Speaker 1: Calling all my sweeties to the forefront.
Speaker 2: I'm your host, Christo and this is the Keeping Positive
Speaker 2: Sweetish Show. Our next guest has made an impact on
Speaker 2: how we show up and celebrate ourselves. He's an activist,
Speaker 2: a mentor, media expert, and he is the creator of
Speaker 2: the Black Excellence Brunch, a global celebration of the culture
Speaker 2: created to build community amongst black people from all backgrounds, professions,
Speaker 2: and walks of life. Sweeties, please welcome Sprel Thomas Trail.
Speaker 1: I'm good. How are you. I'm so good.
Speaker 3: I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 2: Man, I'm happy to have you here. Seriously, You've been everywhere.
Speaker 2: It's been a crazy week. It's fresh off of a fly.
Speaker 2: You look good. I'm loving the fit.
Speaker 1: Thank you. So.
Speaker 2: I wanted to have you on because you have so
Speaker 2: many amazing things going on and a lot of people
Speaker 2: know you from your Black Excellence Brunches. Now, your Black
Speaker 2: Excellence Brunches started in twenty seventeen. You just had friends
Speaker 2: over for dinner and said, hey, we're all white. What
Speaker 2: was it about that moment? Take us back to your
Speaker 2: dinner party in twenty seventeen that sparked something in you
Speaker 2: to say, Hey, I need to do this more often.
Speaker 3: Well, I have to be completely honest.
Speaker 4: So twenty seventeen is when it started to look like
Speaker 4: people see it now. But Black Excellence Brunch is really
Speaker 4: based off the concept and the tradition that I know
Speaker 4: that we're all familiar with Sunday dinner.
Speaker 3: Yes, and if you're not familiar.
Speaker 4: All the sweets out there right like it is when
Speaker 4: you go to church, and then after church you sit
Speaker 4: down with your family around one or two o'clock.
Speaker 3: I grew up Southern Baptist, so sometimes it.
Speaker 4: Was three or four for me, But you really shared
Speaker 4: this meal with your family and friends and loved ones.
Speaker 4: And my mam will hosting at home growing up every Sunday,
Speaker 4: and it was honestly one of the first places, Chris,
Speaker 4: what I got to feel and see and the joy
Speaker 4: of being a black person. And so I wanted to
Speaker 4: recreate that feeling for my friends. So yeah, I started
Speaker 4: doing it in my home. And then in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 4: that one that you're speaking about, I got all my
Speaker 4: friends together. It was my going away I'll never forget.
Speaker 4: I was moving from New York City to La Wow,
Speaker 4: and I just brought everybody together and I was like, well,
Speaker 4: you know, I can kind of tell them what to
Speaker 4: do a little bit more today. So I was like,
Speaker 4: can you guys were all white? Can you meet me here?
Speaker 4: And everybody came. Everybody wore all white. And when I
Speaker 4: tell you, it was something so special about it, because
Speaker 4: we couldn't get two feet without people being.
Speaker 3: Like, who are you guys?
Speaker 1: What do you do?
Speaker 4: Can I take a picture with you? People were sending
Speaker 4: us drinks. We were at the rooftop of this restaurant,
Speaker 4: and I just looked around the table. I remember the
Speaker 4: exact moment, looking around the table, and I just saw
Speaker 4: everybody smiling and looking so confident and just feeling joy
Speaker 4: And I just thought to myself, if I could give
Speaker 4: us this feeling all the time, I want to do that.
Speaker 4: I want us to because this is how we should
Speaker 4: be able to walk through life joyously, right Yeah. And
Speaker 4: it was in that moment I remember doing a toast
Speaker 4: and I was like, this is to all of my
Speaker 4: black and excellent friends. This is a black excellence brunch.
Speaker 4: And then something clicked, ah wow, And it was in
Speaker 4: that moment I was like, I got to do more
Speaker 4: of this and I got to gather us more. And
Speaker 4: but most importantly, I got to put a smile on
Speaker 4: our faces.
Speaker 1: Do that. Oh my god, oh thank you.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: No, just like you group in the South, Sundays, we're
Speaker 2: definitely our day where the family got together, everybody cousins.
Speaker 2: So we all came to one home and like you said,
Speaker 2: we just came together and we were already looking good
Speaker 2: because we were at our Sundays and then we had
Speaker 2: an amazing dinner and just fellowship.
Speaker 1: And that's beautiful. That that's what sparked that. So you
Speaker 1: just toasted and then you said black Excellence brunch and
Speaker 1: that's when you're like, wait that it just clicked.
Speaker 4: It just clicked, and I was like, okay, I got
Speaker 4: to do more of this, and so it was kind
Speaker 4: of rinse and repeatd that I moved to LA. When
Speaker 4: I came to La, I did another one, same reaction.
Speaker 4: And you know, like in LA and in New York,
Speaker 4: it's hard to impress people.
Speaker 1: It sure is.
Speaker 4: Everybody's impressed. But I just saw how people were receiving us.
Speaker 4: But most importantly, Crystal, I realized one that it was
Speaker 4: bigger than me. My a mentor told me, like, if
Speaker 4: you're doing anything and it starts and stops at you.
Speaker 3: Then it's not big enough.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, And so in those moments, I realized, oh, this
Speaker 4: is bigger than me. But I also realized that it
Speaker 4: was something so divine about the space. It just like
Speaker 4: I tell people, even now, you can see all the
Speaker 4: videos and the pictures, but until you've been in the space,
Speaker 4: you don't really know. But the energy of it is
Speaker 4: so beautiful. And I think you probably can attest to this.
Speaker 4: There's a point in your life where you were something,
Speaker 4: you're doing something, and you're like, this is not just
Speaker 4: a thing that I'm doing. This is a part of
Speaker 4: my purpose, and this is my responsibility. And I started
Speaker 4: to feel responsible, responsible for bringing joy to us, responsible
Speaker 4: for shifting the narrative, responsible for creating safe spaces. And
Speaker 4: so it was like, all right, this isn't just a
Speaker 4: thing that I'm doing, Like, this is what I've been
Speaker 4: called to do.
Speaker 3: And when you hear your call in you got to
Speaker 3: like walk in.
Speaker 1: It, right, you know.
Speaker 2: So back then when you first started, how many people
Speaker 2: were attending these brunches.
Speaker 1: Because I've seen what it is now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I would say at the very beginning it
Speaker 4: was like forty fifty people. Yeah, like between forty and
Speaker 4: fifty people, and yeah, now we've done as many as
Speaker 4: three thousand people, which I'm still like pinching myself about.
Speaker 2: You know, did you like this has been something that's
Speaker 2: in culturally impactful? Did you ever dream that, like when
Speaker 2: you started in twenty seventeen, that it would be this
Speaker 2: big and that you'd be at the White House, you
Speaker 2: would be at every film festival.
Speaker 1: Like, did you dream that it would ever be this big?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 4: No, And I didn't know. I just wanted to do.
Speaker 4: Even in the even now, there are times where people
Speaker 4: would be like, do you realize, Like even when you
Speaker 4: mentioned that just now, I'm like, wait a minute, I
Speaker 4: guess that's that's true, Like because I'm just doing and
Speaker 4: I'm just going. I remember having this moment and I'll
Speaker 4: share with you. I was, you know, this was maybe
Speaker 4: twenty twenty two, and I had been done doing the
Speaker 4: brunches for a while. I figured out I was no
Speaker 4: longer having to spend my own money time. So but
Speaker 4: I walked we had one at Sofi Stadium. Wait what yeah?
Speaker 4: And I and it was brand new. We had one
Speaker 4: at Sofi Stadium. I walked in. I see black Excellence
Speaker 4: brunch on the jumbo tron and I'm like, and even
Speaker 4: though we had done like all these partnerships and we
Speaker 4: had traveled by then, we had done Africa and everything,
Speaker 4: I was like, oh man, I guess this. This is
Speaker 4: something that I'm doing because when you are on the
Speaker 4: path and you and I'm at this point, I'm helping
Speaker 4: people set up. Like I've never been the type of
Speaker 4: be like, okay, go do it. You know, I'm on
Speaker 4: in and on the ground with people. And so I
Speaker 4: didn't realize it and got that big until I looked up.
Speaker 4: Somebody was like, troll like, look and I looked and
Speaker 4: it was on the jumbo tron. So I feel like
Speaker 4: that's what keeps me like going just not even paying
Speaker 4: attention to to like these marquee moments.
Speaker 3: But it's also.
Speaker 4: Important, I guess, to stop and be like, wait a minute,
Speaker 4: like this is happening.
Speaker 3: So thank you for that.
Speaker 1: Remind you know it is I am.
Speaker 2: I always remind my friends, especially when things are just
Speaker 2: going so fast and everything's on a hide, take those
Speaker 2: moments to really soak it in because it goes by
Speaker 2: just like that, and before you know it, you're just
Speaker 2: on to the next, on to the next, and then
Speaker 2: you don't take a chance to look back and say, whoa,
Speaker 2: I've accomplished all these amazing things, you know, so take
Speaker 2: time to sit in gratitude.
Speaker 1: I love that you're finding time to do that.
Speaker 2: Now, you mentioned it got to a point where you
Speaker 2: weren't coming out of your own pocket to make these
Speaker 2: things happen. So from the beginning you were futoting the
Speaker 2: bill from US today's Thames.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah.
Speaker 4: And I tell people all the time, like, one of
Speaker 4: the biggest questions that I get is like, how do
Speaker 4: you get all these brand partnership At this point, we've
Speaker 4: partner with over one hundred brands, and people like I
Speaker 4: do want to know these brand partnerships, And I tell
Speaker 4: people it's simpler. Then a lot of people realize, first
Speaker 4: of all, and if you're gonna ask anybody to invest
Speaker 4: in you, like, are you investing in yourself?
Speaker 3: Like I feel like you can't.
Speaker 4: Ask anybody for anything that you're not willing to give yourself.
Speaker 4: And that's in business, that's in relationships, that's in friendships, Like,
Speaker 4: I can't ask you to be honest if I'm not
Speaker 4: being honest. So before I go to a brand and
Speaker 4: be like, hey, can you give me sixty dollars one
Speaker 4: hundred thousand dollars to do so something like I need
Speaker 4: to know like what it what it feels like to
Speaker 4: put that into to invest that into something.
Speaker 3: So when I did the first Black Exces bunch, when.
Speaker 4: I was like, oh, I'm I'm gonna do it nice
Speaker 4: and I'm gonna, you know, put some decor on it,
Speaker 4: and I'm I literally paid for that with my own money.
Speaker 4: And it gave me such an appreciation for the space.
Speaker 4: And it also let me know, like Joe, you don't
Speaker 4: got to depend on anybody to do anything that's good
Speaker 4: because you We're never waiting on it. It's always waiting
Speaker 4: on us. So I think that was waiting on me.
Speaker 4: It was waiting on me to make the decision that
Speaker 4: you know what, you can do it.
Speaker 3: It was waiting on me to invest in myself.
Speaker 4: It was waiting on me to like move forward and
Speaker 4: answer the calling that I was just talking to you about.
Speaker 4: So I feel like that's the important first step, like
Speaker 4: know what it takes to invest into your thing, into
Speaker 4: your dream and be willing to make that investment. And
Speaker 4: the next thing, you know, the very next brunch after
Speaker 4: I made that investment, I got fifty thousand dollars from.
Speaker 3: Netflix to do the next one.
Speaker 4: That's and I firmly believe it is because I was,
Speaker 4: you know, I was. I had got out of the
Speaker 4: mode of like, oh, I'm waiting on I'm waiting on
Speaker 4: somebody else to save me. You know, I'm like, I'm
Speaker 4: gonna do it regardless. You pull up to the table.
Speaker 4: That's nice, but it's still gonna be here.
Speaker 2: Listen, you are speaking to me right now, you really are,
Speaker 2: because there's things that I still want to do and
Speaker 2: you just hit the nail on the head.
Speaker 1: It's waiting for me to step up to it and
Speaker 1: do it. I love that. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: So when did you get so did you even ask
Speaker 2: Netflix or the Netflix.
Speaker 1: Approach you for that?
Speaker 3: You know? And I know we are people of faith,
Speaker 3: so you'll get this chance. So okay. I also believe
Speaker 3: that you have to.
Speaker 4: Pray about it and then leave it, because when we
Speaker 4: pray and then we worry, it's like me giving you
Speaker 4: something and then be like, O, can I have that back?
Speaker 4: So like, I'm not going to give God the thing
Speaker 4: and then be like, oh, let me borrow it so
Speaker 4: I can worry about it for a little while, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean. So it's like here you go,
Speaker 4: like this is the thing, and then I gotta move
Speaker 4: on from it. And I think when I had invested
Speaker 4: in myself on that first one, you know, I was like,
Speaker 4: all right, God, like I did this, A'm out of money,
Speaker 4: you know, here you go. I wanted to be nice
Speaker 4: and then I left it alone and I literally I
Speaker 4: lot to you. Not three days later, I went to
Speaker 4: dinner with a friend of mine, Angelique, and then Jasmine
Speaker 4: a shout to y'all off, y'all out there watching this,
Speaker 4: thank you so much. So Jasmine Lawson was at the
Speaker 4: dinner and she was working at Netflix at the time,
Speaker 4: and I was just telling her about, like, you know,
Speaker 4: these gatherings that I do. I was just telling I
Speaker 4: didn't even know like what her position was. We were
Speaker 4: just out to dinner as friends and I was telling
Speaker 4: her about it, and little did I know, she was
Speaker 4: taking mental notes and went to her direct supervisor at
Speaker 4: Netflix and told them with just as much excitement as
Speaker 4: I had. They agreed to take a call with me,
Speaker 4: and that was it. So that's that's how it happened.
Speaker 4: So I think that putting it in motion, praying about
Speaker 4: it and leaving it like allow God to be God,
Speaker 4: and the things start to be orchestrated because I wasn't.
Speaker 4: It wasn't like a dinner that we had planned for weeks.
Speaker 4: We popped up and did that and Jasmine wasn't even
Speaker 4: supposed to come. She showed up, you know. And I
Speaker 4: think that's how.
Speaker 1: God works, it is that's alignment. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Wow, And you still have this relationship with nel. I
Speaker 2: just did a brunch with Netflix a few that I missed.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna let you know every every time, whoever's got it,
Speaker 2: then I need yours. I need every the brunch schedule
Speaker 2: to be in this city of COVID.
Speaker 1: Yes. No, but that's amazing, And that.
Speaker 2: Says a lot about you and the brand that you've
Speaker 2: built that you're able to sustain relationships with a brand
Speaker 2: as big as Netflix. You know, with all the brunches
Speaker 2: that you've had, what has been one of your most
Speaker 2: memorable brunches?
Speaker 1: Wow?
Speaker 4: You know you know what I always remember. I always
Speaker 4: remember with the conversations, and so I think like people
Speaker 4: that comes to minds like Tabitha Brown. Uh, it's just
Speaker 4: everybody what happens at the brunch, and it's part of
Speaker 4: it being in this divine spaces. People come and they
Speaker 4: show up so authentically. It's no pomp and circumstance. It's
Speaker 4: no like I'm here and you're there. I tell people,
Speaker 4: everybody is a v I P. But when I have
Speaker 4: these conversations because I honor like cultural icons, and we've
Speaker 4: honored Kelly Rowland and Tabitha Brown and both to Saint
Speaker 4: John and Making Good and Tina Mss Tina Knowles, and
Speaker 4: you know, we've honored so many incredible people, and people always.
Speaker 3: Show up with their heart.
Speaker 4: Yes, you know, I'm thinking about even the last Brunches
Speaker 4: I just did with Netflix and sitting with Victoria Mahoney
Speaker 4: who's the director of The Old Guard too, and Kiki Lane,
Speaker 4: who stars in it as a black woman super super hero.
Speaker 1: I mean she is so beautiful, first of all, just stunning.
Speaker 4: I'm telling you, and just also beautiful inside and out.
Speaker 4: And she came and she sat with us, and she
Speaker 4: poured her heart and she cried with us, and it's
Speaker 4: just there's no other spaces where I feel like people
Speaker 4: feel seen. And so when you ask about my favorite
Speaker 4: black excellents brunches, it's I have favorite moments within them,
Speaker 4: but it's hard to choose one. But I think that
Speaker 4: the thing that I love most is that you see
Speaker 4: people authentically and they feel seen.
Speaker 1: Yes, no, for sure.
Speaker 2: I've been to two Black Excellence brunches and I felt
Speaker 2: seen both times.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I mean so much. Yeah.
Speaker 2: No, seriously, it's such a it feels like a failing reunion.
Speaker 5: Yes, that's the That's what I try to create, no
Speaker 5: matter how big it is, because you've been to like
Speaker 5: a smaller one and you've been to like the biggest one.
Speaker 1: Right, I say, we're gonna get to that.
Speaker 3: That was Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yes, if you had anyone on your wish list that
Speaker 2: you want to have a ten year Black Excellence brunch,
Speaker 2: would it be?
Speaker 3: Let me just pull out my not.
Speaker 4: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, gosh. Uh, there's so many iconic
Speaker 4: people that I think, Lisa Leslie, we can make that heaven, yeah, Leslie,
Speaker 4: Don Staley, Uh gosh, there's so many incredible people who
Speaker 4: Tyler Perry like, so many incredible people who I think.
Speaker 1: Listen, all right now I can put a bug out.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: There's so many incredible people that I feel like deserve
Speaker 4: their flowers, and I want to share this space with.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Beyonce, come on, come on.
Speaker 2: Speaking of Beyonce, her mom is seen as is a
Speaker 2: mentor of yours.
Speaker 1: Yes, how did that come? Like? How do you get
Speaker 1: Mama Tina to be your mentor? You know?
Speaker 3: Again another form manifestation.
Speaker 4: So I was living in New York and so Longa's
Speaker 4: album To See at the Table came out, which is
Speaker 4: a timeless classic.
Speaker 3: And I'm going to say it right now.
Speaker 4: The time hasn't passed yet, but we're going to be
Speaker 4: listening to that album fifty years from now, Like we
Speaker 4: listened to The Miseducation of Lauren Hill?
Speaker 1: Right, where did I say at dinner?
Speaker 2: That is like when if we had we were starting
Speaker 2: on the island and we only had one album, what
Speaker 2: would it be?
Speaker 1: A nest? The one?
Speaker 3: I said?
Speaker 4: Man, that album, Like I probably listened to it like
Speaker 4: over and over and over.
Speaker 3: I can't even count them out times.
Speaker 4: But there is an interlude on the album, and I
Speaker 4: love that she did interludes because like that was a
Speaker 4: lost art and she brought it back in such an
Speaker 4: amazing way. And Miss Tina was on one of the
Speaker 4: interludes and she was and it was during the time
Speaker 4: it was a dark time, for me, I would say
Speaker 4: where I was just feeling. I was in the corporate
Speaker 4: world before I became a full time entrepreneur, and I
Speaker 4: was feeling so down and and just taking advantage of
Speaker 4: I remember bringing so many creative ideas and I remember
Speaker 4: them being shot down and people being like, oh, they're
Speaker 4: not No, that's not a good idea.
Speaker 3: That's not a good idea.
Speaker 4: But then I would see them secretly try to do it,
Speaker 4: but they wanted me to think it wasn't good but
Speaker 4: they and then they wanted to give the credit to
Speaker 4: somebody else, and of course it was somebody who didn't
Speaker 4: look like love.
Speaker 3: So I was buried down. I was just like, what
Speaker 3: is it like?
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 4: And I remember listening to the interlude where Miss Tina
Speaker 4: was just talking about the joy of being a black person.
Speaker 3: That pride and that you know, and it reinvigorated me.
Speaker 4: And every time I would leave work and I would
Speaker 4: feel a way, I would turn to that interlude and
Speaker 4: I would listen to it, and I remember, and this
Speaker 4: is where a manifestation comes in.
Speaker 3: I remember sitting and I was like, I wish I.
Speaker 4: Could just talk to her, like I want to just
Speaker 4: talk to her, and I put it out there and
Speaker 4: I didn't think of nothing about it. And I have
Speaker 4: to say that in that moment, I feel like God
Speaker 4: started to put things in motion. So things got really
Speaker 4: bad at work, and at first I was like, well,
Speaker 4: what's happening? Like yeah, but if you know anything about
Speaker 4: the way God works, if God is telling you to
Speaker 4: do something and you're not heeding to what God is,
Speaker 4: things will get real, it will get real uncomfortable. And
Speaker 4: they got really uncomfortable. And so I was working. I
Speaker 4: remember I was working on this. I get she was
Speaker 4: thinking about. I was working on this event to the
Speaker 4: hope was to honor Beyonce Wow and and she was
Speaker 4: pregnant at the time, and so she couldn't you know,
Speaker 4: be there for and I ended up moving to La
Speaker 4: I met someone, Andrea Nelson Mix, who is an incredible agent,
Speaker 4: and she was sitting with me and she was like, Hi,
Speaker 4: you know, I'm working with Waco Theater Center. And she
Speaker 4: was like, they think that they're looking for a social
Speaker 4: media person, but I think that they're looking for you specifically,
Speaker 4: And she set up a meeting with me and mister
Speaker 4: Yes and Miss Tina just happened to be there at
Speaker 4: the time. She walked by and she looked and she
Speaker 4: came back and she was like, who is this? And
Speaker 4: so she walked into the meeting and we were supposed
Speaker 4: to meet for like thirty minutes. We sat there and
Speaker 4: talked for like three hours.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 4: And the first thing that I worked on her, worked
Speaker 4: with her on was a gala honoring Beyonce Yes, and
Speaker 4: so God had fulfilled the thing behind that too yet,
Speaker 4: like I got to help bring that to life. But
Speaker 4: Miss Tina's an incredible visionary. It's so smart, creative, like deserves.
Speaker 4: I'm so glad that she's getting her flowers now with
Speaker 4: the matriarch.
Speaker 3: But yeah, so.
Speaker 4: When God made that promise to me after I like
Speaker 4: said those things to listen to those albums, that album,
Speaker 4: it just started to come true. So that's how we
Speaker 4: met and we just been so close ever since. And
Speaker 4: I think it's because Miss Tina is one of those
Speaker 4: people that she sees your heart.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and she wants to help you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: And she also taught me just a lot about you know,
Speaker 4: you can't wait on somebody else to do something for
Speaker 4: you or to give you an opportunity, Like you have
Speaker 4: to make space and take up space yes, and I
Speaker 4: started doing that and.
Speaker 1: Man, look at you. You're occupying all streets right now.
Speaker 1: You're killing it.
Speaker 3: Oh thank you.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So you talked about going from corporate to being an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2: Same thing, and I think we have something common. Well,
Speaker 2: you worked for the Obama campaign and I got recruited,
Speaker 2: but I didn't take the job. Yeah. I worked on
Speaker 2: the Hill before I moved to Atlanta to pursue acting
Speaker 2: in music. But you work from NBC Viacom and then
Speaker 2: he works on the Obama campaign. Tell me what that
Speaker 2: transition was like, going in that jump where you said,
Speaker 2: all right, I'm not gonna do this anymore. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: go work for myself and make my dreams come true.
Speaker 4: So that was things are really uncomfortable, like I was
Speaker 4: telling you earlier, and I knew like so I feel
Speaker 4: like at every place, So from the Obama campaign to
Speaker 4: NBC to Viacom, like every place that I was, I
Speaker 4: was a mentor taught me about this too, Like I
Speaker 4: was putting things in my toolbox. So you always collecting things,
Speaker 4: and sometimes you have the tools that you need, but
Speaker 4: and it's time for you to move on to the
Speaker 4: next thing. But you're so comfortable or you're so you know,
Speaker 4: you like the friends that you have, but whatever the
Speaker 4: reason is, and you stay too long. And people do
Speaker 4: this again and at jobs, they do their relationships, they
Speaker 4: do their friendship. They do it sometimes with family members,
Speaker 4: you know. And I think that when God tells you
Speaker 4: to get up and move, you got to get up
Speaker 4: and move.
Speaker 3: And so when I I actually.
Speaker 4: Would be in La a Lot, right, I would be
Speaker 4: in La a Lot for work. And one day, Crystal,
Speaker 4: I lie to you not. I was walking down the street,
Speaker 4: you know, a palm tree line street. I've always been
Speaker 4: anti LA and so pro New York. I was living
Speaker 4: in New York. So I was like, I'm here, you
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying. But when I was walking down
Speaker 4: the street, I heard God say so clearly home. I
Speaker 4: just kept hearing it, and I walked by this building
Speaker 4: that was named as soon as I heard that, I
Speaker 4: walked by this building and the name of the building
Speaker 4: was the name of my hometown. And they were building
Speaker 4: and I was like, oh, this is such a nice building.
Speaker 4: And I ended up moving and staying in that building.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 4: And so I feel like, too, when you're on this journey,
Speaker 4: like God will speak to us, and it'll be faint,
Speaker 4: and the more you lean in and listen to it,
Speaker 4: the louder and the clearer it becomes.
Speaker 3: And I think at that point.
Speaker 4: In my life I had gotten to a point where
Speaker 4: the voice was clear, and so when God was telling
Speaker 4: me to do something, all right, I'm like, Okay, let's go.
Speaker 1: Let get We're doing it.
Speaker 3: So I started. I got back to New York, I
Speaker 3: started looking up apartments.
Speaker 4: I started like calling people, and the next time I
Speaker 4: went to LA I just didn't take that flight back.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: So you talked about building your toolbox. What are some
Speaker 2: of the tools that you took from working in corporate
Speaker 2: America to be an entrepreneur and what impact did it
Speaker 2: have on you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course. So you know, one of the things
Speaker 3: that I took was like, and this word get thrown
Speaker 3: around a.
Speaker 1: Lot, like humility and being humble.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I learned that, Like, I don't want to be humble,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean? Like, and in corporate America
Speaker 4: you can't be like humble, and you know, so you
Speaker 4: have to like ask for what you want.
Speaker 3: You have to say.
Speaker 4: The thing, now, the part of the humility that I
Speaker 4: like is that you can be kind and considered and
Speaker 4: show grace. But if people don't know, like what you're
Speaker 4: capable of and what you can do, and like what
Speaker 4: tools that you have, and.
Speaker 3: It'll get looked over over and over. Yeah it's the truth.
Speaker 4: And so like I have this like love hate relationship
Speaker 4: with the word humble, and in corporate America, I learned like,
Speaker 4: put humble you know underneath some stuff, you know that's real,
Speaker 4: And I'm yeah, I can be kind, I can be considered,
Speaker 4: I can be all the things. And speaking of kind, like,
Speaker 4: I also learned that you can be kind, but you
Speaker 4: don't always have to be nice, Yes, because nice will have.
Speaker 3: You being taken advantage of.
Speaker 4: It'll have people low balling you, It'll have people treating
Speaker 4: you like you're lesson.
Speaker 3: So I am kind, but I'm not always nice, you know.
Speaker 4: So I think that's another thing. I learned how to
Speaker 4: pitch my brand, So when you are I did so
Speaker 4: many decks, And if you're not familiar with what a
Speaker 4: deck is, the deck is when you kind of take
Speaker 4: the thing. Say you're doing an event, and you kind
Speaker 4: of take the event and you put it in like
Speaker 4: a digestible package for people to be able to see
Speaker 4: like what it is that you do, how they can
Speaker 4: get involved, why they should get involved, And so I
Speaker 4: learned how to do that really well. And that's what
Speaker 4: helped me transition from that one that I paid for
Speaker 4: to the one that got paid for.
Speaker 3: Right. I knew from working in corporate America.
Speaker 4: Okay, I need to take photos, I need to have
Speaker 4: like notes, I need to invite certain people, and I
Speaker 4: need to package this all up and then have it prepared,
Speaker 4: because you have to prepare for what you're praying for.
Speaker 4: So you can pray for something all the time, but
Speaker 4: are you preparing for so when that thing walks up,
Speaker 4: it's like, all right, you don't want to miss that
Speaker 4: opportunity because you're not there.
Speaker 3: So while I'm praying, I'm preparing.
Speaker 4: And that was another thing that I learned in corporate America.
Speaker 4: And I also learned because and people do this all
Speaker 4: the time. They'll send one email and then they don't
Speaker 4: get a response from that email and.
Speaker 3: They're like, oh, they don't want to do it.
Speaker 4: But you are the one that needs something, So you
Speaker 4: can't send one email and just beginning, you have to
Speaker 4: be persistent, you have to follow up. You have to
Speaker 4: find the best contact you have to do all of
Speaker 4: your research, and you have to Sometimes you have to
Speaker 4: call after you sit the email.
Speaker 3: Sometimes you have to get a number in text. So
Speaker 3: I learned.
Speaker 4: Persistence and I think, but most of all, I learned
Speaker 4: to advocate for myself, you know, which I used to
Speaker 4: be so scared to do. Really yeah, yeah, like I
Speaker 4: was a person who would uh, this story comes to mind.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna go ahead and tell. So I'm in a fraternity,
Speaker 4: cap up the side, Fraternity Incorporated. Shout out to all
Speaker 4: the nups out there. I'm in a fraternity and we
Speaker 4: I was the president of n PHC, which is all
Speaker 4: the divine, and I was simultaneously the vice president of
Speaker 4: my chapter. And I remember I was sitting meetings and
Speaker 4: I like, I've always been a creative, so I would
Speaker 4: have all these ideas. And one of my profiles, one
Speaker 4: of the older the ones that older me, they would
Speaker 4: watch me in these meetings and.
Speaker 3: They were like you always.
Speaker 4: One day, like he got in my face, he was
Speaker 4: like you always, I know you got something to say.
Speaker 4: You never want to say what you what you have
Speaker 4: to say, Like I can see it on your face.
Speaker 4: You know you need to speak up for yourself and
Speaker 4: you know, I was like, oh, and that was basically
Speaker 4: he was telling me, like what you think matters, and
Speaker 4: it matters in this room. And so I had to
Speaker 4: get out of that, like it doesn't matter if I'm
Speaker 4: the youngest or if I'm the only person of color,
Speaker 4: or if I'm the only guy or whatever it is
Speaker 4: in a room, Like my voice matters, and if it
Speaker 4: didn't matter, I wouldn't be in that place.
Speaker 1: So true, Absolutely, that's so good.
Speaker 2: So you went from working on the Obama campaign and
Speaker 2: you went from a rooftop of a New York restaurant
Speaker 2: to the White House. I was at this one, yeah, trail.
Speaker 2: It was it was monumental, it was historic. It was
Speaker 2: I think for every person that had the honor of
Speaker 2: attending this event, it was something that made us believe
Speaker 2: in dream bigger.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: We sat on the lawn and looked at a building
Speaker 2: that our ancestors built, died for. We sat on the
Speaker 2: line of a house that a lot of us haven't
Speaker 2: even been able to go to or even invited or welcomed,
Speaker 2: you know. So to be welcomed in that way, and
Speaker 2: for it to be a young black man that made
Speaker 2: that happen for us was I got. I'm like trying,
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, it was.
Speaker 1: It was amazing. What was that moment life for you?
Speaker 2: You had your family there everywhere I turned, and then
Speaker 2: people were texting like wait, I saw you, where'd you go?
Speaker 2: Like we were all trying to catch up with each other.
Speaker 2: It literally felt like a big family reunion. The food
Speaker 2: was amazing. What was that moment life for you? Because
Speaker 2: I know what it felt like for us.
Speaker 4: You know, honestly, I was talking to somebody about this
Speaker 4: just just just yesterday. It was out of body experience.
Speaker 4: I felt like I was like covering above myself, watching
Speaker 4: myself time. It wasn't until I stepped off the stage
Speaker 4: and I don't know if you saw me, and I
Speaker 4: like broke. I had like a breakdown from that was
Speaker 4: when I came back into my body. I felt like
Speaker 4: but the whole time, I just felt like I was
Speaker 4: watching myself. And I think because I felt the weight
Speaker 4: of that responsibility and I wanted to do it right
Speaker 4: and I wanted to for us to be seen like
Speaker 4: that love and so you know, I'm just so grateful
Speaker 4: that it happened. I'm so grateful that, you know, people
Speaker 4: like you just shared have that experience, and you know,
Speaker 4: you're speaking about the things that I wanted.
Speaker 3: I wanted to give.
Speaker 4: Us opportunity to make space for us to take up space,
Speaker 4: and like also.
Speaker 3: Not for nothing.
Speaker 4: To your point, that place wouldn't be there if it
Speaker 4: weren't for us, our literal blood, sweat and tears, and
Speaker 4: so it's only right that we get to be celebrated
Speaker 4: in that kind of way, in that space, you know.
Speaker 3: And so that was my thought process, and it was just.
Speaker 4: And I think a lesson or thing that I learned
Speaker 4: and all of that is like somebody's.
Speaker 3: Always watching you. Yeah, somebody's always watching you, and that thing.
Speaker 3: People don't know that.
Speaker 4: But that was like three years in the making, and
Speaker 4: it came to me in a dream like I literally
Speaker 4: I was walking passed through like where the Rose Garden is.
Speaker 4: I was walking through there, and I had like deja
Speaker 4: vu because I dreamed walking the exact same steps I
Speaker 4: saw myself. I looked at the reflection of myself all
Speaker 4: those things and it was happening again. And so that's
Speaker 4: how I know it was divine. But for me, it
Speaker 4: was like I wanted to create a space for us
Speaker 4: to feel.
Speaker 3: Seen on a massive scale.
Speaker 4: And it taught me the lesson of like, always be
Speaker 4: preparing for it because somebody someplace is watching what you're doing.
Speaker 4: And that's that's what happened. Somebody at the White House
Speaker 4: was watching at the same time I was dreaming.
Speaker 2: I was gonna add ooh, I was gonna ask you that.
Speaker 2: That's powerful. Somebody was watching at the White House while.
Speaker 1: I was dreaming.
Speaker 2: Yep, my goodness, so good, so good. So how did
Speaker 2: that happen? The person that was watching reached out.
Speaker 4: So yeah, you know, I'm persistent. Anybody that knows me
Speaker 4: would tell you trail is the follow up. King, I'm
Speaker 4: gonna follow up and thenollow up and then follow up
Speaker 4: on top of the follow up.
Speaker 1: I love it. I'm for real. Uh and I will
Speaker 1: be following it up for your schedule, please, dude, think
Speaker 1: and I'll be following up too. I need that bread schedule.
Speaker 4: No, but okay, So I've been really blessed to have
Speaker 4: a lot of incredible people in my life, a lot
Speaker 4: of black women. To shout out to black women, you
Speaker 4: all are like the backbone of society. Nothing moves without
Speaker 4: black culture, but nothing really moves without black women.
Speaker 3: So it was black a black.
Speaker 4: Woman Joe Taka Edie who came to me, she's from
Speaker 4: South Carolina, who came to me and was like, you
Speaker 4: got some special brother.
Speaker 3: That's what you know.
Speaker 4: If you know, you notice how she talked, you got
Speaker 4: some special brother, like you got something special. And I
Speaker 4: was like, thank you, Joe Taka and you know, and
Speaker 4: that's all she said at first.
Speaker 3: And she was behind the scenes talking to people.
Speaker 4: And then my fraternity brother Stephen Steve Benjamin was advisor
Speaker 4: to the president.
Speaker 3: He also was like, you know, whispering ears.
Speaker 4: And for me, I was just calling anybody that would listen,
Speaker 4: like I was under people social media, I was dming
Speaker 4: some of them DM still unbread but it happened that
Speaker 4: it happened, you know. But yeah, any email I was
Speaker 4: sending the emails and so but I always made sure
Speaker 4: again like kind. I was always kind to people. My
Speaker 4: mom taught me that at a very early age. I
Speaker 4: remember when I she would drop me off to school,
Speaker 4: she would say, Trail, you treat the janitor the same
Speaker 4: way you treat the.
Speaker 1: Press, absolutely saying and that all.
Speaker 4: That's that's stuck with me my entire life. I've always
Speaker 4: treated almost especially you know, people who I felt like
Speaker 4: didn't also always get treated. You know, I've always made
Speaker 4: a point to be kind to those people. And you know,
Speaker 4: some of my biggest breaks have come from like somebody
Speaker 4: who a lot of people might have overlooked that I
Speaker 4: was kind to, that remembered my kindness and told somebody
Speaker 4: else about me.
Speaker 3: A big deal for me. I did PR.
Speaker 4: Like in my many lives, I would say I also
Speaker 4: did PR. And I remember my biggest thing. I got
Speaker 4: a placement in Old magazine, which was huge, and that
Speaker 4: placement came from me offering an assistant water somebody, the
Speaker 4: assistant oftentimes nobody ever talks to, and I had you
Speaker 4: know they you know, when you go visit office and stuff,
Speaker 4: they make sure that you have the things that you need.
Speaker 3: And I got another water, and I offered the assistant one.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 4: And the assistant told their boss, who told the editor
Speaker 4: who got me the placement.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 4: And I have so many stories in my life like that,
Speaker 4: where just being kind to somebody who needs a little
Speaker 4: more kindness can can open a big door for you.
Speaker 1: That's good. That is so good. Wow, I'm still suck on.
Speaker 1: Somebody was watching while I was dreaming.
Speaker 4: I'm telling you, probably was literally while I was having
Speaker 4: that dream. Somebody was like scrolling like who is this?
Speaker 3: Brother?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know that's crazy. What do you feel has
Speaker 2: made your brand stand out? Because I feel like the
Speaker 2: brunch let's call it brunch industry, you know, is.
Speaker 1: Like very saturating.
Speaker 2: But what has made your standout over all the other ones?
Speaker 4: I think when God has given you a vision, God
Speaker 4: will give you provision.
Speaker 2: Come on this, Okay, we're gonna add pastor to your
Speaker 2: title because you're preaching right.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, I was in the church for my
Speaker 4: mom was my Southern school teacher, she was my vacation
Speaker 4: Bible school teacher, she was my choir director.
Speaker 3: I was in the church a lot.
Speaker 4: So don't let this set fool you, like I know
Speaker 4: my word, but no, it's real. Like when God gives
Speaker 4: you a vision, God will give you provision. And so
Speaker 4: it doesn't matter if it's a million people doing things.
Speaker 4: I mean, look at benty Yes, like Rihanna has has
Speaker 4: a billion dollar industry that everybody will say over saturated
Speaker 4: that you can't turn anywhere without saying some makeup, But
Speaker 4: it ain't fenty.
Speaker 2: Hello, and then it has deals after deals with other
Speaker 2: exactly just does everything, yes.
Speaker 4: And I feel like we live you know, we were
Speaker 4: talking about this. I don't operate in a scarcity mindset.
Speaker 4: We live in an infinite you know, there's enough of
Speaker 4: everything for everybody three times three and four times over.
Speaker 4: So I I've always been lived by that, like there's
Speaker 4: enough for me and so, but I think there are
Speaker 4: a couple of things that that that differentiate the brunch
Speaker 4: from other brunches, right, one is like the heart of it,
Speaker 4: And I think that you should hone it like you know,
Speaker 4: the know your why and the tension behind your why
Speaker 4: before you start anything, and be really firm on that.
Speaker 3: And I have been, like I've said.
Speaker 4: No to six figure deals because it wasn't it wasn't
Speaker 4: the heart that's so good. Yeah, you got to keep
Speaker 4: your integrity. You got to keep the integrity of your brain.
Speaker 4: Like how many place fast food restaurants did you used
Speaker 4: to love and then when it got too big, they
Speaker 4: messed with the integrity and now it's not good. And
Speaker 4: I think it's the same thing with your brain. You
Speaker 4: got to treat your brain like that. You got to
Speaker 4: keep being integral about it. And so for me, like
Speaker 4: I am, I know that my nose make way for
Speaker 4: my yesis so I'm not afraid to say no to anything,
Speaker 4: and that has has really helped the brand, like being having.
Speaker 3: Those clear boundaries, you know.
Speaker 4: I feel like another thing about a brand is like
Speaker 4: having something that's recognizable.
Speaker 3: So the all white really helps too.
Speaker 4: And for me, it wasn't about like making a brand,
Speaker 4: It was more so about I put us in all
Speaker 4: white because I wanted the concentration to be on the
Speaker 4: beauty of our melonis.
Speaker 3: So I didn't want anything distracting us from that.
Speaker 4: I wanted people to see, like the beauty of your skin,
Speaker 4: because it is about celebrating blackness. And blackness isn't because
Speaker 4: of black excellence, isn't because of all the accolades that
Speaker 4: you received.
Speaker 3: You were born. That is a birthright that we have.
Speaker 4: And I teach my sister to teach her sons, like,
Speaker 4: we didn't come like people are like, oh, yeah, they
Speaker 4: brought slaves over to American. No, they brought doctors and
Speaker 4: lawyers and engineers and all these things like we and
Speaker 4: kings and queens. We were born into royalty. That's our
Speaker 4: that's our ancestors, you know. So I wanted the concentration
Speaker 4: to be on the beauty of like all of the
Speaker 4: different shades of us. So that's another thing that has
Speaker 4: helped the brand. But I also think consistency and consistency
Speaker 4: is probably you know, paramount with any thing, any brand building.
Speaker 4: You have to be consistent, you have to continue to
Speaker 4: show up. That's the thing that a lot of people
Speaker 4: struggle with.
Speaker 1: I feel, yeah, it is.
Speaker 2: What is the legacy that you want to leave behind
Speaker 2: when it's all said and done, especially with this brunch,
Speaker 2: because it's ours, it's building a legacy of its own.
Speaker 4: That's such a like, Ah, you know, I want the
Speaker 4: legacy of Black Excellence Brunch and of myself just to
Speaker 4: be that like.
Speaker 3: People felt safe and seen.
Speaker 4: And affirmed around me and in the Black Excellence Brunch,
Speaker 4: because I believe that when people feel seen and affirmed,
Speaker 4: they're able to show up more authentically. And when you're
Speaker 4: able to show up more authentically, you you can walk
Speaker 4: your path, because our path is as unique to us
Speaker 4: as our thumbprint. And you can only get what's for
Speaker 4: you by being you, Like I can only get what's
Speaker 4: for traill by being trilled. I can't get what's for
Speaker 4: traill trying to be crystal. And so when you show
Speaker 4: up authentically you can collect all the things that are
Speaker 4: for you and so and when you feel safe, you're
Speaker 4: able to do that, yes, right, Yeah, And so I
Speaker 4: want people to feel a little safer and a little
Speaker 4: more affirmed and a little more scene when they're around
Speaker 4: me or when they're in spaces that I've created.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So something that I'm really interested to know about is
Speaker 2: the day of a big event, the day of your brunch,
Speaker 2: because I've thrown parties and I know how stressful it
Speaker 2: is the things that happen. What is one of the
Speaker 2: craziest things that's happened where you're like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: this is gonna happen, Like are we going.
Speaker 1: To even be able to have the brest today? Because
Speaker 1: I know you probably need a reality show just around them.
Speaker 4: There's so many, but there's one that I could think
Speaker 4: about it and I can talk about it now, but
Speaker 4: for a long time I couldn't talk about it. So
Speaker 4: we were in Austin, Texas, my first time in Austin,
Speaker 4: Texas at Afro Tech.
Speaker 3: I was so excited to be there. We were doing
Speaker 3: this brunch at.
Speaker 4: This place and they told us like, hey, you know,
Speaker 4: we have like, you know, a semi kitchen, so you know,
Speaker 4: basically when that happens, like the chef prepares the food
Speaker 4: and then you come bringing in there you warming, that happens.
Speaker 4: That's okay, we get there. It is a parking garage,
Speaker 4: there is the outlets.
Speaker 3: Don't work in there. You can't have a brunch without food.
Speaker 4: And the chef thought like, oh, I'm gonna make the
Speaker 4: eggs in there because we didn't have any We didn't
Speaker 4: have any food, we didn't.
Speaker 3: Have any way to warm it up.
Speaker 4: We were down there buying we were buying hot plates
Speaker 4: to plug them up. I had to run an extension
Speaker 4: court up step to plug in the hot place. The
Speaker 4: other chef was at at this Airbnb cooking the food,
Speaker 4: driving back and forth to bring I mean, it was
Speaker 4: insane all above. You know, the music is playing, people
Speaker 4: are like, oh yeah, I'm down there running back and
Speaker 4: forth hosting.
Speaker 3: Hey, welcome to the Black Exis.
Speaker 4: But we're so glad for you to be run downstairs
Speaker 4: putting on gloves like and it.
Speaker 3: Was wild, wild, and so that was a moment.
Speaker 4: While it's just like, I don't know, And honestly, the
Speaker 4: White House was a very big undertaking because you can't
Speaker 4: do anything.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of checks and balances, as you can.
Speaker 1: They were every like even like the Secret Service. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a lot. It was so much. I was like,
Speaker 1: I remember, I just remember working on the hill. It
Speaker 1: felt like that all over again.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So that was, you know, navigating that space. And I
Speaker 4: didn't like everybody. I didn't want And it's the same
Speaker 4: with the brushes, Like I wanted, yeah, people that you
Speaker 4: recognize and know and love like yourself there. I also
Speaker 4: wanted people that may have never gotten the opportunity to come,
Speaker 4: you know. So I invited some people from South Carolina
Speaker 4: who you know, probably never even been in a state building.
Speaker 3: Let alone the White House.
Speaker 4: So navigating that space and like you know, making sure that, Yeah,
Speaker 4: my family was there.
Speaker 3: My dad, my dad does not talk and he would
Speaker 3: not shut up, like he was inside the light. I
Speaker 3: was like taking pictures of everything. I think my dad
Speaker 3: took a picture of the floor. What you're gonna do
Speaker 3: with that?
Speaker 4: But yeah, but I wanted people to have that experience,
Speaker 4: and so navigating that was like, oh my gosh. And
Speaker 4: and you know, not only that I was building the program,
Speaker 4: I was you know, figuring out like the food and
Speaker 4: all those things. So doing it at that scale for
Speaker 4: three thousand people, and also trying to make sure like
Speaker 4: even you know, including like even the smallest people from
Speaker 4: the smallest town.
Speaker 3: I mean there's no small people, but you know.
Speaker 4: People from small town wouldn't get those you wouldn't get
Speaker 4: those opportunities to make sure those people were included as well.
Speaker 3: It's just that was that was a huge undertaking.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can imagine. But Austin takes a cake that was,
Speaker 1: Oh that's crazy. Yeah, and you but you handle it.
Speaker 1: You kept pushing matters. Yeah.
Speaker 4: And and a lady that that I was, that one
Speaker 4: was with uh door Dash and the same lady went
Speaker 4: to another company and she We're doing a Black Exce
Speaker 4: brunch together in a few weeks.
Speaker 3: So that's why I can talk about it because I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 3: they did nobody do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you pivoted. I love that.
Speaker 2: I want to know more about trail. So you have
Speaker 2: these amazing brunches. You've had an incredible impact on our
Speaker 2: community and culture. What does Treill do to stay grounded
Speaker 2: after all these monumental moments.
Speaker 4: You're gonna laugh at this, and maybe you won't, but
Speaker 4: I take you baths and it's not like you're like
Speaker 4: oh yeah, you take about everybody takes a bath, but no,
Speaker 4: I make it a thing. I get the candles, I've
Speaker 4: burned incense, I dimmed the lights, I have the music on,
Speaker 4: I have bath bombs, Like I really make it the more.
Speaker 4: And that has become like my recentering moment. And I
Speaker 4: was just sitting there and I think and yeah, run yeah.
Speaker 4: I was literally like I was finding the name. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it's my rare run moment. And I just sitting there
Speaker 4: and it resets me and it just calms me. And
Speaker 4: in that you know time, I'm just thinking about that
Speaker 4: because I've tried like every way to meditate, and I'm like,
Speaker 4: my mind is just soul, it's always going. But and there,
Speaker 4: I just feel like it's just it's so calmon.
Speaker 1: So I do that.
Speaker 3: And I like to travel, so I take trips.
Speaker 1: It's one of your favorite places to get.
Speaker 4: My favorite places. I have to say, I don't know
Speaker 4: if you have been to Ghana.
Speaker 1: I have not. I've only been to Ghana.
Speaker 4: Like when you're talking about it just felt like a
Speaker 4: big hug from your grandma being there. From the moment
Speaker 4: I stepped off the plane, I just felt like embraced
Speaker 4: in a way that I have never felt. Wow, so
Speaker 4: like that Ghana has to have been one of my
Speaker 4: favorite trips. I also really love like London is my
Speaker 4: spirit city, and I think London holds such a special
Speaker 4: place in my heart because if you haven't realized at
Speaker 4: this point, I'm a risk taker. And I booked a
Speaker 4: trip to London like on my twenty seventh birthday. The
Speaker 4: night before the trip, oh wow, by myself went and
Speaker 4: I had the time of my life. And it was
Speaker 4: my first thing, my first like solo trip. It was
Speaker 4: like a you know, what's that thing? Love eat prayer,
Speaker 4: eat pray love. It was that for me, and so
Speaker 4: ever since then, I've just had such an affinity for London.
Speaker 1: Really.
Speaker 2: I went to London in December, and I guess it
Speaker 2: was no One told me that wasn't a great time.
Speaker 1: To go because old and it rains.
Speaker 4: I was like, well, thank you, yeah, but it's so
Speaker 4: it's it's it's a vibrant city.
Speaker 3: The fashion is top tier. Like you just I just.
Speaker 4: Feel so cool, like Sherlock Holmes. I mean, I'm James
Speaker 4: Bond like walking down the street.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: I love that you are known for creating safe spaces
Speaker 2: for other people.
Speaker 1: How do you curate your own safe space? Listen boundaries.
Speaker 1: People talk a lot about boundaries.
Speaker 4: I have really set like firm boundaries around myself and
Speaker 4: it comes with like learning. You have to learn yourself
Speaker 4: to know like what you're willing because I used to be.
Speaker 4: I'm a virgo too, So if you know anything about Burgos,
Speaker 4: it's very people pleasing signs.
Speaker 1: We want people to be happy. So mother Teresa is
Speaker 1: a Virgo.
Speaker 4: Like Michael Jackson, Beyonce, Kobe Bryant, Tyler Perry. Yeah, so
Speaker 4: like we're very much people who want people to to
Speaker 4: feel safe and seen and loved, and sometimes that comes
Speaker 4: at the risk of like not seeing and affirming and
Speaker 4: loving yourself. And so I creating that safe space has
Speaker 4: looked like me creating boundaries, me saying no when I
Speaker 4: mean no, saying no and letting that be it. Not
Speaker 4: no because not no, but not no, maybe just no no.
Speaker 3: You know that has attribute to me creating a safe space.
Speaker 3: Also just.
Speaker 4: Doing things with love, you know, like I don't do
Speaker 4: anything like I wouldn't be here today if I didn't
Speaker 4: have a love for you and what you're doing and
Speaker 4: what you create, and so like I do things from
Speaker 4: a space of love. And when you do things from
Speaker 4: that space, it always turns out beautiful every single time.
Speaker 4: If you operate from love, don't operate from greed, don't
Speaker 4: operate from transactional, don't operate from you know, trying to
Speaker 4: get a leg, jealousy, anger, Don't.
Speaker 3: Operate from those spaces.
Speaker 4: Operate from love, and I promise you the outcome every
Speaker 4: time will be so beautiful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2: If you could name a lesson or an affirmation that
Speaker 2: lives rent for in your head, what would it be.
Speaker 3: Leave it better than you found.
Speaker 4: It, leave it better than you found it. I enter
Speaker 4: every space with intention to leave it better than I
Speaker 4: found it, and I've showed up before. I anytime I
Speaker 4: go to a table, like, I'm always bringing something to
Speaker 4: the table, you know, like what can I bring? Because
Speaker 4: I don't want to be the person who just comes
Speaker 4: and takes.
Speaker 3: Something from somebody.
Speaker 4: You know, there's enough takers out there, Like be a
Speaker 4: giver and what you don't know, a lot of people
Speaker 4: don't realize when you give, you also get a lot.
Speaker 4: And so for me, I'm like, I'm gonna leave it
Speaker 4: better than I found it because I'm gonna come with.
Speaker 1: Something I love that that is so good.
Speaker 2: Now, music is a big part of everything that you built,
Speaker 2: because when you come to your events.
Speaker 1: The nineties hip hop and R and B. That's my
Speaker 1: nineties vibe.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yes, If you had a piece playlist where if you're
Speaker 2: centered in a list that brings you peace, what would
Speaker 2: be one song that has to be on that play?
Speaker 4: Oh my god, The Conquering Lion by Lauryn Hill. It's
Speaker 4: on her MTV Unplugged album. That song is short, but
Speaker 4: it is so powerful.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 4: I play that song like anytime I need like your juvenation,
Speaker 4: anytime I need the reminder of who I am, anytime
Speaker 4: I need like that to feel spoken to. The Conquering
Speaker 4: Lion by Lauryn Hill. If you have not heard that song,
Speaker 4: were my camera right here. If you haven't heard The
Speaker 4: Conquering Lion by Lauryn Hill, please do yourself a favor
Speaker 4: and listen to that album. When you talk about love
Speaker 4: being poured into something, she pours so much love into
Speaker 4: that unplug and it was so utic. She let her
Speaker 4: voice crack, she cried, she started songs over like that
Speaker 4: whole album was amazing and it just taught me so
Speaker 4: much about like another Virgo trait, the chase of perfection,
Speaker 4: like you don't it doesn't have to be perfect, but
Speaker 4: it has to be real.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's because I struggle with that man.
Speaker 3: But it doesn't.
Speaker 4: It doesn't happen because in our imperfection, we are made perfect.
Speaker 4: And somebody will catch that, right.
Speaker 1: I caught it.
Speaker 3: I'm serious, and so you know, like, yeah, you are
Speaker 3: a perfection. This is personal right now.
Speaker 2: God, this is like literally got everything is aligned and
Speaker 2: this is guy's time.
Speaker 1: Everything you said today I needed to hear it. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, I'm just grateful. Thank you.
Speaker 2: So so before we get out of here, I love
Speaker 2: to play a little game.
Speaker 3: Okay, let's do it.
Speaker 2: We're gonna do a game of this or that brunt
Speaker 2: edition all right, Okay, Mimosa or Bellini Strength and Grits
Speaker 2: or fishing grits, fishing grits all right. Now we're from
Speaker 2: the South. Now, this next one is gonna be a
Speaker 2: little tricky. Grits with sugar or grits with salt.
Speaker 4: Don't you put no sugar in my grits. Don't put
Speaker 4: no sugar in my grits. I don't want oatmeal. I
Speaker 4: want grits passion.
Speaker 1: When I was a kid, I wanted sugar and butter.
Speaker 1: But now that I'm an adult, I like savory grits. Yeah,
Speaker 1: savory for sure. That is hilarious.
Speaker 2: Frieda eggs or scrambled eggs, scramble bacon or sausage.
Speaker 4: I don't eat meat anymore, but I was a bacon guy.
Speaker 4: Bacon was a bacon and pepperoni was the hardest thing
Speaker 4: for me to give up.
Speaker 1: I don't eat pork, but I still eat pepperoni. See,
Speaker 1: because that turkey pepperoni don't hit the same.
Speaker 2: Some people feel like like bacon when they say I
Speaker 2: don't eat pork.
Speaker 1: When I eat bacon, they don't feel like it. Count
Speaker 1: don't meat.
Speaker 3: For a long time, and somebody was like, no, come on, yeah.
Speaker 1: That is funny wallface or pancakes.
Speaker 3: That's toughcakes.
Speaker 4: You know, chicken and waffles is like a staple, brusting pancakes.
Speaker 2: I like, I'm with you, Yeah, sweet or savory savory?
Speaker 2: You want a vibes playlist or a live band? A
Speaker 2: live band, Yes, I like that. L thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Thank you literally been a blessing so much.
Speaker 3: I love you.
Speaker 2: I love you too, and I wish you many more
Speaker 2: successful black excellence brunches and whatever they may turn to
Speaker 2: something else even bigger.
Speaker 1: I pray that it just goes bigger and bigger and bigger.
Speaker 2: Seriously, and I can't wait to watch it and watch
Speaker 2: you do amazing things.
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 3: Oh see that. Can we pray? Can I pray for you?
Speaker 1: God?
Speaker 4: I just want to say, thank you so much for
Speaker 4: this opportunity. Thank you for this safe and beautiful in
Speaker 4: the firming space that Crystal has provided. Thank you for
Speaker 4: the doors that are opening. Thank you for the things
Speaker 4: that are happening. Lord, we just blessed the ask you.
Speaker 4: Just bless everything that her hand touches, every place that
Speaker 4: her feet goes, and we asked you open all the
Speaker 4: doors and need to be open and closed. All the
Speaker 4: doors need to be closed because we also know that
Speaker 4: Crystal is an amazing steward over everything that you had
Speaker 4: given her. Bless her staff, Bless everybody that is around
Speaker 4: this show, and bless everything that she puts her hands to.
Speaker 3: In your name, we pray, Amen, I love you.
Speaker 2: For today's Crystal's closet, I am wearing a matching denim
Speaker 2: set from Zara The top is a Gnom vest with
Speaker 2: gold detailed buttons. My shoes are blue rubber Otega Vanetta Sandals,
Speaker 2: super comfy and my signature Georgian.
Speaker 1: Sweeties.
Speaker 2: Are you prepared for what you're praying for? Thank you
Speaker 2: all so much for spending time with me today. Please
Speaker 2: don't forget to like subscribe so that you don't miss
Speaker 2: any of the impactful guests that we have planned for
Speaker 2: season eight. And always remember, if opportunity doesn't knock, build
Speaker 2: a door.
Speaker 1: I'll see you all next time.