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Speaker 1: Coach, the energy out there felt different. What changed for

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Speaker 1: the team today?

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Speaker 2: It was the new game day scratches from the California

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Speaker 2: Lottery player is everything. Those games sent the team's energy

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Speaker 2: through the roof.

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Speaker 1: Are you saying it was the off field play that

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Speaker 1: made the difference on the field.

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Speaker 2: Hey, little play makes your day, and today it made

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Speaker 2: the game.

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Speaker 3: That's all for now, coach.

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Speaker 1: One more question play the new Los Angeles Chargers, San

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Speaker 1: Francisco forty nine ers and Los Angeles Rams scratchers from

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Speaker 1: the California Lottery. A little play can make your day.

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Speaker 1: Peace made responsibily. Must be eighteen years or older to

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Speaker 1: purchase late or claim buyo farms.

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Speaker 4: Come ay, my graduates from my school being forced back

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Speaker 4: drop bag drop, Mike, drop back, drop b drop.

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Speaker 5: All right, welcome back, ey l. This is something that

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Speaker 5: is a very important special episode. Old topic that we

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Speaker 5: haven't covered yet, but an essential topic. And it's it's

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Speaker 5: ironic because I actually put a post up a few

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Speaker 5: days ago about farming and about agriculture and said we

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Speaker 5: wanted to, you know, kind of have more topics about that.

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Speaker 5: So this is in line with that a little different,

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Speaker 5: but it falls in that bucket. Uh, in this business

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Speaker 5: as well, big big business and something that you know,

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Speaker 5: we don't usually think about as far as starting a business.

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Speaker 5: So you know when we talk about grocery stores. Yeah,

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Speaker 5: so Aaron Johnson AJ. We were connected with him last

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Speaker 5: year when we went to Tolsa for the hundredth year camemorates.

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Speaker 5: I guess we should call it of the Black Wall

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Speaker 5: Street bombing and we did Market Monday's Lives. That was

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Speaker 5: that was crazy to actually do Market Monday's Lives crazy

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Speaker 5: one the day around the same time, I believe they

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Speaker 5: So that was just you know, a very very very

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Speaker 5: you know, just all kind of emotional experience for us.

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Speaker 5: It was really dope. But we got connected with AJ

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Speaker 5: and he has a story where he started a grocery

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Speaker 5: store on the north side of Tulsa, which is where

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Speaker 5: Black Wall Street is that that area right, yes, sir,

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Speaker 5: and that is predominantly black neighborhood. In the neighborhood that's

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Speaker 5: had a variety of different issues ever since, you know,

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Speaker 5: Black Wall Street. So this is going to be an

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Speaker 5: interesting conversation because having a grocery store something that is

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Speaker 5: extremely important. Like I said, it's vital for survival because

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Speaker 5: everybody has to eat food. It's like non negotiable. But

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Speaker 5: also when we talk about like food deserts and we

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Speaker 5: talk about low quality food, different things of that nature.

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Speaker 5: Like it's very very important to have you know, good

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Speaker 5: groceries produce and meats and different things of that nature

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Speaker 5: in the community. And being that, you know, it's hard

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Speaker 5: to really start a startup grocery chain. Most grocery chains

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Speaker 5: are like chains, yeah, MP shop, right, different things of

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Speaker 5: that nature, and so stopping shop you don't really see

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Speaker 5: too many. So what happens in a lot of neighborhoods

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Speaker 5: is that the grocery store is turned into like gas stations,

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Speaker 5: different things of that nature. So that's when I was

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Speaker 5: in Baltimore, and we'll talk about that, but I did,

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Speaker 5: I actually did a study on food deserts in Baltimore.

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Speaker 6: So I mean, look right here in Greenburg, they took

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Speaker 6: our super walking out turned into a DSW Yeah.

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Speaker 5: So this is this, this this conversation is very important

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Speaker 5: because we understand the effects that nutrition has on us

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Speaker 5: as far as you know, our health. We're talking about diabetes,

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Speaker 5: our blood pressure, cholesterol, all the different things, yeah, heart disease,

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Speaker 5: different things of that nature. And so to be an entrepreneur,

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Speaker 5: to be a black entrepreneur with a grocery store in

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Speaker 5: North Tosa, home of Black Wall Street very important. So

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Speaker 5: this is going to be a very educational, informative episode.

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Speaker 5: I'm sure of it. So yeah, so thank you for

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Speaker 5: joining us. Appreciate it, man.

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Speaker 2: It's an honor to be here, honor to serve y'all.

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Speaker 2: Y'all have no idea the impact that not only you've

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Speaker 2: had on me and my family, but the millions of

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Speaker 2: people that are being reached because of because of you all,

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Speaker 2: And so it's an honor to be amongst some of

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Speaker 2: the ogs in the game.

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Speaker 5: We appreciate that.

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Speaker 6: Brother, and we ran each other at investments. Mean well,

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Speaker 6: I said, we got a classic on the way. So

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Speaker 6: I'm happy that you're here to make this happen.

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Speaker 5: So I want to get into it, but before I do,

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Speaker 5: I want to just kind of give some historical reference

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Speaker 5: point for people that they might have heard of black

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Speaker 5: Wall Street, but they don't really know too much. Like,

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Speaker 5: you know, why is Tulsa important? Why is North Tulsa

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Speaker 5: black Wall Street? Why is it important historically? And why

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Speaker 5: is it still important now?

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Speaker 7: Man?

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Speaker 3: Great question.

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Speaker 2: The thing that happened in nineteen twenty one. The race

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Speaker 2: massacre can never be quantified because we don't know how

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Speaker 2: many Amazon inventors were there, how many iPhone you know,

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Speaker 2: patents were there, how many things that we have today

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Speaker 2: really we could have had back then. Tulsa at that

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Speaker 2: time and Oklahoma really was considered a refuge for blacks,

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Speaker 2: and there was at that time more millionaires per capita

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Speaker 2: than any other state, more black millionaires. So that's crazy

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Speaker 2: in nineteen twenty one. Think about the wealth that would

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Speaker 2: equate to today had that continued. And so, you know,

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Speaker 2: a young black got on an elevator. You know, the

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Speaker 2: story is that she said, you know, he said that

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Speaker 2: he was attacked or he attacked her. She ran out,

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Speaker 2: which wasn't true at all of the elevator, and all

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Speaker 2: of a sudden, they're going to lynch him, and some blacks,

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Speaker 2: wealthy blacks, got together, former military and said we're not

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Speaker 2: going to let this happen in our community. Release him,

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Speaker 2: and they refused, and all of a sudden, planes start

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Speaker 2: dropping bombs in Black Wall Street, destroying businesses, killing people,

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Speaker 2: and so over three hundred people were murdered.

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Speaker 3: And that's the story of Black Wall Street.

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Speaker 2: And so when the centennial came May thirty first of

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, the question and the world was asking

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Speaker 2: what's changed.

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Speaker 3: For blacks in the last one hundred years?

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Speaker 2: Because how many other black wall streets would have been

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Speaker 2: created had that one not been destroyed, how many other

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Speaker 2: minority wall streets were there? There would have been a

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Speaker 2: Hispanic like that would have been the model. We would

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Speaker 2: have created the model for other minorities to say, man,

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Speaker 2: if they can do it, what if we come together

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Speaker 2: so that the wealth disparities that we have today wouldn't

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Speaker 2: be the case.

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Speaker 3: I believe had that not.

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Speaker 2: Taken place in Tulsa, in North Tulsa at that time.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, he was saying when we took the tour, like

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Speaker 5: it was one gentleman. He had like a restaurant, he

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Speaker 5: had a he had a hotel, and they were saying,

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Speaker 5: like he could have been like Marriott. Yeah, I mean,

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Speaker 5: like there was a bunch of people that you know,

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Speaker 5: when you look at when you look at it, you

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Speaker 5: never know the trajectory of what could have happened. But

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Speaker 5: it was, you know, such a successful and thriving community

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Speaker 5: that you know, just that one neighborhood, like you said,

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Speaker 5: could have produced generational wealth for a variety of different people,

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Speaker 5: and even bigger than that actually created industries like tycoons

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Speaker 5: in the industries. And you know it's from my understanding,

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Speaker 5: the only you know, us uh bombing that was, you know,

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Speaker 5: because I think it was like military planes that actually

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Speaker 5: dropped those bombs, and that's the only time that bombs

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Speaker 5: was ever dropped from planes that was sanctioned from America

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Speaker 5: in American history on American citizens ever was then wow,

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Speaker 5: So you know, I kind of puts it in perspective

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Speaker 5: when we think about it, like, you know, the only

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Speaker 5: time that America actually sanctioned bombing from lanes on American

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Speaker 5: citizens was in Toso.

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Speaker 7: Even bombers in general.

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Speaker 6: They were saying that the outside of Pearl Harbor, that

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Speaker 6: was the only other time there's been a bombing on

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Speaker 6: American soil in the first one.

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Speaker 5: From planes planes each other even nine eleven, I wasn't

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Speaker 5: abominated they drove the planes that building. But yeah, because

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Speaker 5: it's not it's not easy to drop a bomb on America.

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Speaker 5: That's why Pearl Harbor is such a historical time because

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Speaker 5: the quarters by surprise when the Japanese did that. But

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Speaker 5: you know, it has a pretty good defense system, the

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Speaker 5: greatest military of all time. So it's not easy just

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Speaker 5: to fire five plane and drop bombs, y'all.

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Speaker 2: Y'all just shook me. I didn't even know that, and

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Speaker 2: I live in Tulsa. I didn't know that that was

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Speaker 2: the first say that again.

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Speaker 5: It was. It was the first sanctioned American UH bombing

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Speaker 5: on American soil, and it was against the American citizens

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Speaker 5: obviously because it's in America. And I think, yeah, like

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Speaker 5: Troy said, the only second UH bombing from airplane ever

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Speaker 5: to ever happen in America, because, like I said, it's

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Speaker 5: not easy to just drop bombs.

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Speaker 2: That's crazy in the core relation to that, you know

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Speaker 2: what a key say, add value or to add to that.

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Speaker 3: That's the text.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, ad to your wisdom. Yeah yeah, yeah, shout out keys,

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Speaker 2: add to your wisdom on that that. At that time,

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Speaker 2: from nineteen nineteen to nineteen twenty one, there were so

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Speaker 2: many black millionaires in Oklahoma. That also caused the movement

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Speaker 2: for Oklahoma. Throughout that time, more KKK family members were

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Speaker 2: moving individuals that were involved in the kk they were

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Speaker 2: moving to Oklahoma because they didn't like that stat So

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Speaker 2: the resistance as black excellence was rising, the resistance was

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Speaker 2: also rising. So Oklahoma eventually became one of the most

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Speaker 2: racist states. But why is that on this side we

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Speaker 2: was building the wealth and then on this side they

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Speaker 2: were dropping bombs. So that just the system. That's crazy

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Speaker 2: and I didn't even know that.

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Speaker 6: So how do we get to because I read correctly

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Speaker 6: if I'm wrong, But you started.

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Speaker 2: Milwaukee, started Milwaukee go b and we.

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Speaker 6: Were just we were just in Milwaukee when we're talking

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Speaker 6: about black business thriving. This is another city where we

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Speaker 6: saw a lot of black business thriving, and we got

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Speaker 6: the history on that when we visited. But you moved

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Speaker 6: to Oklahoma, and I think, what was it about Oklahoma

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Speaker 6: that you saw growing up that you decided as an adult,

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Speaker 6: I need to make a change. Because I know there

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Speaker 6: was some statistics about the life expectancy of blacks in

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Speaker 6: the state. So what was it that triggered you to say,

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Speaker 6: all right, I need to make a change here in Tulsa.

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Speaker 6: Obviously the history of black Wall Street, but was it

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Speaker 6: something else?

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Speaker 2: You know, it's crazy throughout the pandemic, you know, just

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Speaker 2: getting back to serving people. I was never that smartin school.

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Speaker 2: I actually cheated in college to get to get it,

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Speaker 2: to make it. Se'z get degree. Shout out to all

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Speaker 2: my my sees. Two point five GPA, don't quit, baby,

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Speaker 2: don't quit. And so I always just felt as a

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Speaker 2: kid growing up in a single parent home that I

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Speaker 2: wanted to give my life to serve people. I didn't

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Speaker 2: know what that looked like. I majored in business, manage meant,

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Speaker 2: but anyway for me. Throughout the pandemic, I saw, man,

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Speaker 2: if this continues a long time. At the time, I

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Speaker 2: was running a nonprofit in North Tulsa, and I saw, man.

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Speaker 3: Food, health, gut, all of.

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Speaker 2: These things are are so connected, And I said, man,

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Speaker 2: something's got to happen. North Tulsa hadn't had a grocery

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Speaker 2: store in fourteen years. No grocery store in North Tulsa

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Speaker 2: in fourteen How is that even possible? But yet there's

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Speaker 2: ten dollar Generals, So no complete full service grocery store.

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Speaker 2: But yet ten dollar Generals. Dollar General, by the way,

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty one ended up closing thirty two billion dollars.

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Speaker 2: So most of they proliferate underserved communities and rural communities.

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Speaker 2: So throughout the pandemic, I recognize, Man, we have to

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Speaker 2: something's got to share.

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Speaker 3: Something's got to shift. So I was in my closet

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Speaker 3: one day.

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Speaker 2: I'm a I'm a person of faith, I like y'all,

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Speaker 2: and I just felt like something was happening. Like I'm

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Speaker 2: not I've never carried a baby, but I felt like

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Speaker 2: I was carrying something.

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Speaker 3: And I said, Man, I'm.

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Speaker 2: Not going to move from this spot, God until you

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Speaker 2: give me a word. And I felt the war was

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Speaker 2: Ezekiel thirty six. I will rebuild the wastelands and replant

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Speaker 2: the ruins. Was that was what I got. And so

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Speaker 2: I didn't know how I was going to do that.

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Speaker 2: Long story short, I left my job. Didn't have a plan,

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Speaker 2: Like that's the cray you talked about faith over fear. Like,

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Speaker 2: didn't have a plan, left my job, and I said,

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Speaker 2: I'm going to figure out way how to serve people

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Speaker 2: the way that I feel is right. Got a phone

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Speaker 2: call from having great relationships with, you know, people in

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Speaker 2: our city. I got a phone call, Hey, we got

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Speaker 2: we got this grant. We got four million dollars that

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Speaker 2: we're gonna have to give back to the federal government

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Speaker 2: that was supposed to be used for a grocery store.

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Speaker 3: AJ you got grocery experience.

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Speaker 2: I worked at a grocery store, was a regional manager

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Speaker 2: for a grocery store right out of college. Had seven stores,

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Speaker 2: most of them were in underserved communities. And anyway, long

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Speaker 2: story short, I said, that's it. How much money will

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Speaker 2: it take? Well, aged, we think about six and a half.

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Speaker 2: We only got four, so you're gonna have to I

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Speaker 2: don't got four million dollars. I don't got two million

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Speaker 2: dollars at the time. You know, wife, three kids, Asian persuasion.

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Speaker 2: Shout out to my wife. We got three blazon daughters.

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Speaker 2: And I put it all on the line. I took

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Speaker 2: everything we owned, all of the money out of my

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Speaker 2: four one k and it wasn't much, but I just

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Speaker 2: began to connect. So four point one million turned into

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Speaker 2: six and a half. We built the grocery store, opened

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Speaker 2: it up. Now it's at ten million, but we just

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Speaker 2: took a step.

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Speaker 5: So the first four meon. So that was a federal

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Speaker 5: grant that they just had pending. You had to come

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Speaker 5: up with. How much money did you have to come

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Speaker 5: up with before you was awarded the grant or did

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Speaker 5: they just give you the grant and then say come

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Speaker 5: up with the rest together?

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Speaker 2: The city get a ordered Rose Washington toss Economic Development

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Speaker 2: the grant, and she essentially turned it over to us,

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Speaker 2: and so together we had the public private partnerships and

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Speaker 2: so just knocking on doors, connecting with people, Hey, we're

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Speaker 2: gonna we're gonna build a grocery store. The definition of

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Speaker 2: oasis means refuge, safe place, shelter. That's why we picked

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Speaker 2: the name because in a food desert, there's no refuse,

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Speaker 2: there's no safe place, there's no shelter. And I didn't

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Speaker 2: grow up and said, man, I'm an own grocery stores.

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Speaker 2: I never thought that. But now we have a for

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Speaker 2: profit grocery store and the nonprofit where you can get

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Speaker 2: a gallon of milk, but you can also get your

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Speaker 2: bills paid. You can get an apple, but also you're

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Speaker 2: on food stamps, We're going to give you a recipe

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Speaker 2: pug to teach you how to how to eat, how

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Speaker 2: to live.

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Speaker 6: So that was the part of the comuner because even

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Speaker 6: reading the story, it was like, we got to get

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Speaker 6: seven million. Obviously the four million was public fund funded,

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Speaker 6: government funded, but you had to get private too, right,

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Speaker 6: And so I wonder what that process was like, because

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Speaker 6: you said, like, Oklahoma not the friendliest to black Americans. Yeah,

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Speaker 6: so what was the process of getting the private funding?

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Speaker 6: And then the second part was like that nonprofit arm Yeah,

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Speaker 6: because like when you know you have a nonprofit and

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Speaker 6: you have experience in it, there needs to be a

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Speaker 6: community attachment to it, and so you very intentionally made

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Speaker 6: it that way or was that like, hey, we have

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Speaker 6: to figure out how we can make this supermarket or

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Speaker 6: this grocery store this fresh market like fresh market, Hey,

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Speaker 6: how can we make this fresh market unique to this

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Speaker 6: area and that so we can set the trend going

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Speaker 6: forward for food deserts.

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Speaker 2: So our answer to the second part, first, the grocery

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Speaker 2: store was a byproduct. I actually said, the nonprofit has

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Speaker 2: to be bigger than the grocery store because we have

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Speaker 2: to serve people, you know, and underserved communities. There's a

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Speaker 2: lack of transportation, lack of education, lack of jobs. So

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Speaker 2: I said, man, how are we That is the purple cow,

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Speaker 2: that's the unicorn. What grocery store for profit gives away

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Speaker 2: groceries every day?

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Speaker 7: We do.

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Speaker 3: We give people free groceries every single day.

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Speaker 2: And we've been in the black since month four and

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Speaker 2: now we're month sixteen. So for me providing those wrap

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Speaker 2: around services and serving people adding value was the unique thing.

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Speaker 2: Shout out to my councilwoman, Vanessa Harper District one. She

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Speaker 2: really she fought to get a moratorium in place to

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Speaker 2: block any more dollar generals in her district, which is

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Speaker 2: District one, because there was ten of them.

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Speaker 3: So she fought.

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Speaker 2: A black woman went against a billion dollar company to

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Speaker 2: say you can't cross these lines without my permission anymore.

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Speaker 2: She got threatened. She had to get security for a season,

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Speaker 2: and her husband is a police officer because they were

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Speaker 2: all kind of crazy things happening.

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Speaker 3: But it started there.

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Speaker 2: She put a moratorium in place years before there was

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Speaker 2: ever a grocery store. But that was her fight, and

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Speaker 2: it was it's an honor for for us to serve.

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Speaker 2: It was really her vision and still is to this day.

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Speaker 2: It was her vision and she's a city councilor. And

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Speaker 2: so we They got that award years ago, and they

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Speaker 2: were gonna the Food Desert Federal award. They got the

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Speaker 2: four point one million dollars years ago, but never had

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Speaker 2: a person that would take the reins of that. They

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Speaker 2: had two groups that said they would do it. They

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Speaker 2: fell off. I left my job not knowing what the

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Speaker 2: next step was gonna be. But I always knew I

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Speaker 2: was going to be an entrepreneur serve people. Long story short,

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Speaker 2: with Vanessa, with Rose and our team, we just begin

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Speaker 2: to just knock on those doors and the right like,

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Speaker 2: we didn't even really have to knock on the doors

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Speaker 2: because people knew North Tulsa was a food desert, and

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Speaker 2: everybody knew that centennial was coming up. So somebody, somebody

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Speaker 2: better be a part of saying something happened in North Tulsa,

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Speaker 2: something happened in black Wall Street. And so we give

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Speaker 2: credit to everybody that that that's helped us build that

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Speaker 2: grocery store, that gave and yeah, we're just serving people man,

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Speaker 2: giving apples, giving hope.

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Speaker 5: So you was all right, So the two it was

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Speaker 5: it wasn't so much like crowdfunding. It was just like donations.

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Speaker 5: Yeah that raised that helped outside of your money and

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Speaker 5: then probably friends, family, whatever, and then the community just

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Speaker 5: kind of raised and gave donations and that equal that two.

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Speaker 2: Million, yeap the two and a half that that came in.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, that it was really private money. It wasn't

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Speaker 2: really even donations. We went to a few different foundations

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Speaker 2: that we had relationship with that's why your your gift

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Speaker 2: makes room for you. And so we we had those

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Speaker 2: relationships in my other role, and so going with counselor

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Speaker 2: Harper and Rose the other partners, people said we want

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Speaker 2: to give to this.

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Speaker 6: So city councils playing a major role in this. The

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Speaker 6: mayor is obviously playing. They were all in the same

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Speaker 6: page as you, like, were they coming in like, hey,

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Speaker 6: this is an idea that you're the person that executed

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Speaker 6: or they're like, all right, can we partner with him

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Speaker 6: to get this done? What was that like dealing with

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Speaker 6: city council, the mayia. I'm sure there's other people that

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Speaker 6: probably don't want you to get it done. And then

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Speaker 6: you have a lot of constituents and saying like we

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Speaker 6: need this, North Tulsa needs this has been before your drill.

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Speaker 7: What was that experience like for you?

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Speaker 2: The mayor was was was also behind it as well

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Speaker 2: and helped open up doors. And so that public private

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Speaker 2: partner can keep going back to that because there are

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Speaker 2: dollars federal dollars, county dollars, state dollars that every state has,

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Speaker 2: but they get to decide where they spend their money. Well,

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Speaker 2: it's good that our mayor and city councilor said, we

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Speaker 2: got to address this food desert issue in North Tulsa.

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Speaker 7: AJ.

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Speaker 2: You're we feel you're you're the one to do that.

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Speaker 2: We'll open up our connections, our resources, uh to help

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Speaker 2: you get that done. But you got to own this thing, oh,

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Speaker 2: by the way, to make sure it don't fail. Because

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Speaker 2: black businesses and underserved communities. You know, it's there's not

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Speaker 2: a lot of successful data yet, but earn your leisure.

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Speaker 2: Y'all changing that. We changing that, and so.

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Speaker 3: We raised that.

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Speaker 2: We raised that money and we've got forty one people

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Speaker 2: on staff. Most of them live right there in North Tulsa.

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Speaker 2: So that was key for me, is that we have

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Speaker 2: to hire from the community. We can't hire people that

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Speaker 2: don't look like us. What now, we do have a

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Speaker 2: very diverse stapple Like my wife is agent, so obviously

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Speaker 2: we diverse. But we wanted to show people because I

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Speaker 2: never saw growing up somebody that looked like me owned

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Speaker 2: a business. So now for the other little Ajs, the

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Speaker 2: other little Rashads and Troy's in the world, we're showing

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Speaker 2: them a model like, hey, if we can do it,

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Speaker 2: y'all can do it too.

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Speaker 6: You said something very important about the non profit piece,

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Speaker 6: and he said, when you come to the fresh Market,

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Speaker 6: we're going to give you financial literacy. If you need

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Speaker 6: help with your rent, we can help with that. If

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Speaker 6: my son needs glasses, what does that look like?

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Speaker 7: Right? Because I've never experienced anything like that.

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Speaker 6: So how do you incorporate all these things inside of

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Speaker 6: the fresh market itself?

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Speaker 2: It's crazy. I just go with my gut, like I don't.

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Speaker 2: There's no real formula. We have what we call First Saturdays.

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Speaker 2: So every First Saturday we give away thousands of dollars

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Speaker 2: worth of groceries, but we bring in the glass Like, so,

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Speaker 2: how does it work? The connections that we have. I

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Speaker 2: hit them up and I say, hey, you're in the

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Speaker 2: mental health space, you're in the medical space, you're in

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Speaker 2: the banking space, you're in the real estate space. I

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Speaker 2: want y'all all to show up on this day and

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Speaker 2: we're going to do an event and we just post

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Speaker 2: it on social media and the people come. But you

418
00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:39,840
Speaker 2: have to be seen by every vendor because we want

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Speaker 2: to give you the power the knowledge that you need

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Speaker 2: to transform your life. And they go, oh, I do

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Speaker 2: need some chicken while I'm here? Dang, I need some

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Speaker 2: greens and so we become the center of the community

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Speaker 2: intentionally because I said, what's missing in our community? And

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Speaker 2: how do we fill those gaps? How do we serve people? Okay,

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Speaker 2: and and and all the dots start connecting, And now

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Speaker 2: like who has a for profit and a nonprofit and

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Speaker 2: gives away groceries? So to answer your question, how does that?

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Speaker 2: How does that happen? We just like y'all, We just

429
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Speaker 2: take steps every day. Sometimes the team is like, Asa,

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Speaker 2: that's the crazy idea, but we try it, we learn

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Speaker 2: from it. Tomorrow we're giving away over a thousand backpacks.

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Speaker 2: Y'all didn't know that y'all was a part of a

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Speaker 2: backpack drive. We told her, shot, look aren't you at

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Speaker 2: Lisha is giving away thousand dollars backpacks tomorrow Because it's

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Speaker 2: about partnership. We don't have to do everything on our own,

436
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,600
Speaker 2: but together, like what a mother Treesa say, I can

437
00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:46,439
Speaker 2: do things that you cannot. You can do things that

438
00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:48,840
Speaker 2: I cannot, and together we can do greater things.

439
00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:52,639
Speaker 5: Very important. So all right, so let's talk about this

440
00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:54,520
Speaker 5: from the beginning. So you get the money, all right,

441
00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:56,480
Speaker 5: you get the grant, you get the money. What's the

442
00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:58,840
Speaker 5: first steps that you had to go through to open

443
00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:00,560
Speaker 5: up the grocery store and get it up and running.

444
00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:06,640
Speaker 2: So all along we had we were doing community meetings

445
00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:10,639
Speaker 2: where we would tell a community, Hey, well come to

446
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,320
Speaker 2: this event center on this night. We want to get

447
00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:16,440
Speaker 2: your feedback. So community engagement, we designed and I built

448
00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:20,480
Speaker 2: the grocery store. We're counselor Harper based off the feedback

449
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:24,880
Speaker 2: for the from the community. So we were having meetings

450
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,480
Speaker 2: for eight months almost weekly to get hey, what is

451
00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:31,320
Speaker 2: it that you want in the grocery store. Because we

452
00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:33,320
Speaker 2: would tell people the success of the grocery store doesn't

453
00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:37,920
Speaker 2: depend on AJ, it depends on us. Like so we

454
00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,000
Speaker 2: got all of that feedback and then that's how we

455
00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:43,480
Speaker 2: designed and built our grocery store. We have a small

456
00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:49,480
Speaker 2: footprint sixteen thousand square feet, small back room, we have

457
00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,800
Speaker 2: a cafe, you know, fresh produce and all that.

458
00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:53,439
Speaker 3: That's our mission.

459
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:55,960
Speaker 2: We exist to eradicate food deserts, to bring fresh and

460
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,639
Speaker 2: healthy access to all. So we let the voices of

461
00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:02,760
Speaker 2: the the community build the store.

462
00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:04,159
Speaker 5: What did they say? So what'd the voices of the

463
00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:05,480
Speaker 5: community say? What do they want?

464
00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:10,280
Speaker 2: Man, Sometimes we destroy our own they wanted, you know,

465
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:15,040
Speaker 2: some people wanted to have fifteen restaurants inside and I'm like, bro,

466
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:17,480
Speaker 2: I mean, what are you even talking about?

467
00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:19,359
Speaker 3: Really?

468
00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:21,959
Speaker 2: What they wanted after all of that, what they wanted

469
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:25,480
Speaker 2: was fresh produce and a place where the community could gather.

470
00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:28,520
Speaker 2: Out of all of those meetings, that was the summation,

471
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:32,880
Speaker 2: months of driving home sometimes feeling like dang, I ain't

472
00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:34,200
Speaker 2: open it up, no grocery store.

473
00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:34,800
Speaker 3: This is hard.

474
00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:37,480
Speaker 2: But after all that, it comes back to how do

475
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:39,880
Speaker 2: we serve and add value? And that's what the community wanted.

476
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:45,080
Speaker 2: We want fresh produce. And the stigma was nor Tassa

477
00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:49,080
Speaker 2: doesn't want fresh produce? What like, oh, they're not going

478
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:52,159
Speaker 2: to buy it? Produces? Are we have to get a

479
00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:55,960
Speaker 2: produce truck seven days a week. They have access now

480
00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:58,520
Speaker 2: there was no access. Dollar General was all you know,

481
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:03,080
Speaker 2: processed stuff. So listening to the community and that's how

482
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:07,119
Speaker 2: we continue to build and evolve and building it and

483
00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:07,639
Speaker 2: expand it.

484
00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:10,320
Speaker 5: Right now, so all right, how do you get fresh protos?

485
00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:12,680
Speaker 5: You just local farmers.

486
00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:16,280
Speaker 2: So we do have some local farmers. Our distributor is

487
00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:18,320
Speaker 2: out of Oklahoma City. So we were in a co op,

488
00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:22,680
Speaker 2: which your agriculture piece. We must get a black co op.

489
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:25,320
Speaker 5: What is explaining what the agriculture co op is.

490
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:30,240
Speaker 2: The agriculture co op is where different groups. So if

491
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:32,440
Speaker 2: this table is a co op, you would pay shares,

492
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,359
Speaker 2: I would pay shares. You would pay shares into to

493
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:39,080
Speaker 2: this business. And this business is dealing with the craft foods,

494
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:44,000
Speaker 2: Kellogg's all your big people. So that's where we get.

495
00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:46,840
Speaker 2: We had to buy a license pay into this co

496
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:50,960
Speaker 2: op and so they basically broker food deals for us.

497
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:54,480
Speaker 2: And so that was the first step is to get

498
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:57,000
Speaker 2: a food distributor, and so we do all of our

499
00:25:57,119 --> 00:26:02,359
Speaker 2: ordering through this food distributor. What people don't understand is

500
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:05,840
Speaker 2: bulk buying is a real thing. I'm an independent grocer.

501
00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:11,760
Speaker 2: So coke, I mean Walmart, they probably buy a million

502
00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,520
Speaker 2: bottles of coke a day and sell it. I need

503
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:18,840
Speaker 2: a thousand a day. Well, who's going to get better

504
00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:25,080
Speaker 2: purchasing power? They are because it's about volume. So this

505
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:29,679
Speaker 2: co op is made up of thousands of big grocers

506
00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:33,679
Speaker 2: small grocers, but there's still a hierarchy within and that's

507
00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:35,639
Speaker 2: where we get our food from. But what we also

508
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:40,360
Speaker 2: are doing now is we have begun buying from local

509
00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 2: outside of the system, because we want to support local

510
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:46,320
Speaker 2: businesses and black businesses. But there's not a lot of

511
00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:52,159
Speaker 2: black farmers, especially produce, so that agriculture piece that you

512
00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:55,639
Speaker 2: guys did is huge. We need to and we will

513
00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:58,760
Speaker 2: create with you all a black co op because the

514
00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:01,600
Speaker 2: black business is that the ecosystem of Black Wall Street.

515
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:04,680
Speaker 2: That's why it was so successful because we work, play, live,

516
00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:08,680
Speaker 2: shop amongst each other. So you got you got a restaurant,

517
00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:11,320
Speaker 2: but you buying your food from Rashad.

518
00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:13,480
Speaker 3: Who got the grocery store. That's why Black Wall.

519
00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:16,359
Speaker 2: Street was producing so many millionaires because we had an

520
00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:17,720
Speaker 2: ecosystem of our own.

521
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:20,080
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean you have a tie.

522
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:22,159
Speaker 6: When you were developing a store and creating it, you

523
00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:24,240
Speaker 6: were very intentional about how you wanted it to look.

524
00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:26,679
Speaker 6: So I want you to talk to the story about

525
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,000
Speaker 6: The Man's Brothers because you're not the first grocery store

526
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:31,960
Speaker 6: to be in Autosa nineteen thirty. The Man's Brothers was

527
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:34,040
Speaker 6: the first, And so can you tell about the impact

528
00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 6: and the influence that it had on you.

529
00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:43,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was we were in final final phase design

530
00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,280
Speaker 2: of the grocery store and there's this blank wall. The

531
00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:48,960
Speaker 2: architect had had a blank wall in the grocery store

532
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:53,040
Speaker 2: and I remember one day before we opened that I

533
00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:55,119
Speaker 2: was looking at this wall. I sat in the cafe

534
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:56,640
Speaker 2: and I was looking at this wall, and I said,

535
00:27:56,680 --> 00:28:02,000
Speaker 2: something is missing, something is missing, and so I just

536
00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:05,640
Speaker 2: had an instinct look up black grocers. So I looked

537
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,640
Speaker 2: up black grocers and there wasn't a lot of information.

538
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:11,680
Speaker 2: I called Tulsa Historical Society. I even called the State

539
00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:15,480
Speaker 2: Oklahoma Historical Society, and I asked them, can you send

540
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:19,000
Speaker 2: me a picture of of a black grocery store? And

541
00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:23,040
Speaker 2: they cooperated, but the only pictures I got were after

542
00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 2: the Race massacre, so it was burned buildings, and I

543
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:28,359
Speaker 2: was like, yo, somebody's got to have somebody got to

544
00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:33,320
Speaker 2: have history. So doing further research and learned about the

545
00:28:33,359 --> 00:28:37,359
Speaker 2: Man Brothers. The Man Brothers were. They had Man Brothers liquor,

546
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:41,120
Speaker 2: Man Brother's recording studio, and Man brother groceries, and so

547
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:44,360
Speaker 2: right there in the heart of North Tulsa they had

548
00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:47,360
Speaker 2: a grocery store. And I saw this beautiful picture. I

549
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:51,200
Speaker 2: think there was thirteen thirteen family members standing in front

550
00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:56,440
Speaker 2: of a grocery store after the Race massacre. And I

551
00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 2: got my research and started just studying. I said, that's it.

552
00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,160
Speaker 2: We have to pay homage to those that came before us.

553
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:04,640
Speaker 2: Because I wouldn't be here had it not been for

554
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,880
Speaker 2: their sacrifice, and the sacrifice are so many.

555
00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:08,800
Speaker 3: So we have this.

556
00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:13,000
Speaker 2: Massive picture in our grocery store that when you work,

557
00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:14,400
Speaker 2: the first thing you see when you're going to the

558
00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:19,320
Speaker 2: grocery store you see this black excellence family from that

559
00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:24,600
Speaker 2: time standing in front of a grocery store to show together, hey,

560
00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:27,160
Speaker 2: we can do this. So don't steal here because you're

561
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:30,239
Speaker 2: stealing from them. Don't act don't act crazy in here

562
00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:33,640
Speaker 2: because because they went before us. So we intentionally put

563
00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:35,800
Speaker 2: that design at the front of the store to remind

564
00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:38,360
Speaker 2: people together, we're gonna rise out.

565
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:40,320
Speaker 7: It's powerful.

566
00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:43,239
Speaker 6: So going back to the co op because now I'm

567
00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:45,440
Speaker 6: thinking to myself the co op obviously you use the

568
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:47,880
Speaker 6: example of Walmart, and obviously you at a smaller scale,

569
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:51,160
Speaker 6: do you independently try to find corporate partners?

570
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,440
Speaker 7: Right? So, like, if can you go to a distributor director?

571
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:57,960
Speaker 6: Can you find like a coke distributor in the South

572
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:00,920
Speaker 6: or the South region that you can directly go to?

573
00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:02,959
Speaker 6: Is that something that you guys utilize as well, or

574
00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:04,520
Speaker 6: is it just all right, We're going to use the

575
00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:06,960
Speaker 6: co op and we'll figure out small businesses as well

576
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:08,960
Speaker 6: or how do you how do you balancing that?

577
00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:11,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, so there's there's there's two sides of that coin.

578
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,640
Speaker 2: So the majority of our food comes from a distributor

579
00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:17,640
Speaker 2: because they are they're like the Amazon in that space.

580
00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 2: And there's several different distributors across the country. We chose

581
00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:23,960
Speaker 2: the one that was obviously an hour away from us

582
00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:24,920
Speaker 2: in Oklahoma City.

583
00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:25,760
Speaker 3: Yes, we can go.

584
00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:30,240
Speaker 2: It's called direct DSD direct sales, UH direct sales, a

585
00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:32,200
Speaker 2: vendor basically is what it is. So we can talk

586
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:36,560
Speaker 2: to the Cokes. But our our our volume buying power

587
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:38,640
Speaker 2: still is dependent on the co op.

588
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:42,320
Speaker 3: So that that that that's the.

589
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:45,760
Speaker 2: Challenge that we face being a smaller chain right now.

590
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:50,600
Speaker 2: But as we go to eradicate food deserts across the country,

591
00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,680
Speaker 2: that won't be the case and much longer and and

592
00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:58,400
Speaker 2: what what what I see is we will have we

593
00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:03,160
Speaker 2: will create multiple co and identify, Hey, you're you're a

594
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:06,360
Speaker 2: chicken farmer, you grow apples, you grow So then we

595
00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 2: create this ecosystem. We have a logistics company that's gonna

596
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:14,440
Speaker 2: start picking it up. Just we we reverse engineer what

597
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:17,280
Speaker 2: the current co ops do and we take steps to that.

598
00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:19,480
Speaker 2: Can we know we need drivers we know we need warehouses.

599
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:22,680
Speaker 2: We know we need hubs throughout the throughout the US

600
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:26,200
Speaker 2: to get in holdy. We know we need warehouses. So

601
00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:28,800
Speaker 2: how many other black grocers are there in the US

602
00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:34,040
Speaker 2: And in our co op there's five of us. But

603
00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:38,040
Speaker 2: yet there's five thousand grocery stores partners in this co op,

604
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:39,400
Speaker 2: but there's five black owned.

605
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:41,760
Speaker 5: So the co op is for farmers all across the country.

606
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:48,040
Speaker 2: Farm like anything that you think about, like cereal, chips, coffee.

607
00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:50,800
Speaker 2: The co op gives you access to everything in a

608
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:51,840
Speaker 2: grocery store that you need.

609
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:54,680
Speaker 5: Oh, so you're only buying from one source. You're not

610
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:58,560
Speaker 5: like getting water from another. Like everything that you get

611
00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:00,000
Speaker 5: in the grocery store is coming from the co op.

612
00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:04,640
Speaker 2: Yes, but we have started to go outside of the

613
00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:09,080
Speaker 2: system because we are intentionally are looking for black businesses

614
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:14,800
Speaker 2: and even local businesses. We got one guy scoops. He's

615
00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:18,920
Speaker 2: Waterhouse Italian Ice, young black dude. He came to me

616
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:20,400
Speaker 2: right after opening the store and he said, I've been

617
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:23,280
Speaker 2: watching you inspired me. I got this idea for business.

618
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:26,080
Speaker 2: I said, you got all your paperwork, your documentation, health department,

619
00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:29,240
Speaker 2: all that going through. Yeah, he got it all, I said,

620
00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:32,120
Speaker 2: A selling the store. He's on track right now to

621
00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:35,840
Speaker 2: make six figures and about to leave his job because

622
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:39,080
Speaker 2: his product is going crazy in the store and we

623
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 2: want to create more black products. So that way we

624
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:47,840
Speaker 2: can have that ecosystem of sustainability, economic development. But wealth

625
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:51,840
Speaker 2: building wealth is key, but the system does fight against that.

626
00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:53,840
Speaker 2: But we breaking through.

627
00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:54,880
Speaker 7: The system even inside that.

628
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:58,880
Speaker 6: I remember we had that conversation about pricing by shelf right,

629
00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:01,920
Speaker 6: so like if he has a well, this company says

630
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:03,320
Speaker 6: that they have to be on the top shelf in

631
00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:06,560
Speaker 6: the first row of the out So like I can

632
00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:10,320
Speaker 6: imagine a lot of people coming up with ideas they're

633
00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:11,680
Speaker 6: gonna have to combat that or do you have some

634
00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:13,120
Speaker 6: way to say, all right, well we're gonna make sure

635
00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:15,360
Speaker 6: that you're a place in a prime location as well.

636
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:17,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's the thing, like your coch your PEPSI

637
00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:21,520
Speaker 2: they pay they can pay you direct for shelf space.

638
00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:24,360
Speaker 2: So as a businessman, it's like, nah, you can't take

639
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 2: that because I need coch check coming in. But we

640
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:32,120
Speaker 2: can be strategic around. Okay, let's put Coke is here.

641
00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:36,400
Speaker 2: They are paying good dollar. And I will say to

642
00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:38,880
Speaker 2: that the first time around dealing with those contracts, I

643
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:41,640
Speaker 2: missed out on a lot of money because I didn't

644
00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:46,080
Speaker 2: have the proper knowledge. And when I learned that there's

645
00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:48,520
Speaker 2: a whole world of the giants that you can deal

646
00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:52,520
Speaker 2: directly with, everybody's contract has changed now because I said, ah,

647
00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:54,960
Speaker 2: you fool me once when we open the store, you

648
00:33:55,000 --> 00:34:03,600
Speaker 2: won't fool me in year two. So we need more distributors, businesses,

649
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:07,120
Speaker 2: suppliers that are doing anything that's in a grocery store.

650
00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:12,279
Speaker 2: Label makers. I need a black plastic maker today. Is

651
00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:16,360
Speaker 2: there one who makes who makes plastic bottles? We like,

652
00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:20,400
Speaker 2: we can create our own earn your leisure oasis water.

653
00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:24,720
Speaker 2: But who's making these caps? Who's making these bottles? Who's

654
00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:27,839
Speaker 2: got the company that that purifies the water that goes

655
00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:30,120
Speaker 2: in so we can we can put this so the

656
00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:32,600
Speaker 2: next conference, y'all got you got your own your own water.

657
00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:36,520
Speaker 2: But there's three or four different businesses that when you

658
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:39,680
Speaker 2: buy this from your supporting them because they played a part.

659
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:43,680
Speaker 2: But do we have the infrastructure to do that?

660
00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:44,719
Speaker 7: We will.

661
00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:50,600
Speaker 5: So I heard somewhere before that it's very thin profit

662
00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:53,720
Speaker 5: margins on grocery stores. Is that true?

663
00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:56,000
Speaker 3: Facts on?

664
00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:03,239
Speaker 5: Wow? So that just has a business man, How are

665
00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:06,160
Speaker 5: you trying to improve because I'm assuming that you're trying

666
00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:09,359
Speaker 5: to beat that and get higher profit margins because we're

667
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:11,279
Speaker 5: in business to make money. You're in business to help people,

668
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:13,440
Speaker 5: but you're in business to make money also, So do

669
00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:17,200
Speaker 5: you have any ideas on how you can potentially beat

670
00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:19,520
Speaker 5: that one to three percent ratio or is that just

671
00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:21,000
Speaker 5: kind of impossible to beat?

672
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:23,760
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's it's all bulk buying power.

673
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:27,239
Speaker 2: And so when there's a deal from the co op,

674
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:31,680
Speaker 2: let's say, what do we just do. We just signed

675
00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:36,640
Speaker 2: our September, October, November deals December. I had to put

676
00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:40,000
Speaker 2: up two hundred thousand dollars for it. But basically our

677
00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:43,520
Speaker 2: co op is going to give us ridiculous discounts.

678
00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:45,359
Speaker 3: Every single week.

679
00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:47,960
Speaker 2: So we're going to do basically, we're going to advertise

680
00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:51,080
Speaker 2: crazy things like buy two things of bread, get three free.

681
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:55,360
Speaker 2: Now I paid for that, but from an attractional standpoint

682
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:57,760
Speaker 2: coming to the store, people are going to see crazy

683
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:01,520
Speaker 2: deals every single week. And so that bulk buying that

684
00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:04,440
Speaker 2: I that I did, that played, I can now get

685
00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:09,839
Speaker 2: higher margins because I bought in bulk. And so that's

686
00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:12,720
Speaker 2: how we we we we beat that one to three percent.

687
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:17,759
Speaker 2: But I gotta do massive deals all the time. And

688
00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:20,440
Speaker 2: so that's why the importance of having a distribution center

689
00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:23,000
Speaker 2: is so key because it sits in their warehouse, and

690
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:25,440
Speaker 2: I got to pay them more because it's now you're

691
00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:26,120
Speaker 2: taking up space.

692
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:27,759
Speaker 3: We'll hold it for you, AJ, but you got to

693
00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:30,080
Speaker 3: pay us like you do cubons.

694
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:32,520
Speaker 2: We do q pons, Yes, sir, people still do cupons.

695
00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:36,200
Speaker 2: People still do cupon virtually we got we got digital

696
00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:41,080
Speaker 2: q pons, but people still do physical qpons. Your Grandma's

697
00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:42,600
Speaker 2: in the world is not going digital.

698
00:36:42,680 --> 00:36:43,800
Speaker 7: That's a whole job in itself.

699
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:48,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. We got three senior citizen community centers

700
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:53,120
Speaker 2: right bias, they still use paper q AJ. Here's my cupon?

701
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:56,080
Speaker 2: Dang girl, can you print it off? But but you know,

702
00:36:56,239 --> 00:36:58,520
Speaker 2: like like of course I'm not gonna it's it's we

703
00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:01,280
Speaker 2: take care of our community this. Yeah.

704
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:04,000
Speaker 6: How often do you have to buy from the call?

705
00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:05,600
Speaker 6: Are you doing this on a monthly basis?

706
00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:05,839
Speaker 7: Week?

707
00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:06,719
Speaker 3: Three times a week?

708
00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:08,720
Speaker 7: Three times a week? Okay?

709
00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:12,520
Speaker 6: Okay, Now you talked about logistics, right, So like obviously

710
00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:16,440
Speaker 6: when you have to get the fresh produce, you have trucks,

711
00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:18,160
Speaker 6: So is that like another business that you have to

712
00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:20,239
Speaker 6: create or is that part of the infrastructure of the

713
00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:20,920
Speaker 6: fresh market in.

714
00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:23,200
Speaker 3: Itself, that's part of the co op infrastructure.

715
00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:27,080
Speaker 2: So we pay them this license, We pay them to

716
00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:31,000
Speaker 2: buy our groceries and they take care of everything else

717
00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:32,879
Speaker 2: for you. But it comes out of cost. So every

718
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:38,320
Speaker 2: time you order groceries, the hidden fees that's inside is transport.

719
00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:41,600
Speaker 6: Yeah, there's a company that I know that has a

720
00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:46,120
Speaker 6: truck or two. We might talk about that. But something

721
00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:51,040
Speaker 6: that is affected obviously the country and obviously grocery prices

722
00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:54,320
Speaker 6: is supply chain issues. So I wonder how that affected

723
00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:56,360
Speaker 6: you first, and I got another follow up after that.

724
00:37:56,600 --> 00:37:59,480
Speaker 2: So we do have as many grocery stores, we do

725
00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:02,040
Speaker 2: have empty shells. But what we try to do is

726
00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:05,360
Speaker 2: get on the horn asap with distributors, even outside of

727
00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:07,920
Speaker 2: the state. And now it comes at a cost. But okay,

728
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:11,000
Speaker 2: if we don't have this specific kind of Cheetos, what

729
00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:14,160
Speaker 2: other offerings are there? So that way we can fill

730
00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:16,919
Speaker 2: that space. Because you've got to drive profit, you've got

731
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 2: to be successful, and so it's a race too. Now

732
00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:24,240
Speaker 2: we're talking to three or four different distributors. We're paying

733
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:27,600
Speaker 2: the price because if you want that brand, they're in Minnesota.

734
00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:29,680
Speaker 2: So Now, if you want that truck, you got to

735
00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:32,439
Speaker 2: pay all the way. With these gas prices, you got

736
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:34,680
Speaker 2: to pay for it to come. But your customers want it.

737
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:38,760
Speaker 2: But Walmart has it because they don't have supply chain issues.

738
00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:44,280
Speaker 2: They built their own shipping. What does it barge throughout

739
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:46,560
Speaker 2: the pandemic because they said we're not going to wait

740
00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:48,840
Speaker 2: on who we were anymore, so they built their own.

741
00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:53,840
Speaker 3: Who does that? So that's crazy?

742
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:54,960
Speaker 2: That's crazy?

743
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:58,400
Speaker 5: So what about food waste? Because you know, when I

744
00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:00,000
Speaker 5: was I used to live in Hawaii.

745
00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:02,800
Speaker 3: And malaik maka.

746
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:08,719
Speaker 5: Aloha to all the good people on Hawaii. So when

747
00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:10,720
Speaker 5: I used to live there, I was in an apartment,

748
00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:14,760
Speaker 5: went to school there, and every like Thursday, they would

749
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:18,200
Speaker 5: like come and they would give food away. But what

750
00:39:18,239 --> 00:39:21,880
Speaker 5: it was, it was the food that technically just expired

751
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:24,680
Speaker 5: but it was still good. You could still eat the bread, whatever,

752
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:26,719
Speaker 5: but they couldn't sell it in the grocery store anmore

753
00:39:26,719 --> 00:39:29,040
Speaker 5: because it expired. So it was a bunch of food

754
00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:31,319
Speaker 5: every single week that they were just giving away because

755
00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:34,480
Speaker 5: they couldn't. So that's when I realized how much food

756
00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:39,719
Speaker 5: actually gets wasted. Yeah, which obviously that's an issue for

757
00:39:39,719 --> 00:39:42,680
Speaker 5: a few different reasons, but from a financial issue. From

758
00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:45,120
Speaker 5: a financial standpoint, that's an issue as well. So how

759
00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:48,640
Speaker 5: do you deal with food waste and how has that

760
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:49,200
Speaker 5: been for you?

761
00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:53,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's a it's a fine line there because

762
00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:57,359
Speaker 2: if people get the if the word gets out, oh well,

763
00:39:57,400 --> 00:39:59,759
Speaker 2: if we just wait a few days, you.

764
00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:00,839
Speaker 7: Know, we're gonna wait out.

765
00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:07,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we gonna wait outside like we itire exactly exactly,

766
00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:10,440
Speaker 2: and so it's it's it's it's a fine line because

767
00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:14,239
Speaker 2: we hate food waste, like and so that's why we're

768
00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:16,759
Speaker 2: we have a great leadership team. But they know, hey,

769
00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:19,480
Speaker 2: I don't want that that shrink in the grocery word

770
00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:22,879
Speaker 2: it's called shrink, and you're gonna have shrink every every month.

771
00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:25,640
Speaker 3: You have shrink every day. Like if your salads don't go.

772
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:27,759
Speaker 2: You try to market down two for two for five,

773
00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:31,160
Speaker 2: you know, if it on market it like you, then

774
00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:32,680
Speaker 2: you got to you gotta take it off the shelf.

775
00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:35,759
Speaker 7: Erners, what's up?

776
00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:38,359
Speaker 6: You ever walk into a small business and everything just

777
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:41,680
Speaker 6: works like the checkout is fast, the receipts are digital,

778
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:45,160
Speaker 6: tipping is a breeze, and you're out the door before

779
00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:49,400
Speaker 6: the line even builds. Odds are they're using Square. We

780
00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:52,040
Speaker 6: love supporting businesses that run on Square because it just

781
00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:55,320
Speaker 6: feels seamless. Whether it's a local coffee shop, a vendor

782
00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:57,640
Speaker 6: at a pop up market, or even one of our

783
00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:01,320
Speaker 6: merch partners, Square makes it easy for them to take payments,

784
00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:05,279
Speaker 6: manage inventory, and run their business with confidence, all from

785
00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:08,760
Speaker 6: one simple system. If you're a business owner or even

786
00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:12,399
Speaker 6: just thinking about launching something soon, Square is hands down

787
00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:15,440
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788
00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:19,000
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789
00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:21,680
Speaker 6: you time back so you can focus on what matters

790
00:41:21,719 --> 00:41:25,000
Speaker 6: most ready. To see how Square can transform your business,

791
00:41:25,239 --> 00:41:29,879
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792
00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:35,120
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793
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794
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795
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799
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807
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808
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Speaker 8: Customer team at Pgenie. If you're a small business customer,

809
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810
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811
00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:45,160
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815
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816
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817
00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:05,960
Speaker 9: based on their usage history, by just making a simple

818
00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:09,400
Speaker 9: rate change at no costs, it was a twenty five

819
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820
00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:14,759
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821
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:17,880
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822
00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:22,440
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823
00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:28,680
Speaker 3: But that is that is a very real thing and

824
00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:29,800
Speaker 3: it's hard.

825
00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:32,960
Speaker 2: But we we we donate, we donate that that food

826
00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:34,719
Speaker 2: because we don't we don't want to throw that away

827
00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:35,319
Speaker 2: less people.

828
00:43:36,719 --> 00:43:40,120
Speaker 7: Yeah, that could be that ties into the nonprofit and h.

829
00:43:40,080 --> 00:43:42,799
Speaker 5: That was Gooder. We interviewed you ever heard of that before? Gooder?

830
00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:46,760
Speaker 5: So we interviewed a young Lady's name is Jasmine Crowe.

831
00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:50,439
Speaker 5: She has a company in Atlanta. It's called Gooder and

832
00:43:50,680 --> 00:43:53,960
Speaker 5: just for this so it was and it's actually she

833
00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:57,600
Speaker 5: turned into a business because now like right when the

834
00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:02,120
Speaker 5: like restaurants and grocery stores and she would give it

835
00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:04,960
Speaker 5: to homeless shelters. But I think she's actually like buying

836
00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,680
Speaker 5: it from the from the stores at like a very

837
00:44:07,719 --> 00:44:10,680
Speaker 5: low price, but it's still some level of money that's

838
00:44:10,719 --> 00:44:13,040
Speaker 5: coming in and now so now it's like a win

839
00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:14,919
Speaker 5: win for everybody. So it's not like they're just giving

840
00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:17,640
Speaker 5: away food for free. She's actually buying it. Well, now

841
00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:20,360
Speaker 5: she's created a whole ecosystem where she actually turned a

842
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:24,120
Speaker 5: nonprofit into a business because the food. She saw so

843
00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:26,759
Speaker 5: much food being wasted that she said it could be

844
00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:28,640
Speaker 5: a more efficient way to go about it.

845
00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:31,960
Speaker 2: And they call it. I will look her up.

846
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:35,400
Speaker 5: What's her name, Jasmine Crow, Jasmine Crowd.

847
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:39,839
Speaker 2: He spoke gooderh g o O d R g o

848
00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:44,600
Speaker 2: O d r okay. So in that they're call in

849
00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:48,719
Speaker 2: the grocery where they're called street deals. So if Coke,

850
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:50,160
Speaker 2: I don't know why I keep going back to Coke,

851
00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:52,759
Speaker 2: I guess Coke is about to cut me a check.

852
00:44:53,200 --> 00:44:54,880
Speaker 2: I feel it. I feel it kind of like b

853
00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:58,680
Speaker 2: et y'all said, say, BT, oh, cut that check, baby, BT.

854
00:44:58,719 --> 00:44:59,960
Speaker 3: Why don't you have a food co op?

855
00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:02,080
Speaker 5: Very very good question.

856
00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:05,120
Speaker 2: Uh Uh, They're gonna they're gonna fund your agriculture piece

857
00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:07,520
Speaker 2: and we're gonna buy our produce and our meat from you.

858
00:45:08,080 --> 00:45:09,320
Speaker 3: And so see.

859
00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:16,280
Speaker 2: That ecosystem E y L Farms sounds good. That sounds good.

860
00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:18,840
Speaker 7: In me a second.

861
00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:23,480
Speaker 2: There you go. And and because that that's key, Like

862
00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:26,400
Speaker 2: we have our motto is we want people to be seen,

863
00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:31,400
Speaker 2: to feel safe, and to be heard. One of the

864
00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:34,440
Speaker 2: key things for us at the grocery store. People know

865
00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:38,040
Speaker 2: many many times throughout the week, throughout the day, I'm

866
00:45:38,040 --> 00:45:41,479
Speaker 2: at the front door as the greeter, and so they know, AJ,

867
00:45:42,200 --> 00:45:42,640
Speaker 2: I don't.

868
00:45:42,520 --> 00:45:43,640
Speaker 3: Want that brand of chicken.

869
00:45:43,719 --> 00:45:45,799
Speaker 2: Okay, well if I buy the other brand and bring

870
00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:48,319
Speaker 2: it in here, you better buy it every week. The

871
00:45:48,400 --> 00:45:52,279
Speaker 2: next week we order it so that the community partnership

872
00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:55,560
Speaker 2: that's there. We now have a massive vegan isle. I

873
00:45:55,560 --> 00:45:57,600
Speaker 2: didn't even know I had that many black vegans in

874
00:45:57,640 --> 00:46:00,960
Speaker 2: North Tulsa, but we have a massive because the people say,

875
00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:03,719
Speaker 2: aja aj wee, you listen to.

876
00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:03,960
Speaker 5: Us, right?

877
00:46:04,040 --> 00:46:06,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, how can I serve you? We're gonna get this. Okay,

878
00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:09,480
Speaker 2: that's gonna cost me money. Baby, You're gonna be here

879
00:46:09,520 --> 00:46:11,920
Speaker 2: every Thursday when that truck comes in. I'm gonna be

880
00:46:11,960 --> 00:46:12,960
Speaker 2: here and they show up.

881
00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:17,600
Speaker 6: Do you feel I mean, obviously from the standpoint of education,

882
00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:20,759
Speaker 6: do you feel the responsibility Obviously, the vegan option is

883
00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:22,480
Speaker 6: you know a lot of times more healthy.

884
00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:25,600
Speaker 7: Than the processed food. So, I mean the process foods.

885
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:28,319
Speaker 6: Is what's gonna sell, right, do you feel like the

886
00:46:28,360 --> 00:46:31,600
Speaker 6: responsibility to educate number one and then make sure that

887
00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:32,960
Speaker 6: they have those opportunities?

888
00:46:33,239 --> 00:46:36,759
Speaker 2: Now, now you're getting into my love language, baby. So

889
00:46:36,920 --> 00:46:40,520
Speaker 2: we just rolled out this program called double Up, Duo,

890
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:45,000
Speaker 2: Double Up Oklahoma. And there is a federal program. This

891
00:46:45,080 --> 00:46:49,000
Speaker 2: is this is a federal program that so sixty percent

892
00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:52,280
Speaker 2: of our customers are on food stamps. There's a federal

893
00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:56,000
Speaker 2: program that will match dollar for dollar up to twenty

894
00:46:56,040 --> 00:47:00,960
Speaker 2: dollars per day if you're on food stamps, and that

895
00:47:01,040 --> 00:47:04,120
Speaker 2: dollar for dollar match can only be spent on fresh

896
00:47:04,160 --> 00:47:07,920
Speaker 2: produce and fresh vegetables. So the eleven year life expectancy

897
00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:10,319
Speaker 2: rate in North Tulsa, you're expected to they're expect we

898
00:47:10,360 --> 00:47:12,879
Speaker 2: are expected to die eleven years shorter than any other

899
00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:16,800
Speaker 2: community in Tulsa. Eleven year shorter. So if your wife

900
00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:19,920
Speaker 2: is in South Tulsa, your wife is in North Tulsa,

901
00:47:20,239 --> 00:47:22,560
Speaker 2: your and babies are born on the same day, your baby,

902
00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:25,880
Speaker 2: by zip code is expected to die eleven years shorter

903
00:47:26,239 --> 00:47:30,200
Speaker 2: because of the health inequities, the health disparities, wealth, all

904
00:47:30,239 --> 00:47:33,240
Speaker 2: of social all of the challenges ecosystems that are not there.

905
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:35,960
Speaker 3: So we are the first black.

906
00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:38,080
Speaker 2: Owned grocery store in the state of Oklahoma to have

907
00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:42,120
Speaker 2: the double up program. So everybody that's on food stamps

908
00:47:42,560 --> 00:47:46,520
Speaker 2: first ten to fifteen, what's popping that Oasis fresh Mark

909
00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:50,400
Speaker 2: because at EBT Day it hits. But so we have

910
00:47:50,440 --> 00:47:51,640
Speaker 2: two kind of stores with it.

911
00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:54,800
Speaker 7: Sign it's EBT EBT Baby.

912
00:47:54,960 --> 00:47:56,640
Speaker 3: So we got we have music in the store.

913
00:47:56,920 --> 00:47:59,960
Speaker 2: So from from eight to twelve we play we play

914
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:05,160
Speaker 2: gospel from from twelve on what Oasis nightclub and this thing.

915
00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:08,600
Speaker 2: But that's the center at community. You grabbing chicken, somebody like,

916
00:48:08,640 --> 00:48:11,160
Speaker 2: hey girl, I'm coming to your house tonight. Like it's

917
00:48:11,200 --> 00:48:16,080
Speaker 2: the community vibe within the grocery store. But so that

918
00:48:16,320 --> 00:48:19,000
Speaker 2: that federal program dollar for dollar match is how we

919
00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:24,120
Speaker 2: teach people healthier options, healthy living. So, yeah, you got

920
00:48:24,120 --> 00:48:27,040
Speaker 2: your your food stamp dollars. Okay, So don't use your

921
00:48:27,120 --> 00:48:30,120
Speaker 2: food stamp dollars to buy fresh produce and fresh vegetables

922
00:48:30,440 --> 00:48:32,640
Speaker 2: because when you use your EBT card, you're gonna get

923
00:48:32,719 --> 00:48:36,200
Speaker 2: more money that can only be spent on fresh pros

924
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:38,040
Speaker 2: and fresh veggies. And then on top of that, we

925
00:48:38,160 --> 00:48:40,760
Speaker 2: got a literacy course teaching you how to live healthy.

926
00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:43,239
Speaker 2: Oh by the way, if you come tomorrow, we're gonna

927
00:48:43,239 --> 00:48:47,480
Speaker 2: have thirteen different type of medical evaluations that you can get.

928
00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:51,640
Speaker 3: For free, so you can live better, you can feel better.

929
00:48:51,719 --> 00:48:53,919
Speaker 5: Talk about the course, talk about that educating people because

930
00:48:53,920 --> 00:48:55,640
Speaker 5: they might not even know that they even have that op.

931
00:48:55,719 --> 00:48:58,880
Speaker 5: So education is important, like financial literacy is important, but

932
00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:01,640
Speaker 5: health education is important as well. So talk about that

933
00:49:01,719 --> 00:49:03,600
Speaker 5: as far as like you know, teaching people because they

934
00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:07,640
Speaker 5: might not even understand why it's important to eat organic

935
00:49:07,719 --> 00:49:09,160
Speaker 5: and healthy and different things that I need you.

936
00:49:09,400 --> 00:49:11,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's that's a lot of things are connected

937
00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:14,600
Speaker 2: to our guts, as we know, and so we we

938
00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:18,640
Speaker 2: we're getting ready to roll out uh a probiotic mixed

939
00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:21,480
Speaker 2: drink that somebody can put in their water and it

940
00:49:21,520 --> 00:49:24,960
Speaker 2: gives them all of the essential and it tastes good.

941
00:49:25,160 --> 00:49:26,600
Speaker 3: All of the essential.

942
00:49:26,239 --> 00:49:30,239
Speaker 2: Nutrients and vitamins that that they need that we need there,

943
00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:34,480
Speaker 2: it is right there that we need for sustainability. That

944
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:37,680
Speaker 2: you got to put my name on the first though.

945
00:49:38,920 --> 00:49:42,279
Speaker 2: We're working on that. But but even in the in

946
00:49:42,320 --> 00:49:46,440
Speaker 2: the in the mental health world, Alzheimer's and dementia blacks

947
00:49:46,560 --> 00:49:49,640
Speaker 2: lead that. But if we actually study it, it's because

948
00:49:49,680 --> 00:49:52,000
Speaker 2: it's connected to the small and large and tested in

949
00:49:52,040 --> 00:49:54,799
Speaker 2: the gut, and so it affects the way we think,

950
00:49:54,840 --> 00:49:57,600
Speaker 2: it affects the way we live. So so that that

951
00:49:57,600 --> 00:50:00,919
Speaker 2: that literacy peach and teaching people, hey, you gotta eat

952
00:50:00,920 --> 00:50:04,359
Speaker 2: this because I mean it's gonna help calm your baby down.

953
00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:06,560
Speaker 2: You don't even know. For example, we had it, we

954
00:50:06,600 --> 00:50:08,640
Speaker 2: had a mom on the non prophet side. She was

955
00:50:08,640 --> 00:50:11,160
Speaker 2: coming to the grocery store. We had a mom that

956
00:50:11,239 --> 00:50:17,799
Speaker 2: was giving her baby juice. I'm gonna get emotional, but

957
00:50:17,880 --> 00:50:26,520
Speaker 2: she was. She was raped and she grew up without

958
00:50:26,520 --> 00:50:30,000
Speaker 2: a mom, and so she didn't know. And so I

959
00:50:30,040 --> 00:50:32,040
Speaker 2: see her coming to the store one day and I'm like, sweetie,

960
00:50:32,040 --> 00:50:35,520
Speaker 2: what what what you're giving your baby? She said, I'm

961
00:50:35,560 --> 00:50:38,680
Speaker 2: just giving them juice. I got three daughters, and I

962
00:50:38,719 --> 00:50:40,520
Speaker 2: grew up in saying plahoma, I got two older sisters.

963
00:50:40,600 --> 00:50:42,879
Speaker 2: I said. I pulled her eyes as sweet you can't

964
00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:47,399
Speaker 2: you can't give that baby, no, no juice. She said,

965
00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:50,880
Speaker 2: I don't know. And so we have we have caseworkers

966
00:50:50,920 --> 00:50:53,560
Speaker 2: that that that walk with her, and so we were

967
00:50:53,680 --> 00:50:57,759
Speaker 2: teaching her how to live. That's how you change a community.

968
00:50:58,920 --> 00:51:01,600
Speaker 2: Here's here's a a young black girl that got raped

969
00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:04,279
Speaker 2: and she, thank god she it was her decision. She

970
00:51:04,360 --> 00:51:07,799
Speaker 2: kept the baby. But she she didn't know that you're

971
00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:11,399
Speaker 2: actually hurting the baby because she was never shown that.

972
00:51:11,640 --> 00:51:14,520
Speaker 2: She was never taught there is a baby juice that's

973
00:51:14,600 --> 00:51:17,240
Speaker 2: out there. She was giving them adult baby juice.

974
00:51:17,760 --> 00:51:25,120
Speaker 10: Was like cool, well, yeah, yeah, just what it was

975
00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:27,520
Speaker 10: you out there giving you a baby six months or

976
00:51:27,560 --> 00:51:28,160
Speaker 10: less juice?

977
00:51:28,200 --> 00:51:31,160
Speaker 3: Stop it e y L foods coming soon.

978
00:51:31,239 --> 00:51:36,399
Speaker 2: We're gonna teach you for red Yeah, great drink, it's

979
00:51:36,400 --> 00:51:37,080
Speaker 2: a sweet one.

980
00:51:38,719 --> 00:51:47,359
Speaker 11: No, But the education is important. The education is important because,

981
00:51:47,400 --> 00:51:51,360
Speaker 11: like you said, sometimes you just don't know, and you know,

982
00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:53,799
Speaker 11: when you know better than you're in position to do better.

983
00:51:54,320 --> 00:51:56,480
Speaker 11: And a lot of times people think, like you know,

984
00:51:58,719 --> 00:52:04,240
Speaker 11: they think that eating healthy is less tasty. Yeah, honestly,

985
00:52:04,320 --> 00:52:06,399
Speaker 11: a lot of times it's to reverse, like because even

986
00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:08,960
Speaker 11: for me, like when I used to eat regular peanut butter,

987
00:52:08,960 --> 00:52:11,879
Speaker 11: g like regular peanut butter like Jiff. Yeah, and then

988
00:52:11,880 --> 00:52:13,759
Speaker 11: when I when I got to like prep school, when

989
00:52:13,800 --> 00:52:15,919
Speaker 11: I got a little older, I started eating organic peanut butter,

990
00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:16,319
Speaker 11: like with the.

991
00:52:16,320 --> 00:52:18,719
Speaker 5: Oil on top. Yeah, mix it up, And what I

992
00:52:18,800 --> 00:52:22,920
Speaker 5: realized is that it tastes way better than Jiff, like

993
00:52:23,040 --> 00:52:26,439
Speaker 5: processed or like I never ate white bread my whole life,

994
00:52:26,440 --> 00:52:30,399
Speaker 5: but regular bread, whole wheat bread and wheat.

995
00:52:30,600 --> 00:52:32,280
Speaker 3: You never ate white bread your whole life?

996
00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:37,800
Speaker 5: No, dang, yeah, but gratefully, but it tastes way better

997
00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:41,120
Speaker 5: than white bread. Like, Yeah, most of the healthy options

998
00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:44,640
Speaker 5: actually end up tasting better, yeah than the non healthy.

999
00:52:44,719 --> 00:52:47,040
Speaker 5: It's just that we just we're just uneducated and we

1000
00:52:47,160 --> 00:52:51,080
Speaker 5: just think that this tastes better, but in all reality,

1001
00:52:51,719 --> 00:52:52,720
Speaker 5: it usually doesn't.

1002
00:52:52,840 --> 00:52:54,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I don't eat white bread to this day,

1003
00:52:54,680 --> 00:52:57,560
Speaker 2: but I learned the difference.

1004
00:52:58,520 --> 00:53:01,760
Speaker 5: So you got it. Like for me, you know, my mom,

1005
00:53:02,160 --> 00:53:05,000
Speaker 5: So doctor sabe before he got kicked out of America,

1006
00:53:05,040 --> 00:53:08,160
Speaker 5: you know, he used to be in Brooklyn and he

1007
00:53:08,239 --> 00:53:11,120
Speaker 5: actually had like a storefront in Brooklyn where he actually

1008
00:53:11,160 --> 00:53:12,520
Speaker 5: was like bringing and there was like people that was

1009
00:53:12,520 --> 00:53:15,840
Speaker 5: coming in. He was actually educating people. So my mom

1010
00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:21,040
Speaker 5: actually she was there. So my mom been vegetarian for

1011
00:53:21,080 --> 00:53:23,400
Speaker 5: like thirty years. And so like doctor Sabie is crazy,

1012
00:53:23,440 --> 00:53:26,000
Speaker 5: like he became so famous like recently, but she I

1013
00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:28,920
Speaker 5: remember like in like the early nineties and she was

1014
00:53:28,960 --> 00:53:32,200
Speaker 5: started to go to him and she was telling me

1015
00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:37,040
Speaker 5: about him like twenty five years ago. So she always crazy. Yeah,

1016
00:53:37,080 --> 00:53:39,440
Speaker 5: So she was always like on that health kick. She

1017
00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:42,320
Speaker 5: didn't really push it, but she was like real big

1018
00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:44,440
Speaker 5: on like that kind of stuff, like you know what

1019
00:53:44,440 --> 00:53:46,200
Speaker 5: I mean. Like that was something that was real big

1020
00:53:46,200 --> 00:53:48,680
Speaker 5: for me in my household. Like even going to school,

1021
00:53:48,920 --> 00:53:51,680
Speaker 5: like I always she always packed lunch for me, and

1022
00:53:52,280 --> 00:53:55,120
Speaker 5: it was crazy because it's like every every other one

1023
00:53:55,120 --> 00:53:57,279
Speaker 5: of my friends getting in school lunch yeah, So it's

1024
00:53:57,280 --> 00:53:59,520
Speaker 5: almost like you kind of embarrassed, like because you're not,

1025
00:53:59,600 --> 00:54:01,759
Speaker 5: but look and back on it. That's a blessing that

1026
00:54:01,800 --> 00:54:04,719
Speaker 5: she even even cared enough to even do that, Like,

1027
00:54:04,800 --> 00:54:05,120
Speaker 5: I mean.

1028
00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:07,799
Speaker 2: Because it's that you said he had a back lunch

1029
00:54:07,800 --> 00:54:09,560
Speaker 2: every day brown bag or he had a lunch box.

1030
00:54:13,400 --> 00:54:15,799
Speaker 7: You bring out the aluminum foil. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,

1031
00:54:15,840 --> 00:54:17,400
Speaker 7: and you knew shot that was the same with.

1032
00:54:19,600 --> 00:54:22,440
Speaker 5: Hey, that's power though plastic back Yeah yeah, no, this

1033
00:54:22,680 --> 00:54:24,440
Speaker 5: and it's like, you know, you appreciate some things you

1034
00:54:24,440 --> 00:54:27,000
Speaker 5: don't appreciate in the moment, but you appreciate it later on.

1035
00:54:27,120 --> 00:54:29,560
Speaker 5: And what happens as as a child sticks with you.

1036
00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:33,320
Speaker 5: So like even like you're eating habits, it's very important

1037
00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:36,040
Speaker 5: because most of the time it's hard to break bad

1038
00:54:36,160 --> 00:54:38,680
Speaker 5: habits that you develop when you're young. So it's like

1039
00:54:38,760 --> 00:54:41,759
Speaker 5: if you have bad eating habits when you're young, nine

1040
00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:43,520
Speaker 5: times at ten, you're going to have bad eating habits

1041
00:54:43,560 --> 00:54:44,360
Speaker 5: for the rest of your life.

1042
00:54:44,520 --> 00:54:44,960
Speaker 3: Correct.

1043
00:54:45,200 --> 00:54:47,120
Speaker 2: And that's why when we do our First Saturdays or

1044
00:54:47,120 --> 00:54:51,200
Speaker 2: our outreaches, we have black chefs that come in and

1045
00:54:51,239 --> 00:54:53,840
Speaker 2: that are cooking healthy food to taste people for people

1046
00:54:53,840 --> 00:54:56,560
Speaker 2: to taste. So the nonprofit covers the costs that he

1047
00:54:57,080 --> 00:55:00,000
Speaker 2: taste this at this different option, so that way, it's

1048
00:55:00,080 --> 00:55:01,640
Speaker 2: when you know it's in the store. This this is

1049
00:55:01,640 --> 00:55:03,799
Speaker 2: how you make it. And we call it balling on

1050
00:55:03,840 --> 00:55:05,440
Speaker 2: a budget. So we're going to teach you how to

1051
00:55:05,440 --> 00:55:08,560
Speaker 2: ball on a budget with and eat and eat healthier

1052
00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:11,239
Speaker 2: and oh, by the way, taste this mug while you're here,

1053
00:55:11,880 --> 00:55:12,719
Speaker 2: and you're gonna like it.

1054
00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:14,160
Speaker 3: But those habits are key.

1055
00:55:14,560 --> 00:55:16,799
Speaker 6: You just had the keywords ball on a budget, right,

1056
00:55:16,840 --> 00:55:20,560
Speaker 6: And so that's another part of what's happening in America

1057
00:55:20,640 --> 00:55:23,560
Speaker 6: right inflation and so obviously grocery prices are going up.

1058
00:55:23,640 --> 00:55:26,239
Speaker 6: So are you how you combat that? Is that part

1059
00:55:26,280 --> 00:55:27,920
Speaker 6: of the financial literacy is like, yeah, we're going to

1060
00:55:27,960 --> 00:55:31,680
Speaker 6: walk you through it. Because prices go up, that affects you, yeah,

1061
00:55:31,719 --> 00:55:33,719
Speaker 6: but it also affects the consumers.

1062
00:55:33,800 --> 00:55:37,120
Speaker 2: So yeah, right now, inflation is you know in the

1063
00:55:37,120 --> 00:55:41,560
Speaker 2: grocery spaces is twelve to eighteen percent up. Yeah, yeah,

1064
00:55:41,600 --> 00:55:45,760
Speaker 2: And so but here my customer level is the same.

1065
00:55:46,440 --> 00:55:48,240
Speaker 2: You know, we see four to four to six hundred

1066
00:55:48,239 --> 00:55:50,719
Speaker 2: people to come through our doors every day. And so

1067
00:55:51,160 --> 00:55:53,000
Speaker 2: what I have to do is I have to I'm

1068
00:55:53,200 --> 00:55:56,439
Speaker 2: I'm in a race against inflation. So as inflation comes down,

1069
00:55:56,560 --> 00:55:58,799
Speaker 2: I better I better shift and be on the right

1070
00:55:58,840 --> 00:56:01,920
Speaker 2: side of that or else. The economy is a scale.

1071
00:56:02,080 --> 00:56:05,480
Speaker 2: If I'm not careful, I will end up inflating and

1072
00:56:05,520 --> 00:56:09,239
Speaker 2: ballooning myself, which then balloons the community, which then goes,

1073
00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:12,640
Speaker 2: oh shoot that one of three profit margin. Last month,

1074
00:56:12,680 --> 00:56:15,440
Speaker 2: we may have made X number thousand dollars. Oh shoot,

1075
00:56:15,480 --> 00:56:18,960
Speaker 2: now we into this no commas, no, So we are

1076
00:56:19,040 --> 00:56:22,560
Speaker 2: intentional about making sure that we are combating because inflation

1077
00:56:22,640 --> 00:56:24,960
Speaker 2: is gonna come down. It may take a while, but

1078
00:56:25,120 --> 00:56:28,080
Speaker 2: as of right now is one grocery store we are

1079
00:56:28,120 --> 00:56:31,880
Speaker 2: already planning for when inflation comes down. Our money is

1080
00:56:31,920 --> 00:56:35,120
Speaker 2: not based off of inflation, like the profit is not

1081
00:56:35,280 --> 00:56:39,360
Speaker 2: based off of inflation. And so it's it's it's that tension.

1082
00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:40,920
Speaker 3: You got you fight. You gotta fight that. That that

1083
00:56:40,960 --> 00:56:41,760
Speaker 3: tension for sure.

1084
00:56:42,680 --> 00:56:47,000
Speaker 5: So let's talk about this food does it situation, because

1085
00:56:47,360 --> 00:56:48,920
Speaker 5: like I said, actually when I was I used to

1086
00:56:49,080 --> 00:56:51,160
Speaker 5: live in Baltimore. There's a live in a lot of places.

1087
00:56:51,320 --> 00:56:54,360
Speaker 5: So I used to live in Baltimore. Notice with the

1088
00:56:54,440 --> 00:56:59,000
Speaker 5: bag lunch maybe, yeah, I went to school in Baltimore,

1089
00:56:59,120 --> 00:57:02,080
Speaker 5: so I did. It was called handles, Like I forgot

1090
00:57:02,080 --> 00:57:04,040
Speaker 5: what an acronym stand for. But it was a research

1091
00:57:04,320 --> 00:57:06,799
Speaker 5: and I had to go around and it was it

1092
00:57:06,800 --> 00:57:09,640
Speaker 5: was an eye opening experience for me because you don't

1093
00:57:09,719 --> 00:57:12,000
Speaker 5: think about it, like nobody ever thinks about stuff. You

1094
00:57:12,000 --> 00:57:14,640
Speaker 5: just live. But then when you actually think about it,

1095
00:57:14,680 --> 00:57:16,720
Speaker 5: and I'm going to all these different neighborhoods and I'm

1096
00:57:16,760 --> 00:57:20,400
Speaker 5: going to the like bodegas and like taking inventory of

1097
00:57:20,440 --> 00:57:21,920
Speaker 5: what they have in the bodegas. And I had to

1098
00:57:21,920 --> 00:57:24,959
Speaker 5: go through this whole research project and that's the first

1099
00:57:24,960 --> 00:57:28,000
Speaker 5: time that I really got educated on food deserts and

1100
00:57:27,240 --> 00:57:32,480
Speaker 5: why there are food deserts and how dangerous it is

1101
00:57:32,520 --> 00:57:35,400
Speaker 5: for food desert And so your name is oasis? Does

1102
00:57:35,400 --> 00:57:38,240
Speaker 5: that have anything to do with a food desert? Because

1103
00:57:38,360 --> 00:57:41,200
Speaker 5: an oasis obviously is a is a water in the

1104
00:57:41,200 --> 00:57:42,280
Speaker 5: middle of a desert.

1105
00:57:42,520 --> 00:57:44,240
Speaker 7: So is that place of refuge?

1106
00:57:44,280 --> 00:57:48,520
Speaker 2: Ah? So so so so, how we even got the name.

1107
00:57:48,680 --> 00:57:51,200
Speaker 2: I was working I was still working at my my

1108
00:57:51,200 --> 00:57:54,240
Speaker 2: my other job at the time, and I was in

1109
00:57:54,360 --> 00:57:56,680
Speaker 2: a role with the city where I was helping them

1110
00:57:56,720 --> 00:57:58,280
Speaker 2: to build it, like like design.

1111
00:57:58,360 --> 00:58:01,200
Speaker 3: This is like paper design. I'm not even structure.

1112
00:58:02,000 --> 00:58:04,520
Speaker 2: And I remember they were trying to find a name

1113
00:58:05,120 --> 00:58:07,439
Speaker 2: and so I was in my home office one night

1114
00:58:07,520 --> 00:58:11,160
Speaker 2: and this company had sent all these suggested names, and

1115
00:58:11,240 --> 00:58:13,200
Speaker 2: I'm like, man, these names is trash. I get halfway

1116
00:58:13,200 --> 00:58:15,040
Speaker 2: through the list, like seventy seven names. I'm halfway through

1117
00:58:15,040 --> 00:58:18,720
Speaker 2: the list. I'm tired. It's like eleven forty something. And

1118
00:58:18,800 --> 00:58:21,400
Speaker 2: I remember to this day, I closed my laptop and

1119
00:58:21,440 --> 00:58:25,480
Speaker 2: I said, man, if I was physically in the desert.

1120
00:58:24,760 --> 00:58:25,560
Speaker 3: What what I feel?

1121
00:58:26,440 --> 00:58:28,280
Speaker 2: Okay, So if I was in the Sahara desert, I

1122
00:58:28,320 --> 00:58:30,920
Speaker 2: would feel hot. Of course I would want water, I

1123
00:58:30,960 --> 00:58:34,920
Speaker 2: would want food, I would want shade man. And we've

1124
00:58:34,960 --> 00:58:37,280
Speaker 2: seen in movies people start going out of their minds,

1125
00:58:37,400 --> 00:58:40,280
Speaker 2: so you see hallucinations. So I was like, man, if

1126
00:58:40,320 --> 00:58:43,000
Speaker 2: I had started seeing hallucinations, what I see? And I

1127
00:58:43,040 --> 00:58:45,439
Speaker 2: saw this picture of Hawaii. I've not been to Hawaii yet,

1128
00:58:45,560 --> 00:58:51,280
Speaker 2: but Oasis on your Leisure coming to Hawaii facts, and

1129
00:58:51,320 --> 00:58:54,720
Speaker 2: so I remember saying I would if I had hallucinations,

1130
00:58:54,760 --> 00:58:59,400
Speaker 2: I would see Hawaii. And I said Oasis. And I

1131
00:58:59,480 --> 00:59:02,240
Speaker 2: remember open on my laptop and A googled Oasis. And

1132
00:59:02,280 --> 00:59:05,120
Speaker 2: there's obviously various different ones, but each one of the

1133
00:59:05,320 --> 00:59:08,120
Speaker 2: three different ones that I found, one had refuge uh,

1134
00:59:08,760 --> 00:59:11,360
Speaker 2: one had sheltered, one has safe place. I said, that's it.

1135
00:59:12,160 --> 00:59:15,600
Speaker 2: North Tulsa Blacks haven't had a refuge. We haven't had

1136
00:59:15,640 --> 00:59:18,720
Speaker 2: a safe place, and we haven't had a refuge. The

1137
00:59:18,840 --> 00:59:21,360
Speaker 2: name is Oasis, where you can come to be seen,

1138
00:59:21,480 --> 00:59:26,120
Speaker 2: to feel safe, and to be her. And that's our

1139
00:59:26,160 --> 00:59:30,160
Speaker 2: communities have gone through so much. I think about the

1140
00:59:30,200 --> 00:59:33,160
Speaker 2: story of a single parent mom who a few weeks

1141
00:59:33,200 --> 00:59:38,560
Speaker 2: ago her baby died in a fire. She came to

1142
00:59:38,600 --> 00:59:40,960
Speaker 2: the grocery store. She has an eight year old daughter.

1143
00:59:41,880 --> 00:59:44,240
Speaker 2: She came to the grocery store because we have a

1144
00:59:44,360 --> 00:59:48,400
Speaker 2: utilities and rent assistance program that somebody in her apartment

1145
00:59:48,440 --> 00:59:50,400
Speaker 2: complex knew that she was behind on her bills and

1146
00:59:50,400 --> 00:59:52,120
Speaker 2: said go to Oasis because they can help you pay

1147
00:59:52,120 --> 00:59:56,720
Speaker 2: your bills. She came to Oasis. She got the information

1148
00:59:56,800 --> 01:00:01,200
Speaker 2: the first time. My sister, who works on staff, talk

1149
01:00:01,280 --> 01:00:03,480
Speaker 2: to her and say, hey, this is what's going on.

1150
01:00:03,680 --> 01:00:06,560
Speaker 2: She took the paperwork, she left. She came back the

1151
01:00:06,600 --> 01:00:10,280
Speaker 2: next day to get more information. My sister talked to

1152
01:00:10,280 --> 01:00:13,480
Speaker 2: her again. She breaks down and start not my sister.

1153
01:00:13,720 --> 01:00:17,920
Speaker 2: This woman breaks down and starts crying. And she said,

1154
01:00:18,040 --> 01:00:20,560
Speaker 2: when I came in yesterday, I was preparing to commit

1155
01:00:20,640 --> 01:00:25,360
Speaker 2: suicide because my daughter died in the fire, and it's

1156
01:00:25,400 --> 01:00:29,520
Speaker 2: my fault. Everybody's blaming me. I have an eight year

1157
01:00:29,520 --> 01:00:34,320
Speaker 2: old daughter who is severely handicapped. The pressure's too much.

1158
01:00:34,680 --> 01:00:37,000
Speaker 2: I wanted to make sure my bills were paid before,

1159
01:00:38,200 --> 01:00:42,680
Speaker 2: like what. So now we have a team that got

1160
01:00:42,680 --> 01:00:45,480
Speaker 2: her connected to mental health services and got her the

1161
01:00:45,480 --> 01:00:48,120
Speaker 2: help that she needs for her baby who's handicap and

1162
01:00:48,200 --> 01:00:53,120
Speaker 2: we're helping her to redo her apartment because her landlord

1163
01:00:53,160 --> 01:00:55,960
Speaker 2: is a slum lord. So we're going to pay for

1164
01:00:56,360 --> 01:01:00,440
Speaker 2: everything in her apartment, the walls to get redone floors

1165
01:01:00,480 --> 01:01:03,600
Speaker 2: and all that, and we're gonna walk this course with you.

1166
01:01:03,680 --> 01:01:06,000
Speaker 2: Does that take a lot of effort and energy. Absolutely,

1167
01:01:06,920 --> 01:01:08,640
Speaker 2: But in order to change the community, you got to

1168
01:01:08,680 --> 01:01:12,200
Speaker 2: start with the one. And so at a grocery store,

1169
01:01:13,680 --> 01:01:16,200
Speaker 2: you help people that were gonna commit, not even knowing

1170
01:01:16,200 --> 01:01:18,080
Speaker 2: that that was the case. But we just serving people.

1171
01:01:19,120 --> 01:01:21,480
Speaker 2: So it doesn't like and we hear stories like that

1172
01:01:21,840 --> 01:01:26,120
Speaker 2: all the time, and I'm like, I can't stop like

1173
01:01:26,200 --> 01:01:30,120
Speaker 2: the days that that's hard. It's grocery world is hard. People.

1174
01:01:30,240 --> 01:01:33,480
Speaker 2: Business is hard, and some days you're an adult babysitter,

1175
01:01:33,920 --> 01:01:36,160
Speaker 2: you the plumber, you're the electrician.

1176
01:01:36,200 --> 01:01:38,240
Speaker 3: You the architect, Like I tell.

1177
01:01:38,040 --> 01:01:40,400
Speaker 2: People, you don't want to be an entrepreneur. You don't

1178
01:01:40,400 --> 01:01:43,560
Speaker 2: want that because you got a YouTube. Dang, I better

1179
01:01:43,600 --> 01:01:45,480
Speaker 2: YouTube how to fix this toilet because I don't want

1180
01:01:45,480 --> 01:01:47,040
Speaker 2: to call no plumber because it's gonna be on my

1181
01:01:47,360 --> 01:01:49,840
Speaker 2: It's gonna be al this month and so one time

1182
01:01:49,920 --> 01:01:52,760
Speaker 2: and Vlad has got recorded my toilet got stopped up.

1183
01:01:52,880 --> 01:01:55,400
Speaker 2: I'm no handyman. I don't know a dang thing. I

1184
01:01:55,480 --> 01:01:57,080
Speaker 2: had to call somebody to help me put together my

1185
01:01:57,080 --> 01:01:58,640
Speaker 2: baby crib when I had my first baby because I

1186
01:01:58,640 --> 01:02:02,520
Speaker 2: didn't know. So I'm getting this thing. What's that thing

1187
01:02:02,560 --> 01:02:05,680
Speaker 2: you put in a toll on you? What's called get

1188
01:02:05,680 --> 01:02:11,600
Speaker 2: the snape? The poop explodes. I die for a second.

1189
01:02:11,640 --> 01:02:12,320
Speaker 7: I died, I.

1190
01:02:15,480 --> 01:02:19,080
Speaker 2: Screamed. The security guard is running to the bathroom because

1191
01:02:19,120 --> 01:02:22,080
Speaker 2: she thinks something happened to me. Help me, I scream

1192
01:02:22,520 --> 01:02:23,680
Speaker 2: because I'm like I'm dying.

1193
01:02:23,840 --> 01:02:24,440
Speaker 3: I'm dying.

1194
01:02:24,720 --> 01:02:27,680
Speaker 2: It's on me right now, like right now, helping me

1195
01:02:27,840 --> 01:02:31,280
Speaker 2: literally literally like I die. I die. I became a

1196
01:02:31,320 --> 01:02:35,120
Speaker 2: new man after a shower and so but those are

1197
01:02:35,200 --> 01:02:37,160
Speaker 2: like people say, man, I want to I want to

1198
01:02:37,160 --> 01:02:39,439
Speaker 2: be an entrepreneur. You don't want that business. You don't,

1199
01:02:39,480 --> 01:02:42,080
Speaker 2: you don't. It's easier to work for someone else. Now

1200
01:02:42,160 --> 01:02:45,000
Speaker 2: being on the other side, it's easier to work for

1201
01:02:45,080 --> 01:02:49,160
Speaker 2: someone else. But I'll never go back because the freedom

1202
01:02:49,200 --> 01:02:53,160
Speaker 2: that you have to be your own it's a game changer.

1203
01:02:53,200 --> 01:02:56,080
Speaker 2: And and even Steve Harvey and Tyler Perry talked about ownership.

1204
01:02:57,160 --> 01:03:01,480
Speaker 2: Ownership is a game changer. I don't.

1205
01:03:01,560 --> 01:03:04,919
Speaker 5: Yeah, Well, let me ask you this. As far as

1206
01:03:04,960 --> 01:03:08,600
Speaker 5: on that thing you employ, you said forty people forty

1207
01:03:08,640 --> 01:03:11,400
Speaker 5: one people, So how how has that been.

1208
01:03:12,680 --> 01:03:14,760
Speaker 2: On the for profit and nine on the nonprofit?

1209
01:03:15,040 --> 01:03:18,680
Speaker 5: Okay? How has that been? As far as employing people

1210
01:03:18,680 --> 01:03:22,160
Speaker 5: in this store, I'm assuming a lot of young people.

1211
01:03:22,040 --> 01:03:23,840
Speaker 2: Maybe a lot of young people afternoon.

1212
01:03:24,000 --> 01:03:29,400
Speaker 5: Okay, so you got young people. How is it? How

1213
01:03:29,480 --> 01:03:32,240
Speaker 5: is the more row? How has there been issues? Is

1214
01:03:32,280 --> 01:03:36,720
Speaker 5: it difficult to manage that amount of people? Customer service jobs,

1215
01:03:36,880 --> 01:03:39,080
Speaker 5: you know, grocery store, that's that's something that you know,

1216
01:03:39,200 --> 01:03:42,800
Speaker 5: used to hands on experience, whether it's working in you know,

1217
01:03:43,240 --> 01:03:46,160
Speaker 5: the aisles or you know, checking people out, and it's

1218
01:03:46,160 --> 01:03:48,400
Speaker 5: not an easy job. And it's not something that people

1219
01:03:48,480 --> 01:03:52,800
Speaker 5: might not necessarily be too enthusiastic about, especially if they're young.

1220
01:03:53,080 --> 01:03:54,720
Speaker 5: They're kind of just doing it because it's like, you know,

1221
01:03:54,880 --> 01:03:57,520
Speaker 5: something to do for the summer. It's not like a

1222
01:03:57,760 --> 01:04:00,800
Speaker 5: career that they're going to do. So how has that

1223
01:04:00,880 --> 01:04:01,320
Speaker 5: been for you?

1224
01:04:04,200 --> 01:04:10,120
Speaker 2: People are messy. This shit is hard, Like it is

1225
01:04:10,200 --> 01:04:15,760
Speaker 2: hard to be an owner and an adult babysitter. Like

1226
01:04:15,920 --> 01:04:20,600
Speaker 2: I didn't know I was running a daycare because because

1227
01:04:20,640 --> 01:04:23,040
Speaker 2: people can be catty. Okay, let's come together, come on,

1228
01:04:23,120 --> 01:04:26,680
Speaker 2: come on, come on. Look we're oasis. So we have

1229
01:04:26,720 --> 01:04:31,440
Speaker 2: ten core values and so when there's a challenge, we

1230
01:04:31,520 --> 01:04:33,400
Speaker 2: go back to a core value and we teach people.

1231
01:04:33,400 --> 01:04:38,320
Speaker 2: We call it HIT, honesty, integrity, transparency. So we train

1232
01:04:38,440 --> 01:04:41,080
Speaker 2: our staff when you have a disagreement with someone, because

1233
01:04:41,080 --> 01:04:44,200
Speaker 2: we know were gonna have disagreements, you're to frame the

1234
01:04:44,240 --> 01:04:46,240
Speaker 2: conversation with hey, I need to have a HIT conversation

1235
01:04:46,320 --> 01:04:48,440
Speaker 2: with you, so that disarms that you're supposed to be

1236
01:04:48,520 --> 01:04:50,880
Speaker 2: disarmed to know that hey, I need to I'm a

1237
01:04:50,920 --> 01:04:53,200
Speaker 2: little nervous, but I need to have this conversation with you.

1238
01:04:53,880 --> 01:04:56,240
Speaker 2: And even our staff managers we train them, hey, this

1239
01:04:56,320 --> 01:04:59,840
Speaker 2: is how how we will handle situations. So we created

1240
01:04:59,880 --> 01:05:03,640
Speaker 2: a a detailed step by step to take the thinking out.

1241
01:05:03,640 --> 01:05:05,640
Speaker 2: If you were to come to the grocery store. Right now,

1242
01:05:06,720 --> 01:05:08,160
Speaker 2: you would be able to go to page such and

1243
01:05:08,200 --> 01:05:11,000
Speaker 2: such for any issue, and it will tell you by

1244
01:05:11,120 --> 01:05:14,280
Speaker 2: detail what you should say, how to communicate, how to

1245
01:05:14,280 --> 01:05:16,800
Speaker 2: tie back to a core value, how you should position

1246
01:05:16,840 --> 01:05:19,400
Speaker 2: your body language, all of that because we wanted to

1247
01:05:19,400 --> 01:05:24,400
Speaker 2: take the thinking out of serving people so you can

1248
01:05:24,440 --> 01:05:26,840
Speaker 2: focus on We're in a service industry base, so I

1249
01:05:26,880 --> 01:05:29,400
Speaker 2: need you to be the best version of you. But

1250
01:05:29,600 --> 01:05:32,040
Speaker 2: you live in a world back in your home where

1251
01:05:32,080 --> 01:05:34,440
Speaker 2: your habits talk about the other staff. I don't know

1252
01:05:34,440 --> 01:05:37,080
Speaker 2: what world you come from, so I have to retrain you.

1253
01:05:37,520 --> 01:05:40,520
Speaker 2: I shouldn't say I. Our culture is man. We want

1254
01:05:40,560 --> 01:05:44,000
Speaker 2: to retrain you. You may have been taught to yell back

1255
01:05:44,000 --> 01:05:46,920
Speaker 2: at somebody. No no, no, not at refuge, say play shelter.

1256
01:05:48,000 --> 01:05:50,120
Speaker 2: Somebody goes to a ten, You want to go to

1257
01:05:50,160 --> 01:05:52,560
Speaker 2: a twelve. No no, no, no, no, not an oasis.

1258
01:05:52,840 --> 01:05:56,120
Speaker 2: Because we're a refuge to say play shelter when people

1259
01:05:56,160 --> 01:05:59,320
Speaker 2: walk in the doors. We want people to feel oasis.

1260
01:05:59,760 --> 01:06:03,040
Speaker 2: We train our staff everyone says welcome to oasis. You

1261
01:06:03,120 --> 01:06:05,960
Speaker 2: come anytime in the day, that lead cashier and that

1262
01:06:06,040 --> 01:06:09,080
Speaker 2: greeter is gonna say welcome to oasis. And how do

1263
01:06:09,120 --> 01:06:12,840
Speaker 2: we do that. We pay better wages. Then there's a

1264
01:06:12,920 --> 01:06:17,600
Speaker 2: there's a big gas chain Quick Trip UH in North

1265
01:06:17,600 --> 01:06:20,840
Speaker 2: Tulsa other than them. We pay our people better than

1266
01:06:20,880 --> 01:06:22,640
Speaker 2: anyone else. And that was a decision we made, and

1267
01:06:22,640 --> 01:06:24,600
Speaker 2: that comes out of L four for my wife and

1268
01:06:24,640 --> 01:06:27,280
Speaker 2: I like, if I want to be a regular owner,

1269
01:06:27,600 --> 01:06:29,520
Speaker 2: were gonna take you off the top first? No? No,

1270
01:06:29,680 --> 01:06:32,880
Speaker 2: We're gonna give to our community first. Because if I can,

1271
01:06:33,640 --> 01:06:35,520
Speaker 2: if I can influence you and pay you well, make

1272
01:06:35,560 --> 01:06:38,680
Speaker 2: sure your family is good, then that what people don't

1273
01:06:38,720 --> 01:06:42,640
Speaker 2: talk about is that intrinsic reward, that trust that we have. Man, girl,

1274
01:06:42,720 --> 01:06:45,320
Speaker 2: you better come work at Oasis. It's a good place

1275
01:06:45,360 --> 01:06:47,320
Speaker 2: to be because I need, I need us to build

1276
01:06:47,320 --> 01:06:50,240
Speaker 2: our own community. So if I, if we treat you well,

1277
01:06:50,280 --> 01:06:52,400
Speaker 2: my wife, and if we serve you well and make

1278
01:06:52,440 --> 01:06:56,960
Speaker 2: sure that your personal needs are taken care of, you're

1279
01:06:57,000 --> 01:06:59,440
Speaker 2: gonna be the greatest brand ambassadors for US m H.

1280
01:07:00,440 --> 01:07:02,080
Speaker 3: And that's the case.

1281
01:07:02,200 --> 01:07:06,320
Speaker 2: Like we have great employees, we have great staff morale.

1282
01:07:06,400 --> 01:07:08,720
Speaker 2: We have a team huddle every morning at nine thirty

1283
01:07:09,320 --> 01:07:11,120
Speaker 2: where I say, everybody lift your left hand, lift you're right,

1284
01:07:11,160 --> 01:07:13,880
Speaker 2: and we clap it up and customers some customers come.

1285
01:07:13,920 --> 01:07:16,040
Speaker 2: They call it their oasis church. They said, man, I

1286
01:07:16,160 --> 01:07:19,200
Speaker 2: come for AJ's fifteen minute church. This ain't no church.

1287
01:07:19,280 --> 01:07:22,840
Speaker 2: But they feel seen, safe and her. So it's a movement.

1288
01:07:23,400 --> 01:07:24,320
Speaker 7: I love it. I love it.

1289
01:07:24,360 --> 01:07:26,959
Speaker 6: So you said something important earlier. You said they can't

1290
01:07:27,040 --> 01:07:31,040
Speaker 6: just be one. So let's talk about the vision going forward.

1291
01:07:31,080 --> 01:07:33,720
Speaker 6: Because there's plenty of food does this obviously in au Tulsa.

1292
01:07:33,760 --> 01:07:36,480
Speaker 6: But I mean it's a lot of communities people who

1293
01:07:36,480 --> 01:07:38,160
Speaker 6: look like us experienced food does this.

1294
01:07:39,000 --> 01:07:41,040
Speaker 7: So what's the vision for scale.

1295
01:07:42,200 --> 01:07:43,040
Speaker 3: We right now?

1296
01:07:43,680 --> 01:07:50,240
Speaker 2: Actually this morning, matter of fact, my leg is shaking

1297
01:07:50,240 --> 01:07:56,760
Speaker 2: because I'm like, man, but I had an opportunity to

1298
01:07:56,800 --> 01:08:01,800
Speaker 2: take venture money early on in month three, and I

1299
01:08:01,880 --> 01:08:05,800
Speaker 2: just I felt at the time, if y'all are coming

1300
01:08:05,800 --> 01:08:09,439
Speaker 2: at me this early, there's something to this. Now. Mind

1301
01:08:09,480 --> 01:08:14,520
Speaker 2: you all was taking no salary, and you get I

1302
01:08:14,520 --> 01:08:16,439
Speaker 2: think we have two or three different offers at the

1303
01:08:16,479 --> 01:08:20,400
Speaker 2: time with commas in that thing, and I'm thinking, oh, shoot, son,

1304
01:08:21,680 --> 01:08:26,640
Speaker 2: I need that money right there. And I studied a

1305
01:08:26,640 --> 01:08:31,479
Speaker 2: book called Venture Deals and learned the ins and outs,

1306
01:08:32,720 --> 01:08:34,599
Speaker 2: and I said, let me just push pause. If y'all

1307
01:08:34,640 --> 01:08:38,439
Speaker 2: coming at me with this money right now, there's something

1308
01:08:38,479 --> 01:08:39,320
Speaker 2: to this, and I.

1309
01:08:39,240 --> 01:08:41,360
Speaker 3: Don't know nothing about groceries. That's the crazy thing.

1310
01:08:42,120 --> 01:08:45,559
Speaker 2: I own grocery stores, but I really am not in

1311
01:08:45,640 --> 01:08:48,880
Speaker 2: the way like I'm not a grocery expert. But we

1312
01:08:49,000 --> 01:08:52,799
Speaker 2: have people on our team and consultants that are amongst

1313
01:08:52,840 --> 01:08:57,720
Speaker 2: the best in the US that are advising and coaching us.

1314
01:08:58,080 --> 01:09:00,559
Speaker 2: And I'm grateful that we didn't at the time take

1315
01:09:00,600 --> 01:09:05,000
Speaker 2: that venture money because we would have had to come

1316
01:09:05,080 --> 01:09:07,160
Speaker 2: up with ways to get that back and we would

1317
01:09:07,200 --> 01:09:09,439
Speaker 2: have to scale too fast. Well, now I can get

1318
01:09:09,479 --> 01:09:13,120
Speaker 2: my systems right, get my culture right, and scale out

1319
01:09:13,120 --> 01:09:16,080
Speaker 2: of pace. So right now we've been opened sixteen months,

1320
01:09:16,120 --> 01:09:20,040
Speaker 2: fifteen months, and we've already were in design for our

1321
01:09:20,160 --> 01:09:23,599
Speaker 2: third store. We just bought a building on our second

1322
01:09:23,600 --> 01:09:26,599
Speaker 2: one that's going to open spring of twenty twenty three.

1323
01:09:27,640 --> 01:09:30,759
Speaker 2: What I got all in Tulsa, All in Tulsa.

1324
01:09:31,040 --> 01:09:32,799
Speaker 5: You can have three stores in Tulsa, three.

1325
01:09:32,640 --> 01:09:35,479
Speaker 2: Stores in Tulsa, all in food deserts. Our mission is

1326
01:09:35,520 --> 01:09:39,640
Speaker 2: to eradicate food desert. So what's to come. Earn your

1327
01:09:39,720 --> 01:09:43,200
Speaker 2: leisure farms, earn your leisure foods, and we will go

1328
01:09:43,320 --> 01:09:46,880
Speaker 2: into the black eighty percent of the food deserts.

1329
01:09:47,520 --> 01:09:48,000
Speaker 3: I'm sorry.

1330
01:09:48,040 --> 01:09:50,559
Speaker 2: Fifty three point six million people live in food desert

1331
01:09:50,640 --> 01:09:53,559
Speaker 2: in the US. Eighty percent of those are black and

1332
01:09:53,560 --> 01:09:54,400
Speaker 2: brown communities.

1333
01:09:55,080 --> 01:09:57,880
Speaker 3: We all know every city y'all go to, you got

1334
01:09:57,880 --> 01:09:58,559
Speaker 3: food deserts.

1335
01:09:59,000 --> 01:10:02,240
Speaker 2: This will be the model that will that that that

1336
01:10:02,360 --> 01:10:08,280
Speaker 2: is in place to show people public private partnerships, for profit, nonprofit,

1337
01:10:08,439 --> 01:10:12,720
Speaker 2: wrap around services all under one umbrella is how you

1338
01:10:12,880 --> 01:10:14,080
Speaker 2: change food deserts.

1339
01:10:16,120 --> 01:10:17,240
Speaker 3: So what's the future.

1340
01:10:17,880 --> 01:10:21,920
Speaker 2: We will be in as many food deserts in America

1341
01:10:22,080 --> 01:10:25,599
Speaker 2: and beyond and we're going to do it together.

1342
01:10:27,040 --> 01:10:28,760
Speaker 5: Were you able to get grants for that one as

1343
01:10:28,800 --> 01:10:29,599
Speaker 5: well for the other two?

1344
01:10:29,720 --> 01:10:30,679
Speaker 2: Or yes, sir?

1345
01:10:30,880 --> 01:10:33,800
Speaker 5: So that's that. So what's the grant. It's it's a

1346
01:10:34,080 --> 01:10:36,360
Speaker 5: it's a grant from the state off from the federal government.

1347
01:10:36,479 --> 01:10:40,479
Speaker 2: So there's there's two different routes. So there's there's always

1348
01:10:40,479 --> 01:10:44,679
Speaker 2: federal money. So right now President Biden is getting ready

1349
01:10:44,680 --> 01:10:48,280
Speaker 2: to hold the first food desert conference in fifty years

1350
01:10:48,720 --> 01:10:54,000
Speaker 2: at the White House. We I mean, by God's grace,

1351
01:10:54,080 --> 01:10:57,640
Speaker 2: we we we we'll be able to be at that

1352
01:10:58,000 --> 01:11:02,160
Speaker 2: and have already started some literary conversations with their with

1353
01:11:02,200 --> 01:11:05,960
Speaker 2: their office on what is it that we're doing and

1354
01:11:06,000 --> 01:11:10,960
Speaker 2: how can they leverage that as the model, and so

1355
01:11:11,040 --> 01:11:15,519
Speaker 2: I'm like, Okay, as you pass bills, we're gonna do

1356
01:11:15,640 --> 01:11:18,840
Speaker 2: this model with the money that y'all set aside. And

1357
01:11:18,960 --> 01:11:23,920
Speaker 2: every state has an allocation of money, every county has

1358
01:11:23,960 --> 01:11:26,759
Speaker 2: an allocation of money, but it's up to those decision

1359
01:11:26,760 --> 01:11:29,200
Speaker 2: makers for how they spend that money. So that's why

1360
01:11:29,280 --> 01:11:34,080
Speaker 2: relationships are key, because as we go into these different cities,

1361
01:11:34,120 --> 01:11:37,240
Speaker 2: everybody's got their own pot. Okay, we just gonna We're

1362
01:11:37,240 --> 01:11:42,400
Speaker 2: gonna leverage that and create jobs, create sustainability, earn your leisure,

1363
01:11:42,479 --> 01:11:43,640
Speaker 2: food farms, agriculture.

1364
01:11:43,640 --> 01:11:44,400
Speaker 3: See, we keep coming back.

1365
01:11:44,439 --> 01:11:47,160
Speaker 2: You see there's a theme here, and all of a sudden,

1366
01:11:47,200 --> 01:11:50,479
Speaker 2: there's this massive ecosystem. As we grow, y'all are going

1367
01:11:50,479 --> 01:11:54,479
Speaker 2: into places every week, every day just about where there.

1368
01:11:54,360 --> 01:11:56,120
Speaker 3: Is a lack of food access.

1369
01:11:56,520 --> 01:11:59,760
Speaker 2: And by the way, the nonprofit just bought a brand

1370
01:11:59,800 --> 01:12:02,679
Speaker 2: new fifteen passenger van and we're gonna start going home

1371
01:12:02,760 --> 01:12:05,559
Speaker 2: by home picking up people three times a week to

1372
01:12:05,600 --> 01:12:07,880
Speaker 2: bring them to the grocery store those that don't have transportation.

1373
01:12:08,320 --> 01:12:13,599
Speaker 2: Who does that? Because it's about people. It's about serving people.

1374
01:12:13,800 --> 01:12:16,679
Speaker 2: So where they see a need and meet it, find

1375
01:12:16,680 --> 01:12:19,519
Speaker 2: a hurt and heal it. Our communities are broken, but

1376
01:12:19,560 --> 01:12:21,600
Speaker 2: we can heal our communities.

1377
01:12:22,920 --> 01:12:23,640
Speaker 3: I get rev up.

1378
01:12:24,439 --> 01:12:25,639
Speaker 5: Relationship is very important.

1379
01:12:26,520 --> 01:12:28,200
Speaker 7: I was gonna ask about Soulful Sundays.

1380
01:12:28,280 --> 01:12:33,640
Speaker 2: I keep seeing it Soulful Sundays at Oasis.

1381
01:12:34,240 --> 01:12:36,560
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean I watched the videos. I want you

1382
01:12:36,640 --> 01:12:39,479
Speaker 6: to tell me what it's all about. It gets me

1383
01:12:39,520 --> 01:12:40,000
Speaker 6: pumped up.

1384
01:12:40,000 --> 01:12:40,519
Speaker 7: Listen to it.

1385
01:12:40,560 --> 01:12:43,000
Speaker 2: So just you ain't watch no Soulful Sunday cos I

1386
01:12:43,000 --> 01:12:48,160
Speaker 2: wouldn't bring it up. So Soulful Sundays is a matter

1387
01:12:48,240 --> 01:12:52,720
Speaker 2: of the heart for me and finding a way to

1388
01:12:52,840 --> 01:12:57,559
Speaker 2: motivate that. It's so funny some customers say that they

1389
01:12:57,600 --> 01:13:01,240
Speaker 2: shop on Sundays, but they wait until the Soulful Sunday's

1390
01:13:01,280 --> 01:13:05,480
Speaker 2: posted because they say that's pastor aj people really say Oasis.

1391
01:13:05,080 --> 01:13:05,639
Speaker 3: As day church.

1392
01:13:05,680 --> 01:13:08,080
Speaker 2: I'm like, we ain't no church. But it's a movement,

1393
01:13:08,280 --> 01:13:12,479
Speaker 2: like you get like our our our pages aren't really

1394
01:13:12,520 --> 01:13:15,040
Speaker 2: talking about buy two apples, get one free.

1395
01:13:15,680 --> 01:13:17,280
Speaker 3: You go to our Instagram or mine.

1396
01:13:17,320 --> 01:13:21,559
Speaker 2: It's it's the stories of people like so Soulful Sundays

1397
01:13:21,640 --> 01:13:25,360
Speaker 2: is a motivational minute really and and it's and it's

1398
01:13:25,360 --> 01:13:26,640
Speaker 2: the thought through sometimes it's not.

1399
01:13:26,680 --> 01:13:28,599
Speaker 3: It's what's the word in my heart, and.

1400
01:13:28,560 --> 01:13:31,200
Speaker 2: We look at the camera and we say, soulful Sunday's

1401
01:13:31,240 --> 01:13:32,080
Speaker 2: at oasis.

1402
01:13:32,439 --> 01:13:34,480
Speaker 3: Let's see what was the last one? Oh, it was fertilizer.

1403
01:13:34,760 --> 01:13:38,400
Speaker 2: You know what, Every garden knees dirt. But but you

1404
01:13:38,479 --> 01:13:41,920
Speaker 2: know what, every garden also needs fertilize. What's fertilizer? Fertilizer

1405
01:13:42,000 --> 01:13:45,599
Speaker 2: is shit? Got him? Okay? But but we all want

1406
01:13:45,640 --> 01:13:47,080
Speaker 2: to grow, right, You want to grow. I want to grow,

1407
01:13:47,240 --> 01:13:49,360
Speaker 2: but we don't want to go through the ship. But

1408
01:13:49,439 --> 01:13:53,360
Speaker 2: the ship on a garden is necessary for growth in

1409
01:13:53,400 --> 01:13:53,800
Speaker 2: your life.

1410
01:13:53,840 --> 01:13:54,679
Speaker 7: You will walk through shit.

1411
01:13:55,000 --> 01:13:58,759
Speaker 2: Keep growing. Soulful Sunday, you're seeing safe and heard? Why

1412
01:13:59,320 --> 01:14:02,640
Speaker 2: on your leaves? Look at that whall man, even the

1413
01:14:02,680 --> 01:14:05,559
Speaker 2: camera man is about to take a lap around this thing.

1414
01:14:07,000 --> 01:14:08,519
Speaker 3: But it's about serving people.

1415
01:14:09,479 --> 01:14:14,000
Speaker 2: It's about serving people, and we are passionate about being

1416
01:14:14,200 --> 01:14:19,519
Speaker 2: the answer to serve people. It's still tough, y'all. Better

1417
01:14:19,520 --> 01:14:21,719
Speaker 2: come on, we're gonna change the work. We are changing

1418
01:14:22,080 --> 01:14:25,000
Speaker 2: the world and it starts with us.

1419
01:14:25,720 --> 01:14:27,760
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm glad you did that one because that's the

1420
01:14:27,800 --> 01:14:28,439
Speaker 7: last one I watched.

1421
01:14:30,439 --> 01:14:30,879
Speaker 2: Facts.

1422
01:14:30,880 --> 01:14:34,360
Speaker 5: Come on there, you have it all right. My last

1423
01:14:34,400 --> 01:14:38,360
Speaker 5: question is, so what's the what's the ten year plan?

1424
01:14:38,560 --> 01:14:41,719
Speaker 5: For this, is it gonna be in cities all across America?

1425
01:14:43,680 --> 01:14:48,799
Speaker 5: How do you envision Oasis UH scaling You're already scaling locally,

1426
01:14:49,640 --> 01:14:53,519
Speaker 5: UH in your neighborhood in Oklahoma, TUSA. Where do you

1427
01:14:53,560 --> 01:14:54,200
Speaker 5: see this going?

1428
01:14:56,640 --> 01:15:02,360
Speaker 2: Oasis hospitals, Oasis boys homes, Oasis girl those homes, Oasis manufacturing,

1429
01:15:02,800 --> 01:15:09,400
Speaker 2: Oasis logistics, Oasis schools, Oasis apparel, and all of this

1430
01:15:09,640 --> 01:15:13,040
Speaker 2: is not about the Oasis brand. It's about connecting people.

1431
01:15:14,400 --> 01:15:18,439
Speaker 2: So Oasis is not is not just a grocery store.

1432
01:15:19,160 --> 01:15:21,000
Speaker 2: We have another model. We say we're more than just

1433
01:15:21,040 --> 01:15:25,160
Speaker 2: groceries equipping you for life. We want to equip you

1434
01:15:25,360 --> 01:15:28,280
Speaker 2: for life. How do I do that? How do we

1435
01:15:28,320 --> 01:15:36,960
Speaker 2: do that? Food, medical, education, literacy training, workforce development, housing, transportation,

1436
01:15:37,320 --> 01:15:43,120
Speaker 2: e commerce, Oasis technology, Oasis media. And it's not that

1437
01:15:43,160 --> 01:15:46,560
Speaker 2: it has to be the brand Oasis, But the next

1438
01:15:46,960 --> 01:15:51,799
Speaker 2: two years, five years, ten years, a movement of teaching

1439
01:15:51,920 --> 01:15:56,120
Speaker 2: boys and girls and kids and senior citizens and blacks

1440
01:15:56,160 --> 01:16:01,280
Speaker 2: and whites and Asians and rich and poor about about

1441
01:16:01,320 --> 01:16:05,000
Speaker 2: access to food and the importance of serving people. That's

1442
01:16:05,080 --> 01:16:10,000
Speaker 2: the next one to ten years and beyond, not just

1443
01:16:10,040 --> 01:16:14,200
Speaker 2: in Oklahoma, but in food deserts across America.

1444
01:16:14,400 --> 01:16:18,280
Speaker 5: There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, very powerful ASA.

1445
01:16:18,320 --> 01:16:21,400
Speaker 5: Thank you, brother Johnson. We gotta pass operate. We gotta

1446
01:16:21,439 --> 01:16:23,800
Speaker 5: collaborate on a few different things, for sure. But I'm

1447
01:16:23,840 --> 01:16:26,000
Speaker 5: definitely interested in that farm idea.

1448
01:16:26,200 --> 01:16:30,120
Speaker 2: Let's go Aren't your Leisure Food LLC. It'll be up

1449
01:16:30,160 --> 01:16:32,760
Speaker 2: in a few weeks. Oh you know what I want

1450
01:16:32,760 --> 01:16:37,880
Speaker 2: to do though? Straight up today, the vegan lady that

1451
01:16:38,040 --> 01:16:38,280
Speaker 2: was on.

1452
01:16:38,280 --> 01:16:40,959
Speaker 5: The Stageldy Vegan Slutty Vegan put.

1453
01:16:41,520 --> 01:16:44,439
Speaker 2: Yo, when I was in the audience listening to her

1454
01:16:44,640 --> 01:16:49,320
Speaker 2: at invest Fest, I said, the month of October, we're

1455
01:16:49,360 --> 01:16:52,680
Speaker 2: gonna do a thirty day AJ gonna go vegan for

1456
01:16:52,720 --> 01:16:58,160
Speaker 2: thirty days, all products, detergents, food. And I had that

1457
01:16:58,240 --> 01:17:02,240
Speaker 2: idea sitting in the audience, and I mean, I don't

1458
01:17:02,240 --> 01:17:04,559
Speaker 2: know how I'm gonna do it, but I basically told

1459
01:17:04,560 --> 01:17:06,240
Speaker 2: my team, I said, let's see, let's send her a

1460
01:17:06,280 --> 01:17:08,400
Speaker 2: message to see if she can just send us because

1461
01:17:08,400 --> 01:17:11,280
Speaker 2: you know, dudes, deodorant. I'm i gonna go to gym

1462
01:17:11,439 --> 01:17:13,720
Speaker 2: smell like a dang onion and you know. But but

1463
01:17:13,840 --> 01:17:18,800
Speaker 2: we're gonna and we're gonna document everything to show people, Hey,

1464
01:17:19,000 --> 01:17:20,400
Speaker 2: here are the options of healthy living.

1465
01:17:20,439 --> 01:17:22,559
Speaker 3: Guess what I'm the I'll show you. I'll do it.

1466
01:17:22,600 --> 01:17:25,479
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna submit. I love me some chicken, but

1467
01:17:25,479 --> 01:17:28,040
Speaker 2: I'm gonna submit to be a vegan and we'll document

1468
01:17:28,040 --> 01:17:32,559
Speaker 2: it and show our our audience. Hey, these are options,

1469
01:17:32,600 --> 01:17:34,880
Speaker 2: and we'll show you the budget. So people are like, oh,

1470
01:17:34,960 --> 01:17:36,519
Speaker 2: well you can you can do that because you got

1471
01:17:37,040 --> 01:17:39,719
Speaker 2: no I'm gonna show you. I'm gonna live like a vegan,

1472
01:17:40,160 --> 01:17:43,599
Speaker 2: full blown vegan like you was going to the school

1473
01:17:43,640 --> 01:17:47,679
Speaker 2: with my foil at work, and we're gonna teach people

1474
01:17:47,760 --> 01:17:48,639
Speaker 2: and show them.

1475
01:17:48,680 --> 01:17:50,120
Speaker 3: So tell us slut vegan.

1476
01:17:50,120 --> 01:17:52,080
Speaker 2: We she need to post more content so we can

1477
01:17:52,240 --> 01:17:54,719
Speaker 2: because I'm trying to figure out how to and I'm nervous.

1478
01:17:54,720 --> 01:17:57,280
Speaker 2: To be honest, I'm gonna be a vegan for thirty days.

1479
01:17:57,280 --> 01:17:58,640
Speaker 2: I don't know, but I'm gonna show people so that

1480
01:17:58,680 --> 01:18:01,920
Speaker 2: way people know there is a there is a different way.

1481
01:18:02,439 --> 01:18:07,160
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, a healthier way. Very important. I think it's

1482
01:18:07,160 --> 01:18:09,799
Speaker 5: not that difficult. It's like you said, it becomes difficult

1483
01:18:09,800 --> 01:18:12,840
Speaker 5: when you start getting to the technicalities of it, like

1484
01:18:12,880 --> 01:18:15,680
Speaker 5: the deodorant two pace yeah.

1485
01:18:15,360 --> 01:18:20,639
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, shamboo yeah. But we're gonna We're

1486
01:18:20,640 --> 01:18:21,240
Speaker 2: gonna do it.

1487
01:18:21,560 --> 01:18:22,559
Speaker 7: We're gonna figure it out.

1488
01:18:23,280 --> 01:18:27,400
Speaker 2: Leaves your foods coming farms. A they just bought the

1489
01:18:27,640 --> 01:18:31,040
Speaker 2: LLC right now, yep, that that you just have tell

1490
01:18:31,120 --> 01:18:33,519
Speaker 2: Steve Harvey you look, he goes, that's your next investment

1491
01:18:34,400 --> 01:18:34,840
Speaker 2: right there.

1492
01:18:35,240 --> 01:18:37,479
Speaker 5: Get it. Get a tractor like Rick Ross.

1493
01:18:37,520 --> 01:18:38,839
Speaker 3: He he got a tractor.

1494
01:18:39,120 --> 01:18:42,120
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you got a couple of them.

1495
01:18:42,240 --> 01:18:43,160
Speaker 2: But he's he have a farm.

1496
01:18:43,800 --> 01:18:46,639
Speaker 5: He has animals that he's just got a couple of cows.

1497
01:18:46,720 --> 01:18:51,360
Speaker 5: You got chickens. So he's developing a farm on on livestock.

1498
01:18:51,840 --> 01:18:54,000
Speaker 5: He got like one hundred and eighty acre or something

1499
01:18:54,080 --> 01:18:55,760
Speaker 5: like that. So he's developing.

1500
01:18:56,160 --> 01:18:58,240
Speaker 2: And if he could supply his own chicken for all

1501
01:18:58,280 --> 01:19:01,320
Speaker 2: his wingstops, that's a that's a game changer.

1502
01:19:01,800 --> 01:19:07,080
Speaker 5: There you go, what limon pepper wings.

1503
01:19:06,720 --> 01:19:11,800
Speaker 2: With the soda on the side. In abundance, there is abundance.

1504
01:19:12,080 --> 01:19:13,880
Speaker 2: And that's the thing Black people we got to understand.

1505
01:19:13,880 --> 01:19:18,320
Speaker 2: There is abundance in the world. Gay but there is

1506
01:19:18,360 --> 01:19:21,839
Speaker 2: abundance someone else winning doesn't mean that you lose.

1507
01:19:23,160 --> 01:19:23,920
Speaker 3: Black people.

1508
01:19:24,040 --> 01:19:29,720
Speaker 2: We have to not self destruct like we we the

1509
01:19:30,200 --> 01:19:35,479
Speaker 2: power that lies within us as a community. There is there,

1510
01:19:35,520 --> 01:19:38,360
Speaker 2: there should be. There is now a new Black Wall

1511
01:19:38,400 --> 01:19:41,080
Speaker 2: Street evolving, and not just in tuls A. Black Wall

1512
01:19:41,120 --> 01:19:44,760
Speaker 2: Street is not a physical location. Black Wall Street is

1513
01:19:44,800 --> 01:19:50,479
Speaker 2: a mindset of excellence, of health, of options, of education,

1514
01:19:51,360 --> 01:19:57,080
Speaker 2: and and we we must recreate that together. And now

1515
01:19:57,320 --> 01:19:59,360
Speaker 2: is that and we're doing it. It's already happening.

1516
01:20:00,320 --> 01:20:00,800
Speaker 3: E wilde.

1517
01:20:00,800 --> 01:20:03,840
Speaker 2: Do y'all have like it just hit me, like on

1518
01:20:03,880 --> 01:20:07,559
Speaker 2: your different platforms, on your website, do you have like, hey,

1519
01:20:07,560 --> 01:20:10,360
Speaker 2: this is housing, this is food, like all of the

1520
01:20:10,400 --> 01:20:14,599
Speaker 2: people that you know in your your influence world that reference.

1521
01:20:14,800 --> 01:20:17,040
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, no we don't, but it's a good idea

1522
01:20:17,080 --> 01:20:18,880
Speaker 5: we get from kind of organized it like that.

1523
01:20:19,280 --> 01:20:21,240
Speaker 2: It just popped in my head, like y'all people go

1524
01:20:21,320 --> 01:20:24,000
Speaker 2: to y'all, Like I was telling I was telling Troy,

1525
01:20:24,040 --> 01:20:26,639
Speaker 2: I didn't sell my rental property because I saw like

1526
01:20:27,040 --> 01:20:29,559
Speaker 2: I needed money. I didn't sell my rental property because

1527
01:20:29,640 --> 01:20:33,800
Speaker 2: y'all posted something one morning. You know, you do your thing,

1528
01:20:33,840 --> 01:20:36,240
Speaker 2: you got the thing in the back, Yeah, yeah, yeah,

1529
01:20:36,280 --> 01:20:39,080
Speaker 2: yeah yeah. I didn't sell my rental property because I

1530
01:20:39,320 --> 01:20:41,439
Speaker 2: saw a one minute nugget and I was like, dang,

1531
01:20:42,160 --> 01:20:43,920
Speaker 2: and I actually needed that. I was telling him, I

1532
01:20:44,160 --> 01:20:47,640
Speaker 2: thought I needed that. That's collateral the money from my

1533
01:20:47,680 --> 01:20:50,240
Speaker 2: second store ended up getting the grant and didn't even

1534
01:20:50,240 --> 01:20:51,600
Speaker 2: need the bank and didn't and I still got my

1535
01:20:51,640 --> 01:20:54,000
Speaker 2: rental property, but I almost sold it.

1536
01:20:54,600 --> 01:20:56,559
Speaker 7: Power information You never know.

1537
01:20:56,960 --> 01:21:00,240
Speaker 2: Y'all are a reference point. Y'all are a university, a

1538
01:21:00,320 --> 01:21:01,520
Speaker 2: global university.

1539
01:21:01,800 --> 01:21:08,519
Speaker 5: Yeah, eyol university, much higher learning. Appreciate you, brother, Thank

1540
01:21:08,560 --> 01:21:12,680
Speaker 5: you for the energy, man, Thank you for the energy. Informational,

1541
01:21:13,520 --> 01:21:17,120
Speaker 5: definitely transformative situation and very important too, because like I said,

1542
01:21:17,320 --> 01:21:20,560
Speaker 5: we're talking about money, and money is important, but finances

1543
01:21:20,760 --> 01:21:23,360
Speaker 5: is only as good as your health. So health is

1544
01:21:23,400 --> 01:21:25,479
Speaker 5: wealth and you have to be able to even be

1545
01:21:25,600 --> 01:21:30,679
Speaker 5: healthy to enjoy your finances. So health is extremely extremely important,

1546
01:21:30,760 --> 01:21:33,680
Speaker 5: something that we all should take serious and what we

1547
01:21:33,760 --> 01:21:36,880
Speaker 5: put in our bodies is ultimately probably the most important thing.

1548
01:21:37,640 --> 01:21:40,240
Speaker 5: So yeah, thank you, keep up the great work.

1549
01:21:40,479 --> 01:21:42,280
Speaker 7: Thank you for your vision. Thank you for your passion.

1550
01:21:42,320 --> 01:21:45,160
Speaker 6: Man, Come on, yeah, man, some important right, Like you

1551
01:21:45,200 --> 01:21:47,320
Speaker 6: were giving a vision and it was you walked into

1552
01:21:47,320 --> 01:21:49,360
Speaker 6: the footsteps that were left you. That's the most important thing.

1553
01:21:49,400 --> 01:21:51,360
Speaker 6: Like the bill has been passed, like you said, but

1554
01:21:51,400 --> 01:21:52,800
Speaker 6: it was waiting for you to come do it. So

1555
01:21:53,120 --> 01:21:54,840
Speaker 6: we appreciate you all for everything you're doing.

1556
01:21:55,080 --> 01:21:58,960
Speaker 2: It's important, vast fast October London, be there.

1557
01:22:00,479 --> 01:22:01,040
Speaker 5: Halloween.

1558
01:22:01,880 --> 01:22:03,599
Speaker 3: Were great for honor to be with you. Guys.

1559
01:22:03,600 --> 01:22:05,960
Speaker 2: Thank you for your work, Thank you for your consistency,

1560
01:22:06,040 --> 01:22:11,559
Speaker 2: your dedication, because it is impacting North Tulsa residents that

1561
01:22:11,600 --> 01:22:14,479
Speaker 2: you may never meet, that you may never know, but

1562
01:22:14,720 --> 01:22:18,320
Speaker 2: your information as it impacts me and I literally walk

1563
01:22:18,400 --> 01:22:22,680
Speaker 2: that out. It impacts District one in North Tulsa.

1564
01:22:22,800 --> 01:22:26,200
Speaker 5: Thank you. Thank you. Busen Troy how uh yeah.

1565
01:22:26,240 --> 01:22:29,840
Speaker 6: Man, Shout to everybody on Aerial Lusia University, all our

1566
01:22:29,880 --> 01:22:31,200
Speaker 6: earners everywhere, worldwide.

1567
01:22:31,200 --> 01:22:31,559
Speaker 7: Global.

1568
01:22:31,600 --> 01:22:33,479
Speaker 6: Like you said, it's not an American thing, it's a

1569
01:22:33,520 --> 01:22:35,600
Speaker 6: global thing. So shout there all our earners. Shout to

1570
01:22:35,640 --> 01:22:38,000
Speaker 6: all the people behind the scenes that are making the

1571
01:22:39,080 --> 01:22:41,920
Speaker 6: trend go. Man, we appreciate everybody. Shout everybody that's supporting

1572
01:22:41,920 --> 01:22:44,200
Speaker 6: the merg We love y'all as well. And again, man,

1573
01:22:44,240 --> 01:22:46,240
Speaker 6: thank you AJ for coming and blessing us. This is

1574
01:22:46,439 --> 01:22:47,960
Speaker 6: this was an important episode. It was it was a

1575
01:22:47,960 --> 01:22:49,960
Speaker 6: good one. So we thank you for all the work

1576
01:22:49,960 --> 01:22:53,599
Speaker 6: you're doing and for everything that everybody's doing in Tulsa. Right,

1577
01:22:53,680 --> 01:22:55,760
Speaker 6: like you said, it's not a physical place, it's a

1578
01:22:55,840 --> 01:23:00,200
Speaker 6: mindset and so that mission, that vision, that passion for

1579
01:23:00,400 --> 01:23:02,439
Speaker 6: economic freedom, lives to us and we all got to

1580
01:23:02,520 --> 01:23:02,960
Speaker 6: roll to play.

1581
01:23:03,000 --> 01:23:04,639
Speaker 7: So shout everybody that to on that part.

1582
01:23:05,200 --> 01:23:07,040
Speaker 5: Thank you got rocking on to see you next week.

1583
01:23:07,080 --> 01:23:13,960
Speaker 4: Peace, peace, my graduates from my school being forced bad

1584
01:23:14,080 --> 01:23:18,679
Speaker 4: drop bag drop my drop bad drop back drop.

1585
01:23:29,600 --> 01:23:33,480
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