Community VIPs

Good Earth

Kathy Kellogg Johnson promotes sustainability at her company and in her volunteer activities.

Written by Nancy Sokoler Steiner | Photographed by Michael Neveux

Photography by Michael Neveux

Kathy Kellogg Johnson internalized the idea “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” long before the concept gained traction. It started with her grandfather, H. Clay Kellogg, who founded Kellogg Garden Products in 1925. In the 1950s her father, H. Clay Kellogg Jr., conceived of recovering and repurposing organic materials—then considered worthless—to enrich soil. For example, he created a soil enhancer using discarded rice hulls that would otherwise have been burned.

Today Kathy Kellogg Johnson continues her family’s legacy of sustainability (or as she prefers to call it, “regeneration”) and healthy farming practices as the company’s co-owner and chair of the board. Under her earlier direction as sustainability director, Kellogg Garden Products began recycling everything from cardboard boxes to plastic bags (the latter are made into shoes).

In 2007 Kellogg Garden Products of Carson was among the first to request a review of its carbon footprint and received a Zero Waste designation from the California Department of Recycling (now CALRECYCLE) and the California Resource Recovery Association. The company’s carbon footprint was found to be negative, preventing more than 400,000 tons of CO2e from being released annually.

Kellogg Johnson gets satisfaction knowing the company’s customers help keep the cycle going. “Carbon belongs in the soil, and plants are the mechanism by which carbon gets there,” she says. “Creating enriched soil with the use of organic matter sequesters carbon, makes plants more nutrient-dense and leads to a healthier population.”

She champions the cause of helping impoverished rural farmers adopt these practices and better their lives through her support of Plant with Purpose. The organization equips farming families around the world to increase farm yields, heal damaged ecosystems, improve nutrition, and increase household savings and opportunities.

“They truly help people help themselves,” says Kellogg Johnson, who has traveled to countries including Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda to work with participants. “It doesn’t give money. It encourages learning.” Profits from her company’s Eden Valley Blend products support Plant with Purpose.

Closer to home, Kellogg Johnson participates in school gardening programs in the South Bay and local underserved communities. She remembers her shock upon watching a show where Chef Jamie Oliver interacted with children. The children couldn’t identify common vegetables and didn’t know that potatoes came from the ground, not the supermarket.

She believes gardening gives children enjoyment from being outdoors and working with their hands. They are also more enthusiastic about eating something they grew themselves. “In our era of instant everything, children learn real-time nature. They plant the seed, a blade appears, 90 days later a tomato appears, and 14 days later they can pick it and eat it.”

In October 2021, Kellogg Johnson received the inaugural Mother Earth award from Grades of Green (see pages 42–43) for her environmental work around the globe. The nonprofit, founded by four Southern California mothers, provides resources to students to engage in projects addressing environmental issues.

Kellogg Johnson encourages beginning gardeners to visit their local nursery, where staff can suggest edible crops that work with specific sun, watering and soil conditions. She even started with a window box growing lettuce, green onions and rosemary.

“Recovering organics and using them in gardens is a very hope-filled activity,” she says. “In doing so, you are eating more nutritious food, reducing waste and removing carbon from our atmosphere.” •

The South Coast Botanical Garden, a champion of Regenerative Practices, in many ways. Kathy serves on the Board of Directors and applauds the Garden’s recovery of a former landfill, the commitment to organic practices and recycling. When talking about Regeneration, the Garden welcomes South Bay residents recovering from surgery or going through Physical Therapy. Patients who are prescribed a walk outside with their therapist are granted free admission! Talk about a commitment to ‘Regeneration’ of all kinds!

Community VIP

Slam Dunk

Kiesha Nix lives her passions with a job combining giving, mentorship and the Lakers.

Written by Nancy Sokoler Steiner

Being of service is in Kiesha Nix’s family DNA.

Her grandparents volunteered at their church, neighborhood watch, voting polls and local food distributions. Her son Kyler, a financial professional, has a ministry that supports those in need. And Nix has a significant platform to do good: She serves as VP of charitable affairs and executive director of the Los Angeles Lakers Youth Foundation, the organization’s official team charity.

Nix didn’t expect to hold such a position as a wealth manager at Merrill Lynch. She always volunteered to help with community relations though, as a way of giving back. When the company merged with Bank of America, Nix jumped at the opportunity to take a full-time job in community relations. “It was a huge pay cut, but it was my passion,” she says.

Her first assignment involved supervising the company’s sponsorship with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Three years later, the Lakers approached her to manage their youth foundation.

Its mission is to help underserved youth develop their potential by providing positive experiences and resources in three core areas: education, health and wellness, and sports. It also provides grants to other charities supporting youth.

A fan since childhood, Nix grew up attending the Laker victory parades of the ’80s. She attended high school in Inglewood, where the Laker Girls practiced. “It was like a dream come true,” she says of joining the organization.

Today she oversees the foundation’s activities from the Lakers’ training center in El Segundo. Signature programs include the Junior Lakers, a youth basketball program focused on developing fundamental skills, teamwork, sportsmanship and positive community involvement among participants. Building Bridges with Basketball brings older youths from the inner city to play or watch basketball with LAPD officers. Basketball and health and fitness clinics, held with Boys & Girls Clubs at schools and parks, teach basketball fundamentals along with wellness strategies.

The Lakers Youth Foundation has funded the creation of four STEM labs including equipment and curriculum. The newest lab, which also received funding from the NBA, debuted in November 2021 at the Challengers Clubhouse, the Boys & Girls Club location in South Central L.A.

During COVID-19, Nix has worked with schools lacking the technology needed for their students to learn online. She arranged for the purchase of hotspots, laptops and iPads for several LAUSD schools and after-school programs.

“We delivered an iPad to a 10-year-old in Watts who had never had a technology device in his life and was already falling behind in school,” she says. “His mom cried because not only was he able to do his homework now, but he was also able to watch the Laker game via Zoom.”

“This work is so rewarding,” adds Nix, who also mentors youth independently and sits on the boards of several organizations. “It’s literally life-changing. We’re giving them hope and an opportunity when they can see themselves in some of us. Because not everyone is going to be the next Kobe Bryant or LeBron James, but I often tell them, ‘You can be the next Kiesha Nix. That’s achievable.’” •

Kiesha Nix calls her work with the L.A. Lakers Youth Foundation “rewarding” and “life-changing.”

Community VIP

Play Ball!

Xavier Navarro helped lead his team to the Little League World Series.

Written by Nancy Sokoler Steiner | Photographed by Micheal Neveux

For the entire 2020 season, Xavier Navarro and his Torrance Little League teammates endured sitting out their favorite sport due to COVID-19 precautions. So it would have been understandable had the team performed at less than capacity when Little League resumed in 2021.

But the Cardiac Kids had other plans. Nicknamed for their ability to come back from behind, the team’s dramatic season capped off with a spot at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. At the heart of those Cardiac Kids was Navarro, then 12 years old, with both the heart and drive to rally his teammates.

“He’s our leadoff hitter, which shows who he is personality-wise,” says third-base coach Ollie Turner. “In the game that qualified us for Williamsport, Xavier stole home when the ball was between the catcher and the pitcher. He’s a ball of energy and makes everything fun for his teammates.”

Navarro “had an addiction to any kind of ball” since he was a toddler, says his grandmother, Evelyn Schultz. “Any time we went to the toy store, he went straight to the ball aisle.”

His grandparents, Evelyn and Jerrold Schultz, obtained legal guardianship of Navarro and his two older brothers when Navarro was 4 years old. When they asked him whether he wanted to learn baseball or soccer first, Navarro chose the former. He never looked back.

Today the 13-year-old plays all infield positions, including pitcher. (Having aged out of Little League, he now plays travel ball with the San Pedro Pirates.)

“It’s fun,” he says. “You can play in every inning. You can run and steal bases.”

Torrance Little League’s trip to the World Series involved battling through district, sectional, state and regional playoffs. They played four World Series games before being eliminated.

“The team would lose and then come back and try harder. They didn’t give up,” says Jerrold. “That’s why they got so far.”

As for playing in front of a national audience, says Navarro, “It was a little nerve-wracking. But once you play one game, you get the hang of it and don’t get too worried.”

Navarro didn’t just shine on the field. He took on responsibilities such as checking the locker room for any items left behind and helping shepherd his teammates to and from the bus and their various locations.

The Shultzes say the experience has been both a family and community affair. His two older brothers rooted for the team and assisted the coaches. The team itself became a family. Most had played together since T-ball days.

“They grew as they kept on playing and got stronger as a team. They supported each other, and the community supported them too,” says Jerrold.

The city of Torrance took great pride in the team’s success, holding watch parties and a parade afterward attended by local and state dignitaries and former Major Leaguer Nomar Garciaparra.

As for Navarro, he enjoyed watching the 2021 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros. Pointing to the players on the field, he told his grandmother, “That’s going to be me some day.” •

Torrance Little League pitcher Xavier Navarro was a driving force and instrumental in his team’s run to the 2021 Little League World Series.

Photography by Michael Neveux