BRAIDEd Season 1, Episode 3

Inheriting the Harvest

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About This Episode

In this summer episode of BRAIDEd, host Keionna Thomas speaks with Nia Kiara Cole, a fifth-generation farmer who transitioned from film to rebuilding her family farm in North Carolina. Nia's journey from Howard University graduate to land steward demonstrates how young Black farmers are weaving together creative skills with agricultural restoration on land with 200 years of family history. EcoWomanist Institute Southeast co-founder Valerie Hill Rawls addresses the narrative erasure that overlooks Southern Black families who held onto their land, emphasizing why the organization champions "restorative" rather than "regenerative" agriculture. Through Nia's story of navigating family expectations, building intergenerational partnerships, and managing the Southern Black Farmers Community-Led Fund, this episode shows how modern farming is an interdisciplinary field where art, storytelling, and land stewardship flourish together. The episode also announces that BRAID program applications have officially closed and the review process has begun.

About Our Guest

Pictured: Nia Kiara Cole

Nia Kiara Cole (they/them) is a Black, non-binary, fifth-generation farmer from Stone Mountain, Georgia, and the visionary force behind Kin & Flo Farm. They serve as Fund Manager of the Southern Black Farmers Community-Led Fund (SBFCLF), which invests in building self-determining, healthy Black communities across the South.

A graduate of Howard University with a B.A. in Film, Nia Kiara also pursued a Master’s in Social Work and a Master’s in Interaction Design at George Washington University—melding storytelling, social impact, and design to support social, environmental, and food justice movements. In 2021, they transitioned to farming full-time to prepare to inherit their family’s ancestral land in High Point/Jamestown, North Carolina—a homestead stewarded by their family since the late 1800s.

Their farming journey includes learning from and working alongside respected Black farmers and elders in the DMV, such as Dreaming Out Loud, Common Good City Farm, Farmer Gale of Deep Roots Farm, Gail and D'Real of Three Part Harmony Farm, Samaria of Juniper's Garden, and Blain of Earthbound Building. In 2023, they co-founded the Kinfolk Land Collective in Madison, Georgia—a Black, LGBTQ+-led, 10-acre vegetable production farm reimagining the relationship between communities of color and the land.

In April 2025, they launched Kin & Flo Farm on their ancestral land, beginning the transformation of acreage that had been fallow for more than 20 years into a training and incubation space. The farm partners with local Black farmers and institutions to provide workforce development and fresh food for the community.

Nia Kiara also serves on multiple boards and agricultural organizations dedicated to preserving and advancing Black agrarianism and Afroecology, with a deep commitment to Southeastern communities.