Episode 296: Savannah Bananas, Banana Ball, and Bananas Foster – Emily Cole

On this week’s episode of The 1 Girl Revolution Podcast, we welcome Emily Cole – co-owner of the Savannah Bananas and multiple other teams, co-founder of Banana Ball, the baseball phenomenon known as “The Greatest Show in Sports,” and co-founder of Bananas Foster, a nonprofit dedicated to celebrating the foster care community and inspiring more people to get involved.

One chapter of Emily’s story begins with a wild idea. She and her husband, Jesse, took over a struggling minor league baseball team in Savannah, Georgia, and bet everything they had on one belief: that baseball should be FUN. They put fans first in everything – dancing players, all-you-can-eat concessions, baby crawling races – and created a whole new game called Banana Ball. In the early days, they could barely sell a ticket. Today, the Bananas sell out Major League Baseball and NFL stadiums across the country, with hundreds of consecutive sellouts and millions of fans who can’t get enough.

But here’s the part of Emily’s story most fans don’t know. In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, with a one-year-old son at home and a rapidly growing business, Emily and Jesse became licensed foster parents. They opened their home to children in foster care – and eventually adopted two little girls into their forever family. That experience changed everything. In 2023, they founded Bananas Foster, the official nonprofit of Banana Ball. At every single game, a foster family is called onto the field to be honored in front of a stadium full of cheering fans, while Bananas Foster connects people in every city the team visits to local foster care organizations and ways to help.

Emily is a wife, a mom through both birth and adoption, a foster parent, a businesswoman, and a powerful advocate for the nearly 400,000 children in foster care across America.

This is a story about what happens when you use your biggest dreams for your deepest purpose – and about choosing love, even when you don’t know how the story ends.

In this episode, you’ll hear:
✨ How Emily and Jesse bet everything on one wild idea;
✨ The early days of the Savannah Bananas, when they could barely sell a ticket;
✨ How Banana Ball grew into “The Greatest Show in Sports,” selling out MLB and NFL stadiums across the country;
✨ Why Emily and Jesse became foster parents in the middle of the pandemic, and how they grew their family through foster care and adoption;
✨ The story behind Bananas Foster and the moment a foster family is honored on the field at every game;
✨ How Bananas Foster connects fans in every city to local foster care organizations and ways to get involved;
✨ Emily’s reflections on using your biggest dreams for your deepest purpose, and choosing love even when you don’t know how the story ends;
✨ And so much more!

Emily Cole is a 1 Girl Revolution! Listen/watch her story today!

Connect with Emily Cole:
Instagram: @emcole3

Connect with Bananas Foster:
Website: bananasfoster.org
Instagram: @bananasfosterinc

Connect with the Savannah Bananas:
Website: thesavannahbananas.com
Instagram: @thesavbananas

Listen/Watch + Subscribe: Listen to and watch The 1 Girl Revolution Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

✨ Join the movement to empower women and girls – and change the world, one story at a time. For more information, visit 1GirlRevolution.com