WEBVTT - Bigger Than Brunch w/ Trell Thomas 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:02.400 Calling all my sweeties to the forefront. 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:06.400 I'm your host, Christo and this is the Keeping Positive 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:12.879 Sweetish Show. Our next guest has made an impact on 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:16.280 how we show up and celebrate ourselves. He's an activist, 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:20.040 a mentor, media expert, and he is the creator of 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:23.599 the Black Excellence Brunch, a global celebration of the culture 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:28.440 created to build community amongst black people from all backgrounds, professions, 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:34.720 and walks of life. Sweeties, please welcome Sprel Thomas Trail. 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:36.840 I'm good. How are you. I'm so good. 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:38.240 I'm so happy to be here. 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.520 Man, I'm happy to have you here. Seriously, You've been everywhere. 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:45.000 It's been a crazy week. It's fresh off of a fly. 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:47.120 You look good. I'm loving the fit. 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:48.720 Thank you. So. 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:50.960 I wanted to have you on because you have so 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:53.800 many amazing things going on and a lot of people 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.040 know you from your Black Excellence Brunches. Now, your Black 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:00.800 Excellence Brunches started in twenty seventeen. You just had friends 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:04.400 over for dinner and said, hey, we're all white. What 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:06.440 was it about that moment? Take us back to your 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:09.520 dinner party in twenty seventeen that sparked something in you 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:11.399 to say, Hey, I need to do this more often. 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:13.119 Well, I have to be completely honest. 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:17.160 So twenty seventeen is when it started to look like 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:20.200 people see it now. But Black Excellence Brunch is really 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:22.440 based off the concept and the tradition that I know 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:25.160 that we're all familiar with Sunday dinner. 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:28.039 Yes, and if you're not familiar. 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:29.840 All the sweets out there right like it is when 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:32.920 you go to church, and then after church you sit 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:34.880 down with your family around one or two o'clock. 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:36.679 I grew up Southern Baptist, so sometimes it. 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:41.240 Was three or four for me, But you really shared 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:45.920 this meal with your family and friends and loved ones. 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:48.400 And my mam will hosting at home growing up every Sunday, 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:50.640 and it was honestly one of the first places, Chris, 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:54.840 what I got to feel and see and the joy 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:57.320 of being a black person. And so I wanted to 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:00.480 recreate that feeling for my friends. So yeah, I started 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:03.280 doing it in my home. And then in twenty seventeen, 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:06.720 that one that you're speaking about, I got all my 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:08.600 friends together. It was my going away I'll never forget. 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:10.840 I was moving from New York City to La Wow, 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:13.960 and I just brought everybody together and I was like, well, 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:15.040 you know, I can kind of tell them what to 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:16.920 do a little bit more today. So I was like, 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:19.600 can you guys were all white? Can you meet me here? 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:24.360 And everybody came. Everybody wore all white. And when I 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:26.920 tell you, it was something so special about it, because 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:29.440 we couldn't get two feet without people being. 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:30.720 Like, who are you guys? 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:31.359 What do you do? 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:33.400 Can I take a picture with you? People were sending 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:35.600 us drinks. We were at the rooftop of this restaurant, 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:38.920 and I just looked around the table. I remember the 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:41.000 exact moment, looking around the table, and I just saw 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:46.520 everybody smiling and looking so confident and just feeling joy 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:48.760 And I just thought to myself, if I could give 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:52.280 us this feeling all the time, I want to do that. 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:55.079 I want us to because this is how we should 0:02:55.240 --> 0:03:00.239 be able to walk through life joyously, right Yeah. And 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:02.240 it was in that moment I remember doing a toast 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:04.280 and I was like, this is to all of my 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:07.760 black and excellent friends. This is a black excellence brunch. 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:10.720 And then something clicked, ah wow, And it was in 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:12.240 that moment I was like, I got to do more 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:14.280 of this and I got to gather us more. And 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:16.720 but most importantly, I got to put a smile on 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:17.440 our faces. 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:20.320 Do that. Oh my god, oh thank you. 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:20.640 Yeah. 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:23.800 No, just like you group in the South, Sundays, we're 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:27.360 definitely our day where the family got together, everybody cousins. 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:29.880 So we all came to one home and like you said, 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:31.880 we just came together and we were already looking good 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:35.760 because we were at our Sundays and then we had 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:37.560 an amazing dinner and just fellowship. 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:40.400 And that's beautiful. That that's what sparked that. So you 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.160 just toasted and then you said black Excellence brunch and 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:45.280 that's when you're like, wait that it just clicked. 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.119 It just clicked, and I was like, okay, I got 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:49.440 to do more of this, and so it was kind 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:51.760 of rinse and repeatd that I moved to LA. When 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.360 I came to La, I did another one, same reaction. 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:56.600 And you know, like in LA and in New York, 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:57.600 it's hard to impress people. 0:03:57.680 --> 0:03:58.640 It sure is. 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:04.000 Everybody's impressed. But I just saw how people were receiving us. 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:07.840 But most importantly, Crystal, I realized one that it was 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:11.760 bigger than me. My a mentor told me, like, if 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:14.560 you're doing anything and it starts and stops at you. 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:15.560 Then it's not big enough. 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:18.240 Absolutely, And so in those moments, I realized, oh, this 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:23.520 is bigger than me. But I also realized that it 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:28.040 was something so divine about the space. It just like 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:30.120 I tell people, even now, you can see all the 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:33.799 videos and the pictures, but until you've been in the space, 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:37.760 you don't really know. But the energy of it is 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:42.160 so beautiful. And I think you probably can attest to this. 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:45.000 There's a point in your life where you were something, 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:47.839 you're doing something, and you're like, this is not just 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.120 a thing that I'm doing. This is a part of 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:54.200 my purpose, and this is my responsibility. And I started 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:59.800 to feel responsible, responsible for bringing joy to us, responsible 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:03.680 for shifting the narrative, responsible for creating safe spaces. And 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:06.080 so it was like, all right, this isn't just a 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.160 thing that I'm doing, Like, this is what I've been 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:09.160 called to do. 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:11.560 And when you hear your call in you got to 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:12.520 like walk in. 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:13.240 It, right, you know. 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:15.919 So back then when you first started, how many people 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:17.719 were attending these brunches. 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:19.000 Because I've seen what it is now. 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:23.920 Yeah, So I would say at the very beginning it 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.120 was like forty fifty people. Yeah, like between forty and 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:31.080 fifty people, and yeah, now we've done as many as 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.599 three thousand people, which I'm still like pinching myself about. 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:37.560 You know, did you like this has been something that's 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:42.200 in culturally impactful? Did you ever dream that, like when 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:44.479 you started in twenty seventeen, that it would be this 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.640 big and that you'd be at the White House, you 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:49.960 would be at every film festival. 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:52.320 Like, did you dream that it would ever be this big? 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:53.200 You know? 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:58.440 No, And I didn't know. I just wanted to do. 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:03.599 Even in the even now, there are times where people 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:05.600 would be like, do you realize, Like even when you 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:07.200 mentioned that just now, I'm like, wait a minute, I 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:11.080 guess that's that's true, Like because I'm just doing and 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:14.200 I'm just going. I remember having this moment and I'll 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:17.040 share with you. I was, you know, this was maybe 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:21.200 twenty twenty two, and I had been done doing the 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:22.719 brunches for a while. I figured out I was no 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:26.240 longer having to spend my own money time. So but 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.880 I walked we had one at Sofi Stadium. Wait what yeah? 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:35.640 And I and it was brand new. We had one 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:39.000 at Sofi Stadium. I walked in. I see black Excellence 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:42.919 brunch on the jumbo tron and I'm like, and even 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:45.120 though we had done like all these partnerships and we 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:47.760 had traveled by then, we had done Africa and everything, 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:51.760 I was like, oh man, I guess this. This is 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:56.159 something that I'm doing because when you are on the 0:06:56.200 --> 0:07:00.559 path and you and I'm at this point, I'm helping 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:02.320 people set up. Like I've never been the type of 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:05.240 be like, okay, go do it. You know, I'm on 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.279 in and on the ground with people. And so I 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:10.960 didn't realize it and got that big until I looked up. 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.080 Somebody was like, troll like, look and I looked and 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:15.440 it was on the jumbo tron. So I feel like 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:19.280 that's what keeps me like going just not even paying 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:22.040 attention to to like these marquee moments. 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:23.280 But it's also. 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.840 Important, I guess, to stop and be like, wait a minute, 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:28.720 like this is happening. 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:29.960 So thank you for that. 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:31.320 Remind you know it is I am. 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:34.400 I always remind my friends, especially when things are just 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:37.920 going so fast and everything's on a hide, take those 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:40.520 moments to really soak it in because it goes by 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:42.920 just like that, and before you know it, you're just 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:44.800 on to the next, on to the next, and then 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:46.600 you don't take a chance to look back and say, whoa, 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:50.040 I've accomplished all these amazing things, you know, so take 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:51.120 time to sit in gratitude. 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:52.880 I love that you're finding time to do that. 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:55.520 Now, you mentioned it got to a point where you 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:58.240 weren't coming out of your own pocket to make these 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:00.320 things happen. So from the beginning you were futoting the 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:01.320 bill from US today's Thames. 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:01.800 Oh yeah. 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:03.720 And I tell people all the time, like, one of 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:06.120 the biggest questions that I get is like, how do 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:08.160 you get all these brand partnership At this point, we've 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:12.520 partner with over one hundred brands, and people like I 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:15.960 do want to know these brand partnerships, And I tell 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:18.800 people it's simpler. Then a lot of people realize, first 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:22.360 of all, and if you're gonna ask anybody to invest 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:24.360 in you, like, are you investing in yourself? 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:27.320 Like I feel like you can't. 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:30.720 Ask anybody for anything that you're not willing to give yourself. 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:35.360 And that's in business, that's in relationships, that's in friendships, Like, 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:37.280 I can't ask you to be honest if I'm not 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:40.760 being honest. So before I go to a brand and 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:44.680 be like, hey, can you give me sixty dollars one 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:46.960 hundred thousand dollars to do so something like I need 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:50.040 to know like what it what it feels like to 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.800 put that into to invest that into something. 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:55.720 So when I did the first Black Exces bunch, when. 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:57.320 I was like, oh, I'm I'm gonna do it nice 0:08:57.360 --> 0:08:59.199 and I'm gonna, you know, put some decor on it, 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:03.600 and I'm I literally paid for that with my own money. 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:08.800 And it gave me such an appreciation for the space. 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:11.839 And it also let me know, like Joe, you don't 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.760 got to depend on anybody to do anything that's good 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:22.240 because you We're never waiting on it. It's always waiting 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:28.360 on us. So I think that was waiting on me. 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:30.240 It was waiting on me to make the decision that 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:31.920 you know what, you can do it. 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:34.320 It was waiting on me to invest in myself. 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.800 It was waiting on me to like move forward and 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:40.560 answer the calling that I was just talking to you about. 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:44.920 So I feel like that's the important first step, like 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:48.280 know what it takes to invest into your thing, into 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:50.920 your dream and be willing to make that investment. And 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:53.360 the next thing, you know, the very next brunch after 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:57.600 I made that investment, I got fifty thousand dollars from. 0:09:57.440 --> 0:09:59.040 Netflix to do the next one. 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:04.160 That's and I firmly believe it is because I was, 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:06.360 you know, I was. I had got out of the 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:08.840 mode of like, oh, I'm waiting on I'm waiting on 0:10:08.880 --> 0:10:11.199 somebody else to save me. You know, I'm like, I'm 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:13.160 gonna do it regardless. You pull up to the table. 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:15.319 That's nice, but it's still gonna be here. 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:20.760 Listen, you are speaking to me right now, you really are, 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:23.319 because there's things that I still want to do and 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:24.680 you just hit the nail on the head. 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:27.440 It's waiting for me to step up to it and 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.600 do it. I love that. Oh my goodness. 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.600 So when did you get so did you even ask 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:33.960 Netflix or the Netflix. 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:34.319 Approach you for that? 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:37.680 You know? And I know we are people of faith, 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:42.600 so you'll get this chance. So okay. I also believe 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:44.520 that you have to. 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:51.040 Pray about it and then leave it, because when we 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:54.160 pray and then we worry, it's like me giving you 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:55.680 something and then be like, O, can I have that back? 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:57.360 So like, I'm not going to give God the thing 0:10:57.400 --> 0:10:58.960 and then be like, oh, let me borrow it so 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:00.760 I can worry about it for a little while, you 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:02.320 know what I mean. So it's like here you go, 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:04.520 like this is the thing, and then I gotta move 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:07.840 on from it. And I think when I had invested 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.120 in myself on that first one, you know, I was like, 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:13.920 all right, God, like I did this, A'm out of money, 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:16.760 you know, here you go. I wanted to be nice 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:20.280 and then I left it alone and I literally I 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:23.000 lot to you. Not three days later, I went to 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:28.520 dinner with a friend of mine, Angelique, and then Jasmine 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:30.280 a shout to y'all off, y'all out there watching this, 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:34.360 thank you so much. So Jasmine Lawson was at the 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:36.680 dinner and she was working at Netflix at the time, 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:39.960 and I was just telling her about, like, you know, 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:41.719 these gatherings that I do. I was just telling I 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:43.760 didn't even know like what her position was. We were 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:46.280 just out to dinner as friends and I was telling 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.679 her about it, and little did I know, she was 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:53.400 taking mental notes and went to her direct supervisor at 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:56.680 Netflix and told them with just as much excitement as 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:58.560 I had. They agreed to take a call with me, 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:00.640 and that was it. So that's that's how it happened. 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:04.319 So I think that putting it in motion, praying about 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:07.120 it and leaving it like allow God to be God, 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:11.440 and the things start to be orchestrated because I wasn't. 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:13.320 It wasn't like a dinner that we had planned for weeks. 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:15.360 We popped up and did that and Jasmine wasn't even 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:17.840 supposed to come. She showed up, you know. And I 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:18.600 think that's how. 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.280 God works, it is that's alignment. Yeah. 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:24.480 Wow, And you still have this relationship with nel. I 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:29.480 just did a brunch with Netflix a few that I missed. 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:35.559 I'm gonna let you know every every time, whoever's got it, 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:37.800 then I need yours. I need every the brunch schedule 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:40.000 to be in this city of COVID. 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:42.319 Yes. No, but that's amazing, And that. 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:44.120 Says a lot about you and the brand that you've 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:47.040 built that you're able to sustain relationships with a brand 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:52.240 as big as Netflix. You know, with all the brunches 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:53.920 that you've had, what has been one of your most 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:54.920 memorable brunches? 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:56.080 Wow? 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.760 You know you know what I always remember. I always 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:05.800 remember with the conversations, and so I think like people 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:09.880 that comes to minds like Tabitha Brown. Uh, it's just 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:13.760 everybody what happens at the brunch, and it's part of 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:16.079 it being in this divine spaces. People come and they 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:21.160 show up so authentically. It's no pomp and circumstance. It's 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:24.600 no like I'm here and you're there. I tell people, 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:27.480 everybody is a v I P. But when I have 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:30.280 these conversations because I honor like cultural icons, and we've 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:34.960 honored Kelly Rowland and Tabitha Brown and both to Saint 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:38.480 John and Making Good and Tina Mss Tina Knowles, and 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:42.599 you know, we've honored so many incredible people, and people always. 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:43.400 Show up with their heart. 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:46.840 Yes, you know, I'm thinking about even the last Brunches 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:50.280 I just did with Netflix and sitting with Victoria Mahoney 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:55.080 who's the director of The Old Guard too, and Kiki Lane, 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:59.160 who stars in it as a black woman super super hero. 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:04.679 I mean she is so beautiful, first of all, just stunning. 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:09.000 I'm telling you, and just also beautiful inside and out. 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:13.200 And she came and she sat with us, and she 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:16.800 poured her heart and she cried with us, and it's 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:22.600 just there's no other spaces where I feel like people 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.240 feel seen. And so when you ask about my favorite 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.280 black excellents brunches, it's I have favorite moments within them, 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:31.520 but it's hard to choose one. But I think that 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:35.160 the thing that I love most is that you see 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:38.000 people authentically and they feel seen. 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:39.440 Yes, no, for sure. 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:42.640 I've been to two Black Excellence brunches and I felt 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:43.520 seen both times. 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:45.560 Yeah. Yeah, I mean so much. Yeah. 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:48.280 No, seriously, it's such a it feels like a failing reunion. 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:54.160 Yes, that's the That's what I try to create, no 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.000 matter how big it is, because you've been to like 0:14:57.040 --> 0:14:59.440 a smaller one and you've been to like the biggest one. 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:01.080 Right, I say, we're gonna get to that. 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:02.000 That was Yeah. 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.120 Yes, if you had anyone on your wish list that 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:07.440 you want to have a ten year Black Excellence brunch, 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:07.920 would it be? 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:09.360 Let me just pull out my not. 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:19.000 Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, gosh. Uh, there's so many iconic 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:27.600 people that I think, Lisa Leslie, we can make that heaven, yeah, Leslie, 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:34.880 Don Staley, Uh gosh, there's so many incredible people who 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:40.360 Tyler Perry like, so many incredible people who I think. 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:44.760 Listen, all right now I can put a bug out. 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:46.200 Yeah. 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:49.160 There's so many incredible people that I feel like deserve 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:52.640 their flowers, and I want to share this space with. 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.920 Yeah, Beyonce, come on, come on. 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:00.520 Speaking of Beyonce, her mom is seen as is a 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:01.360 mentor of yours. 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:03.200 Yes, how did that come? Like? How do you get 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:05.160 Mama Tina to be your mentor? You know? 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:08.600 Again another form manifestation. 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:12.160 So I was living in New York and so Longa's 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:14.800 album To See at the Table came out, which is 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:16.000 a timeless classic. 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:17.200 And I'm going to say it right now. 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:19.600 The time hasn't passed yet, but we're going to be 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:21.480 listening to that album fifty years from now, Like we 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:23.040 listened to The Miseducation of Lauren Hill? 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:25.800 Right, where did I say at dinner? 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:27.840 That is like when if we had we were starting 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:29.960 on the island and we only had one album, what 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:30.360 would it be? 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:30.880 A nest? The one? 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:31.240 I said? 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:34.760 Man, that album, Like I probably listened to it like 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:36.520 over and over and over. 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:37.960 I can't even count them out times. 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:41.160 But there is an interlude on the album, and I 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:43.480 love that she did interludes because like that was a 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:45.440 lost art and she brought it back in such an 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:48.320 amazing way. And Miss Tina was on one of the 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:50.360 interludes and she was and it was during the time 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:52.640 it was a dark time, for me, I would say 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.160 where I was just feeling. I was in the corporate 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:57.720 world before I became a full time entrepreneur, and I 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:01.800 was feeling so down and and just taking advantage of 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:04.879 I remember bringing so many creative ideas and I remember 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:06.800 them being shot down and people being like, oh, they're 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:08.200 not No, that's not a good idea. 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:09.160 That's not a good idea. 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:11.280 But then I would see them secretly try to do it, 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:14.159 but they wanted me to think it wasn't good but 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:16.320 they and then they wanted to give the credit to 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:18.800 somebody else, and of course it was somebody who didn't 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:19.360 look like love. 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:22.800 So I was buried down. I was just like, what 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:23.560 is it like? 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:24.000 Why? 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.200 And I remember listening to the interlude where Miss Tina 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:30.440 was just talking about the joy of being a black person. 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:34.960 That pride and that you know, and it reinvigorated me. 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:37.200 And every time I would leave work and I would 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:38.840 feel a way, I would turn to that interlude and 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:41.000 I would listen to it, and I remember, and this 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:42.280 is where a manifestation comes in. 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:44.520 I remember sitting and I was like, I wish I. 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:46.639 Could just talk to her, like I want to just 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:48.400 talk to her, and I put it out there and 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:52.879 I didn't think of nothing about it. And I have 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:55.280 to say that in that moment, I feel like God 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.240 started to put things in motion. So things got really 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:01.399 bad at work, and at first I was like, well, 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.840 what's happening? Like yeah, but if you know anything about 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.040 the way God works, if God is telling you to 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:10.240 do something and you're not heeding to what God is, 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:14.280 things will get real, it will get real uncomfortable. And 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.159 they got really uncomfortable. And so I was working. I 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:20.000 remember I was working on this. I get she was 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:23.639 thinking about. I was working on this event to the 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:28.960 hope was to honor Beyonce Wow and and she was 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:31.879 pregnant at the time, and so she couldn't you know, 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:36.720 be there for and I ended up moving to La 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:42.840 I met someone, Andrea Nelson Mix, who is an incredible agent, 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:46.040 and she was sitting with me and she was like, Hi, 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:49.240 you know, I'm working with Waco Theater Center. And she 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:52.240 was like, they think that they're looking for a social 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:56.240 media person, but I think that they're looking for you specifically, 0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:59.880 And she set up a meeting with me and mister 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:04.320 Yes and Miss Tina just happened to be there at 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.240 the time. She walked by and she looked and she 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:09.520 came back and she was like, who is this? And 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:11.679 so she walked into the meeting and we were supposed 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:13.520 to meet for like thirty minutes. We sat there and 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:14.800 talked for like three hours. 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:15.560