STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE — OUR NEW CEO

I’m Kaz, and I’m one of the newer youth activists at Bite Back, here to let you know a little bit more about our new CEO, D’Arcy — a self-proclaimed “long-term fanboy” of Bite Back! I sat down with my fellow activists to grill D’Arcy (sorry, not sorry) in our first meeting with him.

My first impression of D'Arcy from the call is that he is super optimistic and passionate about his new role. Having formerly worked on children's health at UNICEF, he’s come in with a friendly approach, and is also ready to learn a lot from us Youth Activists!

HIS PENNY DROP MOMENT

D’Arcy’s penny drop moment is pretty special. When we asked him what it was, he mused on Christina's blood sugar bingo game, and our iconic triple dipped chicken video. Seeing this delivered to a room of young people is what truly opened his eyes. He saw first-hand the ripples of inspiration surge through the room, pushing the young people present to challenge the food system working against them. That’s when he realised just how much we need change.

Not only that, D’Arcy is big on the correlation between ethnicity, income and food deprivation — he knows that injustice goes deep. In fighting a food system rigged against our health, we must tackle and acknowledge the forms of oppression that intersect with it. The intimate connections to class and racial justice within the food system spark outrage in young people, and he knows how important these are to position at the forefront of our work.

D’Arcy has a vision for an amazing team at Bite Back, he aims to centre youth voice and utilise his innate sense of social justice, which we all share here at Bite Back. And just like us, he’s impassioned to fight corporate capture.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

D’Arcy loves inspiring young people around the world to bite back against the kind of corporate greed corrupting our food system. He knows that the voices of young people have to be listened to, because our lived experience is undeniable; it's a brutal reality. The cost of ignoring it is our health and our future — and that’s not a price we’re willing to pay.

If he could have a magical wand, D’Arcy would kick industry out of policy, flat-out. Junk food brands shouldn’t be able to lobby and water down the legislation which is imperative to protecting children’s health. We need to stop wasting time and cut straight to the heart of the problem, with policy that's designed by experts. D’Arcy has seen how the food industry lashes out in the face of regulation, and this is a global challenge. Massive food companies fight back hard in countries like Mexico and South Africa.

I believe Bite Back is in good hands, and will continue doing what it does best: fighting for systemic change. D’Arcy enjoys using big campaigns that lean into humour to highlight the absurdity of our exploitative food system, and thinks we should take risks, and use our creativity — all of which I’m really looking forward to!

D’Arcy, you got this. You’ve been fans of us, and now we’re all big fans of you, too! (Well, apart from the disputes over football, which I’ll say no more on.)