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Speaker 1: What's up this way up for Angela yee.

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Speaker 2: We had to jump in right here, but Samona Mayor

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Speaker 2: is here with us, and Charie Higgins is here. Thank

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Speaker 2: you ladies for joining me today, for having us the

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Speaker 2: founders of curl Fast. Yeah, the creators of Curly Girl Collective.

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Speaker 3: Let's get into it.

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Speaker 2: Let's get into it. So let's talk about the beginnings

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Speaker 2: for people who are listening, because you know, I know

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Speaker 2: as a as a curly girl myself, not today though, sorry, Okay.

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Speaker 4: Being a curly girl your versatile. That we can be straight,

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Speaker 4: we can be curly, we can do it upbraids, locks.

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Speaker 3: All the thing. Wait, are you about to tell me

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Speaker 3: that you're not curly anymore?

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Speaker 1: I am my girl.

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Speaker 2: So my girl parents, I know you guys know parents.

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Speaker 2: She owns a hair salon in Brooklyn, and so she's

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Speaker 2: been like, come to the salon, come to the salon.

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Speaker 2: She does specialize in like so pressive and blowouts and stuff.

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Speaker 2: And so I haven't worn my hair straight and I

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Speaker 2: don't know how long that's true.

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Speaker 3: I've never seen you are straight hair.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And it used to be like you never seen

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Speaker 2: me were curly here, you know, so because it was

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Speaker 2: such a journey to go from straight to curly. It

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Speaker 2: is so tough to like let your hair grow out

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Speaker 2: and do all the things. And so she was like,

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Speaker 2: let me just straighten your hair since you haven't had

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Speaker 2: a straight and so long, and so I let her

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Speaker 2: do it. How do you feel, I do like still

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Speaker 2: like curly hair, you know, but this is easy.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it bring up and take it out. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: until it doesn't look fresh anymore, until.

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Speaker 1: It is first volume.

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Speaker 3: I need my curls back.

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Speaker 2: All right, But let's get into curly Girl collective. For

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Speaker 2: people listening if this is their first time like coming

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Speaker 2: out to because curlfest is a thing you know that

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Speaker 2: you never would have anticipated it turning into. But for

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Speaker 2: people who don't know the story, let's just give that story.

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Speaker 4: I tell the long winded version, okay, because it's a

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Speaker 4: lot of his day. I'll take yes, I'll tell that

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Speaker 4: had thirty version. So in twenty eleven, I think or

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Speaker 4: twenty ten, we were it was a bunch of girls

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Speaker 4: at that There weren't that many natural hair kind of resources,

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Speaker 4: so we were on Google groups. We're aging ourselves a

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Speaker 4: little bit, talking all day, right, and chats like what

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Speaker 4: did I just cut off my hair, et cetera. That

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Speaker 4: turned into let's have a meetup at one of our

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Speaker 4: co founder's Brooklyn apartment and we had a meetup.

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Speaker 3: It was great. We said, let's bring this to the public.

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Speaker 4: We had our very first event in twenty eleven, and

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Speaker 4: we had these little events over the last couple of years,

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Speaker 4: but they were keep selling out and we're like, we

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Speaker 4: need a place that has more than three hundred people

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Speaker 4: in New York and we can invite more people.

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Speaker 3: Let's have a picnic in the park. The picnic in the.

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Speaker 4: Park Prospect Park was Curlfest. That's how Curlfest was born.

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Speaker 4: We came up with a name. We had the picnic

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Speaker 4: in a park. It was born in twenty fourteen.

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Speaker 2: Ten year anniversary anniversary.

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Speaker 3: I'm so excited. It's crazy to say that.

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Speaker 4: And so it just grew, you know, and naturally grew

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Speaker 4: from a thousand people to upwards of thirty forty thousand people.

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Speaker 1: Right, and something you learned you could monitor.

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Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, it was still learning, but yeah, yeah, So

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Speaker 4: it's been a blessing. Like we can't believe we're ten

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Speaker 4: years in. It's kind of crazy to say, but yeah,

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Speaker 4: we've been doing this work for that long.

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Speaker 2: You know, I think even during the pandemic was a

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Speaker 2: great time for not a great time like that, but

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Speaker 2: a great time for people to also embrace their natural curls.

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Speaker 2: We saw a lot of guys embracing their natural life

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Speaker 2: because some of us.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, but I seeing those extensions now, Oh my god.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And so talk to me about the pandemic and

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Speaker 2: what you guys did during that time.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's interesting because someone recently asked me this question

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Speaker 4: and really was an opportunity for me to take a

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Speaker 4: step back because during the pandemic, there was so much

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Speaker 4: going on. There was George Floyd, there was you know,

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Speaker 4: so many opportunities. Well, there's so many instances where black

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Speaker 4: people felt as though they didn't matter and we weren't seen.

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Speaker 4: And it was an opportunity for Curly Girl Collective or

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Speaker 4: even everyone during the pandemic to get together and say, Okay,

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Speaker 4: how can I feel joy so that I don't go

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Speaker 4: down this downward spiral of despair because the world is

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Speaker 4: telling me that I don't matter and I'm in this

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Speaker 4: house and I'm just stuck here.

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Speaker 3: Right. So everyone was on lives, etc.

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Speaker 4: And Curly Girl Collective took that as an opportunity for

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Speaker 4: us to do programming around black Joy. So we were

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Speaker 4: doing fitness classes, we were doing lives, we were talking

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Speaker 4: to various people.

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Speaker 3: We can drop some things.

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Speaker 4: Jadennah is one of my favorites that we spoke to and.

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Speaker 3: He shows so much love to us, send women in, etc.

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Speaker 4: But it was just an opportunity for us to get

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Speaker 4: together and say, you know what, black joy is important

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Speaker 4: in the simplest form, black joy is important. Us being

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Speaker 4: happy is important, us being celebrated is important, and curl

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Speaker 4: Fest is an express of that. So it started about

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Speaker 4: natural hair, but it's grown to be so much more

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Speaker 4: than that. It's grown to be you know, we demand

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Speaker 4: to be seen and heard in every facet of life,

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Speaker 4: and we also enjoy to be happy.

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Speaker 2: You know what is great And since you talked about

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Speaker 2: the expression and how it's so much more when you

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Speaker 2: go to curl Fest, when you get to see people

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Speaker 2: come out with all the different styles and everything that

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Speaker 2: they have going on. And I feel like even media

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Speaker 2: coverage of it has been amazing too for you guys,

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Speaker 2: because so much creativity. Yes, you know, when you get

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Speaker 2: to and anybody who's listening, just go and look at

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Speaker 2: some of the past curl Fest and see some of

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Speaker 2: the styles that are going on. It's a great time

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Speaker 2: for people to come out and just like try something different.

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Speaker 4: And just be yeah, and just being We get a

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Speaker 4: lot of questions, Like some people will say, Simone, I

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Speaker 4: have braids in my hair, can I come to curl

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Speaker 4: Fast I am or I'm a man and I don't

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Speaker 4: have hair, Can I come?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, emphatically yes.

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Speaker 4: If you have a straight hair, any which away you

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Speaker 4: wear your hair, if you have a wig, if you

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Speaker 4: have all of that, it's fine.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, makeup people feel yes.

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Speaker 4: Come come to curl Fest and have a great time

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Speaker 4: because it's the inclusive space that we're creating, right, And

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Speaker 4: it's much more than here. Like Sureisa, it's called curl

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Speaker 4: Fests and Curly Girl Collective, but it's really deeper than here.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 3: It's about mentality, it's about representation.

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Speaker 4: It's about creating spaces that we see ourselves in and

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Speaker 4: create opportunities for entrepreneurs and black and brown businesses. Right,

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Speaker 4: It's much more than just the actual follicles of the

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Speaker 4: hair in your head.

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Speaker 2: You Know, what I love is seeing the growth of

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Speaker 2: so many brands that got started that have gone on

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Speaker 2: to Yeah, to really thrive in this market. Because I

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Speaker 2: and I always talk about this, Miss Jesse's. That was

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Speaker 2: the first product that ever gave me like billboards, you know,

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Speaker 2: when we first started, when I first started on the

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Speaker 2: Breakfast Club, and that was also a brand that when

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Speaker 2: I was younger going to Ricky's. Yeah there's a class store,

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Speaker 2: it would be so hard to find something that was

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Speaker 2: appropriate from my hair. I remember I used to just

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Speaker 2: use gel. Yeah remember that. It was like it wasn't

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Speaker 2: anything specifically for curly or.

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Speaker 4: First for blackin ever our very first event when was

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Speaker 4: talking about what we started croft, they were our very

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Speaker 4: first sponsor and they did a live big chop before

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Speaker 4: we even really knew what that was. We came up

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Speaker 4: with this idea to do a big chop live in

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Speaker 4: front of everybody, and they took it on the road.

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Speaker 4: They ended up taking it on the road and doing

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Speaker 4: it for so many other people, and now we know

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Speaker 4: what that is like, going back to natural, going back

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Speaker 4: to your roots. But yeah, mss Jesse's was our very

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Speaker 4: first sponsor of our.

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Speaker 2: Event and then even like a lot of these founders

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Speaker 2: Nasty Shame, Moisture, Yes, yeah, it's also sponsoring. So talk

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Speaker 2: about Shane Moischer because even the journey with Shamee Moisture

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Speaker 2: and seeing where they came from. Because I also, you know,

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Speaker 2: and we've heard about Mayel and the journey that they

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Speaker 2: had and starting a brand, growing it to a certain point,

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Speaker 2: but then saying Okay, it's time to expand from here.

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Speaker 2: And sometimes we don't understand starting a brand and scaling

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Speaker 2: it and then saying Okay, now it's time for investors

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Speaker 2: or it's time to sell the brand.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, yeah, I mean shout out to Shane Moisture.

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Speaker 4: They are also our early sponsor of ours as well,

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Speaker 4: and they invested in us way before we even knew

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Speaker 4: how big crow Fest was going to be.

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Speaker 3: They're also coming in this.

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Speaker 4: Year in a big way and sponsoring the entire small

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Speaker 4: business marketplace where they're bringing in ten different small entrepreneur

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Speaker 4: and small businesses and their sponsoring the entire area.

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Speaker 3: So that's great. They're really excited about that.

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Speaker 4: And that's kind of their m a right as you

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Speaker 4: talk about their transition, they have really made been intentional

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Speaker 4: about giving back to the community. So that is you know,

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Speaker 4: we tried to align with sponsors that have the same

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Speaker 4: kind of like investment into black and Brown Spaces in

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Speaker 4: the same way that Crowfest does bring it back to

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Speaker 4: the community, and to pick it.

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Speaker 1: Back up of that.

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Speaker 2: With Shane Moisture during the pandemic, I did a lot

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Speaker 2: with them. They were giving away grants to black owned businesses. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: and I think it is important to think about what

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Speaker 2: brands you do want to align yourself with, because I'm

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Speaker 2: sure there's people that have wanted to get on board

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Speaker 2: that maybe you're like.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, let's talk about it. I mean, it is a

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Speaker 4: partnership and it's a community. It's a constant two way

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Speaker 4: communication that we have with brands. So people may come

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Speaker 4: and want to be a part of curl Fest, but

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Speaker 4: we're like, okay, this is what it means.

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Speaker 3: We've talked.

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Speaker 4: We've actually had to turn down partnerships because it wasn't

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Speaker 4: true to our vision and our mission, you know. And

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Speaker 4: even with Shane Moisture, we had guidelines for them as

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Speaker 4: well as large as they are and how much they've grown.

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Speaker 4: But they respect us because they were with us from

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Speaker 4: the very beginning and they've seen it. They've seen it

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Speaker 4: grow and blossom and become what it is today. But

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Speaker 4: we can say that about quite a few other beginning brands,

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Speaker 4: pioneering natural beauty brands like Carol's Daughter and Curls.

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Speaker 3: You know, all of these brands started.

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Speaker 2: I love that when behind the brand too. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 2: it's so imp to see that because we do want

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Speaker 2: to support the mission statement too before we even Sometimes

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Speaker 2: before I even try a product, I'm like, all right,

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Speaker 2: let me see who this person is, because we do

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Speaker 2: have a lot of.

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Speaker 3: Ingredients are about and definitely the ingredients.

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Speaker 4: And I love that you said that because some people

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Speaker 4: don't really know, like what who's behind curl Fest. It

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Speaker 4: looks like this van their like you guys have like

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Speaker 4: a big organization, but it's really you know, own and

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Speaker 4: operated one hundred percent by black women, right, two of

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Speaker 4: which are seated here a. So yeah, we like to

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Speaker 4: make sure that we need to put ourselves out a

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Speaker 4: little bit more because that's part we're part of why

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Speaker 4: we find that curl Fest is successful, because we're not

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Speaker 4: just selling the culture.

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Speaker 3: We are the culture, right.

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Speaker 4: And so when when people are making a choice, and

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Speaker 4: we've seen a transition over the last few years, people

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Speaker 4: are making choices of where they spend their dollar based

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Speaker 4: off of integrity of the business, authenticity, right, and so

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Speaker 4: those are the values that we stand by as well

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Speaker 4: as founders of curl us.

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Speaker 2: And this space for other people who have partnerships with

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Speaker 2: their because you guys are friends and that's how it

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Speaker 2: all started. How is it working with friends? And what

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Speaker 2: are some guidelines that you've had to learn along the way,

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Speaker 2: because that's also there's boundaries, there are certain ways you

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Speaker 2: have to operate. But for everybody listening and it's like, Okay,

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Speaker 2: you know, I have this business with my friends, or

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Speaker 2: I want to start something, what's some advice you can

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Speaker 2: give in that space?

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Speaker 4: I mean, it's I think I'm gonna keep it real.

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Speaker 4: We are friends, right, We are friends in like the

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Speaker 4: very true sense of the world word.

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Speaker 3: Sorry. We went to college together.

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Speaker 4: There's some parts at the Temple Universe, Temple University. There's

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Speaker 4: some partner, there's another partner and I that went to

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Speaker 4: high school and college together. There's some of us that

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Speaker 4: met on the Natural Hair email throw that we told

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Speaker 4: you about. And it was hard, and it is hard,

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Speaker 4: you know, because it's a constant, deliberate action to make

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Speaker 4: sure that we separate the business from the personal right

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Speaker 4: and there's sometimes, you know, where we just have to

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Speaker 4: come together and sometimes there's long conversations, sometimes it's heated conversations.

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Speaker 4: But what I love about us is that what is

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Speaker 4: always underlining and what is always present is the passion

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Speaker 4: for the business, and we understand that it's bigger than us, right,

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Speaker 4: so we always do whatever is in the best interests

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Speaker 4: of the business, you know, And that's what I probably

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Speaker 4: us being able to be. You know, Curly Girl Collective

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Speaker 4: is more than ten years in, but curl Fest is

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Speaker 4: ten years in and we're still here. And the reason

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Speaker 4: why is because we realize how important our.

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Speaker 3: Mission and our vision is for the.

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Speaker 2: Larger I like that slogan, We're still here.

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Speaker 5: I love it, Yes, yes, and I want to talk

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Speaker 5: about for because this is a personal mission, right, So Seria,

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Speaker 5: let's talk about your hair journey first. Yes, yes, yes,

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Speaker 5: because I love your hair every day, let's go so.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what it is. I'm gonna be honest

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Speaker 3: about it today.

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Speaker 4: The reason why it's like this today is because I

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Speaker 4: gotta get my hair done for Girl Fast tomorrow.

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Speaker 3: So I'm like, what can I do?

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Speaker 1: That's cute?

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Speaker 4: And I love our natural hair because we're able to

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Speaker 4: do things like that. But yeah, the way my natural

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Speaker 4: hair started I'll take it back to when I was

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Speaker 4: four or five years old. My mom at the time

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Speaker 4: just you know, lack of education and just because she

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Speaker 4: thought it was the best thing to do pur my

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Speaker 4: hair so that it could be more manageable. So it

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Speaker 4: took And she wasn't the best hairstylist either, so it

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Speaker 4: took me.

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Speaker 3: A while being.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 4: So, I mean then it wasn't her do that I

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Speaker 4: was going to the hairstylist, but it took me a

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Speaker 4: while to you know, be playing in the mirror trying

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Speaker 4: to figure out how to style my hair, et cetera.

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Speaker 4: Going through the instances where I'm going to school and

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Speaker 4: I hate the way my hair looks, I don't like

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Speaker 4: the way I styled it, or I'm up all night

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Speaker 4: styling my hair. But then it got to a point

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Speaker 4: where I would educate myself.

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Speaker 1: HM.

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Speaker 4: So I was one of the first people that are

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Speaker 4: that we that joined the natural hair thread because I

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Speaker 4: was one of the people that was already natural back

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Speaker 4: in twenty twenty ten or two thousand and nine. Ahad

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Speaker 4: of the curve ahead of the curve because we were

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Speaker 4: in Philly and Philly was ahead of the curve, so

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Speaker 4: they were in Philly.

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Speaker 3: So, yeah, that was.

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Speaker 2: My hair journey, And what about you, Simon, talk to

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Speaker 2: me about your journey. I love your hair, listen, but

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Speaker 2: y'all came in here representing because I'm even walking down

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Speaker 2: the street.

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Speaker 4: They're like, I love your hair, but that's a thing.

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Speaker 3: My hair journey is. I don't have a crazy story.

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Speaker 4: It kind of I cut off my relaxer because of

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Speaker 4: health reasons. It was just my hair was unhealthy. I

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Speaker 4: cut it off. I was starting over and I was

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Speaker 4: wearing weaves all the time, right, you would never see

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Speaker 4: my real hair. I was wearing sewings and bust downs

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Speaker 4: and braids back to back to back, and it just

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Speaker 4: wasn't healthy for my hair, right. And somehow, I'm not

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Speaker 4: sure who bro into the natural hair group that we

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Speaker 4: were talking about, and it was found my little small

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Speaker 4: community of women who were also going through the same

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Speaker 4: thing at the same time, young women, right, maybe leaving

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Speaker 4: college at that time was my time frame and trying

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Speaker 4: to figure out what.

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Speaker 3: I looked like and try to.

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Speaker 4: Redefine what beauty was to me, right, and so it

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Speaker 4: had to it was like a learning experience to say,

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Speaker 4: you know, I, you know, in my little teeny WEENI.

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Speaker 3: Appro I still look beautiful, right.

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Speaker 4: And relearning what that means and maybe even you know,

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Speaker 4: having to stand up to maybe family and friends who

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Speaker 4: may say.

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Speaker 3: Girl, put a put away on, right.

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Speaker 4: But we all have those we all have those type

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Speaker 4: of stories. Or your boyfriend at the time like I don't.

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Speaker 1: Like your hair like that. I don't like hair. I

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Speaker 1: want your hair straight. I don't like it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, because people.

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Speaker 2: Are liking my hair straight, and I'm like, I missed

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Speaker 2: my texture.

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Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, yeah, You'll get those comments and then you'll

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Speaker 4: start to question, you know, whether or not you look

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Speaker 4: beautiful any other way, right, And so that's the journey,

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Speaker 4: and those are the type of the journeys that people

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Speaker 4: are still going through now.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I mean even professionalism, people act like it's more professional.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I get here is this story?

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Speaker 4: Yeah in twenty four so many of us, so many

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Speaker 4: black women have similar stories, right, because we all go

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Speaker 4: through the same thing. I like everything that's the moments

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Speaker 4: talking about. I'm like, yeah, I can relate to that.

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Speaker 4: And I think that's why curlfest is so beautiful.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, because there's people who work in corporate America and

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Speaker 2: during the pandemic, they were you know, we got to

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Speaker 2: just be ourselves at home.

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Speaker 1: But when it was time to count to zooms, you

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Speaker 1: go get yeah.

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Speaker 2: Right now, I want you guys to reminisce to when

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Speaker 2: you guys first started this ten years ago, and it

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Speaker 2: was way more than you could have possibly imagined. How

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Speaker 2: did you feel when you did the first curl fest?

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Speaker 3: Oh my god?

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Speaker 4: So the first curl Fest happened because we having these

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Speaker 4: small events and we were selling out, right, So then

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Speaker 4: we decided to do something in the park. We literally

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Speaker 4: thought that we could only target about three hundred, two

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Speaker 4: hundred people, and then we looked around and there were

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Speaker 4: five hundred people.

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Speaker 3: And I mean these was double that, maybe like.

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Speaker 2: A thousand in and out throughout the day.

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Speaker 4: I would have been happy with a thousand people. But

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Speaker 4: I mean the way that it happened was really just

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Speaker 4: from word of mouth. It was just from word of mouth.

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Speaker 4: Social media wasn't even a big thing at that time,

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Speaker 4: and people just came out just because they happened to

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Speaker 4: see something happening in the park, right, and then came

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Speaker 4: and then from there we're talking about it for the

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Speaker 4: next year, trying to tell their friends or their friends.

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Speaker 3: And it made me feel like, you know, we have

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Speaker 3: something here. Listen, we gotta keep doing this.

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Speaker 2: You know how I knew about it so because I

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Speaker 2: live in Brooklyn and I go running in Prospect Park

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Speaker 2: and so I was running one day and I seen

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Speaker 2: all these women like looking real cute, and I'm like,

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Speaker 2: what's going on? And That's when I first found out

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Speaker 2: about and then I was like.

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Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I mean it was the most I can't

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Speaker 4: even describe it. It just was so beautiful and it

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Speaker 4: was so like I was on cloud nine. And it

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Speaker 4: still happens to this day. Every curl Yeah, we are

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Speaker 4: on cloud nine because it takes so much to put

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Speaker 4: it together and as large as it becomes, it's so

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Speaker 4: much planning, so much, you know, disappointment, so much happy

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Speaker 4: things that I like, everything is a mix of everything,

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Speaker 4: so many emotions. But when you get there and you

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Speaker 4: just see the joy and the community and just like

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Speaker 4: everybody come together, the best reactions are always from the men.

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Speaker 4: Then I can't even I can't even describe it, Angela.

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Speaker 4: It's just indescribable.

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Speaker 2: And you know, you talk about certain times disappointments too,

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Speaker 2: and let's talk about that too, because sometimes there was

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Speaker 2: a period of time when it was like was flowing. Yes,

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00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,840
Speaker 2: sponsorship money was flowing. They like, let's pour entities, you know,

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00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:08,760
Speaker 2: events like this and black people, black women. But then

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Speaker 2: it feels like people have pulled back on that because yeah,

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Speaker 2: some large corporations, you know, they've done things and sometimes

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Speaker 2: it could be performative at a certain period of time,

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Speaker 2: but then it's like, Okay, let's cut this program, let's

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Speaker 2: cut this Funday. What's that process been like for you guys,

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Speaker 2: because you do have something that's established, that's proven.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we both get talk about it week.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean really, I mean from my perspective, I

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Speaker 4: think we've seen in the last year or two, you know,

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Speaker 4: a lot of ODI initiatives have been cut, right, diversity

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Speaker 4: and inclusion initiatives, and some people may put crow fests

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Speaker 4: in that box as well.

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Speaker 3: Right, we were around.

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Speaker 4: And have been established well before. It kind of has

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Speaker 4: been cool to be you know, have d and I

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Speaker 4: you know, we've seen that resurgence from a lot of

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Speaker 4: big brands since.

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Speaker 3: George Floyd era.

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Speaker 4: Right, And so yeah, I said, transparently is hard, Right,

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Speaker 4: It's hard for event producers. It's hard for event producers

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Speaker 4: that are owned and operated by black women. And we

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Speaker 4: talk about that right, and so we consistently have to

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00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:11,560
Speaker 4: prove our worthiness all the time, what you know, our credibility,

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00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:15,840
Speaker 4: our cultural equity, which is hard to quantify. So it's

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Speaker 4: still a struggle, but we're still here and I love

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Speaker 4: that tagle. I'm gonna take it. We are still here,

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00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:26,320
Speaker 4: you know, by hook up crook. We are still fighting

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Speaker 4: to stay in this space because we know we deserve

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Speaker 4: and you know, there's there's ups and downs in every business,

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00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:35,240
Speaker 4: and so we feel like our mission and our vision

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Speaker 4: is stronger than any of the bumps in the road.

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Speaker 4: But like you know, people like you Angela who come

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Speaker 4: and support us and allow us to be on this.

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Speaker 2: This need is making sure this is gonna happen.

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00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:47,639
Speaker 3: We appreciate it so much.

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Speaker 4: And I will say this too, just to add to that,

441
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:58,840
Speaker 4: I want our community to know that, Asimo said, it's

442
00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:04,320
Speaker 4: it's a small team behind this that does everything. And

443
00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:09,320
Speaker 4: to your point, things have been cut, you know, and.

444
00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:10,440
Speaker 3: It's always a.

445
00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:15,040
Speaker 4: I'll say, a fight to make sure that we let

446
00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:17,639
Speaker 4: people know what our value is. We communicate what the

447
00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:20,800
Speaker 4: value is, we share our metrics, we share you know,

448
00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:24,520
Speaker 4: what the the black community's dollar is doing. Not only

449
00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:28,960
Speaker 4: are women coming out. But men are coming out. People

450
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:32,960
Speaker 4: from all races are coming out. All over the world

451
00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:33,680
Speaker 4: are coming out.

452
00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:35,560
Speaker 3: Men are coming out.

453
00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:39,359
Speaker 4: So I mean, there's so much value in this space, right,

454
00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:44,680
Speaker 4: and we sometimes get overlooked. And you know, our community

455
00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:47,560
Speaker 4: holds us to a high regard and that's because we've

456
00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:49,880
Speaker 4: always said it set.

457
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:50,840
Speaker 3: The bar really high.

458
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,040
Speaker 4: So I just want our community to know that, you know,

459
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:56,080
Speaker 4: it's not it's not always easy for us, but we

460
00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,320
Speaker 4: are still here and we are still committed to making

461
00:21:59,359 --> 00:22:02,760
Speaker 4: sure that we put our best product forward, even when

462
00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:04,800
Speaker 4: we don't have the backing that we used to have.

463
00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,040
Speaker 2: Okay, but yeah, we want to make sure that we

464
00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:09,680
Speaker 2: continue to ramp that up. And yeah, people know about it.

465
00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:12,760
Speaker 2: So what is happening this year for the ten year anniversary?

466
00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:15,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, well you go ahead, do you want to say?

467
00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:16,240
Speaker 2: Yeah?

468
00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:20,080
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, because I'm excited. Number one, we are back

469
00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:20,760
Speaker 4: in Brooklyn.

470
00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:24,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, right, right.

471
00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:26,080
Speaker 3: We are back in Brooklyn.

472
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:29,240
Speaker 4: We see it, yes, but going be everywhere, right, And

473
00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:31,600
Speaker 4: there were quite a few people that missed that. So

474
00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:33,560
Speaker 4: when we made the announcement that we were coming back

475
00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:35,600
Speaker 4: to Brooklyn, everybody was very excited.

476
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:39,520
Speaker 3: We are in a different venue. We are at the Bandshell,

477
00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:40,679
Speaker 3: which is.

478
00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:44,480
Speaker 4: Celebrate Brooklyn and Prospect Park, so it is more of

479
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:48,600
Speaker 4: an intimate venue. But we have some great sponsors that

480
00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:50,600
Speaker 4: we're excited about. Shamee Moisture is going to be there.

481
00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:54,479
Speaker 4: They're bringing ten small business vendors as well. We have

482
00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:59,000
Speaker 4: our Vendor Marketplace, which is going to showcase other small

483
00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:03,320
Speaker 4: business is that we're excited about. They showcase everything from

484
00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:07,840
Speaker 4: fashion to accessories to goods. We'll have music per usual,

485
00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:11,679
Speaker 4: we'll have food per usual, We'll have gift bags. Oh,

486
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,360
Speaker 4: and I get cover give I'm really excited about it.

487
00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:17,560
Speaker 4: We got sacred in the gift bag. I know a

488
00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,199
Speaker 4: lot of people be excited about that, and some of

489
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,800
Speaker 4: the usual suspects. Our gift bags are like the most

490
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:25,640
Speaker 4: coveted and they are going to be flyer this year.

491
00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:27,880
Speaker 4: So yeah, we're excited about this year.

492
00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:30,439
Speaker 2: All right, Well, I'm excited too, and I'm happy that

493
00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:34,239
Speaker 2: y'all are back in Brooklyn. Yes, I'll be around, so

494
00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:36,640
Speaker 2: I think I'm I'm coming through to show my support too.

495
00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:39,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes for you.

496
00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:42,800
Speaker 2: Oh really, y'all won't even know I'm a pop up

497
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:44,720
Speaker 2: and regular you know.

498
00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:50,199
Speaker 4: Hell, let us know you there because we got Yeah.

499
00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:52,480
Speaker 2: But honestly, thank you both so much for coming through

500
00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:55,040
Speaker 2: and making the time to come up here. And we'll

501
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:58,000
Speaker 2: make sure everybody knows curl Fest is happening this weekend.

502
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:00,080
Speaker 2: Where can people go to get more information.

503
00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:03,760
Speaker 4: And curlfest dot com and when we're on Instagram at

504
00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:08,040
Speaker 4: Curly Girl Collective. We are also on Facebook and we

505
00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:09,040
Speaker 4: are on Twitter.

506
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:10,199
Speaker 3: Yes, and we have a.

507
00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:13,720
Speaker 4: Promo code if that's okay, Okay, yes, the twenty percent

508
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:15,960
Speaker 4: of all tickets. The code is back to b K

509
00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:18,520
Speaker 4: b A c K t O b K.

510
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,760
Speaker 2: We love a promo code. Yes, yes, all right, I'm

511
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:23,120
Speaker 2: gonna bring my curls back for it.

512
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:26,639
Speaker 3: Yes, now you know you want to bring your curls.

513
00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:32,359
Speaker 2: Okay, but I appreciate you. I will see you on Saturday,

514
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:34,640
Speaker 2: so make sure y'all come out and support. It's way

515
00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:34,840
Speaker 2: up