Episode 5: Biscuits with Margo Miller
Welcome to Rural Food Traditions, a podcast series of Rural Remix. We’re starting where many meals across diverse food traditions begin: with bread. Food is a uniter; and across culinary traditions, bread is a common thread.
On this episode we are learning all about the art of making biscuits! Appalachian leader Margo Miller speaks about how a middle school competition led to a lifelong passion for biscuits and how she is returning to her roots through crafting and baking.
Margo Miller is a daughter of Appalachia, born and raised in East Tennessee. She’s a retired radio show DJ, frustrated poet, and an avid crafter with a strong affinity for art and culture and social justice.
In 2024, after 13 years of dedicated leadership, she retired from her role as Executive Director of the Appalachian Community Fund. During her tenure, she stabilized the organization and successfully secured millions of dollars to support social change initiatives in Appalachia.
In the early 1990s, she worked with Carpetbag Theatre, a professional African American ensemble company. Through that work, and others like Alternate ROOTS, she has had the opportunity to collaborate with artists, arts organizations, and organizers all over the United States.
Most recently, she is happy to be one of the founding assembly members of the Waymaker’s Collective, a grantmaker in Appalachia that is revolutionizing philanthropy through community-led and controlled giving, supporting groups often overlooked by traditional philanthropy.
She treasures her solitude, delighting in sewing, crafting, reading, and journaling with a commitment of finding art and joy in everyday living. She also cherishes time with family and friends and vows to be a kid at heart all her life.
New York Times Profile: In Appalachia, Margo Miller Leads From a ‘Place of Courageous Joy’ December 2022
Bloomberg: An Appalachian Group Is Forging a More Community-Led Approach to Giving 2022
The Grio: Black women lead initiative to raise $100M for Black girls and women in the South March 2021
Appalachian Advocate: https://knoxzine.com/all/2015/09/01/an-appalachian-advocate/
TN Ledger: A lifetime of changing lives: Miller helps Appalachian fund move – and save – mountains January 2019
Standing at the intersection of funding, arts and activism
Use of Artistic Expression: Intimate Interlude Margo Miller and Arlene Goldbard 2016
Knoxville Mercury: Let’s Go WOZO! Inside Knoxville’s nonprofit, low-powered, community-oriented, DJ-supported radio station 2016
Knoxville Mercury: Q&A: Margo Miller, DJ at Community Radio Station WOZO 2015
Rural Food Traditions is a production of Rural Remix. Original music was composed by Quincy Ponvert and Leo Posel. This series was written and produced by Teresa Collins and edited by Susannah Broun. Assistant producers are Tracy Staley and Anya Slepyan. The Executive Producer is Joel Cohen. Rural Remix is a co-production of the Daily Yonder and the Rural Assembly, projects of the Center for Rural Strategies.
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