Speaker 1: Hey ba fam, Welcome to Brown Ambition. Today at the
Speaker 1: Brown Table. We have two incredible guests, and all I
Speaker 1: can say is that Brown Ambition we are not going
Speaker 1: to be the kind of podcast where you're going to
Speaker 1: get the latest news and headlines about the economy, about finances,
Speaker 1: about business.
Speaker 2: This is where you're going to find hope.
Speaker 1: This is going to be a space where I use
Speaker 1: this platform to tell stories that inspire, to tell stories
Speaker 1: and to give space to people who can help us
Speaker 1: all tap into that little tiny nugget of optimism that
Speaker 1: we need to be pouring into. We need to be
Speaker 1: watering that seed to get us through everything that we
Speaker 1: know is happening, all the fed up stuff we know
Speaker 1: y'all know, I know, bea fam, y'all read the news.
Speaker 1: You understand what's happening in the world. When you come
Speaker 1: to Brown Ambition, I want this to be the warm,
Speaker 1: cozy blanket, the mug of tea, the glass of wine
Speaker 1: that your sister friend pours for you at the end
Speaker 1: of a long week, a long day, and for y'all
Speaker 1: to just feel like, Okay, when I'm here, I am
Speaker 1: going to feel poured into, I'm gonna feel inspired, I'm
Speaker 1: going to feel hopeful.
Speaker 2: I'm going to get some value.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna walk forward with maybe an additional tool, resource,
Speaker 1: or a bit of knowledge that can help make me
Speaker 1: more resilient in the face of what we will, what
Speaker 1: we've always had to endure, right and what we will
Speaker 1: continue to endure. So I just want to reset that
Speaker 1: tone for brown ambition. Let y'all know how I'm approaching
Speaker 1: this podcast, always have and will continue to do so.
Speaker 2: And with that, let me tell you about these queens.
Speaker 1: Okay, two incredible women join me on the show today.
Speaker 1: One is doctor Lakeisha Key Hallman, so you'll hear me
Speaker 1: call her doctor Key because we're cool like that. And
Speaker 1: she is the founder of the Village Market. Since it
Speaker 1: was founded, the Village Market served over one thousand, four
Speaker 1: hundred and forty businesses. It has managed to create eight
Speaker 1: point eight million dollars in direct sales to black owned enterprises,
Speaker 1: and they have distributed eight hundred thousand dollars in grants
Speaker 1: to support the businesses that are part of this marketplace.
Speaker 1: If you're in Atlanta, go visit it, check out the
Speaker 1: vendors and the businesses that they feature. That's also a
Speaker 1: direct solution and answer to the economic disparities that we
Speaker 1: see among black business owners.
Speaker 2: Tell me why.
Speaker 1: Data shows black businesses in Atlanta. This blew my mind
Speaker 1: when I read this are valued at only fifty eight
Speaker 1: thousand dollars compared to LATINX businesses which are valued at
Speaker 1: four hundred and fifty seven thousand dollars, and white owned
Speaker 1: businesses which are valued at six hundred and fifty eight
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. I'm talking about if you're owned by a
Speaker 1: black owner in Atlanta, ten times less value to the
Speaker 1: marketplace than a Latin or white owned business. Like, I
Speaker 1: don't make it make sense. So it is a struggle, right,
Speaker 1: It is a struggle to build a business in the
Speaker 1: best of environments. So imagine being a black owned business
Speaker 1: in Atlanta where you're dealing with this kind of disparity.
Speaker 1: Doctor Hollman is also going to talk about her book,
Speaker 1: and I want y'all to run out and get a copy,
Speaker 1: especially if you're someone who is feeling down at a
Speaker 1: time like this and you need a reminder of the
Speaker 1: importance of community. This is the book for you. Her
Speaker 1: book is called No One Is Self Made. I'm going
Speaker 1: to put a link in the show notes and just
Speaker 1: wait till you hear her voice because something about doctor Key.
Speaker 1: I had to stop and ask her, like you got
Speaker 1: like Baptist preacher in your blood or what? Because when
Speaker 1: you talk, I just want to be like, hey man,
Speaker 1: it really brings out my roots, you know. And we
Speaker 1: are joined by the wonderful Renee blew It. So last
Speaker 1: time Tiffany and I hung out in person, Oh that's
Speaker 1: not true. I saw her in New Year's before that.
Speaker 1: Tip invited me to this event in Brooklyn that she
Speaker 1: had been gushing about. She's like, girl, this is Black
Speaker 1: Girl Holiday Bazaar. It's only black owned businesses, mostly owned
Speaker 1: by women, and it's called that she did that bizarre
Speaker 1: And I was like, okay, I'm going to finally go
Speaker 1: see what this is all about. And they only host
Speaker 1: it once a year, the holiday market. So I packed
Speaker 1: the baby up, I went down to Brooklyn and had
Speaker 1: my mind blown. It was such a beautiful event and
Speaker 1: Renee blew It is the founder of this incredible community.
Speaker 1: It's not just the holiday Bazaar. She's also working on
Speaker 1: expanding this to other marketplaces, like she's going to be
Speaker 1: doing a food and beverage marketplace in New York come
Speaker 1: this spring. She's worked with the Culture con she's worked
Speaker 1: with curl Fest, and she'll talk about how she's built
Speaker 1: this business and how she, you know, transitioned from her
Speaker 1: career in PR to now sort of being this through
Speaker 1: line between black owned, minority owned, women owned businesses and
Speaker 1: the access to the community they need to thrive and
Speaker 1: also to the customers they need to thrive, and to
Speaker 1: the business opportunities that they need to thrive. And I
Speaker 1: just I love this conversation because you'll hear Renee doctor Key,
Speaker 1: who didn't really know each other that well before we
Speaker 1: started this conversation, just support one another. It's just amazing
Speaker 1: to be witnessed to that. I hope y'all are left
Speaker 1: feeling encouraged if you're someone who has a business and
Speaker 1: you're struggling and you feel like you're the only one struggling,
Speaker 1: or all you hear about is how difficult it is
Speaker 1: to thrive as a business owner. But walk away from
Speaker 1: listening to this episode of Brown Ambition having an action
Speaker 1: plan for how you're gonna build community. You're gonna go
Speaker 1: research she did that. You're going to go research the
Speaker 1: village market in Atlanta. You're going to look these women up,
Speaker 1: you're going to buy doctor Key's book, You're going to
Speaker 1: find out how you can be a part of those communities.
Speaker 1: Or if you're not in Atlanta or New York, which
Speaker 1: I know many of y'all aren't, there are other incredible
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and marketplaces like this that maybe even in your
Speaker 1: own local area that maybe one thing you do after
Speaker 1: you listen to the show is you go look them up.
Speaker 1: You find out how to become a vendor, you find
Speaker 1: out how to get in community with them, to attend
Speaker 1: one of their events, and just leave here understanding that,
Speaker 1: like doctor Key says in her book, no one is
Speaker 1: self made. We all need support and community to achieve
Speaker 1: these incredible dreams ambitions.
Speaker 3: That we have.
Speaker 1: And so I'm really proud to bring this episode to
Speaker 1: y'all today.
Speaker 2: Be a fan. I hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 1: And here are Renee blew It and Doctor Key Holman
Speaker 1: joining me at the Brown table.
Speaker 2: I took a gamble, I took a risk.
Speaker 1: This is the first Brown table I've ever had where
Speaker 1: the two guests didn't know each other really before. But
Speaker 1: I just had a feeling. I'm like, there's no way
Speaker 1: that these two women have been doing the work that
Speaker 1: they're doing and haven't like crosspaths or at least at
Speaker 1: the very least support one other is doing. So we
Speaker 1: have doctor Key Hollman, who is joining us from Atlanta. Welcome,
Speaker 1: And we have Renee is it blew It?
Speaker 2: Yes, blew it, Renee blew It. Who You're in New
Speaker 2: York right?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 1: In Brooklyn, based in Brooklyn where all the black girls happens.
Speaker 2: It's fine.
Speaker 1: I'm just over here, just fading away in Westchester. But
Speaker 1: we're so far, so close, yest, so far. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Brown Table. Welcome to Brown Ambition.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having us, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, to be a great conversation.
Speaker 1: How are y'all feeling. Let's just start there. How are
Speaker 1: y'all feeling right now at a time like this in
Speaker 1: the country. And what's kind of giving you hope right now?
Speaker 2: Doctor Key? Y'all start with you.
Speaker 4: Good thing.
Speaker 5: I'm first, thank you for asking. I'm feeling the multitude
Speaker 5: of things I can say presently in my body. I'm
Speaker 5: a balance of anxious but also calm. I have both
Speaker 5: a sense of hope and resolve, and I think I
Speaker 5: can operate in this dualities because I really am serious
Speaker 5: about boundaries, and that's boundaries of how much news I
Speaker 5: take in, how much social media taken, because I have
Speaker 5: to be well in my body and spirit.
Speaker 4: But it's a lot of operations going on over here.
Speaker 5: But what gives me hope is being able to have
Speaker 5: conversations like this with like minds.
Speaker 4: This is where our superpower exists.
Speaker 5: So I'm feeling very hopeful all this brown girl magic
Speaker 5: that's happening. It really feels my cover.
Speaker 2: Nae, how are you doing?
Speaker 4: Thank you for.
Speaker 3: Asking too, I appreciate it.
Speaker 6: Similar to doctor Hallman, quite a few feelings happening over here.
Speaker 6: I will start with, you know what a lot of
Speaker 6: people are feeling, which is a bit of overwhelm. You know,
Speaker 6: I would not be human if I didn't identify that feeling.
Speaker 6: But also incredibly activated right now. This is our time,
Speaker 6: you know, and it's unfortunate that, you know, things are
Speaker 6: unfolding the way they are, but the people who are
Speaker 6: doing this work are not shocked, and in moments like this,
Speaker 6: I'm really proud of myself, proud of women like doctor Hallman,
Speaker 6: because we have been doing this work long before it
Speaker 6: was a trending topic, and we've been committed to this
Speaker 6: work in a way that you know, when moments like
Speaker 6: this happened, it's just like, okay, it's time to double down,
Speaker 6: like heard, you got it. And so that's you know
Speaker 6: a little bit of what I'm feeling right now. And
Speaker 6: these conversations, like she said, are so empowering and just
Speaker 6: really give me the fuel to keep going. So I'm
Speaker 6: looking forward to digging in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's no need to call what we've done like
Speaker 1: I've been doing this for ten years with Brian Ambition,
Speaker 1: and it's like y'all have been in the game for
Speaker 1: a long time too, doctor Kie, you've been When did
Speaker 1: you start villaging?
Speaker 5: Almost ten years ago? So ten years the idea came
Speaker 5: to me fifteen. I launched it in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1: And you know the rest of the sister Yeah, no
Speaker 1: special initiative post twenty twenty, like this is you know
Speaker 1: and independent too. When y'all started your ventures, Renee, it
Speaker 1: started for you, Ah she did that? Was that the
Speaker 1: documentary that was the beginning? Or was it the bizarre?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 6: Actually fun fact it started with me within her shoes.
Speaker 6: I had a blog back in the day. In two
Speaker 6: thousand and nine.
Speaker 3: I launched this blog.
Speaker 6: Okay, I was blogging about black women founders. You know,
Speaker 6: when the blog is sphere was relatively new, when all
Speaker 6: of your favorite blogs were about gossip, fashion, you know,
Speaker 6: sports style, all those things beauty. But I was really
Speaker 6: focused on talking about black women entrepreneurs. So that website
Speaker 6: is still alive to me. It's almost like an archive
Speaker 6: of Black women entrepreneurs and our journeys, and every once
Speaker 6: in a while, I'll go back just to kind of
Speaker 6: reflect on who we were featuring back then and what
Speaker 6: they're up to now. But my work started then, and
Speaker 6: In her Shoes led me to she did that?
Speaker 1: Okay, So how was that transition and did you were
Speaker 1: you treating In her Shoes as a business, were you,
Speaker 1: like me, making money off of that or were you
Speaker 1: working corporate at the same time.
Speaker 6: So when I launched In Her Shoes, I was working
Speaker 6: in a PR agency doing PR in like the multicultural
Speaker 6: space in a general market agency, and then I was
Speaker 6: also moonlighting as a consultant to a lot of black
Speaker 6: women own beauty brands. Back when the natural you know,
Speaker 6: hair movement, well, I don't want to call the movement
Speaker 6: because it's just a lifestyle, but when the whole natural
Speaker 6: hair conversation started. I was doing pr for a lot
Speaker 6: of your favorite natural haircare brands, and that was kind
Speaker 6: of my I would say. The blog was kind of
Speaker 6: like my you know, I had my nine to five
Speaker 6: and then I had my five two whenever, And it
Speaker 6: did get monetized a bit, but quite honestly, I didn't
Speaker 6: start it for that purpose. I did it because I
Speaker 6: just wanted to share more black women founder stories. Back then,
Speaker 6: we were way like under represented.
Speaker 4: We were not in.
Speaker 6: This space now where entrepreneurs are like rock stars, right.
Speaker 6: Like the women that I was writing about back then
Speaker 6: were doing the work but not getting the exposure they needed,
Speaker 6: and that was the inspiration behind the blog.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they couldn't go on TikTok and go viral and
Speaker 1: no no fair. I feel like crossroads when it comes
Speaker 1: to launching a business, where it's like where does the
Speaker 1: service and capitalism where do they marry? Like how can
Speaker 1: we create brands and businesses that serve? But then also
Speaker 1: like can support ourselves with it? You know, if you
Speaker 1: get those types of questions like where do I merge
Speaker 1: my need to serve with my need to put food
Speaker 1: on the table.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm a social entrepreneur, so you're you're talking to
Speaker 5: how I started my business. I have a book coming
Speaker 5: out Fibru or Fourth No One is Stuff Made, and
Speaker 5: I write in one of the chapters that those that
Speaker 5: do the work should also be economically liberated. I am
Speaker 5: working to ensure the entrepreneurs that that's a part of
Speaker 5: the village market, that's a part of our village name it,
Speaker 5: that's a part of my retail stor village retail, are
Speaker 5: economically liberated. I also need to be economically liberated to
Speaker 5: continue to further the work and the mission and also
Speaker 5: the trajectory of the generational wealth that I'm hoping to
Speaker 5: leave to my nephews and their children and their children
Speaker 5: children and so on and so forth. But there is
Speaker 5: a sense of conscious capitalism. I think that we have
Speaker 5: to be for those that are producers in creating things
Speaker 5: and selling things. What I am more called and drawn
Speaker 5: to is asking and what are you creating? Is it
Speaker 5: healthy for the mind? Is it conscious? What people are
Speaker 5: wearing on their bodies? Is it good for the body?
Speaker 5: Is it good for the soul? That is the charge
Speaker 5: that I push for all the brands in the village market.
Speaker 5: I want us to have high quality, organic products that's
Speaker 5: not harmful to the skin, to the body, so on
Speaker 5: and so forth. If we're making a pair of it
Speaker 5: should be conscious. Everything for me is about being our
Speaker 5: best and highest vibrations, and so I take a holistic approach.
Speaker 5: But yes, for entrepreneurs and for folks like Rene and I,
Speaker 5: we need to make money. And for every entrepreneur that
Speaker 5: we serve, they should have a we have a social
Speaker 5: impact lens. I push entrepreneurs to also have a social
Speaker 5: impact lens because it's not just good for us to
Speaker 5: individually do well.
Speaker 4: It has to flow to the community as well.
Speaker 2: And how does that help with the profitability?
Speaker 4: Yes? Quality, Uh, yeah, absolutely quality.
Speaker 5: You know, the thing is, I don't know if we
Speaker 5: go into certain retail stores and we even question the
Speaker 5: cost of it. We just know that this is a
Speaker 5: quality brand and we buy it. When you go to
Speaker 5: you know, high end retail stores, because I work with
Speaker 5: retailers high end retail stores, we maybe we question the
Speaker 5: const but not really because we know that we're getting
Speaker 5: something that's high quality brand and also unique.
Speaker 4: So we don't know necessarily.
Speaker 5: Over explain, explain why something costs what it does. What
Speaker 5: we do is produce a high quality experience high quality
Speaker 5: a product and people are more so excited to have it.
Speaker 5: We in the village retail, we're not really seeing people
Speaker 5: that's saying, why does this candle cost that much?
Speaker 4: They know that it's a good quality candle.
Speaker 1: I have recently become an adult in my candle purchases,
Speaker 1: Like they're not all the five dollar ones. I get
Speaker 1: a home goods like a quality candles expensive renee. When
Speaker 1: you walk into the she did that holiday bazaar, you
Speaker 1: felt that. I love the way that you had. You
Speaker 1: had this like greenery, you had the boys section. He
Speaker 1: did that, you had the little shame moisture section. I'm
Speaker 1: sure that's evolved over time. But what kind of how
Speaker 1: important is it to you as well to like create
Speaker 1: that experience where you're like, you know, you're creating like
Speaker 1: like doctor Key said, an environment where it just oozes.
Speaker 2: This is high quality. No one's in a question.
Speaker 3: It's very intentional.
Speaker 6: In fact, every year when we're curating, you know, the
Speaker 6: brands that are participating, that quality, that intention, that love
Speaker 6: that these founders are pouring into their products is really
Speaker 6: the top of the list when we're thinking about who
Speaker 6: we want to invite into this community. It's I'm a
Speaker 6: virgo too, so I'm very like I know what I like,
Speaker 6: Like it just feels good to walk into a room
Speaker 6: and just know that, like, wow, a black woman created
Speaker 6: this with love, and you know, now I get a
Speaker 6: chance to purchase it and bringing it into my home.
Speaker 6: But before I go further, I just want to stop
Speaker 6: and thank you for pointing out that.
Speaker 3: What was the term you use.
Speaker 6: I think you said you want the brands that you
Speaker 6: feature and also yourself to be economically liberated.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was a word.
Speaker 3: That was a word that resonated with.
Speaker 6: Me because I think the misconception is that people like
Speaker 6: us who are of service to our community are like,
Speaker 6: you know, doing pro bono work. You know, like like ye,
Speaker 6: if the brands are monetized and need to be profitable,
Speaker 6: so do the platforms and organizations that are elevating them
Speaker 6: and pushing them forward and creating opportunities and bridging the gap.
Speaker 6: And so when you said that, I was like, oh
Speaker 6: my gosh, we probably have to have an offline conversation
Speaker 6: about that because I'm constantly.
Speaker 3: I feel like I am constantly.
Speaker 6: Making that clear that like wait wait wait, wait, wait pause,
Speaker 6: this is a business.
Speaker 1: Right, So you're not, like, so, is that because vendors
Speaker 1: don't want to pay for placement at the bazaar?
Speaker 2: Sometimes are they question it?
Speaker 6: It's not even so much the vendors, But it could
Speaker 6: be a plethora of things. It could be a brand,
Speaker 6: for example, inviting me to come and speak during Women's
Speaker 6: History Month or Black History Month and not really having
Speaker 6: a budget for it. Like this time of year, and
Speaker 6: I'm sure you're inbox is also flooded. We have Black
Speaker 6: History Month coming up, we have Women's History coming up.
Speaker 3: And I am just.
Speaker 6: Floored every year by some of the requests. I'm like, okay, wait,
Speaker 6: you want me to leave my home, which I love.
Speaker 6: You want me to leave my city, You want me
Speaker 6: to leave my work for the day of travel, the
Speaker 6: day of your event, the return, and you don't have
Speaker 6: a budget. Make it make sense, you know? And so
Speaker 6: don't get me wrong. Not everything that I do has
Speaker 6: to be transactional. There are a lot of things that
Speaker 6: I do that are just you know, because of the
Speaker 6: heart that I have for the work that I have
Speaker 6: committed my life to. But at the point where brands
Speaker 6: are asking you to leave your city and leave your
Speaker 6: your business for a couple of days, I'm like, oh
Speaker 6: my godness, there has to be a disconnect here about
Speaker 6: the fact that this is, in fact my career.
Speaker 3: This is how I make a living.
Speaker 5: And I think it's the like, are we humanizing right?
Speaker 5: I think it's important for folks to know that we're
Speaker 5: real people. We're in the service of something that is
Speaker 5: much higher than us. It's a calling we're fulfilling, almost
Speaker 5: like a spiritual obligation that everyone gets the vision to
Speaker 5: create these models, to create bizaarres, to create marketplaces, and
Speaker 5: we do so for the betterment of our people. But
Speaker 5: if the vessel is never filled or supported, then the
Speaker 5: visionary the visions will begin to dry up. That is
Speaker 5: not what we are aiming to do here. But we're
Speaker 5: full of people with responsibility with people that also rely
Speaker 5: on us. I am one of the centerpieces for my family,
Speaker 5: and so I think what I lead with it is
Speaker 5: just that I'm a human being serving a higher calling.
Speaker 4: But because of that, this is now my career pathway.
Speaker 5: I am one of those that if I had if
Speaker 5: I was so fortunate to do it for free, i would.
Speaker 4: But I'm not so fortunate.
Speaker 5: I have to be able to survive, and I don't
Speaker 5: want survival to be the end goal for any of us.
Speaker 5: We should be in a consistent place of thriving. That
Speaker 5: is the vibration that I want us to be on.
Speaker 2: Yes, thank you for saying that.
Speaker 1: I want to talk a little bit about how community
Speaker 1: and how y'all have harnessed I know, doctor.
Speaker 2: Key, your bookt one is self made. Thank you. Hold
Speaker 2: it up for people.
Speaker 1: No one is, so congratulations, Wait, hold it up a
Speaker 1: little bit longer so I can take a little good
Speaker 1: screenshot for social Okay, no one is self made. Build
Speaker 1: your village to flourish and build it and bussiness and life.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: This is the thing that I will not shut up
Speaker 1: about is how post election, how do we you know,
Speaker 1: how are we coping?
Speaker 2: What are we going to do? Community? Community? Community?
Speaker 1: And I want to hear from y'all like how has
Speaker 1: community driven business success for you? And yeah, say a
Speaker 1: word on that she did that would.
Speaker 6: Not exist without community, like point blank period. And the
Speaker 6: beautiful thing about the community that we've built around this
Speaker 6: brand is that we are in service to each other
Speaker 6: all year round, you know, Like there's so much connection
Speaker 6: that happens behind the scenes, so many collaborations, so much
Speaker 6: support and Council.
Speaker 3: It makes me proud.
Speaker 6: You know, every time I hear about one of the
Speaker 6: brands that we're working with doing something in partnership with
Speaker 6: another brand, I'm like, yes, that is what we're here for.
Speaker 3: Like every single time a CEA is planted.
Speaker 6: And you know, it flourishes, whether it's immediately or later,
Speaker 6: I'm just grateful that the work we're doing is really
Speaker 6: making an impact. And the thing about community that I
Speaker 6: want a lot of us to remember is that it's
Speaker 6: not something that we tap in during times of need, right,
Speaker 6: Like we have to be mindful and just very committed
Speaker 6: to consistently checking in with people, not when they are
Speaker 6: doing something for you, not when you need something, but
Speaker 6: just in general because you just never know, you know
Speaker 6: what can come out of those connections, what people are
Speaker 6: going through, and how you can really just help someone
Speaker 6: to move forward.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and also don't wait until they like doctor key
Speaker 1: you holding up the book. It's like I wrote a
Speaker 1: book and then you get a flurry of text like congratulations,
Speaker 1: d da da da. I'm like, where were you like
Speaker 1: ten months ago when I and I'm writing a book
Speaker 1: right now, So sorry to project this on you, but
Speaker 1: I'm like where were you at four am when I
Speaker 1: was down here hiding from like trying to get my
Speaker 1: two hours of writing time for the kids wake up,
Speaker 1: and like struggling fighting for my life. I could have
Speaker 1: used like a go girl, you.
Speaker 5: Know at a time like that, you know, peekbag on
Speaker 5: something that Renee said, I think, what's so beautiful when
Speaker 5: you build community when we are experiencing times that we're
Speaker 5: experiencing now, we're not searching for anyone, We already have
Speaker 5: each other. You build community as to be proactive, not reactionary,
Speaker 5: because those reactionary communities are not sustainable. We're here too,
Speaker 5: we're all mad at the same time, we're all hurt
Speaker 5: at the same time, but we want healthy, viable relationships.
Speaker 5: So it what's so beautiful about have a community. It
Speaker 5: gives you this safe place to land. For the entrepreneurs
Speaker 5: of the village market, I wanted it to be a
Speaker 5: multi prong multi vested approach. I shouldn't be the only
Speaker 5: person that they see that's talking about entrepreneurship and helping
Speaker 5: them to think through brand and I did any identity
Speaker 5: and things like that. I have foot soldiers of other
Speaker 5: like brilliant, brilliant people who are part of the fortress
Speaker 5: of the village. So these entrepreneurs are not relying or
Speaker 5: not seeing anyone as a singular hero, none of us.
Speaker 5: That should not be our goal. When when people think
Speaker 5: of the community, they should be thinking of Renee, doctor Key,
Speaker 5: and we can name a litnia of other people. But
Speaker 5: the community is built for viability, so we can be
Speaker 5: there during those dark hours. And also moment is a
Speaker 5: celebration because everything about the community is not dark. Everything
Speaker 5: is not about community is only being in a place
Speaker 5: of her. I can tell you my community. Thinking about
Speaker 5: this book, everybody's so excited because I've been nurturing this
Speaker 5: relationship for years now. And so the central focus of
Speaker 5: the book is community. How to build it, how to
Speaker 5: build it responsibly, How to make sure you do your
Speaker 5: own healing and self work so you can be an
Speaker 5: active participant in the community where it's not just strictly transactional,
Speaker 5: not when you only communicating with people because you want
Speaker 5: something from them.
Speaker 4: But community.
Speaker 5: How do we build it, how do we sustain it,
Speaker 5: How do we grow our economies, how do we grow
Speaker 5: our overall the beloved community that doctor Martin Luther King
Speaker 5: talked about, it takes to stay focused. In my book,
Speaker 5: chapter by chapter talks about that, and every chapter ends
Speaker 5: with reflection questions. Because I'm a former educator, I don't
Speaker 5: want to just talk to talk. I think you have
Speaker 5: to give people a blueprint on how to and what
Speaker 5: are the outcomes if we stay consistent, discipline and focus
Speaker 5: on building.
Speaker 1: What tips would you guys have or what are some like,
Speaker 1: you know, concrete steps someone could take today if they
Speaker 1: feel like they haven't built the community that will help
Speaker 1: them thrive yet.
Speaker 6: One thing I would say is when you are looking
Speaker 6: to build community and whatever word we want to use
Speaker 6: in place of network, because I know for some people
Speaker 6: that's cringey. I like to always think about approaching these
Speaker 6: people with something in hand, right, Like you know how
Speaker 6: we were raised to if you're coming to someone's home,
Speaker 6: you're going to bring something.
Speaker 3: You're not going to come empty handed. The same thing should.
Speaker 6: Be applied when you are reaching out to someone and
Speaker 6: you're ready to make a connection with them, think about
Speaker 6: what is it that you can bring forth to add
Speaker 6: value to what they're doing, to maybe provide some additional
Speaker 6: insight or support. I think that is one of the
Speaker 6: best ways to kind of like unlock those type of
Speaker 6: relationships because so often I think we've been conditioned to
Speaker 6: think that, you know, if you're networking, especially when you
Speaker 6: think about platforms like LinkedIn, people like us are getting
Speaker 6: flooded with you know, inquiries and I'd love to connect
Speaker 6: and there's no context there, and it's like I wish
Speaker 6: I had time to connect with strangers. But if someone
Speaker 6: is reaching out to me and there is something that
Speaker 6: they could do that, you know, it could possibly help
Speaker 6: me move my mission forward, the chances of me looking
Speaker 6: at that and responding, you know, even if there's no connection,
Speaker 6: it's significantly higher, because, as you mentioned before, entrepreneurship can
Speaker 6: be a lonely journey. It can be overwhelming at times.
Speaker 6: And whenever we feel like there is some level of
Speaker 6: support there, we're likely to open the door and at
Speaker 6: least like peek our head in and see, like who
Speaker 6: is this person, and you know, what are they about
Speaker 6: and what are they working on and how can we
Speaker 6: support each other?
Speaker 1: And I'm also thinking about the importance of like making
Speaker 1: a memory with someone and I talk a lot about
Speaker 1: so I hear what you're saying, Renee, and I think
Speaker 1: when the bit of resistance that I imagine some people feel
Speaker 1: is like, well, I don't know what to offer, and
Speaker 1: like how do I even offer it? Am I going
Speaker 1: to run into someone? It's like we'll put yourself in
Speaker 1: a situation where you could encounter that person and like.
Speaker 2: Have some don't even focus on what.
Speaker 1: To give them or like what you could like where
Speaker 1: this could lead, but try to be so present, like
Speaker 1: just have a good interaction in the women's bathroom, you know,
Speaker 1: Like that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2: Just like I love your shoes.
Speaker 1: That's amazing, Like forget almost like you know what the
Speaker 1: future can hold, and just like have a really good
Speaker 1: experience and then you know, if in six months you've
Speaker 1: run into each other again or you come across it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: I know you.
Speaker 2: You know at that event you.
Speaker 1: Mentioned you're working on this, I just had an idea
Speaker 1: and you have that like a little bit of a
Speaker 1: seed of a connection, you know.
Speaker 3: I like that.
Speaker 6: I like that, and I like the thought of taking
Speaker 6: the time constraints out of it. I think that we
Speaker 6: we do live in a world of like instant gratification,
Speaker 6: so we think that the first time we see someone,
Speaker 6: you know, this is like the beginning of this relationship.
Speaker 6: How about just seeing them and like you said, Mandy,
Speaker 6: having an authentic, genuine, real conversation and then seeing them
Speaker 6: again somewhere and then maybe you see them on social
Speaker 6: you know, like we shouldn't put so much pressure on
Speaker 6: ourselves and other people to like immediately make this connection.
Speaker 6: And like you, like, I meet so many people that
Speaker 6: I'm more likely to remember that face that i'm seeing,
Speaker 6: like oh you showed up at my event, or now
Speaker 6: I'm seeing seeing you on Instagram or on TikTok or
Speaker 6: at this event. And so those are the ways that,
Speaker 6: like I think we could really make those genuine connections
Speaker 6: that could lead to something.
Speaker 3: Bigger or not.
Speaker 5: And I think that we have to trust abundance, right,
Speaker 5: I think when we meet people and we feel that
Speaker 5: we have to get it all out right now, and
Speaker 5: I think we're afraid it would never see those people
Speaker 5: again or we'll never have that opportunity again. So we
Speaker 5: have to trust abundance. Yeah, we have to recognize scarcity.
Speaker 5: We have to recognize that if you met this person,
Speaker 5: it's a good chance if you make an impression, a
Speaker 5: genuine connection, you will see that person again. But I know,
Speaker 5: and I have a great deal of empathy, you know,
Speaker 5: for people who are in a state of survival right now.
Speaker 5: When you're in the state of survival, you feel like
Speaker 5: I have.
Speaker 4: To be time bound.
Speaker 5: I'm going to go to the future today and miss
Speaker 5: the present moment of even asking them how they're doing,
Speaker 5: the present moment of actually fully seeing them.
Speaker 4: So I have empathy for that.
Speaker 5: But I want to encourage all the listeners to trust abundance,
Speaker 5: to trust that if you are cross paths, you make
Speaker 5: that genuine connection, you will see these people again at
Speaker 5: a time when you have something more to offer. And
Speaker 5: also life is about balance. There are some seasons where
Speaker 5: you have more to give and other seasons whereas you
Speaker 5: have the more to receive. We just when you're in
Speaker 5: a position when you don't have much to give as
Speaker 5: far as something tangibly you have to make, you have
Speaker 5: to be dedicated to when your situation changes and you
Speaker 5: meet someone that's in the same position as you, that
Speaker 5: you give them the same humility and humanity that someone
Speaker 5: offered you. That is how we sew a greater seed,
Speaker 5: because I think sometimes we get to the place and
Speaker 5: we forgot where we were. Remember where you were when
Speaker 5: when you get to the pinnacle of your success and
Speaker 5: still recognize the people that's on their growth journey.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I wish I'd had that little pep
Speaker 1: talk right before I went to this really fancy dinner
Speaker 1: at Afrotech and I was sitting across from like some
Speaker 1: incredible women, and I got a little scarce.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna lie like the key. I was feeling
Speaker 2: that pressure.
Speaker 1: I'm like, this dinner's going to be over soon, and
Speaker 1: I haven't talked to everybody, and no, no, no, and
Speaker 1: I lost it. And I've been reliving that, you know,
Speaker 1: anxious mind. I'm working on it. But thank you for
Speaker 1: reminding us. I almost think anytime you're about to go
Speaker 1: to one of those events, just just say, I'll save this.
Speaker 2: Little portion of this podcast and just like play it.
Speaker 1: Remember you may encounter them again.
Speaker 4: And remember you were at the table.
Speaker 2: I know, I forgot. I was at the table. I
Speaker 2: really could not.
Speaker 1: I could not find my feet, man, I probably because
Speaker 1: I were really young people shoes.
Speaker 2: And that was the point I do not talk about pandemic.
Speaker 2: I stopped.
Speaker 1: I did not know how to wear a heel hardly
Speaker 1: before and certainly not after.
Speaker 2: Definitely, And yeah, it's okay.
Speaker 1: Though I was at the table there'll be another one.
Speaker 2: Scare anybody off. Now, I wanted to ask.
Speaker 1: I wanted to give you a chance to talk about
Speaker 1: the way that you've helped businesses raise capital. And you
Speaker 1: know we've I've heard many many an entrepreneur highlight the child.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's already been challenges trying to fund you know,
Speaker 1: get black owned businesses, minority own business is funded, right,
Speaker 1: And I want to hear how what your approach has been.
Speaker 1: And if you cover that in the book, that's great,
Speaker 1: But i'd love to get y'all's take on how businesses
Speaker 1: can get the capital they need to grow at a
Speaker 1: time like this.
Speaker 5: I was hesitating because I feel like I just had
Speaker 5: a long window answer. So will but but but what
Speaker 5: we do at the Village Market, one of the things
Speaker 5: I'm most proud of is that today we've been able
Speaker 5: to generate eight point eight million dollars in direct sales
Speaker 5: to black businesses. And the reason why I start with
Speaker 5: that is because there was a time where I couldn't
Speaker 5: assist entrepreneurs to give them grants, but I knew that
Speaker 5: I could give them people. So my goal for the
Speaker 5: Village Market, and I know this is Renee go for
Speaker 5: the bazaars. I'm going you show up, you be operating excellence,
Speaker 5: have high quality, and I'm going to bring you some
Speaker 5: people that already value you, so you don't have to
Speaker 5: do all that overextending and all the stuff that we
Speaker 5: feel we have to do. I'm going to bring you people.
Speaker 5: And so my model for the Village market was to
Speaker 5: be people powered. And so we've had a big economic
Speaker 5: push in the city of Atlanta. But since then, now
Speaker 5: I have a program under my nonprofit, our Village and
Speaker 5: named we work with entrepreneurs across.
Speaker 4: Many many cities and many states.
Speaker 5: And so we work with these entrepreneurs and incubator programs
Speaker 5: and accelerated programs. We bring funders to the entrepreneurs and
Speaker 5: so those funders can be CDA advise those funders can
Speaker 5: be investors, angel investors, things like that. But also at
Speaker 5: the end of our programs, we also have pitch contests
Speaker 5: and we disseminate grants.
Speaker 4: It has been incredible.
Speaker 5: Last two years, were close to a million in grants
Speaker 5: that we've been able to disseminate. And so I raise
Speaker 5: the money and then I do micro grants for the
Speaker 5: entrepreneurs we've been and yes, I write about this in
Speaker 5: the book. But this book is only the lived experience
Speaker 5: that I have. What I'm trying to inspire other folks
Speaker 5: like me. You don't do not not start an idea
Speaker 5: simply because you may not have the capital to be
Speaker 5: an investor today.
Speaker 4: There is power in people with.
Speaker 5: Money who are ready to spend in buy and who
Speaker 5: will be lifetime customers. Then also be innovative. Start partnering
Speaker 5: with the people with money, build it around programming, and
Speaker 5: then as I get grant dollars and I'm able to
Speaker 5: disseminate more grant dollars from the grant dollars that I received. Yes,
Speaker 5: I write about this in the book because I am
Speaker 5: also writing to who I was ten years ago with
Speaker 5: all these ideas of community, want to drive change and
Speaker 5: enact change, but there was no book for me to read.
Speaker 5: And Tawny Morrison told is, when if there's a book
Speaker 5: that needs to be written and it's not out there,
Speaker 5: go write it. So I wrote that book.
Speaker 1: O Renee, Is there anything that y'all you have picked
Speaker 1: up or any work that you're doing to bridge that
Speaker 1: gap between businesses that have ideas, they have product, services, whatever,
Speaker 1: they want to thrive, but they're missing like an investor.
Speaker 2: Or. They think they're missing an investor.
Speaker 3: Or.
Speaker 2: They you know, they've.
Speaker 1: Been doing all e commerce and maybe they're thinking of
Speaker 1: like doing a market place to expand their reach, and
Speaker 1: they're just not sure which channel to like press the
Speaker 1: gas on a little bit to increase their revenue, their
Speaker 1: customer base, all of those things.
Speaker 6: A lot of the work that we dated in twenty
Speaker 6: twenty four what gave me an opportunity to really leverage
Speaker 6: like my PR and marketing experience, you know, brand connections
Speaker 6: and bridge the gap between these larger corporations and small businesses.
Speaker 6: And one partnership that I'm really proud of was and
Speaker 6: you saw part of it at the Holiday Bazaar, was
Speaker 6: with Shame Oyster. We created the Business that Bonds initiative
Speaker 6: and really gave these small local businesses an opportunity to
Speaker 6: show up in spaces that they typically wouldn't have access to.
Speaker 6: So one was curl Fest. It's a huge festival that
Speaker 6: happens here in New York City. We gave out micro
Speaker 6: brands that covered each business's overhead expenses for showing up
Speaker 6: in those spaces, so their.
Speaker 3: Vendor fees, you know, we gave them.
Speaker 6: We created all the marketing materials for them to promote it,
Speaker 6: and I don't think people understand that for small business,
Speaker 6: while you know it's not the heaviest lift, it could
Speaker 6: be a heavy lift. You know, you think about like
Speaker 6: the fees, Like I said, how do you market it?
Speaker 6: How do you you know, do your merchandising, how do
Speaker 6: you get that set up. We really supported them through
Speaker 6: that journey so that they could show up at Curlfest.
Speaker 6: They we did a huge activation with Shamee Moisture at
Speaker 6: Culture Con which really exposed these small businesses to celebrities
Speaker 6: and just all these really dope people that came out
Speaker 6: just for the purpose of celebrating our culture. And then
Speaker 6: we closed out the year with the Holiday Bazaar where
Speaker 6: we introduced that he did that marketplace. That went over
Speaker 6: really well and had a chance to kind of bring
Speaker 6: men in the community because my you know, platform obviously
Speaker 6: is about women, but it had been on my spirit
Speaker 6: and on my heart for so long to bring men
Speaker 6: into the conversation and into these spaces. So that is
Speaker 6: something we're really proud of that we did last year.
Speaker 6: We still get a lot of notes and just feedback
Speaker 6: and reflections from some of the small businesses that we
Speaker 6: were able to amplify with that. And then the next
Speaker 6: event that we're working on is coming up in April,
Speaker 6: and it is Queens of the New York City Food
Speaker 6: and Beverage Scene, where we are specifically focusing on black
Speaker 6: women in the food and beverage space, in the culinary space,
Speaker 6: and just really making it, you know, a celebration of culture,
Speaker 6: food and commerce. So creating these spaces that are intentionally
Speaker 6: created for our brands to thrive is really what wakes
Speaker 6: me up every day and just feeling like I want
Speaker 6: to just dig deeper into this work, especially, like we
Speaker 6: said at the top of the conversation, in this climate
Speaker 6: we're in, it's like, Okay, we got us, we don't
Speaker 6: need the other stuff. We got us, and this how
Speaker 6: we're going to show up.
Speaker 4: For each other.
Speaker 1: There's something just about being in that space at the
Speaker 1: holiday bazaar and I'm cooming to whatever you're doing.
Speaker 2: I'm coming.
Speaker 1: I'm on the milling I hope, I'm on the milling list.
Speaker 1: I'll show up, I'll bring friends. I will not bring
Speaker 1: the baby this time because last time.
Speaker 6: The market.
Speaker 1: But he was loving that DJ though he was like, hey,
Speaker 1: my run me rou he's my little party animal.
Speaker 2: I hope you had the vegan Dominican place. What was
Speaker 2: that place.
Speaker 3: Called Healthy as a Mother.
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm talking about delicious vegan and pasta alitos.
Speaker 2: I never knew that was a thing.
Speaker 1: Anyway, I'm gonna get myself all the way off track,
Speaker 1: but just being in that space, there's just something really
Speaker 1: if you let yourself find your footing Amanda Woodruff talking
Speaker 1: to myself and just soak up the prosperity, just soak
Speaker 1: up the you know, women supporting women, and yes, invite
Speaker 1: our boys. I've experimented. I made my friend Chris the
Speaker 1: guinea pig for Brown Ambition. I was like, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have a boy on panel and see how ba fam
Speaker 1: how we feel about it.
Speaker 2: But I put them on watch.
Speaker 1: I was like, this invitation could be rescinded because like
Speaker 1: sometimes y'all trifle it and we need to, like, you know,
Speaker 1: have a little bit of a space. But I felt,
Speaker 1: I really felt when you said that was on your
Speaker 1: spirit and yeah, you're right, just having these pockets to
Speaker 1: just see us succeed. That's what Brad ambitions about. Doctor Key.
Speaker 1: I think you were gonna you're gonna chine in. I
Speaker 1: want to give you space.
Speaker 5: I just want to make sure the readers like understand
Speaker 5: the magnitude of what Renee just shared.
Speaker 4: She's given people the Big three.
Speaker 5: That's access, that's social resources, and people power that's going
Speaker 5: to generate to capital.
Speaker 4: That is the big three.
Speaker 5: And when you're thinking of entrepreneurs, especially startups, they.
Speaker 4: May have one of those things.
Speaker 5: But the cost that it takes to be able to
Speaker 5: walk through the door of access, to have high level celebrities,
Speaker 5: social capital, or even community capital, to have these people
Speaker 5: right there walking up to you is a cost.
Speaker 3: That is.
Speaker 5: What Renee is building. It is very hard to come
Speaker 5: across for an entrepreneur. So it may not be the
Speaker 5: million thousand dollars investment, but this investment, to me goes
Speaker 5: further and longer because this can change the trajectory of
Speaker 5: your business. But not just the trajectory of your business,
Speaker 5: but the trajectory of your mindset to be in a
Speaker 5: space that's so elevated and to know that your business
Speaker 5: is there as well. And so that's the Big three,
Speaker 5: and I'm hoping all the listeners understand how powerful that is.
Speaker 5: And that is the model. So Renee' that is incredible.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 6: First of all, thank you for even affirming me and
Speaker 6: the work. And it's such an honor to be seen
Speaker 6: by someone else who is in this space and just
Speaker 6: as invested as I am.
Speaker 3: So thank you so much for those kind words. I
Speaker 3: appreciate you.
Speaker 2: I love this so much.
Speaker 1: I can I think anyone who's listening, and we do
Speaker 1: have a lot of entrepreneurs, especially the nine to five
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs shut out to my girls, I know that struggle.
Speaker 1: Who may be wondering, you know what if I can
Speaker 1: have a window in or an opportunity to join one
Speaker 1: of these communities that y'all have already built. I think
Speaker 1: that's such a great point that you made, doctor Key,
Speaker 1: is that when you join communities like this, you go
Speaker 1: to a you get in the you know she did
Speaker 1: that bizarre or the Queens of Food and Beverage in
Speaker 1: New York, or the village market in Atlanta. You're automatically
Speaker 1: a part of a community. Like you can always say well,
Speaker 1: I'm a village vendor and so are you. We have
Speaker 1: something in common, you know. So how can people get
Speaker 1: in touch and learn about how they potentially could be
Speaker 1: a part of what y'all they are building sure thing
Speaker 1: for me.
Speaker 5: Go to the Village market dot com. If you're a
Speaker 5: brand that's looking for retail placement, go to the Village
Speaker 5: retail dot com. If you're a brand that is looking
Speaker 5: for support, technical assistance, pro bono services. We support entrepreneurs
Speaker 5: with their accounting, small all small business support, back end support.
Speaker 4: Go to our village name it got bored.
Speaker 5: We have something really special that we've been building now
Speaker 5: for the last ten years, and I have to call
Speaker 5: out how incredible my team is. So you hear my
Speaker 5: voice on this podcast. But I'm a reflection of some
Speaker 5: really brilliant people who decided to go on this journey
Speaker 5: with me, and their faithfulness is the reason why we're
Speaker 5: so impactful. So I have to champion my brilliant, incredible
Speaker 5: team that's sum in Atlanta but sprawl across the United States.
Speaker 5: Now I work with some really incredible folks.
Speaker 1: Yes, I feel like every time you talk, I want
Speaker 1: to say, Amen, were you were you a preacher?
Speaker 2: Do you have like preacher?
Speaker 5: I probably disagree with this is what happens when you
Speaker 5: go to church all the time with your grandma.
Speaker 1: Because I got a lot of family who's like Baptist preachers,
Speaker 1: and I may not sound like it all the time,
Speaker 1: but sometimes it comes out and I'm just like mm hm, yes,
Speaker 1: ma'am amen.
Speaker 3: And she has such a calming spirit, like her delivery.
Speaker 6: Is very like whatever you can like, whatever you're putting down,
Speaker 6: I'm picking it up, like, yes, I believe that.
Speaker 4: I received that.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you, And Renee, what about all that
Speaker 1: you're building? How can people be a part of it?
Speaker 6: You can visit us at she did that dot co.
Speaker 6: You can find us on social at she did that
Speaker 6: dot co, or even follow me personally. I share a
Speaker 6: lot of kind of what I'm doing before it becomes
Speaker 6: the thing. They're on social and have connected with so
Speaker 6: many incredible women. And my social handle is I am
Speaker 6: a Renee blew it R E n A E B
Speaker 6: l U I T T. And I'd also like to
Speaker 6: take a moment to just give things for my small
Speaker 6: but mighty team who not only believes in the work
Speaker 6: that we're doing, but also believes in me and my leadership,
Speaker 6: my vision. So thinking about women like Nico Watkins, Camille Cooper,
Speaker 6: like I would not be able to do this work
Speaker 6: without the support of these dynamic women.
Speaker 3: So thank you, ladies. If you're listening.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you both for just sharing your light and
Speaker 1: your wisdom and yes, whatever magic sauce you have in
Speaker 1: your voice, Doctor Key, thank you for that, for just
Speaker 1: like sprinkling that on us. B A fam, Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for listening. And I will put all of
Speaker 1: the links, the links to all the things, the links
Speaker 1: to get doctor Key's book. Got to support that. And
Speaker 1: if you're watching on YouTube, you've seen the cover. Hold
Speaker 1: it up one more time for the YouTubers, Doctor Key.
Speaker 2: There we go. I love that in the circles in.
Speaker 4: The middle, I see I did.
Speaker 2: Thank y'all so so much.