Is Jennifer Garner really that nice?

with me, everyone, Let's all learn together. Born in Texas and raised in West Virginia, Jennifer Garner radiates girl next Door charm. If the girl next door to you happens to be a gorgeous A list movie star, She's played a CIA agent. I'll be there in two minutes. A thirteen year old trapped in a thirty year old body. Yesterday was my thirteenth birthday, and then today I woke up and I'm this and a doctor in search of a cure for AIDS. The purpose of this study is

to determine if as T is helping people colony me. No, there ain't no helping me. It doesn't be no we to stop trying. She's wrapped up four Emmy nominations as well as a Golden Globe, and she's also an ambassador for Save the Children. Now she's playing the role of entrepreneur. She's co founded Once Upon a Farm, which serves up organic, healthy baby food. Meanwhile, she's serving up meals of her own on her pretend cooking show on Instagram. This piece

of tappius trying to mess with my head. Clearly she's got a lot on her plate. So my next question is, could Jennifer Garner be as nice as she seems. I recently met up with her in Boston to find out. So let's talk about your kids for a moment, because I really admire how you protect your kids, and I think that's hard for people who are in the public eye.

So you have three great kids, Violet, Sarafina and Samuel, their and seven, and I know that maintaining their privacy is really important, especially in this era of social media gen where people are plastering their kids all over the place. So to see, it's fun to see, and I know it's out of love, but I actually think about this whole idea of sharantine, you know, is that something that is ultimately going to be really healthy for a way a child sees himself for herself. I'm curious why you

made that decision. It kills me because of course I want to share them. I'm I'm so proud of them, and I think they're really funny and cute. The real thing is that there is no judgment in what other people do. It is such a personal choice, and there's no saying who's right and who's wrong. I certainly don't don't stand on any kind of high horse um, but my kids, we really were hunted for, you know, for for so long, and it's I am not a way person who put myself out in public and then said

why are you taking pictures of me? But it was so out of control and it it really marked my children's experience out in the world and who it's shaped two they became in certain ways. It was such a problem that in two thousand thirteen, Jennifer appeared before the California Legislature. I don't want a gang of shouting, arguing, law breaking photographers who camp out everywhere we are all day, every day to continue traumatizing my kids. Thank you for

the opportunity to testify today. Sorry, I'd be happy to answer any questions. I fought very very hard. Um halle Berry was the leader, but I fought, you know, as her soldier testified, testified, and we hosted gatherings at our house for law enforcement to hear about the new law. And my daughter, who was five or six at the time, stood up and gave a speech she had written about the experience of being a child confronted with these huge cameras.

And so it just feels hypocritical to me to have done that and been, you know, put myself out there in that way and then turn around and use my own children for my gain. Well, to hear your little girl's speech at five or six in front of a whole crowd, that must have been it was her first time speaking in front of anyone, and it was something that she There are a few kids who have that kind of authority about what it's like to have huge men with huge cameras running at your face all the time,

and she was she was very articulate about it. And you all had success because the law was passed in two thousand thirteen. Tell me what that law says and if it's in fact change things. The law says that paparazzi cannot lie and wait outside your home outside of a school, you know. I would get to the pediatrician's office and be running in with a sick child in my arms, and they'd be blocking my entrance and I'd say,

please guys, let me through, Please let me. I never had fewer than six cars running red lights behind me doing anything to be with me. And on weekends it would be menacing money. It was. It's such a bummer. It's like a bummer even to talk about, because you'd us feel like why give it attention? But it did help, and it helped quite a bit. There's still a few at school, and someday I they when they least expected,

I'm going to have him arrested. They really congregate at church, which is a security issue for us, and that is something that I have trouble with. But they know they're going to get a shot. They know the shot will sell at church every Sunday. And it was the barrier for me taking my children to church for so long. I just didn't want to. I didn't want to put us all through it. And then I just had a conversation with myself and decided to just go for it. And it is what I thought it would be. But

they marched through. They really love their church, so it's okay. Well, you know, nothing I don't think prepares you for raising your kids in this environment, and especially because you had such a different upbringing. I know, you were born in Houston, you moved to West Virginia when you were three years old, to Charleston. Your dad was a chemical engineer. Your mom was a homemaker who later became an English teacher. My

getting all this right? Okay? Good? And I think the way you were raised, and we talked about it a little bit earlier today, was so anathetical to the environment that you kind of are in, and that the way you could potentially be sucked into raising your kids. If this is making any sense, I laughed. You said you were raised almost Amish, And what did you mean by that? I mean that might not have zippers. I know, we could have zippers and buttons, that that we were allowed,

not just straight pins. But we couldn't purm our hair. My ears aren't pierced. We couldn't wear makeup or you know, have neo polish on. That's just my dad. He just wanted us to be very simple girls. There was no emphasis in my house on looks. It was who you were. It was practiced your piano and do your homework and go to ballet class and go to college. Go to college. We all knew we were going to go to college, which is a big deal since my parents they were

the first of their entire families to go. And you're the middle sister, you have any the middle child neurosis that sometimes happen, and little children don't have neurosis, Katie, because then you're the youngest. Let me let me point out that middle children are the most well adjusted. Contrary to my history, the we we are the peacemakers, were flexible and we do and this is true as well. Want attention. I have one sister who's a c p A and one who is in marketing, and I'm the

one who's like, yucky, yucky, yucky, look at me. That's unusual, isn't it for the middle child. I think the middle usually once feels like they've kind of got left out because their sandwich between the oldest and the youngest a little bit. Yeah, that's so funny. Are you close to your sister's very close to both of them. I've spoken to both of them in the last twenty four hours.

And I know that Nicole, your manager, who I had so much fun talking to recently at a dinner, I think not only kind of protecting your kids from outside forces, but you also have to protect your kids from stuff that's written about you and them and they're dad. You just don't read anything. She said. Oh, I am so serious about it. You know, when you just realize that something is making you so unhappy. And anything that I saw in print about myself my family at all was

just it mattered to me too much. And you don't have control over it. There's nothing you can do. And I just made a decision. I am never going to see my name in print if I can help it. Other than like, if it's the New York Times, if you want to talk about Once upon a Farm, I'm in. But this morning, when I saw my name in the Your wake Up Call, I was thrilled. But otherwise I don't look at a lot of sites. I used to love Huffington Post, CNN. They have a celebrity part of

them and I just can't see it. And what about your kids? You know, it's funny because my daughters get anxious about social media. One in particular, she has sort of a phobia about it. Do you worry about the prevalence of social media and how ubiquitous it is and your kids like not wanting too, but somehow seeing stuff for even the role is playing in the lives of children everywhere without even having parents who are well known. I worry about all kids having to deal with this

new pressure. My daughters at an all girls school, and it's such a huge problem. And she'll occasionally talk to me about getting Instagram and I can see why because I'm on there and it's something kind of fun that I do, and I am I am modeling the opposite of what I want for her to do. How I is that in parenting? And I just say, when you can show me studies that say that teenage girls are happier using Instagram than not, then we can have the conversation.

But everything you look at I don't see anything positive for you out there. You can look at mine when you want to. We can go over it together, but I just don't see it. Tell me a little bit about your use of Instagram. My name is jenn I'm We're having it for time, Compisa, because I think you're so great at it and everything is very authentic and fun and your pretend cooking show and sort of the things you share. Some of this personally, pardon me, it's

been brought to my intention that does the cilantro. Not personally, I do feel like, actually, I know you now is about you. I know it is in a way. It's so nice. It is. It makes you feel more connected. It does. I joined Instagram because of Once upon a Farm. It was very much part of the deal and I did it kicking and screaming. But that's how much I

wanted to be involved with this company. And when I did it, you know, there are all these companies in l A that will come in and do your social media for you, and I just said, I can't do that.

I can't introduce something like that. So I have had the same woman working with me from that mode this morning for six mo what started as my assistant six and a half years ago, and I just kind of are different things that her friends have gotten married at my house and I've said you're the wedding planner or you know, kind of whatever I tossed her way. She's amazing. So MO was a natural to curate on a first

Instagram feed. So she was a film major at Northwestern and I said, you are doing this with me, and we're going to do it. I said, I have to be able to do this my way. I can't like post three things a day plus story plus this plus it. I just can't do it. So I just put out there what felt right for me, and that's what I keep doing. And sometimes we'll go a week and put up one or you know, we don't announce it. We

just do it. I took a digital detox for a week and I stayed off social media just because I felt like mischievous thank you, But I sort of felt like it was an added pressure in a way. I mean, I love it, but I also feel like, oh gosh, I better do something. So it's kind of a mixed bag, isn't it. It is definitely an added pressure. There is no doubt about that. It is a job, especially the way we approach it. We kind of we go for it and produce things and and do it. I'm with

Mo all the time anyway, and we're so close. People think we're sisters all the time, which is a huge compliment to me. But she's always got her phone on. You know she films me doing dumb things, and then she's such a great editor that she turns it into something. We're going to take a quick break here, but when we come back, we'll hear more from Jennifer about building a business from the ground up, her love of food,

and our mutual celebrity crush. As a longtime ambassador for Save the Children, Jennifer Garner is a fierce advocate for kids in some of America's most underserved communities. Two years ago, she decided to approach the issue of childhood hunger from a different angle, joining the board of a small, mission driven startup aimed at making high quality, organic baby food affordable for all families. I asked her about what it's

like to immerse herself in the world of business. I just think what you're doing is such an interesting new chapter for you. You're learning about business and how to run a company, and so you're getting a whole new skill set, which must be both daunting but also really gratifying. So gratifying. I'm sure you have felt this way. I'm sure I see you doing it now where you think, Okay, this is what I know how to do, sort of ish, can I expand on that what more can I ask

of myself but still be me? I couldn't have a better mentor and buddy to do it with. But I do sit in meetings and write down everything and circle the things I don't know, and some are just basic business terms. I really never took a business class. People kept talking about the r O. I I didn't know what it was amidst return on investment and I did not know net versus gross. And I still get confused if I don't if I have to think about it, because I never learned it organically. I've learned it in

the process of this. But I think it's so important, especially for women, to understand business better, because I do think it holds us back. But I know I never felt very confident in my business acumen or knowledge, and I think if I had a better foundation, it would have helped me in a myriad of ways professionally. So I think some basic business things are really important, especially for girls. I think they seem to be afraid of

it a little. The other side of that is that I think that we can't be afraid to be beginners at any stage in your life. And I try to always have something that I'm a beginner on, like I started tennis lessons for the first time in my life last week, or I learned to ski when I was forty, or you know, and so you you've got a fight for being a beginner and not let yourself be embarrassed. And I just am wholeheartedly a novice and thrilled about it. I love that. I'm going to put that, like on

a bumper sticker on a I like that. And when it comes to developing the products, gen, I think it must be really fun. Actually, because you love to cook. You have your pretend cooking show on Instagram, which I loved watch. You can tell you get real joy out of cooking and being in the kitchen and preparing things for your kids. I think you didn't you make bagels not too long ago. Who would like the first bagel? I like to take on occasionally a big project like bagels.

My little sister made croissant. How do you say so recently? And I said, I don't think I can do that. I bet you could. I'd like to just say, I wonder if I could. You know, John cans tomatoes and I was just talking to him in the car this morning and saying Okay, I'm ready to do this. Tell me exactly what to do, and this weekend I'm going to go home and can tomatoes. For sure. John is John Forker, the CEO of their company, Once Upon a Farm.

You'll meet him a little bit later. And so as part of that, I guess you get to try foods, suggest foods, and are the networks banging on your door to do a real cooking show and not just to pretend cooking show? I can't imagine you haven't been approached. Come on, I mean, you know in a garden are common crash. It is an homage to Aina and to Barefoot Contesta and the comfort that I get and how much I've learned about cooking from her, and and from

Martha Stewart before her, and from this whole genre. But I don't know enough to fill an hour or how. I don't know. I think it would be great. And Aina, I mean she is pretty amazing, isn't she amazing? Talk about somebody who knows business? She is so smart that woman. Has she given you any tips on this business? Yeah? I think I had a similar conversation that that you were talking about with her about how to hire people.

I loved that you brought that up Inna says high or happy, because you can teach someone how to about about cheese, but you can't teach them how to be happy. And there there is something about that, you know. If you want to have a teammate, be a teammate, you kind of have to be in it with everyone. I think people get their energy from people around them, and you want positivity and people to feel like they can do.

And nothing's worse than having a like around you and an energy sucker or vampire, like they said the worst. There's so many women who are doing cool entrepreneurial things. Do you ever talk to like Gwyneth Paltrow or Jessica all the about business? They're not really so impressed by them.

I'm a little intimidated by them, to be honest. But but I would talk to them if I were sitting in the room with them, of course, and be so fascinated by their journey and why they made the decisions they've made, and where they see themselves going and how they see it all kind of working out. But if I'm really going to talk innovation, I am talking with

John Forker. We talk a lot about everyone in the organic industry is trying to find the next new high end product or the next new like ingredient that no one's thought of before. And we're trying to innovate instead of up to the tip of the pyramid, down and out so that it's available for everyone. And I think we're trying to push our colleagues to do the same.

Purpose driven companies are now kind of everywhere, And I guess my only cautionary note, not that I'm an expert on any of this, is that when companies are inauthentic and they're kind of doing it for their image instead of for their real heart, right, you know, any good that you do is still good, even if it is for the picture on Instagram. I really do believe if you've done good, you've done good. It's helped someone great. But if you want people to respond to it, it

sure helps if you mean what you say. It can be easy to have a pretty cynical outlook on celebrity driven brands, but after spending just a few minutes with Jennifer, it was clear that she isn't just doing this for the Graham. She and the rest of her Once upon a Farm colleague seem to really care deeply about their work, and it shows especially in their efforts to make sure that their food is available to people who rely on government assistance. We'll have more on that right after this.

Once Upon a Farm is rethinking nutrition for kids, and rethinking it in a way that if eighteen thousand stores carries fresh pet food, and yet the baby food that you buy is older than the baby that you're feeding it too, there is something wrong with the way we have grown to accept what we're feeding our children. So we are putting out their farm fresh full of nutrition, full of bright, vibrant flavors and colors, and food for

babies in the refrigerated section. I wanted to hear more about the company, so I asked John Forker, the CEO of Once Upon a Farm, what attracted him to this venture. You were the CEO of Annie's, which was one of the front runners or the leaders in this space. Why did you say, you know, this is so exciting, I'm going to quit my old job and start something totally new.

My old job was a lot easier than this. Um there's the personal challenge of like trying to do something big again and seeing a big need that Jen just alluded to that there's an opportunity to do just a lot better for babies and to partner with a really small team of really passionate people and see how much change we could drive and not just for rich kids in Beverly Hills or San Francisco or New York, but for all kids. And that was just too big of

an opportunity to pass up. That is such a key phrase when it comes to your company, all kids, and Jen, that came from your work was saved the children. I know you were exposed to really deplorable situations for a lot of kids in this country, and you thought, this isn't right, this isn't fair. Tell us did you have an AHA moment about this? It's more of a combination

of small AHAs. There there's the aha of everywhere that I've gone in the country for save the children, and I've gone back again and again and again in the eleven years I've worked for them, whether it's Connault Nation at the very tip top of Washington State, or South Carolina, Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky, or all over California or d C or Vermont, or I've criss crossed the country visiting the poorest areas in the rural parts of those states, and

I have just seen the similarities and the differences, and the way that we fundraise over the last eleven years has changed so that we're pushing and looking for businesses to lead in a way that we didn't used to. Um. We used to rely even eleven years ago, much more on government, and we still do. We're a public private partnership, but business has to lead. So then you eventually feel like we'll shoot, then I better be a business. So, in addition to our work was saved the children, Gen decided,

I'm tired of asking other people for money. I better get in there myself and make a change that I want to see. Talk about how you're making your affordable, which obviously is the cornerstone. Jen, your mom grew up on a rural farm in Oklahoma, and now the family farm is actually providing some of the produce for the food that you're making, which is a great full circle, but it is very challenging in terms of accessibility to let underserved families have access to this food and make

it so they can afford it. Can you give us the cliff notes John about the process you have to go through. The cliff notes is there's a federal program that's menasured by the states called the Women, Infant Children Health Program, and it allows underserved communities and families to get access to fresh foods and vegetables and baby food

and other things. And so we decided very early on, in fact day one, that we decided to do this together, that we were going to make fresh baby food available under the WIT program in every state we possibly could. I talked to a few people about that idea who have been the food industry with me for a long time, and they said, you're insane, Like that's not going to happen. We had to completely re genero supply chain. We had to think about where things are made, where the vegetables

and fruits are coming from. Because of proximity to the stores. In any package food, a lot of the cost is not actually the food itself, it's everything else. It's the transportation,

it's the packaging. So we redesigned with the same great ingredients to develop a line of products that we could get to a price point and with the right nutritionals that are required by the federal program to allow us to be WICK eligible, and so we are WIK eligible on our core line of these two pack bowls, and we're now getting those approved in every state that we can for access to those populations. But it's been quite

a process. And you're approved in six states six states now, right, And how long do you think it will take John before you guys can be sold in every state in the country. I would like it to be tomorrow, but I think there's fifteen or sixteen states now that allow organic baby food in their WICK program. We're in about six now, I think will be in twelve or so by this time next year. What are some of your

favorite products that you all have done. I'd love to hear from both of you because right now I'm super hungry and I just want to hear about some that you really like. Green kale and apple was one of our core baby food flavors. It sounds crazy, but like I snack on it. It's green kale apples. It's amazing, Like really, that's one of my favorites. They all in pouches.

Most of our line right now is in pouches, but we're coming into other product formats too, and as Jen mentioned, we're starting to age out we want to be a brand that's babies first, foods all the web two about age twelve, So really like a kid nutrition brand, solving the lunchbox problem. Helping parents do that. It's very hard to do, and to build a brand like that across multiple categories is really hard work. And fresh baby food didn't exist, and it should have existed years and years ago.

So I think of Baby Boom. Do you remember that movie? When I hear about the company, I always think about like I'm just driving around in my station wagon filled with you know, Mama Bear blueberry. Yeah. I mentioned this in the Our Bigger Conversation, but I want to mention it here too. Is there was a woman who wrote to you on Instagram As an adult, I enjoyed a few of these in my post chemo misery when eating was tough. It was a great way to get fruits

and veggies allowed and my immuno suppressed diet. Thank you. So it's wonderful when you see something you're doing helping people that you never imagined it would be helping. Right well, moms whose children have diabetes or who have celiac or different allergies, I hear from them a lot It's just nice to feel like you're helping. And is this sort of your sole focus when you think about your life five ten years from now. I hate the words vision board,

but everyone seems to use that. Now, what do you see before you? Happy kids? I just want happy kids my own selfishly, that's the first thing I see. If my kids are happy, then I'm okay. But other than that, my gosh, I see lunch boxes being filled with fresh, nutritious choices that delight children and that you know, and that helped create more jobs for sustainable, regenerative agriculture and great farmers, and I see that going hand in hand.

I probably work as much for safe as I do on anything else, and so I can't not see in the future and see, you know, some policy changes that focus more on poor kids in our country and more on birth to five. Well, I not only adore you, I really appreciate everything you do and respect what you're doing out in the world, and so happy to be able to have this conversation. Jen Thank you so much. My time with Jennifer and John was coming to a close, but as you heard, I was really hungry, and they

happen to bring a few of their products with them. Okay, what do I do? I smush it around before we go. I want to try. I'm trying to be a very very quite contrary, although I'm very excited about Jen and the Giant Squash, which is coming soon to a store near you. You guys, how many stores are you available in? Ten thou ten thousand stores? And then the Giant squash. It's just squash that has been grown on my tiny family farm in Oklahoma, so you got to get it online,

and you guys cheers. I'm having Mama Bear Birds apple, sweet potato, blueberry water, coconut milk, all organic and only ninety calories fifty. Thank you, Katie, Thank you, Jim, Thank you John. This sound is someone sucking out of a pouch on. I know, this is what? What is that weird thing that m A s A s mr Oh I write that is so weird. I hate it. This is me drinking a smoothie. Let's listen to the smoothie. M I don't get it. That's the weirdest thing ever.

Totally using it. I really really like Jennifer Garner now I just call her Jen or j G. I thought she was warm and funny. And authentic, but I also found her to be really thoughtful and smart. She clearly cares deeply about her work. Was saved the children, and I was so impressed by how much time she spent traveling around the country to see and understand rural poverty up close. I'd love to do a documentary with her on the subject one of these days, because it's still

so in the shadows. Clearly, Jen's parents did a great job raising her. So congratulations Mr and Mrs Garner. If you're listening and Jen, thank you and everyone. Jennifer Garner is as nice as she seems. Thanks so much for listening, everyone, and until we meet again, make sure to follow me on Instagram. I'm at Katie Curic and sign up for my daily newsletter. It's called wake Up Call, and you can do that by going to Katie currek dot com. Next Question with Katie Curic is a production of I

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