Welcome!
Meet Mercedes
I am Mercedes Diane Griffin Forbes, a cultural storyteller, travel journalist, speaker, and food systems expert. Across more than two decades of global work, I have helped women, organizations, and communities turn bold ideas into practical, sustainable change.
My work connects food systems, public health, gender equity, culture, and communication. Whether I am leading a workshop, advising an organization, reporting from the road, or speaking onstage, I bring a human-centered perspective grounded in strategy, curiosity, and lived experience.
This or that…
Early bird or night owl
City or countryside
Extrovert or introvert
Slow travel or packed itinerary
Sunrise or sunset
Fine dining or market food
Plan ahead or follow curiosity
Fiction or nonfiction
A life shaped by curiosity
My work moves between communities, classrooms, farms, boardrooms, festivals, and the open road.
For more than 20 years, I have worked across international development, food systems, public health, gender equity, entrepreneurship, and communications. My assignments have taken me across Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the United States.
Today, I bring those experiences together through consulting, speaking, cultural storytelling, travel journalism, and DG Speaks.
Postcards From the Soul
A Journey in Haiku gathers intimate reflections from years of travel, reinvention, healing, and learning to hear my own voice.
Mercedes in the Media
Selected features, interviews, and media appearances.
Conversations, Interviews, and Ideas
Watch selected conversations exploring leadership, food systems, culture, entrepreneurship, global development, and living out loud.
What People Say About Working With Me
Reflections from collaborators, academic leaders, organizational partners, and professionals across my global work.
Let’s Build Something Meaningful
I work with organizations, founders, media partners, and purpose-driven brands through consulting, speaking, cultural storytelling, food systems strategy, and editorial collaboration.