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Speaker 2: All right, guys, welcome back. Special episode of Earn Your Leisure.

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Speaker 2: Fat Yes, we have two of the co founders of

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Speaker 2: Curly Girl Collective and curl Fest, Mellie and Simone. And

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Speaker 2: Simone somebody that's been on the show.

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Speaker 1: Early early, like episode maybe fifteen. Ye. I got the

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Speaker 1: number right, I think so.

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Speaker 3: I'm not sure the number, but it was early.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Shout out to the.

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Speaker 4: Hometown so first and one, Well, thank you guys for.

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Speaker 5: Joining us, thank you for having us.

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Speaker 2: So okay, so for people that might not be familiar.

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Speaker 2: Right before we get into it. Can you talk about

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Speaker 2: what Curl Girl Collective is and curl Fests and how

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Speaker 2: it came about, like how it hit origin story?

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Speaker 5: Yeah?

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Speaker 6: Okay, So Curly Girl Collective is an organization that we

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Speaker 6: founded and created with our business partners, and what we're

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Speaker 6: most notably known for is curl Fest, which is one

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Speaker 6: of the largest natural beauty festivals. And essentially we created

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Speaker 6: a space for a population that literally had no exposure

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Speaker 6: to and really it's an opportunity to be educated, celebrated,

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Speaker 6: provide resources for women with natural hair.

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Speaker 1: So this is I know last year, celebrated year ten,

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Speaker 1: year ten, which is a huge accomplishment from gradulations to that.

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Speaker 1: It would start out with five women, how what is

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Speaker 1: the situation now? I know you to it here and

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Speaker 1: there are other partners. What do we look like now

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Speaker 1: present day?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 7: Sure, so there are there will always be five founders,

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Speaker 7: five beautiful black women.

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Speaker 3: Right now.

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Speaker 7: We have three operating members Melody, myself, Simone and Sharis

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Speaker 7: who couldn't be with us today.

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Speaker 1: Gotcha? Gotcha?

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Speaker 2: So okay, so you started it and it got really big.

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Speaker 2: I went I think like three years ago in Randalls Island. Yes, right,

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Speaker 2: so tens of thousands of people there, a bunch of sponsors,

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Speaker 2: and then the pandemic hits, so you have to kind

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Speaker 2: of put things on a whole for that because you

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Speaker 2: can't do events in New York, especially at that time

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Speaker 2: during the pandemic. And a lot of stuff happens. So

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Speaker 2: now we're in twenty twenty five. You'd made a decision

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Speaker 2: to postpone it this year and reconvene next year, right,

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Speaker 2: So what happened in that timeline and what was the

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Speaker 2: decision to actually, you know, put it on ice for

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Speaker 2: this year and look at twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, so a couple of things happened in the timeline.

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Speaker 7: I think since COVID, the event's business and industry has

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Speaker 7: been quite difficult.

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Speaker 4: It has changed and never fully recovered, No, never.

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Speaker 7: Fully recovered, and it's becoming increasingly more difficult. And this

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Speaker 7: specific year, I think with the political climate, with the

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Speaker 7: rollbacks and d and I, the economy, all these things

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Speaker 7: make the perfect storm. While it's becoming almost impossible to

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Speaker 7: have events kind of that scale without certain levels of

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Speaker 7: like sponsorship backing. And so when we saw a lot

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Speaker 7: of our big ticket sponsors saying, you know, we're not

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Speaker 7: moving in that direction and being very black and white

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Speaker 7: about not having a budget for events that look like ours.

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Speaker 7: We had to make a decision that we have to shift,

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Speaker 7: take a pause and shift and see what Curfez could

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Speaker 7: look like maybe without that level of sponsorship backing, really

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Speaker 7: pull the venera away and talk to our audience about

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Speaker 7: support and what it looks like with entrepreneurship, because there's

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Speaker 7: a narrative out there that is like super easy and

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Speaker 7: we have this like big, big company and we're you know,

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Speaker 7: doing this with our eyes closed, and we're all like

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Speaker 7: super wealthy and rich. But it's still been a passion

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Speaker 7: project even for ten years later. And so this specific

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Speaker 7: year we decided to it was important for us to

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Speaker 7: kind of just take a pause, take a beat, and

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Speaker 7: restrategize a bit.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's important that it's a reschedule, right, So it's

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Speaker 1: definitely gonna be back in twenty twenty six. But most

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Speaker 1: people don't understand the business of live events. And I

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Speaker 1: was telling me, I was telling you, I said, mal

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Speaker 1: because we're friends now that you know, when you get

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Speaker 1: into this space, it looks it looks great on the

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Speaker 1: day of yes, but it's a full year process to

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Speaker 1: get to show day. Sponsorships is one way that you

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Speaker 1: get money, obviously selling tickets to the event. Break down

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Speaker 1: the business of how it looked for you from year

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Speaker 1: one when it was sitting in the living room to

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Speaker 1: leading up to COVID. I think we're there in twenty nineteen.

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Speaker 1: I think right before, Yeah, that was a massive one.

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Speaker 1: It was in New York Times and I was like

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Speaker 1: so proud, like I know what, she's from our high school.

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Speaker 1: So talk about the business structure and how it's changed

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Speaker 1: obviously pre COVID post COVID.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, I mean I think, yeah, pre COVID post

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Speaker 6: COVID is literally a thing, right, And it's like I

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Speaker 6: think especially Anyonet from an entrepreneur's stamp trip or business

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Speaker 6: standpoint could understand sort of the magnitude of of what

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Speaker 6: that created.

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Speaker 5: That created for us.

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Speaker 6: I think when we think about our scale, our scale

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Speaker 6: is the biggest thing. Like I think our first one

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Speaker 6: maybe had like we had two sponsors.

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Speaker 5: On the lawn.

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Speaker 6: We had a thousand people maybe mostly you know friends

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Speaker 6: and friends, and then you know, you scale to let's

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Speaker 6: say twenty nineteen, where there's over forty you know, sponsors

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Speaker 6: on the lawn. There's activations. There's people flying in from Ghana,

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Speaker 6: from South Africa, everywhere, And I think what we noticed

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Speaker 6: was that it scaled quickly, and so when you have

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Speaker 6: something and you build the infrastructure, you almost need to

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Speaker 6: have that foresight of like how far can it go?

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Speaker 6: And it wasn't something that we could have ever imagined

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Speaker 6: that it got to them. So we had to adapt

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Speaker 6: as it scaled and figure out are the different ways

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Speaker 6: to work when it came to the pandemic. I mean,

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Speaker 6: we were the largest natural beauty festival in the world,

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Speaker 6: right and you're like, okay, wait, the whole thing is

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Speaker 6: about being in person and connecting in person. What does

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Speaker 6: that look like when we can't do that on a

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Speaker 6: global scale, like the world is shut down? That year,

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Speaker 6: we actually did a virtual curl Fest, which was a

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Speaker 6: success at a Kaba Du game, and so it taught us.

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Speaker 6: What it taught us and validated was that what we

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Speaker 6: were doing was still needed, right even in the midst

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Speaker 6: of not being able to have it. But when you

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Speaker 6: break it down in terms of like what does that

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Speaker 6: mean to produce a live event? Skyrocket costs Skyrocket everything

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Speaker 6: from porta potties to vendors, all the behind the scenes stuff,

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Speaker 6: right that doesn't look like okay, day of beautiful sunshine,

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Speaker 6: beautiful people. But there's a lot of a lot of

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Speaker 6: actual work logistics that go into pace and everything is

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Speaker 6: that dited line to our finances.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, and as we've gotten bigger, there's been more and

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Speaker 7: more expenses that we never thought right, Yeah, increased insurance,

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Speaker 7: all sorts of things that pop up us line items

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Speaker 7: that never.

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Speaker 3: Existed before when we were a couple thousand strong.

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Speaker 7: So as the expenses continue to increase, the line item

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Speaker 7: for those expenses. Also, there's inflation in those things too,

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Speaker 7: but the income doesn't necessarily inflate at the same level. Yes,

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Speaker 7: you know, sometimes we have this, like you know, dichotomy

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Speaker 7: where we have to decide and make a decision what

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Speaker 7: things need to be cut, what one needs to be kept,

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Speaker 7: how do we keep people safe, et cetera. Those are

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Speaker 7: the tough decisions.

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Speaker 1: And y'all are five. This is pre COVID, this is

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Speaker 1: five working women, and this is not your Was this

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Speaker 1: full time or did this ever become full time? No?

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Speaker 3: A lot of people think it is.

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Speaker 7: It's full time for us, but no, and entrepreneurship looks

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Speaker 7: different for everyone. But yeah, it was we were still

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Speaker 7: working women with you know, seasoned careers, yes, also doing

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Speaker 7: this on the side. So it was you know, working

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Speaker 7: nine to five in your day job and then you know.

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Speaker 3: The six to four in the morning the next day, right,

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Speaker 3: especially in.

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Speaker 5: Crophesies, especially in Crawford season.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So talk about the DI cutbacks like out locked,

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Speaker 2: when did that hit? Like, walk us through that whole thing,

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Speaker 2: because a lot of people when they heard about it,

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Speaker 2: it didn't they couldn't relate to it. So that was

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Speaker 2: a narrative that was pushed a lot where it was like,

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Speaker 2: this isn't something that even affects black people because we

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Speaker 2: never benefited from DI. Only people that benefit DI. It

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Speaker 2: was like white women. That's that's popular on the internet.

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Speaker 2: So you guys actually has been affected by it. So

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Speaker 2: can you like walk us through that.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, that's a good point. I think it affects people

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Speaker 7: in different ways. Our direct impact would be kind of

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Speaker 7: sponsorship impact. And we saw it before a little bit

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Speaker 7: trickling it before kind of the this widespread rollback. We

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Speaker 7: saw you know, shifts and like oh, we don't have

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Speaker 7: budgets for you guys this year, or you know, our

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Speaker 7: budgets are tight you know, what can you do for

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Speaker 7: ten dollars?

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Speaker 3: Right?

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Speaker 7: So, I mean some ridiculous conversations we have to have, right,

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Speaker 7: like all the time, we're justifying our worthiness all the time.

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Speaker 7: But it's been like a little bit egregious sometimes this year,

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Speaker 7: this year, and last year about like what they are

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Speaker 7: offering or not offering anymore, And then this year was

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Speaker 7: a complete we're just not moving in the direction at all.

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Speaker 7: We don't have a D and I budget, We don't

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Speaker 7: have a budget any longer for multicultural events. It just

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Speaker 7: doesn't no longer exist. And they've been pretty like black

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Speaker 7: and white about it, and we've seen it and we've

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Speaker 7: seen it quietly happening to a lot of our fellow

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Speaker 7: kind of event producers, but nobody's really talking about it.

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Speaker 7: So that's why we thought it was important for us

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Speaker 7: to kind of have this conversation because a lot of

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Speaker 7: people are suffering in silence and no one is talking

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Speaker 7: about it. So for us, our direct impact was just sponsorship,

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Speaker 7: and sponsorship for us is more than just money. That

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Speaker 7: also is as a part of the activations that are

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Speaker 7: part of curl Fest, right, and so folks come to

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Speaker 7: the event to experience these activations you know, like the

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Speaker 7: big box.

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Speaker 3: Brands like the Targets, et cetera, and will.

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Speaker 7: Come and build out these beautiful spaces for our guests

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Speaker 7: to interact with, provide input all of these things. Even

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Speaker 7: and I'll also add it's not just like folks who

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Speaker 7: are also rolling back with Dee and I. There are

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Speaker 7: also other smaller brands that are affected by just the

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Speaker 7: economy in general and are unable to you know, the

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Speaker 7: maybe the mom and pop beauty brands that are also

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Speaker 7: unable to participate in Curlfest because they just don't have

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Speaker 7: the fund the fund and they're also not being funded

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Speaker 7: by other partners that they've had in the past, like

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Speaker 7: the Targets, et cetera.

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Speaker 1: You're in a unique space. And it's interesting because when

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Speaker 1: we talk about who is a prime target and we've

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Speaker 1: seen this in the UAE for consumers and people of wealth,

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Speaker 1: and it's black women. And when you go to curl Fest,

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Speaker 1: I mean, it is see of black women. And so

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Speaker 1: you said you had to explain to your audience what

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Speaker 1: support looks like. Can elaborate on that. Are you talking

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Speaker 1: from a standpoint of like, hey, it's not just come

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Speaker 1: to the event. It might be Hey, we need to

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Speaker 1: have community initiative. What does that look like? What did

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Speaker 1: you have to explain to the audience.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I think it's layered right.

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Speaker 6: So first I want to say, we have gotten to

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Speaker 6: where we've gotten because of our community. And so at

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Speaker 6: the onset when we created this, it was all in

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Speaker 6: service of our community.

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Speaker 5: What do we need? And the good part about it

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Speaker 5: is we look like our community.

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Speaker 6: We're literally a reflection of what we've built, right, And

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Speaker 6: so when we talk about what we might need from

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Speaker 6: our community, I think, you know, people probably aren't really

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Speaker 6: thinking about it, like they're thinking, oh, tickets out, I'll

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Speaker 6: get a ticket, come to the event. But support looks like,

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Speaker 6: you know, bringing us up in rooms that we're not in.

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Speaker 6: Support looks like maybe just taking a little beat to

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Speaker 6: understand what it takes from a financial standpoint to put

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Speaker 6: on something at the magnitude that we're putting it on, right,

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Speaker 6: And so support looks like sponsorship, you know, support looks

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Speaker 6: like understanding, right, giving grace when we have to make

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Speaker 6: a very difficult decision to you know, have to postpone.

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Speaker 5: And so I think I think if we if we got.

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Speaker 6: Granular support, is a ticket literally is purchasing a ticket

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Speaker 6: if you can't come, maybe purchasing a ticket for a

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Speaker 6: friend or bringing a school, you know, and and it's

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Speaker 6: only a fraction of it, but but it actually is,

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Speaker 6: like it's really important for us to continue to support

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Speaker 6: by us for us.

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Speaker 5: And so.

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Speaker 6: You know, with the rollbacks with DI yes, a lot

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Speaker 6: of large corporations are not able to to fund things

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Speaker 6: that we've been doing. However, what does it look like

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Speaker 6: if we just funded it ourselves as a community, right,

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Speaker 6: And so we know we've been validated by our community

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Speaker 6: that what we've created is like magic and it just

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Speaker 6: feels good and it feels good, but it's also education. Right,

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Speaker 6: we're very very mindful of the thumb print that we're

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Speaker 6: putting on for you know, the next generation, right, the

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Speaker 6: little girl who will wear her hair natural, because now

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Speaker 6: she sees that, and so how do we keep that going?

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Speaker 4: So what's the pathway forward?

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Speaker 2: Because Okay, in the climate, Donald Trump's still president for

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Speaker 2: the next three years, right, so the d I think

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Speaker 2: probably is not going to get any better. And it's

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Speaker 2: also a recession, so spending habits is actually decreasing as well, right,

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Speaker 2: Like that's having an effect on events across the board also,

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Speaker 2: So from consumers spending less money in corporation spending less money,

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Speaker 2: how do you see a pathway forward to actually.

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Speaker 4: Rent back up?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So I mean we're working through what that looks like.

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Speaker 7: I think it's just setting expectations that curl Fest may

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Speaker 7: look a little different in the years. I think a

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Speaker 7: big thing that Melody mentioned was having grace and part

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Speaker 7: of these conversation is to kind of humanize what it

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Speaker 7: looks like to be an entrepreneur.

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Speaker 3: And it's not this big corporation.

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Speaker 7: These are three black women who are trying and you know,

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Speaker 7: carrying this business on our backs because it's bigger than us.

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Speaker 3: And so when curl Fest does.

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Speaker 7: Look different, right, and the reasons why, let's have these

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Speaker 7: conversations now proactively about why it's looking different. And may

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Speaker 7: not have you know, thirty five sponsors on the law,

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Speaker 7: we may have three, right, but what we do have

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Speaker 7: and will always have is community, which was the heart

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Speaker 7: of the event anyways, and you know, we'll just build

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Speaker 7: it back. I think we've got through We've got through COVID,

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Speaker 7: We've got through a pandemic, right, Yeah, all of these

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Speaker 7: things and the economy, inflation, all of these things and

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Speaker 7: we'll get through this too. It's just you know, being

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Speaker 7: for us. I think for the last several years, we've

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Speaker 7: gone through so many hurdles that we haven't talked about everything. Yeah,

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Speaker 7: everything that we could happen has happened, But we've always

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Speaker 7: kind of take the stance like let's have like this

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Speaker 7: very polished message, pr message to the audience and a

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Speaker 7: little bit like ambiguous.

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Speaker 3: About what's happening.

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Speaker 7: But I think we wanted to take a shift away

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Speaker 7: from that this year and be a little bit more

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Speaker 7: transparent about the process and the struggles and where we

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Speaker 7: need support, because it's not a victim story.

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Speaker 3: It's really just like this is what it is.

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Speaker 7: This is the reality, and we know everyone also has

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Speaker 7: their own reality. Because if you have to decide between

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Speaker 7: a curlf has taken and buying eggs, obviously you buy

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Speaker 7: the eggs, right, But we're not asking folks to do that.

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Speaker 7: But support could look like a different number of different things.

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Speaker 7: If it's not a ticket, it's alike on a post.

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Speaker 7: Because also the algorithm has changed from few you to

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Speaker 7: go to back from when we used to launch the

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Speaker 7: event and used to sell out thirty thousand tickets in

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Speaker 7: two days, now a post could be out for our

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Speaker 7: month and no one sees it, and so resharing, you know,

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Speaker 7: using you know, the different ways to have organic reach

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Speaker 7: is also a way to support.

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Speaker 3: Us as well.

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Speaker 1: Was there anything that surprised you. I mean, you're very

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Speaker 1: much grounded in reality, but you've had I don't even

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Speaker 1: want to call them sponsors at this level, right because

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Speaker 1: somebody's with you for more than five years. This is

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Speaker 1: a partnership, partnership, so like, were their partners who you

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Speaker 1: were with and you come to, you know, the past

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Speaker 1: couple of years and they're no longer there Was there

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Speaker 1: a surprising factor or are you just like this is

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Speaker 1: somehow sometimes out of cooking crumbles a little bit.

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Speaker 3: So we were surprised. We were very surprised.

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Speaker 7: Surprised folks who have been with us since the Beggay

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Speaker 7: one and said all of a sudden they can't work

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Speaker 7: with us, and sometimes it's not their decision. We've also

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Speaker 7: saw a lot of businesses get acquired in the last

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Speaker 7: several years, and.

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Speaker 3: That's just the nature of the way you do business.

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Speaker 7: Sometimes too Nobody talks about like exit strategies and like

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Speaker 7: the goal is sometimes to get acquired, you know, and

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Speaker 7: maybe if that does happen, you may not have to

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Speaker 7: say to say I really want to do crow Fest

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Speaker 7: this year, you may not have that level of power anymore.

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Speaker 7: So we've seen that happen with a number a number

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Speaker 7: beauty brands in the past that have been with us

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Speaker 7: since they won.

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Speaker 1: So the other part of it, it was like a

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Speaker 1: second part of the question, is that from a competitive landscape.

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Speaker 1: Obviously crow Fest was for me the first and the biggest,

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Speaker 1: and I'm still going to look at it that way,

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Speaker 1: but from a competitive landscape, as you start seeing people

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Speaker 1: pop up with beauty festivals and beauty conferences and they

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Speaker 1: don't look like you tell me the realities that you

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Speaker 1: face when you see things like that happen.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, it's just the reality, right of if

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Speaker 6: you've built something, at some point, at some turning point,

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Speaker 6: there will be something that perhaps maybe mirrors it or

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Speaker 6: it touches it. I think one of the things that

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Speaker 6: has also been interesting for us is, you know, we

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Speaker 6: talk about obviously our women are our number one supporter,

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Speaker 6: but the men are there too and right, and so

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Speaker 6: we've you know, we've had events where we've had activation

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Speaker 6: specifically for men for hair and beards and things of

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Speaker 6: that nature. We also have an empowerment stage right and

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Speaker 6: there we talk about very real aspects of our community

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Speaker 6: that isn't necessarily centered on here. But is it about

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Speaker 6: you know, empowerment, Is it about self image? Is it

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Speaker 6: about you know, mental capacity? And so I say that

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Speaker 6: to say that when you look at the aperture of

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Speaker 6: who our audience is, it actually is larger than just

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Speaker 6: the black female with natural hair. And because of that,

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Speaker 6: that means there's competitive when when when sponsors, depending on

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Speaker 6: who they are, if it isn't just a black hair brand,

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Speaker 6: there's choices for them to where they spend their money, right,

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Speaker 6: And so I think one of the challenges that we've

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Speaker 6: had over the years because we were fortunate enough to

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Speaker 6: be trailblazers in this space is, you know, brands are

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Speaker 6: now seeing the importance of the black female, the importance

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Speaker 6: of the billions dollars of money that is spent on haircare.

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Speaker 6: So they'll maybe have a little portion of their regular

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Speaker 6: event in a pop up of a hair a here

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Speaker 6: moment there, And I think everything can still coexist. I

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Speaker 6: think what makes crow Fests different is literally the community.

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Speaker 6: I think it's our community. I think it's the need

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Speaker 6: the voids that we're feeling that at scale, I feel

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Speaker 6: like some of the other places or touch points that

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Speaker 6: here brands may show up, it's not it doesn't feel

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Speaker 6: quite the same as when you support crow fests.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, and I think we get that question a lot.

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Speaker 7: You know, what's your differentiating fact?

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Speaker 3: There?

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Speaker 7: Somebody else could come up with a festival that looks

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Speaker 7: and we've had a number of you know, Ceasyn desists

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Speaker 7: going out last several years.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, folks are coming out with the.

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Speaker 7: Exact name right, curl Fest, Diana, cral Fest, right all over,

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Speaker 7: right logos everything, So that's another conversation. But I think

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Speaker 7: it's you know, our authenticity is part of our differentiating factor,

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Speaker 7: and there's no one that can kind of recreate that.

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Speaker 3: And there's something special.

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Speaker 7: About the fact that this this is for our majority.

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Speaker 7: Our demo is black women, and it is created and

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Speaker 7: founded and run by black women. I think that's also

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Speaker 7: something that sets us apart.

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Speaker 3: But it's a it's a challenge.

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Speaker 7: I'll be lying if I say it wasn't a challenge

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Speaker 7: that when somebody does come up with an event and

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Speaker 7: we're like, wait, this looks like curl Fest, you know,

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Speaker 7: and then we question like, are we doing the right thing?

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Speaker 7: Do we need to add something different? You know, will

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Speaker 7: our fans know the difference and all of these things,

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Speaker 7: and we have these conversations.

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Speaker 3: All the time.

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Speaker 7: But there's also something you know that you I think

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Speaker 7: there's there's a there's a level of like.

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Speaker 3: I was, there was a level.

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Speaker 7: Of comfort in knowing that what you created was created

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Speaker 7: by us and no one else can recreate that magic

439
00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:17,560
Speaker 7: something that's might be not even tangible, just like no

440
00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:19,320
Speaker 7: one could create another investments.

441
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:21,400
Speaker 3: It would never be another Troy.

442
00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:27,800
Speaker 7: Look into chemistry, create another investments, right like they could try,

443
00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:29,160
Speaker 7: but it will never be the same.

444
00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:33,200
Speaker 2: So yeah, So what's the state of black women's hair

445
00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:35,720
Speaker 2: like as far as when we first talked, I mean,

446
00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:37,440
Speaker 2: obviously there was a lot of attention. I think Chris

447
00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:42,720
Speaker 2: Rock did that documentary, you know, billions of dollars. Is

448
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:47,680
Speaker 2: it the same level of enthusiasm in regards to the

449
00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:51,120
Speaker 2: business of the hair or has that kind of died

450
00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:54,400
Speaker 2: down a little bit? Yeah?

451
00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:57,120
Speaker 3: So the business of hair is I want to say

452
00:23:57,119 --> 00:23:57,880
Speaker 3: it has died down.

453
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,920
Speaker 7: There's ebbs and flows about like the natural movement when

454
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,160
Speaker 7: it had you know, just caught on, and I think

455
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:06,040
Speaker 7: we're a little bit spoiled being in New York.

456
00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:09,000
Speaker 3: You know, it's just kind of the norm now, you know,

457
00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:11,480
Speaker 3: and everybody is so Fluidou's not the norm though all

458
00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:12,760
Speaker 3: around the world either.

459
00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:17,879
Speaker 7: There's still conversations. There's still conversations being had in boardrooms

460
00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 7: in corporate you know, walls as well about hair and.

461
00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:24,840
Speaker 3: What is deemed kept and unkempt. And so there's still

462
00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:25,680
Speaker 3: work to be had.

463
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:28,040
Speaker 7: But I think the business of here care in general

464
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,680
Speaker 7: hasn't died down at all, is actually increased, right, I think.

465
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:33,439
Speaker 3: I think this last stat I read.

466
00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:35,960
Speaker 7: Was like Black women spend nine times more than any

467
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:40,000
Speaker 7: ethnic group in beauty and personal care, and it's just

468
00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:43,440
Speaker 7: continuing to move in that direction. What that looks like

469
00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,920
Speaker 7: with beauty, whether you're wearing curls or twenty inches, you know,

470
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:50,280
Speaker 7: bust down, it really doesn't matter. Like a black woman,

471
00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:54,080
Speaker 7: I think hair is an identifying factor for black women

472
00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:58,800
Speaker 7: much more than just aesthetics. It represents like who you are,

473
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:01,640
Speaker 7: represents where you come I'm from, and represents my mother

474
00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:05,280
Speaker 7: and my mother's mother, you know, and stories.

475
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:07,320
Speaker 5: And creativity, relativity.

476
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:09,720
Speaker 7: And growing up and I remember this, you know, there's

477
00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:12,720
Speaker 7: a nostalgia with you know, your hair as well.

478
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,960
Speaker 3: So I don't think that's going anyway going anywhere.

479
00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:17,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not sure if twenty inches is a bus

480
00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:19,159
Speaker 1: down gotta be like thirty.

481
00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:21,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been a long time.

482
00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:25,399
Speaker 1: I know when you give those numbers, obviously have a

483
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:30,040
Speaker 1: watch over. Dough to braise is expensive. It's just expensive.

484
00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:34,040
Speaker 1: And like you said that, that number is going to

485
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,159
Speaker 1: continue to increase as more people look at opportunities for

486
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:39,520
Speaker 1: entrepreneurship to create in that space.

487
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:39,920
Speaker 7: Yeah.

488
00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:42,159
Speaker 1: I want to talk about something that is important and

489
00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:45,920
Speaker 1: it's something that we've obviotually had looked into when we

490
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:49,600
Speaker 1: were creating the event. Is the timing of it because

491
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:53,560
Speaker 1: summer is usually when you see a lot of music festivals.

492
00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:53,880
Speaker 3: Yeah.

493
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of people are going on tour, a

494
00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:01,960
Speaker 1: lot of black events that happening. Yeah, and so you're

495
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:04,359
Speaker 1: right and smacked in the middle of that. And so

496
00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:07,440
Speaker 1: talk about the timing of it in terms of why

497
00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,320
Speaker 1: you chose to do it when you did and competing

498
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:12,840
Speaker 1: with some of those people who are fighting for those

499
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:15,960
Speaker 1: same sponsorship dollars that you are looking for.

500
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:16,600
Speaker 2: Yeah.

501
00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:19,080
Speaker 6: Yeah, Well, when we think about when we think about

502
00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:21,960
Speaker 6: New York, Crow fests.

503
00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:23,639
Speaker 1: It.

504
00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:27,080
Speaker 6: You know, it's funny, right when we first first ponjured

505
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:29,359
Speaker 6: up the whole idea, we called it a picnic in

506
00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:32,240
Speaker 6: the park, like if I gave you the flyer that

507
00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:35,720
Speaker 6: I made back then, we literally said crow Fest a

508
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,159
Speaker 6: picnic in the park, which is kind of ironic, right

509
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,359
Speaker 6: because we called it crow Fest. So it almost manifested

510
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:44,760
Speaker 6: itself before we even realized what it had the potential

511
00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:47,200
Speaker 6: to be. And I only bring that up because the

512
00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:50,800
Speaker 6: grass aspect of it, the summer aspect of it, is

513
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,720
Speaker 6: actually a pillar for what we've been able to create,

514
00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:56,560
Speaker 6: and so that puts us in the summer month for

515
00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:00,479
Speaker 6: New York. Obviously, you know what goals and asked rations

516
00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:04,560
Speaker 6: to expand to other countries and continents. You know, we'll

517
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:06,800
Speaker 6: have a little bit more leeway in terms of that.

518
00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:11,960
Speaker 6: When we did Atlanta, Atlanta was in what's it September.

519
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:15,280
Speaker 1: Twenty was that twenty nineteen?

520
00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:16,840
Speaker 3: Yeah?

521
00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:17,760
Speaker 5: Yeah, twenty nineteen.

522
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:21,159
Speaker 6: And so you know when we think about, okay, what,

523
00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:23,760
Speaker 6: you know, what's the formula for crow Fess, Like what

524
00:27:24,359 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 6: has to be true for it to feel like Crowfests

525
00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:30,720
Speaker 6: to not feel like maybe a convention inside, right or

526
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:35,600
Speaker 6: a symposium and so the outside, the outside sort of

527
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,480
Speaker 6: grounding of the earth is a part of it. So

528
00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:42,240
Speaker 6: what you know, what that means is tough decisions, right,

529
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,280
Speaker 6: What that means is early pitching. What that means is

530
00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:52,280
Speaker 6: continuing to try and to be honest, convince some partners

531
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:58,400
Speaker 6: that there's a need. Our audience is a spending audience.

532
00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:02,879
Speaker 6: They come with an tension. We have stories for days

533
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:05,160
Speaker 6: of you know, partners that come on the grass, whether

534
00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,720
Speaker 6: that's a small business or a large business, they bring

535
00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:12,320
Speaker 6: in boxes and boxes and tons of products. When they

536
00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:15,639
Speaker 6: when it's time to load out, they're loading out with nothing.

537
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:18,920
Speaker 6: And so I think when we think about it from

538
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:22,000
Speaker 6: there's an economic part of it that we can deliver.

539
00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,960
Speaker 5: We know that we have a primed audience who is

540
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:27,159
Speaker 5: in need of service.

541
00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:29,639
Speaker 6: And so you're going to check that box when you

542
00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:32,720
Speaker 6: come to Curl Fast as a sponsor. I think when

543
00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:38,480
Speaker 6: you think about there always will be something. So so

544
00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:41,680
Speaker 6: so it's like, Okay, well if we don't do it

545
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:44,160
Speaker 6: in June, what if we're doing in July, oh something else?

546
00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:46,920
Speaker 6: Oh okay, how about August? There's always going to be something.

547
00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,280
Speaker 6: And so I think for any entrepreneur out there, yes,

548
00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:52,560
Speaker 6: there's ebbs and flows. There's things you have to ship,

549
00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:54,880
Speaker 6: you have to be fluid, but at the same time,

550
00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 6: at some point you have to feel confident in what

551
00:28:57,520 --> 00:28:58,120
Speaker 6: you've created.

552
00:28:58,440 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 5: Otherwise why wake up and do it?

553
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:01,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was going to say the same thing.

554
00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:06,360
Speaker 7: There's every month we've entertained, we've moved Curlfest from July before.

555
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:10,760
Speaker 7: But there's always something right. There's always something there's always

556
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:14,840
Speaker 7: proximity to another event. And in the boardrooms where we're

557
00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:17,480
Speaker 7: not in, you know, they probably have conversations like, listen,

558
00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:19,000
Speaker 7: we only have money for one black.

559
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:20,680
Speaker 3: Event this year, which one is it going to be?

560
00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:21,520
Speaker 4: Right?

561
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:23,880
Speaker 7: And so it's really just being steadfast and like what

562
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:28,840
Speaker 7: you offer, keeping and maintaining those relationships with the partners

563
00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:31,400
Speaker 7: that you have so far, and just moving forward with

564
00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:33,520
Speaker 7: what you believe that you feel like it's offering the

565
00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:37,920
Speaker 7: most value to your audience and your consumer everything else. Like,

566
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:41,320
Speaker 7: there's always going to be competition. There's not in really

567
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:43,920
Speaker 7: much we can do about that. But it doesn't I

568
00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:47,600
Speaker 7: want to say that it's easy either, like's not. That's

569
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,600
Speaker 7: probably part of what is part of the nature of

570
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 7: business everding flowing over the last few years as well

571
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:57,720
Speaker 7: for us and not really kind of getting back to

572
00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:01,600
Speaker 7: where we were in twenty nineteen yet will but not yet.

573
00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:03,520
Speaker 7: But that's part of the conversation too.

574
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:06,960
Speaker 2: So what is the business model to expand like even

575
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:11,480
Speaker 2: outside of a physical event, Like are there like tangible products,

576
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:16,520
Speaker 2: is their online community? Like is there anything outside of

577
00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:17,600
Speaker 2: just the one event?

578
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:21,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that's a great point.

579
00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 7: We do have, you know, some merchandise that we offer

580
00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 7: what we are working on this year, and part of

581
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:31,480
Speaker 7: the kind of strategy is to like put more time

582
00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:35,200
Speaker 7: and effort into the other you know, ancillary things like

583
00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,680
Speaker 7: having a membership. We already have a community, right, but

584
00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:41,240
Speaker 7: we want to like amplify that in a bigger way.

585
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:43,240
Speaker 7: So we're working on that and hopefully that will be

586
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:46,280
Speaker 7: launched also with next year all of.

587
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:47,160
Speaker 3: The other things.

588
00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:49,920
Speaker 7: I always say the melody that you know, crow fest

589
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:53,680
Speaker 7: may not it be it's our biggest, you know, identifying

590
00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:57,640
Speaker 7: part of our brand. But sometimes festivals and things of

591
00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:00,800
Speaker 7: that space may not be the money maker. Somebody can

592
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:04,080
Speaker 7: have an event that large and bring in millions of dollars,

593
00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:05,480
Speaker 7: but the money maker.

594
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:09,400
Speaker 3: Are is the T shirt sales and the food and beverage.

595
00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:13,080
Speaker 7: And your membership community and whatever ancillary things that you

596
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:17,160
Speaker 7: can branch off of your main kind of like identifying

597
00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:18,880
Speaker 7: brand position.

598
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, I think I think we have a plethora

599
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:26,719
Speaker 6: of ideas. Yeah, we are no shortages of ideas over

600
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,120
Speaker 6: the years. I think if we haven't a real conversation,

601
00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:34,120
Speaker 6: it's the capital. And so even the non yes, Crofast

602
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:37,760
Speaker 6: is our tempole, A physical event is our tempole. I

603
00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:41,800
Speaker 6: still will forever think there's such power in human in

604
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:47,280
Speaker 6: person contact, right, and so you know, I don't see

605
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:49,360
Speaker 6: a world in which that doesn't exist. But when you

606
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:52,760
Speaker 6: talk about the other pillars, right, whether it's a product,

607
00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:57,640
Speaker 6: whether it's merged, whether it's you know, online sessions, they're

608
00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:00,920
Speaker 6: still capital that's needed to make those happen as well.

609
00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:05,560
Speaker 6: They're almost little subsets of businesses. And so some of

610
00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:10,480
Speaker 6: the work that we have been continuously doing is strategizing.

611
00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:11,920
Speaker 5: On how do we increase capital.

612
00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:15,040
Speaker 1: One of those ways is you know, I'm sure as

613
00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:18,360
Speaker 1: you're growing this business and people are seeing the size

614
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:21,600
Speaker 1: of the audience, I'm sure people are approaching you trying

615
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:26,840
Speaker 1: to figure out how they can acquire the brand, perhaps

616
00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:30,680
Speaker 1: merged with the brand and added to their portfolio. However,

617
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:35,680
Speaker 1: those conversations going for you posts in pre COVID.

618
00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:39,920
Speaker 7: Yeah, we've had conversations fairly early on even I think

619
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:42,200
Speaker 7: probably it to curl Fest. Maybe on our firs you

620
00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:47,320
Speaker 7: have curl fees. We've had investors probably approach us and

621
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:51,840
Speaker 7: you know those those we've gotten pretty close with conversations

622
00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:55,120
Speaker 7: with investors. We've never We still are own one hundred

623
00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:57,840
Speaker 7: percent ownership of our business, which is also you know,

624
00:32:57,920 --> 00:32:59,560
Speaker 7: I want to make sure that it's clear.

625
00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,360
Speaker 1: But the.

626
00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:09,600
Speaker 3: It's difficult, right because it's a learning curve for us.

627
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:10,640
Speaker 3: We have been building.

628
00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:12,640
Speaker 7: We didn't start out this business thinking it was gonna

629
00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:14,320
Speaker 7: be a business. We started out this business.

630
00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:16,880
Speaker 3: It was something that we felt like we needed. It

631
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:18,479
Speaker 3: was a hobby. Let's do this fun thing.

632
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:20,840
Speaker 7: We need this community, and it turned into a business.

633
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:23,840
Speaker 7: So it was and sometimes it happens that way, and

634
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:27,000
Speaker 7: so there was a little bit of like learning and

635
00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:30,160
Speaker 7: unlearning that had to happen. We're building the plane as

636
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:32,520
Speaker 7: we fly it. And so if you asked us maybe

637
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,640
Speaker 7: six years ago, like what's your valuation.

638
00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:35,880
Speaker 3: For your business?

639
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:37,840
Speaker 7: There will be some off the wall numbers, like our

640
00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:39,960
Speaker 7: partners probably would have said at the time, like I'm

641
00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:42,640
Speaker 7: not again an investor until we get you know, two

642
00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:46,600
Speaker 7: hundred million dollar valuation, which is not realistic, right, And

643
00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:50,960
Speaker 7: so I think part of the conversation is, really, you know, what,

644
00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:55,680
Speaker 7: what are the real valuation numbers that you can assess?

645
00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:56,480
Speaker 1: What is it?

646
00:33:56,720 --> 00:33:59,640
Speaker 7: Is the exit strategy or something that you thought of

647
00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:02,760
Speaker 7: that it's probably something that we think of more lately

648
00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:05,200
Speaker 7: than we have in the past, because we built this

649
00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:08,759
Speaker 7: baby up, and we start to stop saying calling our

650
00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:12,279
Speaker 7: business the baby, because there's a there's a connection there.

651
00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:15,120
Speaker 7: As much as we feel like it's much more than

652
00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:18,000
Speaker 7: a business, it's still a business, right, and so there's

653
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 7: still impact that you can do even if you move

654
00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:26,160
Speaker 7: in different directions. So I think the investor conversation it's

655
00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:29,479
Speaker 7: something we still get approached daily. We're working on making

656
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:34,440
Speaker 7: sure that we have we have the best numbers to

657
00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:37,680
Speaker 7: back up an evaluation that folks kind of try to

658
00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:38,319
Speaker 7: offer us.

659
00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:42,279
Speaker 3: I think as black women, we also have the barrier to.

660
00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:48,920
Speaker 7: Have to overprove our worthiness in those spaces, and so

661
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:52,000
Speaker 7: we'll get low ball numbers all day, right, and our

662
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:55,800
Speaker 7: counterparts may get you know, like some crazy, you know,

663
00:34:56,640 --> 00:34:59,959
Speaker 7: nine figure valuation for something that hasn't made a dillarg

664
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:05,000
Speaker 7: learn profit, right, And so it's a it's a space

665
00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:08,839
Speaker 7: that we are still kind of navigating, and yeah, it's

666
00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:10,719
Speaker 7: it's it's still a learning curve for us.

667
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,560
Speaker 6: But yeah, yeah, I mean the only thing I would

668
00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:18,360
Speaker 6: add is there's also when you think about any partnership

669
00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:21,000
Speaker 6: in any any capacity, if you're still going to be

670
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:24,279
Speaker 6: a part of it, whether it's you know, sometimes the

671
00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:27,840
Speaker 6: approach where the offers were a majority, right, and so

672
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:31,160
Speaker 6: we know we do know to a certain degree what

673
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,920
Speaker 6: that means, right, and so knowing communities at our center

674
00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:38,879
Speaker 6: and what we've done to build this empire that we've

675
00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:41,399
Speaker 6: been able to create, this movement that we've been able

676
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:46,680
Speaker 6: to create, how do you scale grow potentially do you know,

677
00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:51,840
Speaker 6: a shared a shared investment, but also keep the integrity

678
00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:52,080
Speaker 6: of it.

679
00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:55,440
Speaker 5: And that's a very that's a very real thing.

680
00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:58,759
Speaker 6: And I mean most you know within our community, specifically

681
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:02,720
Speaker 6: Black communities with typically we can all think of numerous

682
00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:06,120
Speaker 6: brands that were for us, by us and they've you know,

683
00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:10,960
Speaker 6: sold to big corporations and you know, there's mixed feelings

684
00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:13,480
Speaker 6: from the you know, community as to whether or not

685
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:16,920
Speaker 6: was right choice or not has their product changed. That's

686
00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:19,680
Speaker 6: a big headline. It's no, this is no longer the

687
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:24,560
Speaker 6: same they sold out, change the formula, and so of

688
00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:28,399
Speaker 6: course life is about change. We're not expecting to look

689
00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:32,160
Speaker 6: and be exactly what we were. However, I think when

690
00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:35,200
Speaker 6: we think about something a big decision like that, because

691
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:37,520
Speaker 6: when we started it wasn't a business.

692
00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:42,040
Speaker 5: That means the drive, the passion, all of that.

693
00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:46,399
Speaker 6: What our core is isn't just a money driving thing, right,

694
00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:49,239
Speaker 6: and so I mean, if it was, we would be

695
00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:50,160
Speaker 6: doing it full time.

696
00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:51,520
Speaker 5: But this hasn't been.

697
00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:54,000
Speaker 6: We haven't been able to do it full time, right

698
00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:57,440
Speaker 6: in terms of paying our our personal salaries and things

699
00:36:57,520 --> 00:36:59,839
Speaker 6: that nature. But what we know is what we created

700
00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:02,480
Speaker 6: is bigger than us and that's the fuel that keeps

701
00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:04,920
Speaker 6: us going. But when you think about, you know, a

702
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:09,200
Speaker 6: potential investor, I think it is important that like whatever

703
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:12,880
Speaker 6: that partnership is, that there's core values that are shared

704
00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:17,719
Speaker 6: that we feel as if the next evolution of what

705
00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:21,760
Speaker 6: we built will at least come from the same space.

706
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:26,760
Speaker 2: What about like the elements as far as rain, stuff

707
00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:29,880
Speaker 2: like that, as that play in insurance and you know,

708
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:33,000
Speaker 2: doing an event. We never did an event outside and

709
00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:34,960
Speaker 2: one of the reasons why is because of that, right,

710
00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:36,560
Speaker 2: So how.

711
00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:37,160
Speaker 4: Does that plan?

712
00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:39,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's tough.

713
00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:45,880
Speaker 7: I was like the director of operations, right and the

714
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:47,600
Speaker 7: creative director for the business.

715
00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:49,600
Speaker 3: It's super tough.

716
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:56,080
Speaker 7: There's so much unpredictability in an event in general, and

717
00:37:56,239 --> 00:37:58,439
Speaker 7: adding the weather is another element.

718
00:37:58,239 --> 00:37:58,520
Speaker 3: That you.

719
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:03,840
Speaker 7: Sleepless nights we've had, you know, oftentimes venues that we

720
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:06,920
Speaker 7: work with you can't there's no rain day, right, that's it.

721
00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:11,800
Speaker 7: And then you know, we have insurances that you know

722
00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:15,080
Speaker 7: that are enormous numbers that we have to pay for

723
00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:20,360
Speaker 7: in case that there's a natural disaster or weather condition

724
00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:23,319
Speaker 7: where folks have to evacuate, and then they may get

725
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:25,640
Speaker 7: some of the portion of the ticket sales back. We

726
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:28,960
Speaker 7: may get that, but we wouldn't get fully one hundred

727
00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:31,880
Speaker 7: percent reimbursed at all. It would be a significant loss

728
00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:36,960
Speaker 7: even with the insurance and some weather conditions we've gone

729
00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:41,520
Speaker 7: through everywhether yeah monsoon right, yeah, I mean it was

730
00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:45,799
Speaker 7: literally like I mean, through God's grace, no one got hurt.

731
00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:48,040
Speaker 7: But probably one of our very first crol fests back

732
00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:51,279
Speaker 7: in and Prospect part. We don't really talk about it much,

733
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:56,200
Speaker 7: but we have pictures of those times and right when

734
00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:59,560
Speaker 7: Curlfest was about to be over, when it was we

735
00:38:59,719 --> 00:39:02,799
Speaker 7: had a great day and then the sky opened up

736
00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:06,480
Speaker 7: and it was literally a hurricane that came through, trees,

737
00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:11,000
Speaker 7: falling things. Everybody had to run to safety and we

738
00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:14,960
Speaker 7: couldn't clean up the place. The cleaning crew had to leave, right,

739
00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:17,520
Speaker 7: and everyone had to go run to safety, like things

740
00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:22,200
Speaker 7: flying literally everywhere. We get back to should I tell

741
00:39:22,239 --> 00:39:27,120
Speaker 7: the story, it's over, So we get back to, you know,

742
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:29,840
Speaker 7: like four in the morning. Okay, guys, the skun the

743
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:33,560
Speaker 7: stop raining, let's go clean up. And it's a disaster. Disaster,

744
00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:37,399
Speaker 7: it is a disaster. There are things everywhere. At that time,

745
00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:40,520
Speaker 7: Curlfest was free and so folks could bring in whatever

746
00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:45,719
Speaker 7: they could bring in, right, And the one thing they

747
00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:50,480
Speaker 7: called it in Brooklyn was they called them the dog walkers. Right,

748
00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:54,839
Speaker 7: there's demographic of folks that would be up at five

749
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:56,919
Speaker 7: in the morning, just make sure the place is clean.

750
00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:59,120
Speaker 7: That Prospect Park is back to where it used to be,

751
00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:01,799
Speaker 7: what it looks like before the first dog walker hits

752
00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:05,600
Speaker 7: the grass, And that did not happen. And all we

753
00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:08,840
Speaker 7: saw were the dog walkers out there with pictures with

754
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:12,480
Speaker 7: our brand on the ground, right, taking pictures and sending

755
00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:16,279
Speaker 7: them to all these communities all over social media, all

756
00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:18,800
Speaker 7: of their you know, not in my backyard. Communities that

757
00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:22,279
Speaker 7: were like, we don't want this kind of debauchery back

758
00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:26,319
Speaker 7: in our space, even though we it was literally a hurricane, right,

759
00:40:26,880 --> 00:40:29,360
Speaker 7: and so those are the types of things that started

760
00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:30,920
Speaker 7: curw fends and it was.

761
00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:32,720
Speaker 3: Like, we can never get through this again.

762
00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:36,240
Speaker 7: We were like in tears picking up trash with our hands,

763
00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:39,000
Speaker 7: you know, like they might have been like, you know,

764
00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:41,680
Speaker 7: we didn't have security at that time. So there was

765
00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:44,279
Speaker 7: a liquor bottle next door crow fest from Banner. That's

766
00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:48,480
Speaker 7: what they associated, right that. They didn't associate community and

767
00:40:48,640 --> 00:40:52,440
Speaker 7: like beautiful spaces and family event. They associated you know,

768
00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:55,840
Speaker 7: this this event of color that came into our backyard

769
00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:59,279
Speaker 7: and destroyed our part. So we had to get through that,

770
00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:03,080
Speaker 7: you know, we did. We had to rebuild the brand

771
00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:06,760
Speaker 7: and move right. We begged and begged and begged.

772
00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:08,319
Speaker 3: To stay in Brooklyn. We're still here to this day,

773
00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:09,160
Speaker 3: ten years later.

774
00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:11,719
Speaker 7: We hear people saying it's never been the same since

775
00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:15,440
Speaker 7: you left Brooklyn, right, And the fact that the thing

776
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:18,279
Speaker 7: about it is, I mean, listen, I'm such an open

777
00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:20,600
Speaker 7: book and I've gotten spank for saying so much, but

778
00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:23,360
Speaker 7: I don't care, Like you know, we have tried, We

779
00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:25,760
Speaker 7: went all the way up to you know, the tops

780
00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:28,120
Speaker 7: of the offices to beg to stay in Brooklyn and

781
00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:30,440
Speaker 7: Prospect Park specifically.

782
00:41:30,239 --> 00:41:32,760
Speaker 3: And they just won't don't want our type of event

783
00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:33,440
Speaker 3: in that space.

784
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:34,520
Speaker 5: Well they wouldn't allow us.

785
00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:36,080
Speaker 3: They wouldn't allow us too.

786
00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:39,759
Speaker 6: And so obviously once we scaled beyond you know, eight

787
00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:44,120
Speaker 6: hundred people, there's safety, right, and so every human that

788
00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:47,719
Speaker 6: touches on the grass we are responsible for, right. And

789
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:50,799
Speaker 6: so yeah, the sea of crowds when you see our

790
00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:54,240
Speaker 6: videos and you actually don't see the grass because it's humans,

791
00:41:54,920 --> 00:41:59,160
Speaker 6: every single human we're responsible for. And so we had

792
00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:02,799
Speaker 6: to make decisions that have their safety, our safety at

793
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:03,440
Speaker 6: the forefront.

794
00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:03,759
Speaker 3: Yeah.

795
00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:07,480
Speaker 6: But yeah, I mean, I think the great part about

796
00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:10,319
Speaker 6: a story like that is when that happened, it felt

797
00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:13,359
Speaker 6: like there was no return. It felt like close up shop.

798
00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:15,200
Speaker 6: How are we ever going to come back? And we

799
00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:17,719
Speaker 6: did and we will continue to do it. So when

800
00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:20,320
Speaker 6: we talk about like what is the landscape now? Okay,

801
00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:26,680
Speaker 6: DEI the Orange Man like all of it, it's roadblocks.

802
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:29,640
Speaker 6: It's roadblocks, and we will figure out a way to

803
00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:30,320
Speaker 6: push past it.

804
00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:36,160
Speaker 1: Does crow fests is this synonymous with New York? Does

805
00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:37,759
Speaker 1: it have to stay in New York. I know you

806
00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:40,640
Speaker 1: did Atlanta. What did we learn? What did you learn

807
00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:43,920
Speaker 1: from moving it to a different city? Right, we did

808
00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:46,920
Speaker 1: invest Fst London. We learned a lot, yes, right, Like

809
00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:51,000
Speaker 1: it was like, okay, obviously it's a shortened, more concise event,

810
00:42:51,520 --> 00:42:53,040
Speaker 1: but there was a lot of different things. You're doing

811
00:42:53,080 --> 00:42:56,760
Speaker 1: something international? Is that an option as well? Oh for sure?

812
00:42:57,120 --> 00:42:57,359
Speaker 6: Yeah.

813
00:42:57,520 --> 00:42:59,879
Speaker 7: And we always loved like it's the birthplace of girl

814
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:02,560
Speaker 7: us to have at least at least one curl fez here,

815
00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:05,800
Speaker 7: but yeah, curl Fez on the road for sure. What

816
00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:08,800
Speaker 7: we learned in Atlanta is that we have a beautiful

817
00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:11,520
Speaker 7: community in Atlanta too that loves us there. Right if,

818
00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:13,360
Speaker 7: I feel like the hair capital of the world of

819
00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:17,120
Speaker 7: the United States at least, and you know, they loved

820
00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:20,160
Speaker 7: us there. They opened us with you know, open arms

821
00:43:20,239 --> 00:43:22,160
Speaker 7: in Atlanta, and we love to come back. We love

822
00:43:22,239 --> 00:43:24,080
Speaker 7: to be in a lot of places. And you know

823
00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:26,480
Speaker 7: that's on the that's on the map.

824
00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:29,400
Speaker 4: Well, thank you guys for coming.

825
00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:33,160
Speaker 2: Before we leave, tell her what can they expect as

826
00:43:33,239 --> 00:43:36,840
Speaker 2: far as you know, twenty twenty six is any waiting

827
00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:39,600
Speaker 2: list website like you know, pre sale?

828
00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:42,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, all of the doing Oh yeah, all those things.

829
00:43:42,640 --> 00:43:46,000
Speaker 7: So there's a pre sale on curlfest dot com c

830
00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:47,880
Speaker 7: U R L F E SD should I talk to

831
00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:52,359
Speaker 7: you guys. There's a pre sale and curlfest dot com

832
00:43:53,080 --> 00:43:55,840
Speaker 7: special for folks who are riding for us for.

833
00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:58,560
Speaker 3: Curl Fest twenty twenty six. We need your support.

834
00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:03,680
Speaker 7: We need your support early, right and if you can't spare,

835
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,040
Speaker 7: you know, buy a ticket, Tell your friends, share that

836
00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:10,000
Speaker 7: Curlfest is coming back. You know, understand like who is

837
00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:12,640
Speaker 7: behind the brand that we're here for y'all and we

838
00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:17,359
Speaker 7: are not going anywhere. We're also working on smaller kind

839
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:20,960
Speaker 7: of community initiatives this year as well, So look out

840
00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:24,960
Speaker 7: for announcements on Curly Girl Collective, our Instagram page, sign

841
00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:27,600
Speaker 7: up to our mailing list on curlfest dot com and

842
00:44:27,880 --> 00:44:28,520
Speaker 7: buy a ticket.

843
00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:31,839
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I want to say that we appreciate y'all.

844
00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:34,160
Speaker 1: And I told you just before someone we probably had

845
00:44:34,200 --> 00:44:37,879
Speaker 1: this conversation that watching you guys create an event helped

846
00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:40,920
Speaker 1: inspire us creating events. And there was some details when

847
00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:43,799
Speaker 1: we went to curl Fest when you bought the kids

848
00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:46,640
Speaker 1: from the community center, right, and I was like, Wow,

849
00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:49,320
Speaker 1: that's incredible. I was like, we're doing an event. We

850
00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:51,120
Speaker 1: gotta do the same, and so we've been finding kids

851
00:44:51,200 --> 00:44:54,000
Speaker 1: down from the community center to investors. So we appreciate

852
00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:57,000
Speaker 1: y'all for kicking down the doors and we're gonna support

853
00:44:57,040 --> 00:44:57,759
Speaker 1: you anyway we can.

854
00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:00,440
Speaker 3: Thank you, Thank you for having us us.

855
00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:02,879
Speaker 4: God, thank you for rock Rooster seeing next week. Peace.

856
00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:03,360
Speaker 1: Peace.

857
00:45:04,320 --> 00:45:07,919
Speaker 8: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child

858
00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:11,800
Speaker 8: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador

859
00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:16,160
Speaker 8: accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with

860
00:45:16,239 --> 00:45:20,120
Speaker 8: filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just

861
00:45:20,239 --> 00:45:23,960
Speaker 8: some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President

862
00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:27,560
Speaker 8: Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Christy nom the United States

863
00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:32,400
Speaker 8: Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal border

864
00:45:32,480 --> 00:45:35,960
Speaker 8: crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded, and over

865
00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:39,239
Speaker 8: one hundred thousand illegal aliens have been arrested. If you

866
00:45:39,360 --> 00:45:43,200
Speaker 8: are here illegally, your next you will be fine nearly

867
00:45:43,320 --> 00:45:47,279
Speaker 8: one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned and deported, you will

868
00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:51,000
Speaker 8: never return. But if you register using our CBP home

869
00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:54,400
Speaker 8: app and leave now, you could be allowed to return legally.

870
00:45:54,800 --> 00:45:55,560
Speaker 8: Do what's right.

871
00:45:56,200 --> 00:45:56,879
Speaker 3: Leave now.

872
00:45:57,360 --> 00:46:02,160
Speaker 8: Under President Trump, America's laws, board and families will be protected.

873
00:46:02,239 --> 00:46:04,360
Speaker 1: Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security,