Sean Fannan and Kele Song bring innovation to food and philanthropy in South Lake Tahoe.
It’s obvious from the way they talk about food that Sean Fannan and Kele Song have been bitten by the culinary bug. They’ve even given their dogs food names: Chili and Pinto.
Fannan, who grew up in South Lake Tahoe and founded the nonprofit Marcella Foundation, says living in China during his mid-20s blew him out of his food comfort zone and sparked in him an enduring love of cooking.
Song always was interested in food, having grown up with a father and grandmother who were both gourmet home cooks. She discovered her own love of cooking and baking when she moved from China to the United States to attend graduate school and began hosting dinner parties for friends.
Fannan and Song met while working at Chartboost, a mobile advertising company that Fannan founded and later sold. As tech developers, they both have a keen sense of innovation and iteration. This sensibility serves them well in the kitchen, where they enjoy creating new dishes.
“I love cooking at home because it’s an avenue for me to be creative and be kind of an artist. I improvise and try things,” Fannan says. “I think those skills are super relevant to entrepreneurship and starting companies. You have to try things all the time, then double down on what works and pull back from what doesn’t.”
Feed, Read, Lead
In 2023, when the couple realized a long-held dream of traveling the globe, food was a guiding force. They visited 25 countries throughout the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom, and East Africa, among other destinations.
Their eyes sparkle as they describe a food tour in Vietnam, riding on the backs of scooters through busy traffic from one delicious destination to the next. They were equally enchanted by a cooking class in Tokyo, where they visited a fish market and learned to make sushi.
As much as the couple enjoyed their trip, Song says it was also eye-opening. Seeing so many families facing food insecurity inspired them to address food access in their own community of South Lake Tahoe.
Fannan and Song bring their innovative thinking to philanthropy through the Marcella Foundation, the nonprofit Fannan founded in 2021. Named for his grandmother, the organization is on a mission to “think big and make a difference in South Lake Tahoe,” according to the website.
“The reason I’m focused on being so local isn’t that I don’t care about other places. But by being so focused, we can prove out ideas that can be replicated in other places,” he says.
An example of this prototyping process is the foundation’s BookMode program, which supplies Kindle devices to elementary-school-aged students in order to bolster substandard literacy skills in the Tahoe area. After a successful pilot in 2023, the foundation is expanding the program to serve more students in South Lake Tahoe and is positioned to spread the idea to other locales in a “ready to use out of the box” way.
The Marcella Foundation also fosters leadership in the next generation, providing mentoring and college scholarships to South Tahoe High School students. As an STHS alumnus, Fannan knows firsthand the importance of teens in the community building skills to succeed in the wider world.
Food, of course, is a high priority for the foundation, which partners with local nonprofit Bread & Broth to help combat food insecurity in the Tahoe area and provide meals and snacks for local youths.
Hungry for More
This year the Marcella Foundation is excited to expand its literacy impact by partnering with Imagination Library, a national nonprofit founded by Dolly Parton that mails free books to children under the age of five every month.
The team also is looking forward to the release of Momentum, a documentary about resilience and overcoming adversity, featuring South Tahoe High School wrestling coach and youth mentor Ryan Wallace. The film, which was funded by the Marcella Foundation, will premiere on PBS this summer.
Even with their busy roles as founder and director of strategy, respectively, Fannan and Song always make time to unwind, innovate, and play in the kitchen.
For details about the Marcella Foundation, visit Marcellafoundation.org.
Homemade Granola
(courtesy of Kele Song, director of strategy, Marcella Foundation in South Lake Tahoe. Makes 12 servings)
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup shelled pistachios
½ cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup unsweetened coconut chips
1 tablespoon kosher salt
½ cup light brown sugar
⅓ cup maple syrup
⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¾ cup dried sour cherries
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Mix oats, pistachios, coconut, pumpkin seeds, and salt in a large bowl. In a small saucepan set over low heat, warm sugar, syrup, and olive oil until sugar has just dissolved, then remove from heat. Fold liquids into oat mixture, making sure to coat the dry ingredients well. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and spread granola over it. Bake until dry and lightly golden, about 40 minutes, stirring halfway through. Remove from oven and mix in dried sour cherries. Allow to cool to room temperature before transferring to a storage container. Stays fresh up to 1 week.
