid to reach out. Cause you never know. I reached out to Mel Robbins. I would never do that CJ, but I was like, Hey, I'm going to follow the let them fear. I don't know if I'll hear from her, but I did it. So you just have to try.

C.J. Stermer (25:48)
Yeah.

I like how you said that, don't be afraid to ask for help. That's something I also had to humble myself and learn not that long ago when I went through some of my own challenges. you know, I wonder if you felt this, but in my experience, when I did ask for help, 99 % of the time, people were willing to do so. Did you experience the same thing? Like, people are willing to help as long as you ask.

Caree Cotwright (26:10)
Absolutely.

Absolutely, CJ. And I think it's, I'm going to make it personal. It's me that gets in the way of that. I tend to think, no, I should be able to handle this. I'll do this. Or I keep kicking the can, right? So saying, okay, I'm going to get to this. I'm going to get to this, even though every day I don't get to it. And I should just in my head, I should have reached out to my statistician. I should have reached out to this research partner. And when you don't go ahead and do it, then it kind of becomes an avalanche. So it's a practice for me every day to assess what's going on.

and look and see not only where I need help, but to ask for the help. It's a practice though, because we're kinda, you know, we're independent, we got it, you know, we can do it, but it's just so much better when we get the help.

C.J. Stermer (26:54)
Talk to me a little bit more about finding and understanding what is your core purpose? What is your core motivation and using that as the fuel?

Caree Cotwright (27:01)
think finding your core purpose can be difficult, right? There's so many things that we can do, so many talents that we have, but I I'm really, really believe that we are divinely led into our purpose. And again, here I am pre-med, I gotta go to my parents, I don't wanna be a doctor anymore. And I gotta figure out what's next, because when you're on that track, you really don't, you have blinders, right? And I had not considered anything else. And so to go into nutrition again, and again, I looked at this grant and now this grant is here.

They're going to let me write a rap about nutrition. ⁓ this is great. And when, when you're going towards your passion and that purpose, you light up, there's a light that comes on. And I think that thing can't be turned out. And my passion just oozed out. I was so pleased. was taking, CJ, I had to go back and take all the courses for the dietetics because it's registered dietitians. You have to take an entire program so you can sit for the registered dietitian exam.

right? And so I'm having to go back. I'm taking 18 credits as a master's student. I'm coming back and forth to Atlanta because that's where my project is. And I have the nerve to take playwriting at UGA while I'm taking these nutrition courses so I can write my play, right? And so but what drove me was the passion. And I could keep going back to why are you here? Why are you in this? And for me, as I looked around at my community members, I was like, I got to do something to make sure we can thrive.

C.J. Stermer (28:07)
You

Caree Cotwright (28:25)
I don't want us just surviving. We need to thrive. I saw health disparities. I saw that there was a lot of data and not a lot of intervention in programs. And that was my core mission. And somehow through all of this, through the play and everything, I figured out that my role was to educate children. And of course, if you're going to educate children, you're going to have the parents and the teachers. can't help it. It's like a ⁓ feedback loop. It's all together. But I knew that my gift

was to work with children and the research and the path helped me to see it was our youngest children, our most vulnerable and work with parents who really want, I never met a parent that didn't want their child to be healthy. I never met a parent that if the child asked for an apple, they'd give them a bag of chips. So we all innately want to help and do those things and it just...

I will spend hours just reading, even when I'm teaching, I'm such a nerd, I'm like, this will be so fun for them to read. Like have to narrow it down in terms of doing my assignments because I'm so excited to see them grow and learn. And if I'm in the field, if I'm doing a cooking demonstration, if I'm helping somebody figure out how do you drink more water, how do you make it in your schedule so you can plan your meals, there's a light in me that will not go off and it just keeps me going. And so my dream is for everyone.

to click into that passion. And sometimes you just find it by doing. You might not even know. Like I said, I didn't know that I was going to be working with kids, but I was the youngest. I didn't really have little kids coming under me, but I saw how it resonated and it ignited me. And so do the things that ignite you. Those opportunities will come and don't turn back. I just love it. And then I have friends, I have a really good friend who has reinvented herself about four times in her career.

C.J. Stermer (29:44)
Right.

Caree Cotwright (30:06)
Don't be afraid to try new things and everything she's been successful, every bit of it. And so you don't have to do one thing either. Like I think we box ourselves in and we are not trapped. We're not, we have the, with the world, the way it is with social media, with training, with online things, we can do anything.

C.J. Stermer (30:12)
Period.

Right? Such inspiring words. ⁓ am truly inspired and motivated and you know, find your passion. It doesn't have to be complicated. What motivates you? What drives you? Get that on the bus. Start small and ask for help. When you do those things, your bus gets more full, you get more fuel, and next thing you know, something so small, just trying it got you building a whole

movement and it all starts with just doing just do don't don't make it complicated and like you said get out of your own way. Caree I am so grateful for this time I really feel that we have put a message out there that really will impact a lot of people and I think anybody doing anything anywhere could take some very valuable pieces of this

Thank you so very much for your time today. I really do appreciate you taking the time to sit down and have this conversation.

Caree Cotwright (31:18)
Well, thank you so much for having me, CJ. And I hope that our conversation touches somebody, motivates somebody. but I'm just so ⁓ blessed to be, you know, where I am And I could do this all day. I'm living in my passion and I just love being here and I love what you're doing. So thank you too for what you're doing for championing youth