SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20 • 4 PM CST
Tea & Justice • Virtual Tea Ceremony
In RECOGNITION OF WORLD DAY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
Becca Stevens, Thistle Farms Founder & President
Free Virtual Event
FEBRUARY 20, 2022
Gather your favorite cup, tea, and hot water and come for a tea ceremony, conversation, and community with women around the world.
The Brewing of a Movement
Tea & Justice
In its 3,500 year history, tea has helped create economic and spiritual growth around the world. However, tea’s very existence has also been predicated on the oppression of women via the oldest forms of human trafficking, trading of opiates in China and sexual violence in the fields of India.
Yet tea has a noble story too, as its rituals and symbolism are great companions for cultivating justice. Whether being dumped into a harbor, served by Gandhi as he negotiated freedom, or fundraising for the Women’s Suffrage Movement, tea has played a part in every revolution since the 1700s.
Tea creates an environment of rituals, offering dignity and creating dialogue.
BECCA STEVENS
Author, Speaker, and Founder of Thistle Farms
Alisa bernard
Director of Public Policy & Advocacy
Maneet Chauhan
Chef, Television Personality, and President of Morph Hospitality Group
BECCA STEVENS
Author, Speaker, and Founder of Thistle Farms
After experiencing the death of her father and subsequent child abuse when she was 5, Becca longed to open a sanctuary for survivors offering a loving community. In 1997, five women who had experienced trafficking, violence, and addiction were welcomed home.
She leads important conversations across the country by speaking, writing, and heading a national network of like-minded organizations. She has established 10 justice enterprises and helped raise more than $55M dollars for social justice causes.
Becca has been featured in the New York Times, on ABC World News and NPR, was recently named a 2016 CNN Hero and a White House “Champion of Change." She was featured in the PBS documentary, A Path Appears, named Humanitarian of the Year by the Small Business Council of America and inducted into the Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame.
She attended the University of the South and Vanderbilt Divinity School and has been conferred four honorary doctorates.
Alisa bernard
Director of Public Policy & Advocacy
Alisa helps lead Thistle Farms and its network partners to identify and engage in legislative and grassroots efforts to increase supports for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and holding accountable the systems and individuals which perpetuate the sex trade.
Alisa's work includes liaising with Thistle Farms National Network partners, engaging directly with legislative officials on specific policy issues, and overseeing grassroots campaigns to make the world a better place for survivors.
Maneet Chauhan
Chef, Television Personality, and President of Morph Hospitality Group
Maneet Chauhan is an award-winning chef, author, television personality and founding partner and president of Morph Hospitality Group in Nashville, Tennessee.
She is a recipient of the 2012 James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Award for her role as a permanent judge on Food Network’s “Chopped.
”Born in Punjab, India, chef Chauhan worked in some of the country’s finest hotels before moving to the U.S. to study at the Culinary Institute of America.
She went on to work as executive chef in some of New York City and Chicago’s top restaurants, which received national acclaim under her leadership. After relocating to Nashville, Tennessee, Chauhan and her husband, Vivek Deora, co-founded Morph Hospitality Group, opening their first restaurant, Chauhan Ale & Masala House in 2014. With the goal of filling gaps in Nashville’s culinary landscape, the group opened Tànsuǒ, a Chinese concept, and The Mockingbird, a global diner, in 2017, and Chaatable, a nostalgic Indian street food concept in 2018. Chef Chauhan is also a cofounder of Hop Springs, home to the state’s largest craft brewery and a fun-filled 84-acre beer park located in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Chauhan is the author of two cookbooks, Flavors of My World and her most recent, Chaat: The Best Recipes from the Kitchens, Markets, and Railways of India, which was released in October 2020. Published by Clarkson Potter, the book was inspired by Maneet's epic cross-country railroad expedition that brought her to local markets, street vendors and the homes of family & friends. Chaat has been recognized as one of Fall2020’s most anticipated cookbooks and has appeared in the New York Times, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, Martha Stewart Living, Saveur, Food Network Magazine, and more.
A leader in the Nashville community, Chauhan has been honored as one of the Nashville Business Journal’s “40 under 40”, which highlights young, successful business leaders and was recognized in Nashville Lifestyles’ Women in Business, which showcases local women who are at the top of their respective industries.
In March 2020, Chauhan founded Hospitality Strong, a nonprofit benefitting hospitality workers in need and currently serves as an advisory board member for Nashville's COVID-19 Response Fund, founded to assist individuals, families and nonprofits experiencing financial hardship due to the virus.
When she’s not in the kitchen or traveling, chef Chauhan can be found at home in Franklin, Tennessee, with her husband, Vivek Deora, their daughter, Shagun, and their son, Karma.
Justice Doesn’t Percolate In Isolation
As we drink the healing tincture of tea and breathe deep the sweet aroma of comfort, we toast in thoughtful intentionality. We will:
Celebrate those who have made it possible for us to drink in freedom.
Commemorate global communities that bring warmth through tea and all the other ways artisans bring love into our world.
Reflect on the gaps in equality and justice for people around the world.
Resolve to truly make freedom the birthright of the next generation.
Recommending Reading & Sipping
Deeply healing and nourishing, Moringa is filled with proteins, antioxidants and vitamins. May it sustain and strengthen us for the work that lays ahead.
