A word with me here. You know, BT's so low shout of O C T. No what we see whole game read the butler something. Oh you can't stand on their own, Susie. I already know you can't involved with me because with the squad of me, they get a little they called me.
Love boiler alert. Is O T T with that?
bestI Sola, it is.
Your boy BT.
Prayers up for Jasmine Sellivant, who recently just lost her mother, and also prayers up for Brownie James, who suffered cardiac arrests during his workout at USC.
Yeah, that was that was pretty shocking.
You know, I definitely don't like people's speculations on what happened.
Are the speculating, I mean people.
Are speculating, you know, just crazy stuff that I've that I've been seeing on the internet about like the VACS scene and stuff like that, and you know how people are saying like the vaccine is creating like blood cloths and stuff like that that's causing people, young people to have, you know, health issues. So I mean, just prayers up
to you know, Bronnie James, man, damn man. You first practice and you know something like that happened you know, I can only imagine how Lebron and Savannah feels, you know, hearing some.
News like that.
I mean, it's terrible that people would assume anything. I am one of those people who does feel like the COVID nineteen vaccine was out too quickly. There was there weren't enough studies on it. We do not know how people's bodies are going to react to this until later on down the line. I don't know that it's associated to that, that his incident is associated to that, But I also understand why a lot of people are fearful of the effects of the COVID nineteen vaccine.
We speaking of prayers of Jamie Fox has finally thank Yeah.
Now, when I said this, When I brought this up, y'all thought I was crazy.
It's not a y'all situation. It's just that some people hadn't heard that. People were upset about him not thanking them. I was not upset. I felt that if you were mad at him, then you should have kept your prayers because clearly it wasn't authentic.
But is he a call? Is that him?
Man?
That's Jamie Fox?
It's BASICOK, A lot different.
It looked longer I mean, he could have lost he could have lost a little bit of way, you know, been in the hospital, you know, for the time that he was there. I just don't like the fact that people feel like celebrities owe us something just because we're sending prayers and because we're fans.
That man still has a private life.
He's still you know, he's Jamie Fox to us, you know, and he's somebody's dad, you know, he's somebody family members. So people got to keep in mind, man, these celebrities don't owe us anything.
I mean, it's common decency to say thank you, you know, when people send you love and prayers, thank you. The story for people to have been in an uproar like they word, like to not like give the man a minute to come outside and enjoy himself. Like I promise that man was gonna say thank you, Like relax, h they got he's okay. I'm glad he's okay. And I'm about to watch the movie.
On Nesis, I watched the movie and it's really good that movie.
Man, you know, then I only saw the first like fifteen minutes. It's crazy, Lawren, just because I was.
Well, I'm a big fan Paris. I love that she has been able to stretch her acting. She's been in The Candy Man.
You know, she's the main lady right in the movie. Oh, she's hilarious. I love her away Now I got to see it a.
Movie. I just like, uh, what was it? What's the old main character?
Yeah, the dude John boyeg yep, John Boyego. He is hilarious on it. And you know he has such a thick accent. But like when you see him in a movie.
It's the dude.
I mean that's the part of accent. You gotta throw, you throw your voice, you gotta switch it up. He's an amazing actor though, Like that man really molds into any roll that he gets. Like I thought he was a real thug, Like I thought he was a gangster and American gangster at that.
What about that? What about that chicken scene?
See, I don't know what you're talking about.
It.
Yeah, but yeah, man, if you haven't seen They Clawed Tyrone, definitely check it out. It's definitely I say, it's kind of like Jordan peel Esk. It makes you really think, you know, watch it tonight, Yeah, it makes you really think. Let us know what you think about it. Check it out.
It's on Netflix.
Carly Russell, y'all. I refrained from speaking about this story or bringing it to this platform because it was so many moving parts at the time, and now it's just all coming together and making sense.
She lied, y'all, Carly Russell, girl, let me tell you how much I love you, how much I care about you. I almost packed up the Mini well.
For herd On souf can you give him a breakdown or what happens? Okay?
So apparently Carly had called the law. She called her family. She was driving on the interstate and said that she saw a time. I don't know what she was driving, whatever it was, she was driving a car saw toddler, decided to get out to help the toddler, and then disappeared. Her personal belongings were still in her car. Her wig was snatched up off her head and left in the car, which furthermore led us to believe that she did get abducted.
Somebody took this woman. So now everyone's looking for her. Her family's going crazy. Social media done got a hold of it. Black folks want her to come home. I almost packed up the Mini and drove to Hoover to go find you girl, and you was at a hotel. You was checked in at a hotel while the world was going crazy looking for your sorry ass, and you was okay.
And real women missing out here, real women.
Well, something's not right now. It could be just for Cloud, it could be for men in a in a different type of way, like maybe she's not together all the way. Maybe she wanted to make her boyfriend mad or something. I don't know what it was, but I don't think that she intended for it to get this big. I think she thought it was gonna be a local, little thing. She was just making her family mad, her boyfriend mad, and the thing went global. I don't think she meant for it to blow up like that.
You know what made me mad? If she sent the damn lawyer to tell.
Us she was lying, she was gonna tell you herself.
She should apologize to the whole world.
For her to feel that shame, Yeah, feel that shame because she has so many people supporting her. I've seen so many blogs posting about her, so many people that I follow posting about her like this.
Did you call you girl?
Ooh?
Did you post about her?
No?
I mean, it's just really unfortunate. There are so many people lost in real life. I mean I lost, but have been abducted in real life.
And you took the taxpayer's money.
You know, the people got paid taxes for those resources.
Now now she she may be looking at the criminal tale.
I hope she don't go to jail, man, I hope she. I don't want to see nobody go to jail.
I don't think she should go to jail before they do an evaluation, like, let's make sure she's okay mentally. Let's see what's going on with her jail.
She's obviously not there mentally.
If you come up with a lie to say that you got kidnapped and got to be there.
She could be together mentally and just made a bad decision.
A lot of people are saying it has to do with her boyfriend. She was trying to get his attention.
What do you guys think your boyfriend got your back? He still got your back till this day. Okay, he will he offended. He defended you the first time, the first day one he defended you again the other day. Y'all, man, I don't know how. It seemed like he gives you a lot of attention. It seems like he gives you unconditional love, because the way my man would have left me if this was me her, that man love you.
I don't know what money you want from him, Jesus, I'm just gonna hope that's not the reason why she said that she was kidnapped. He's gonna pop up at the house two days later after enjoying home service while the whole world was going crazy about you, girl, I almost drove to Hoover, Alabama on your pie.
Think about it. You know what, the cops probably was thinking, we don't show up.
But you know what, the sad truth is, the sat truth is, that's probably what she thought. You know what's gonna happen. They was gonna ignore it, and it'll just be like a little family.
A woman missing that They don't care about girls.
You said, she thought it was gonna be micro small. Yeah yeah, and she could just give her a boyfriend a little heart attack.
Yeah up. We don't all lied before. Okay, we don't all lie before. Now, sometimes we have told a big lie, but it was to a small group or a small scenario. It didn't blow up. She lied. It blew up. Now look at you. You know lost your damn job.
Well, speaking of more ruckers in the social media streets, just hilarious. You know, in this whole trends community, have you all been keeping up with that?
The audacity and just the arrogance for SIS women to believe that they own periods, that they own womanhood.
You don't.
Okay, you don't own periods.
You don't own womanhood.
You experience both and both are different for every person, but as a SIS woman, it doesn't belong to you, so you can't gatekeep it gay.
Wait wait wait, wait, whoa whoa whoa whoa?
Okay, who the fuck stands up for us? And us?
I mean women, real women, biological women, women who were born with all the parts that you, guys wish that you were.
When does the delusion stop?
No?
Really, who is protecting women? Because we just all out here getting our ass handed to us, fighting for our life. I don't have a problem with the way anybody chooses to live their life. If a transgender wants to be known as something other than what they were born as, I don't have a problem with it. If that is who you believe that you are, I support that. I don't support the community calling now natural born women's women. I'm not a CIS woman. I'm just a woman. Sorry
that I have a natural period. I cannot help that. And I promise you I'm not gatekeeping no period. If I could switch with you, I would, okay, Like I.
We don't want no period.
We don't want to.
Plead everyone pms, the cramps, like come on now, and to be disrespected at that too, like come on, we don't want that. But gatekeeping is a reach to say that we're gatekeeping periods is a reach.
The whole gatekeeping periods through me, Like, I'm like, huh.
Just because you're a woman and you bleed, you possess both those things. You don't own womanhood. I don't think anybody is trying to say that we own anything. But we are natural born women. We're going to have what natural?
That's it?
Like we accept I accept you for who you are, respect me. That's it.
So what is I heard this? I was just That's exactly what I was about to ask. What is what assist woman means?
I don't know the only transgender people called natural women CIS women?
Like what the so? Then tis Madison goes into it and she says, there are so many real women, they get mistaken for being transgender women, and that's where a lot of the anger comes from. I do hope they take a good look at how transphobia affects all women.
For you to make that comment, you are completely disregarding the hurdles and the challenges that natural born women go through. You are doing to natural born women what you don't want done to you. You are discrediting our experience, you are belittling who we are. You're literally doing to us what you don't want done to you.
That's crazy, I think, just like how they have so many rules, you know, that we have to follow and make them feel comfortable, like we should be okay with saying I don't want to be called sis.
That's it, and I'm not. I'm not a I'm just a woman, that's it. Like I never heard of the term CIS women prior to the revolution, essentially, you know, being as big as it is. I don't have a problem with you fighting for representation because you matter. Representation matters. There are millions of other people that are going through identity crisis. They're trying to find themselves. I respect your journey. Cool, no problem, Do not call me a woman. I'm just
a woman. Don't call me anything to appease what you want to do or be for yourself, Like don't And.
This revolution kind of like as you just stated, kind of happened for you know, posts growing up because I didn't grow up learning that.
I don't know anything about it. That's another thing. So many people within that community, not everybody obviously, but so many people in that community are mad at what we don't know. We're learning right now. We're open to learning, We're open to receiving who you are and understanding your world. But you not gonna slam me every single chance that you get and disrespect me for just being a woman. I am just that, That's all I am.
And maybe we can get a little bit more clarity on it, like we invite to as in any other trans gendered people to come and educate us here on the Baller Alert Show.
Open dialogue, just open, respectful dialogue.
Well we about to have some open dialogue because Angel from the Spice Sweet stop about the Bailer Alert Show even get spicy right here.
We'll be right back with more of the Baller Alert Show. You're listening to a special edition of the Baller Alert Show.
Te Se, y'all, this is Angel Gregorio and you are now tuned into the Baller Alert Show. Miss Angel in the building of the Bler Alert Show. Let's take it back to the beginning. So I started in education randomly. I started working at a youth jail, and I thought
that I wanted to become a forensic psychologist. I have multiple degrees in psychology, and I knew I wanted to work before I talk to crazy people, not crazy, talk to folks impacted by mass incarceration, okay, right, And I knew that I wanted to do that.
The audience.
Forensic yeah, no, Forensic psychology is working with folks who were impacted by the justice system. And I knew I wanted to work in the justice system because I have brothers. My mother and father have all been incarcerated. I have brothers to brothers serving life in prison, and so for me, I wanted to go back and hopefully be the person that I wish they had saw that could have changed
their trajectory. And when I went into the prison thinking I was on this path to psychology, I met this girl who became my best friend, who was a math teacher, and I saw her teaching, and it made me realize that I wanted to impact the kids like that, and so I went back and got certified to teach, and then I ended up becoming a teacher dean and then an assistant principle and stayed in education and thought I would be in education forever until you know, I became a spice girl.
How many siblings do you have. I have four siblings, and two out of the four are both server licenses. Yes, wow, how is that affected your family?
I mean it's lost, right, so it's grief. I think that folks don't realize that having folks who are incarcerated is a lot like losing them. And I don't want to pit pain against pain, but it almost feels like even more difficult because they're here. So it's like you can see them, but you can't touch them in a way that you want to. You can talk to them, but the conversations are very different. Where you're watching them grow up there watching you grow. But you guys really
still don't understand each other. Right, Like my brothers and I have a very nuanced relationship because we've grown so much over the years that they've been incarcerated. And they think they know me, but they don't. And it's same for me. I think I know who they are, but I don't really know them. But those are my brothers. So there's some like real intense grief around not being able to love your siblings the way you want to love them due to the circumstances impacking them.
Are you the only person in your immediate family who has not been arrested?
I am the only person in my immediate family that's not been in prison year.
So what's the difference between you and everyone else in your family?
I think I tell people that all the time. We are the same.
My brothers and I have the same We have the same mentality, we have the same hustle, we have the same drive. We just have a different product. Right, Like where they chose cocaine and weed, I chose you know, other things. And I also was attached to different people, my friends. My circle of friends was very different. Education, which is why I went into education treats boys and girls very different.
Right.
I had a smart mouth and still do.
But when I had a smart mouth, it was just you know, a note on a report card talks too much. But when my brothers got smart. They went to the office because they were aggressive, and then that led to suspensions, and then there's the school to prison pipeline that starts
to happen. So I think it just makes me think about how we need to treat boys and girls more similarly when it comes to how we redirect behavior, because we don't know the path that we're putting them on when we started punishing them, you know, too harshly, too early.
That's an interesting statement.
It makes me want to bring up about what Florida's doing with the educational system. How do you feel about, you know, what their governor is doing and trying to you know, a race.
Yeah, I mean it's so it's criminal period. It is also exactly what white people have been doing in this country for centuries.
Right.
So it's almost like how we talked about Trump when Trump was in office. I think every black person talked about how he's just put in a spot on, you know, the issues of racism that have always existed, what the Santus is doing and Florida is not foreign to any of us, right Like, And the the part of it that is difficult is we can keep the black history in the textbooks, but the educator is still not teaching it right, so he's just saying, let's take it out,
which is trash, right, and it's trifling. But we still have educators who look like us, who aren't teaching our kids the history that they need to line in school. So we just need to do a whole reform of the education system, the prison system, all of it. But I'm also an abolitionist. I don't believe in the prison system. I believe in reform and abolishing it completely. So my views are really radical around things like.
That, because it just seems like Florida is making it a big deal. Like it doesn't seem like people in Florida really making it a big deal. It's kind of like something that you actually got to go read about and like actually go do your own research to see what's going on.
And I think that's the issue with us relying on our media to tell stories about things that are impacting us the same way. You know, I spoke to a group of kids who came to the Spice sweet to visit me last week, and we were talking about travel, and I asked them where they wanted to go, and they it was about twenty kids and they named different countries. None of them named the single country in Africa, and so I paused and I was like, why don't you
guys want to go to Africa? Name the rename things you've heard about Africa. They were like dirty feet, dirty water huts, dirt roads, like they named all these archaic things that we've been fed from media about a country that is absolutely vast, beautiful and rich.
Right, total opposite of what they think.
And it's the same with the history, right, Like I think we just were relying on mainstream media to teach us things that will empower us and that will advance us, and that's not their goal.
We had two different agendas.
Yeah, that's why I believe that we all should do our own research. Because I actually followed this goll on YouTube that's in Africa and he shows.
Silent he's smiling with it because I'm.
Like, he shows like Africa like really what it is, and it's like really like like there's real cities, there's.
Like wealthy people, there's beaches.
Like there's like rich minerals that other are trying to go over there and still get to this day. And that's what made me smile because I remember me you know, being in Arkansas and going to school, and it was like Africa was just always planting us that it's like nothing there but dirt and huts. And I've seen this god YouTube and I was like, wow, this is what Africa looks like.
I've been to about thirty nine countries, and the most beautiful countries I visited are in Africa.
The most beautiful beaches.
There's nothing like the Indian Ocean, right, And we think about like Mardi's It's like it's beautiful, but that's still a part of Africa. Unesia tries to claim it, but it's still African soil, say shells ease your Morocco beautiful places. So I think we just need to also encourage each other to travel more.
Yeah, we traveled a lot because you went to like over twenty six countries to learn about spices.
Yeah, so that's a part of my business and now I just spend a lot of my time. I've not traveled in a while, and I'm sad about it.
I'm like counting down. That's true. It has been a year. It hasn't been too long. It's been a year.
I'm counting down the days to my next vacation to travel again. But yeah, I literally spend my time traveling the world to sorece spices and get inspired for new spice plans.
Ooh, I bet you'd be good.
I'm sorry, what was gonna say.
I'm a victim of that. So I'm first generation American by way of the Ticular region in Ethiopia. I did not want to go to Ethiopia when I was fifteen because I told my mom, I don't want to see all these hungry people, all these poor people. And when I tell you, I cried like a baby. When it was time to come back to the States. It was the complete opposite. So shout out to you for not only acknowledging that but preaching it, like letting people know,
why don't you take your behind to Africa? Everybody wants to go to these European countries and say crash.
Yeah, boring.
The heart is boring. I mean boring.
You said it, not me. Well, going back to DC, you know, when we were talking about you in an educational field, where did the idea come from that I'm going to open a spice store.
It was random and sciendipitous. I feel like that is like the theme of my life as I, you know, go deeper into adulthood. I saw this random for lease sign on a building when I was leaving a nail salon. It was a black old nail salon side you know, wanted to frequent that shop, and when I saw the for lise sign, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I didn't have a business plan, I didn't have a budget. I didn't even have a desire to
own a business. I just thought it was like an apartment where if you asked the landlord the rent, they tell you the rent. But the landlord had legitimate questions like what do you want to do with my space? And so I was like, sir, oh, I don't know, don't worry about it.
He said, well, we're.
Looking to make a decision in a couple of days, let me know. And I was like, I'll open a spice shop. Can you just tell me the price? And then when he told me the rent, I was like, Oh, that's not bad. I don't know what bad was, right, because I didn't have any frame of reference, but I was just like, oh, that's not bad. And so I decided I was going to do it. I negotiated the lease. I had a friend in real estate development who helped me to negotiate the lease to get a couple months free.
And so I'm like, if I'm gonna get a couple months free, I'm gonna stack this money while I can, you know, before I have to pay him rent. And so I decided to open a spice shop. And at that time, there were six other spice shops in DC, and we're now the only spice shop in DC.
Woow.
So the other ones are out of business.
They tried to sell to me, Yeah, most of them tried to sell to me, but I didn't want to know. I don't want to inherit their bad.
It's such a.
Competitive I'm good.
There are so many seasoning brands. It is such a competitive space. How did you go from zero to one hundred?
We went from zero to a million?
Okay, we.
Went I mean we went there kind of quickly, right, but there was this steady upward trajectory. And I'm super grateful for that because I know a lot of times when we tell stories about business and business ownership, we always focus on like the hardship and the struggle, and I think a lot of times we struggle onnecessarily in business because we don't want to make the hard decisions.
If we make the hard decisions quickly, then we can move out of the bad space and into the part where we get to harvest and you know, reap the harvest of what we've sound. And that's been the case for me. Like we've had some difficult times, but it was really me investing in community that has helped my business. I really feel like that was the key to my success, is that I made sure to bring as many black people along the journey with me as possible and not feel like I can go alone.
So where did the spice sweet name come from?
My best friend and I the one who was teaching Rachel. She and I when I text her, I think I text her or called her immediately after I called the landlord. She might have been the first person I called. And so we started texting and I'm like, I'm opening a spice shop. And because she's my best friend, right, so she's riding no matter.
What I say.
She don't even know what a spice shop is, but she's like, okay, well we calling it and I'm like, I don't know. I want something cool and She's like, all right, sweet and spicy.
I'm like that's whack.
And we're going back and forth, and she kept using the word sweet but spelling it sweet and I'm like saying it and I'm like, no, I like sexy, you know me, I believe in all things sexy.
Let's call it spice.
Sweet because like a hotel suite, but also a sweetest, all encompassing, right, a sweetest also luxurious because that is the most expensive place in the hotel.
Right.
So it's just had all these other meanings for why we would use the word sweet. And of course the play on the words sweet and spice is as opposing tastes.
No, for sure. How do you come up with your spice blends?
I tell it.
My motto is food is fashion, and I really believe that people should play in their kitchens, in their closets. So I start creating spice blends in the same way that I get dressed.
So sometimes you start with.
Something really basic, like this little tank top, right, And that could be garlic or paprika or salt. Something is super familiar, whether you cook a lot or not. When I say those things, you know what they taste like, what they smell like. And then you layer and you edit, so you literally keep adding things. You add garlic, you add hullman, you add coriander, you add parsley, you add
all these things on top. And then at some point I either decide like this is bomb, I'm about to name it something, or it's like an outfit when you try it on and it's like, oh, this dress is fire, but I don't have a shoe yet, So you just sit it sits in the closet until you get the right shoe, and then you come back to it and you're like, now I'm ready to wear this dress because I have the shoe, the hair, all the things that's gonna make the look what I want it to be.
So it really is just a playful thing that I do.
One of the sayings that you have and it's all over your T shirts and all that is what I love is we have it at home. Got at home. Yeah, And everybody say that, how did you come up with that?
Being black?
Right?
I think it's here, growing up.
We got food at.
Home, growing up black.
Right, You pass McDonald's and you ask your grandma, your my auntie, whoever to get you McDonald's and They're like, we got ground beef at home, and they know it don't taste like McDonald's, but they're not about spending money. They the ain't nothing at home, but they're gonna tell you that. And so I think I started it as a joke, right to remind people that we got food
at home of their childhood. But it also is me wanting to encourage folks of my generation to cook again, because I feel like we are so much of the cost. Sure of like brunching on Sundays and trying all the new restaurants, which I also enjoyed doing. But there's something to be said about the family and community that happens when you sit down and eat together. It really you by yourself, you and your significant other, you and your family.
I just think that there's something to be said about pausing and taking time to eat out, even just.
The process of cooking, right, Like you could be talking about this, that and the third or maybe you find out that this cousin feels like this spice would be better with this, and you try it out, like it's just such a family oriented experience, And I do feel like you learn something when you cook as a community.
There you find out how.
How do you go spice shopping? Like how do you wake up one day and say, okay, not only am I going to start the spice business, but I got to go find the spices. How do you go spice shopping?
So it started with this guy Boat, he's a comedian. We met randomly in Safeway and when I posted on Facebook that I was going to start a spice shop, he hit me and was like, Hey, I'm about to go to Kuwait and I want to send you some spices. And I was like, okay, cool, like thinking he's gonna send me a little sampful, a little pat sent me kilos and kilos and spices, and before I could even open it, I smelled it and before I even opened it, like open each package, I was like, this is what
I gotta do. I have to travel the world for spices because whatever is in this box, whatever these things, I didn't even know what it was, yet, this is what I have to bring to my customers. And so I traveled to Puerto Rico first because there's a spice shop there that is owned by woman and she's the only spice shop in Puerto Rico and she's been there for twenty plus years, and so I just wanted to stand in that space that was built by a woman and see what that felt like and feel that energy.
No interview, I just wanted to go there and spend some money with her and support. And then after that, I just started traveling because I figured everybody eats right, so I don't have to have an agenda. I don't go to any country looking for a particular spice, per se. There's some places, right if I go to Morocco, Dubai, I'm looking for saffron because it's expensive and I need to get it there. I've learned what you know is
unique to certain places. But otherwise I just go. I just go travel and try things.
You probably eat some of the local food, and you're life always what is that? Whatever this is? I need that.
I try to eat local, and I try to cook while I'm there with locals, not like a cooking class that you book online. I try to like literally, I'll pay somebody like all your auntie let me come and cook dinner with her.
Period that cook cooking you do cooking on your Instagram and things of that nature, which I love too. You be having the gyms going That's why I put on that try to catch you vibe. What are some of your favorite recipes.
I don't necessarily follow recipes, but some of my favorite things to make are veggies. I love making like different vegetables and having fun with them because I feel like it is the most surprising thing for the folks on Instagram, right, like when you make Brussels sprouts and make them look good or sound good, or green beans or carrots, you know things like that, folks. I mean, we all do salmon and chicken and all, you know, the kind of staples.
But when you have fun with vegetables, I think it changes things. And as a mom, I want my kids to experience vegetables and love them and not think of them as these like soggy, bland things like I did growing up.
No, that's a good point, because everyone does really feel like vegetables are bland. So you're either gonna have bland vegetables soggive it don't cook the nutrients all out of it, or you're gonna have to overcompensate with heavy seasoning. And I don't like doing that. I feel like if you have to use a lot of seasoning, either what you have isn't hidden, it's not flavorful enough, or you're just trying to clog yourself up like it's one of the other I.
Don't We'll be right back. Stay tuned with more of the Baller Alert Show. You're listening to a special edition of The Baller Alert Show.
Teaw this is Angel Gregorio and you are now tuned into the ball Alert Show.
When you had the Spice Sweet and that was very successful, especially after the pandemic, I know Covid was good to you. After that, you came up with the Black and Fourth. You let us know about that.
So Black and Fourth came about. The name Black and Forth came about a few years ago. I was on interviews, maybe like a year into business this. I have this business model where I have these black women who have products that are handmade or uniquely sourced, and they pop up at my store regularly on a recurrent basis and exchange for them having a space to pop up, they work at the store, so I don't have to pay staff to work at my store.
Right.
So it's this unique business model and I called it a barter. I was doing these early interviews and I'm like, I bartered with black women, because that was the best way I knew to describe it. And I got a call from the US Department of Labor's legal department and the guy was like, yeah, so I heard you're doing a barter, but we don't see anything on file with like the IRS.
And I was like, so I lied.
Because if the RS has to get involved, then I definitely said the wrong thing.
Let's stop there. It's not a barterer.
What do we call this?
And he's like, no, no, no, I'm not trying to trip you up. I just want to understand your business model. So I started talking it through with him, and he tells me the different employment types as the DL describes them, and he was like, what you're doing does not fit in any of our employment types. And I've actually never heard of it. I've been here about ten fifteen years. I was It's like, well, if he's never heard of it and it doesn't fit any of them, then I
need to own it in trademark. And so I said, now I need to call it something. What is this idea of me going back and forth with black people. It's black and forth. I go back and forth with black people. So black and forth became the name of my business model, and then when I went about purchasing a commercial property, it was the name of my real estate holding company. And now the name of the mini strip mall that I own in DC, I call it black.
And for.
Right.
I love that you actually kind of you know, this is just what comes to mind. You remind me a little bit of Pinky Coal, Like when I hear her story Shield talk about something that was like an everyday experience for her and how that everyday experience, that moment sparked an idea for a business that ended up being extremely successful. Like you know, for you to have the black and forth that came from something that you were actually just doing. It just came to you naturally, you
wanted to do it. And now it's a whole it's a whole extension of who you are and what you offer the communities. That's really dope.
Thank you.
What's some advice you would give? You know a lot of black businesses that ideas that you've used to be successful.
You know some of it.
I typically give the same two pieces of advice, right, and it's starting now perfect later, because sometimes we get in our own way and we talk ourselves out of starting something because we're waiting for it to be perfect.
Our labels have.
To be perfect, the website has to be perfect. We have to, you know, have a certain amount of followers before we launch it on Instagram all the things, so that start now perfect later. And secondly, I always say, like, be careful who you dream out loud around because sometimes people can't see for you what they can't see for themselves, and they will stop you from moving forward because they will impart their fear on you.
And that's scary.
Okay, So all of these Instagram chefs and you know black Instagram entrepreneurs that swear what they got is the hotest, say, try my season and it's so flavorful, but then you see them dumping like a pound of season on something. Clearly it's not good if you have to use so much seasoning. What is an easy recipe that anybody, any girl can make for her man or you know she just wants to impress a guy for the first time. What is the easiest, like full proof meal that you would suggest.
I guess, so, I don't know if there's like a quick recipe, right, but if I'm thinking like someone's coming over and you wanted to make something easy.
Spinach dip.
Right, spinach dip is easy, so you can elevate that a bit by doing like a spinach and collar dip. So some frozen spinach, frozen collar greens, you get whatever type of cheese is you want. Good cheese makes things better. Write some Manchego cheese, some Gouda cheese. You mix those together and get some A good seasoning blend, preferably the
spice sweet. Right, preferably the spice sweet. And we don't necessarily recommend certain blends for specific things, so I don't believe that, like there's a steak blend or a vegetable blend, and then you mix it a little bit of mao in that, some sour cream and then you mix it up and literally bake it. And that's a quick, easy spinach dip. And that's something to have, you know, even
if they're not staying long. Right, like you have a you're talking about somebod he's trying to impress their man. He's picking you up, and you guys are about to hang out for the evening, and you want to just have a cute little appetizer before you guys leave. You want to have a drink, a little appetize at the house before you leave out. You can make some quick spinach dip.
That's what that was about to say. Now Sue just asks a person question.
I'm gonna get what I do.
I like.
The people, I am, the people.
Sweet is in the building. What does black owned business mean to you?
Man?
I think black owned business is about legacy. It is about reclaiming our space in this country, and it is
about setting an example for our kids. It's so important when people bring their kids by black and forth and they're like, I just bought my son my daughter to like see you, to meet you, or to to see this space, Like that means so much to me because it's like you brought you traveled here to see this, which means it doesn't exist where you are, which makes me sad, right, but it also makes me grateful to know that I created something that is syesthetically beautiful enough
that you found it worthy to bring your children, but also has enough significance historically and you know, just thinking about future, that you wanted your kids to like stand in my space and be a part of it as if it's this historical landmark. So black business is really it's also ordinary, right, And when I say ordinary, I'm
not saying it because black businesses are basic. But I think that so many of us have created so many things that are just like what we need to be purchasing every day, that we need to start buying black out of just it being what we do and not out of protests, right, Like, we don't have to wait for some big brands to mess up before we start putting out the list of places that we should buy from.
Like there's black people to make deodorant and lotion and soothpaste, light bulbs, band aid, like literally all of your necess of these, I can name a black brand that makes them. So we don't have to wait for somebody to mess up before we start shopping black. And I really hope that we start to embrace that more. I feel like we're turning that corner slowly, but I feel like we need to put the put our foot on the gas on that one.
It's hard because that's that's crazy that you said that, because literally yesterday I was just talking to somebody and I said, you noticed Uber East.
Don't tell you what the black restaurant said anymore.
Mm.
It was a moment Wow, you.
Noticed Netflix don't tell you the black movies anymore?
Like, oh why, yeah, they did. Used to have that section.
It used to be a section of everything, like if you wanted to support black at some period of.
Time, it would let you know everything.
But now, like y'all did, y'all.
Did too much. Y'all supported too much. I supported y'all, y'all too much.
Yeah, just too.
Black History Month, no rider, Yeah, yeah, they ain't protesting no more.
So All things spice sweet at spice sweet dot com.
That's spice suite dot com. Yea, I'm at the spice feed on Instagram.
Okay, I've seen y'all had merch on there. Y'all had all the spices. You can get a box, a monthly box, yep. And you have like a cookbook on there, right, Yeah, So I created an ebook.
It's old, but I left it there just because folks, you know, kind of still want to use it as a guide in which I think cookbook cookbook should be anyway, not necessarily prescriptive. But I created that cookbook years ago when I was on Master Chef. When I was on Master Chef, we were sequestered, right, so you can't talk to anybody. You don't have your phone. All you have is a journal and a notepad. And so every day while I was there cooking, I was writing recipes and
testing recipes, and so there was like a range. So this recipe book is not like Southern food or Caribbean food. It is all the things that I made their like lebanies, Greek food, American food, soul food. So it's a combination. Yeah, it's a combination of things. And so when I came back, I literally turned that journal into a cookbook and we used to print it. And now because printing calls just got so ridiculously expensive, we made it into an ebook.
Will there be another one coming soon? Taking all the idiots A writer?
I do not feel like.
Writ She just told you she ready to travel.
Yeah, I don't want to work.
You made this one recipe on your Instagram. It had like it was a soft shell crab and the shrimp with the guacamole stuff. I was like, oh my god, what's.
Your favorite spice?
So I tell you I don't have a favorite spice, right Like, I cook with all of them. We have over one hundred and two spice recipes. I am constantly creating new recipes and roastating things and then.
Out of the store.
So I tell folks I don't have a favorite. And when people come into the store and ask me, like what's your favorite or what do you recommend for chicken or salmon? I always say like, girl, I don't even know you. I don't know what she wants your chicken to taste like, right, so I have no idea. And it is really akin to going into Macy's and saying like, I want some perfume. What do you suggest I smell?
Like they don't know what you want to smell. They could be super sealsy and like try to pitch something to you. And I could do that, right, Like I could try to name three spices and they're gonna sell out just because I said they're my favorites. But I really want people to take their time and explore and find their favorite, because it really is like fashion, like I'm not sure, and it's not about what's trendy and
what's popular. My least popular spice, you know, on paper, on terms of sales, could be the one you love.
The Most's see, that's why that's how I know your business one because you like I ain't about to pick three spices. Dolls is gonna come in here and say I want those three spices. Now, y'all gotta try a one hundred and twenty.
I got way more than I'm excited to go on down. Everybody going down to DC the Spice Sweet and check her out because I know I'm gonna make my way down there.
Not online, right, Yeah.
So our model online is we do boxes.
So we created this almost like hype beast kind of hype around our products. So kind of like our sneakers and things drop, we would drop boxes online and we tell you what's in the box, but that's all you can get, So you can never go on our website and like point and click and add specific items. You have to take the box as is and you know what's in it. So it's not like a myster But
that's how we do our online. But we also have personal Shoppers, which are a group of black women that decided they love the Spice Suite and they want us to come in and shop for people who were out of state and they can purchase any item in the store and shipping anywhere in the world. And so I created a separate website for our personal shoppers where you can link with them that you pay them. I don't
take any money out of that. You pay them to shop for you, and I give them access to my store, which of course allows me more money to have my product and more hands, but it also allows me to support some black women who really want to be able to earn some extra money by doing what they love, which is coming to the spice.
Wee, so are they? The Spice girls are the personal shoppers.
They're separate. So there's a lot of black women.
There's the Spice Girls, and then they're the personal shoppers. The Spice Girls, they are black women who have their own businesses. So they sell everything from vintage clothing, beer products, waste.
Beads, skincare, all the things.
And they pop up on a regular recurring basis, so one of them might be there every first Sunday, another one could be there every second and fourth Thursday. And they have their schedule and while they're there, they're selling their products and my I love it.
We ain't talking about spots up your life. No, they're not thing. They're not a girl. Yeah, so and the spices the spice sweet miss ANGELI thank you so much for pulling up on us and sharing it having me and I can't wait to be down there. You know. I got to watch it in DC though with my pockets because y'all got I was just down there and they had like a some other tax i guess is to pay for the building, like because COVID or something it was. I was just like really young.
So the restaurants have started being crazy. They'd like COVID tax and all.
Yeah.
Yeah, them have saying about cooking at home.
Yeah yeah.
Yeah.
Before we get out of here, we got a pep talk.
My name is Angel Correo CEO on the spice Sweet, I'm black and forth. My advice to anybody who's looking to start a business, has a dream that they no longer wants to defers to get out of your own way. Sometimes we overthink things. We allow other people's perceptions or fears about what we want to do to get in the way of us getting started. So you can always start now and perfect your journey along the way.
Can't get enough of baller Alert. Follow us on all social media platforms at baller Alert. Log on to baller alert dot com