Bigger Than Brunch w/ Trell Thomas

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Calling all my sweeties to the forefront.

00:00:03
Speaker 2: I'm your host, Christo and this is the Keeping Positive Sweetish Show. Our next guest has made an impact on how we show up and celebrate ourselves. He's an activist, a mentor, media expert, and he is the creator of the Black Excellence Brunch, a global celebration of the culture created to build community amongst black people from all backgrounds, professions, and walks of life. Sweeties, please welcome Sprel Thomas Trail.

00:00:34
Speaker 1: I'm good. How are you. I'm so good.

00:00:36
Speaker 3: I'm so happy to be here.

00:00:38
Speaker 2: Man, I'm happy to have you here. Seriously, You've been everywhere. It's been a crazy week. It's fresh off of a fly. You look good. I'm loving the fit.

00:00:47
Speaker 1: Thank you. So.

00:00:49
Speaker 2: I wanted to have you on because you have so many amazing things going on and a lot of people know you from your Black Excellence Brunches. Now, your Black Excellence Brunches started in twenty seventeen. You just had friends over for dinner and said, hey, we're all white. What was it about that moment? Take us back to your dinner party in twenty seventeen that sparked something in you to say, Hey, I need to do this more often.

00:01:11
Speaker 3: Well, I have to be completely honest.

00:01:14
Speaker 4: So twenty seventeen is when it started to look like people see it now. But Black Excellence Brunch is really based off the concept and the tradition that I know that we're all familiar with Sunday dinner.

00:01:25
Speaker 3: Yes, and if you're not familiar.

00:01:27
Speaker 4: All the sweets out there right like it is when you go to church, and then after church you sit down with your family around one or two o'clock.

00:01:34
Speaker 3: I grew up Southern Baptist, so sometimes it.

00:01:36
Speaker 4: Was three or four for me, But you really shared this meal with your family and friends and loved ones. And my mam will hosting at home growing up every Sunday, and it was honestly one of the first places, Chris, what I got to feel and see and the joy of being a black person. And so I wanted to recreate that feeling for my friends. So yeah, I started doing it in my home. And then in twenty seventeen, that one that you're speaking about, I got all my friends together. It was my going away I'll never forget. I was moving from New York City to La Wow, and I just brought everybody together and I was like, well, you know, I can kind of tell them what to do a little bit more today. So I was like, can you guys were all white? Can you meet me here? And everybody came. Everybody wore all white. And when I tell you, it was something so special about it, because we couldn't get two feet without people being.

00:02:29
Speaker 3: Like, who are you guys?

00:02:30
Speaker 1: What do you do?

00:02:31
Speaker 4: Can I take a picture with you? People were sending us drinks. We were at the rooftop of this restaurant, and I just looked around the table. I remember the exact moment, looking around the table, and I just saw everybody smiling and looking so confident and just feeling joy And I just thought to myself, if I could give us this feeling all the time, I want to do that. I want us to because this is how we should be able to walk through life joyously, right Yeah. And it was in that moment I remember doing a toast and I was like, this is to all of my black and excellent friends. This is a black excellence brunch. And then something clicked, ah wow, And it was in that moment I was like, I got to do more of this and I got to gather us more. And but most importantly, I got to put a smile on our faces.

00:03:17
Speaker 1: Do that. Oh my god, oh thank you.

00:03:20
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:03:20
Speaker 2: No, just like you group in the South, Sundays, we're definitely our day where the family got together, everybody cousins. So we all came to one home and like you said, we just came together and we were already looking good because we were at our Sundays and then we had an amazing dinner and just fellowship.

00:03:37
Speaker 1: And that's beautiful. That that's what sparked that. So you just toasted and then you said black Excellence brunch and that's when you're like, wait that it just clicked.

00:03:45
Speaker 4: It just clicked, and I was like, okay, I got to do more of this, and so it was kind of rinse and repeatd that I moved to LA. When I came to La, I did another one, same reaction. And you know, like in LA and in New York, it's hard to impress people.

00:03:57
Speaker 1: It sure is.

00:03:58
Speaker 4: Everybody's impressed. But I just saw how people were receiving us. But most importantly, Crystal, I realized one that it was bigger than me. My a mentor told me, like, if you're doing anything and it starts and stops at you.

00:04:14
Speaker 3: Then it's not big enough.

00:04:15
Speaker 4: Absolutely, And so in those moments, I realized, oh, this is bigger than me. But I also realized that it was something so divine about the space. It just like I tell people, even now, you can see all the videos and the pictures, but until you've been in the space, you don't really know. But the energy of it is so beautiful. And I think you probably can attest to this. There's a point in your life where you were something, you're doing something, and you're like, this is not just a thing that I'm doing. This is a part of my purpose, and this is my responsibility. And I started to feel responsible, responsible for bringing joy to us, responsible for shifting the narrative, responsible for creating safe spaces. And so it was like, all right, this isn't just a thing that I'm doing, Like, this is what I've been called to do.

00:05:09
Speaker 3: And when you hear your call in you got to like walk in.

00:05:12
Speaker 1: It, right, you know.

00:05:13
Speaker 2: So back then when you first started, how many people were attending these brunches.

00:05:17
Speaker 1: Because I've seen what it is now.

00:05:19
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I would say at the very beginning it was like forty fifty people. Yeah, like between forty and fifty people, and yeah, now we've done as many as three thousand people, which I'm still like pinching myself about.

00:05:34
Speaker 2: You know, did you like this has been something that's in culturally impactful? Did you ever dream that, like when you started in twenty seventeen, that it would be this big and that you'd be at the White House, you would be at every film festival.

00:05:49
Speaker 1: Like, did you dream that it would ever be this big? You know?

00:05:53
Speaker 4: No, And I didn't know. I just wanted to do. Even in the even now, there are times where people would be like, do you realize, Like even when you mentioned that just now, I'm like, wait a minute, I guess that's that's true, Like because I'm just doing and I'm just going. I remember having this moment and I'll share with you. I was, you know, this was maybe twenty twenty two, and I had been done doing the brunches for a while. I figured out I was no longer having to spend my own money time. So but I walked we had one at Sofi Stadium. Wait what yeah? And I and it was brand new. We had one at Sofi Stadium. I walked in. I see black Excellence brunch on the jumbo tron and I'm like, and even though we had done like all these partnerships and we had traveled by then, we had done Africa and everything, I was like, oh man, I guess this. This is something that I'm doing because when you are on the path and you and I'm at this point, I'm helping people set up. Like I've never been the type of be like, okay, go do it. You know, I'm on in and on the ground with people. And so I didn't realize it and got that big until I looked up. Somebody was like, troll like, look and I looked and it was on the jumbo tron. So I feel like that's what keeps me like going just not even paying attention to to like these marquee moments.

00:07:22
Speaker 3: But it's also.

00:07:24
Speaker 4: Important, I guess, to stop and be like, wait a minute, like this is happening.

00:07:28
Speaker 3: So thank you for that.

00:07:30
Speaker 1: Remind you know it is I am.

00:07:31
Speaker 2: I always remind my friends, especially when things are just going so fast and everything's on a hide, take those moments to really soak it in because it goes by just like that, and before you know it, you're just on to the next, on to the next, and then you don't take a chance to look back and say, whoa, I've accomplished all these amazing things, you know, so take time to sit in gratitude.

00:07:51
Speaker 1: I love that you're finding time to do that.

00:07:53
Speaker 2: Now, you mentioned it got to a point where you weren't coming out of your own pocket to make these things happen. So from the beginning you were futoting the bill from US today's Thames.

00:08:01
Speaker 1: Oh yeah.

00:08:01
Speaker 4: And I tell people all the time, like, one of the biggest questions that I get is like, how do you get all these brand partnership At this point, we've partner with over one hundred brands, and people like I do want to know these brand partnerships, And I tell people it's simpler. Then a lot of people realize, first of all, and if you're gonna ask anybody to invest in you, like, are you investing in yourself?

00:08:25
Speaker 3: Like I feel like you can't.

00:08:26
Speaker 4: Ask anybody for anything that you're not willing to give yourself. And that's in business, that's in relationships, that's in friendships, Like, I can't ask you to be honest if I'm not being honest. So before I go to a brand and be like, hey, can you give me sixty dollars one hundred thousand dollars to do so something like I need to know like what it what it feels like to put that into to invest that into something.

00:08:52
Speaker 3: So when I did the first Black Exces bunch, when.

00:08:55
Speaker 4: I was like, oh, I'm I'm gonna do it nice and I'm gonna, you know, put some decor on it, and I'm I literally paid for that with my own money. And it gave me such an appreciation for the space. And it also let me know, like Joe, you don't got to depend on anybody to do anything that's good because you We're never waiting on it. It's always waiting on us. So I think that was waiting on me. It was waiting on me to make the decision that you know what, you can do it.

00:09:31
Speaker 3: It was waiting on me to invest in myself.

00:09:34
Speaker 4: It was waiting on me to like move forward and answer the calling that I was just talking to you about. So I feel like that's the important first step, like know what it takes to invest into your thing, into your dream and be willing to make that investment. And the next thing, you know, the very next brunch after I made that investment, I got fifty thousand dollars from.

00:09:57
Speaker 3: Netflix to do the next one.

00:09:59
Speaker 4: That's and I firmly believe it is because I was, you know, I was. I had got out of the mode of like, oh, I'm waiting on I'm waiting on somebody else to save me. You know, I'm like, I'm gonna do it regardless. You pull up to the table. That's nice, but it's still gonna be here.

00:10:17
Speaker 2: Listen, you are speaking to me right now, you really are, because there's things that I still want to do and you just hit the nail on the head.

00:10:24
Speaker 1: It's waiting for me to step up to it and do it. I love that. Oh my goodness.

00:10:29
Speaker 2: So when did you get so did you even ask Netflix or the Netflix.

00:10:33
Speaker 1: Approach you for that?

00:10:34
Speaker 3: You know? And I know we are people of faith, so you'll get this chance. So okay. I also believe that you have to.

00:10:46
Speaker 4: Pray about it and then leave it, because when we pray and then we worry, it's like me giving you something and then be like, O, can I have that back? So like, I'm not going to give God the thing and then be like, oh, let me borrow it so I can worry about it for a little while, you know what I mean. So it's like here you go, like this is the thing, and then I gotta move on from it. And I think when I had invested in myself on that first one, you know, I was like, all right, God, like I did this, A'm out of money, you know, here you go. I wanted to be nice and then I left it alone and I literally I lot to you. Not three days later, I went to dinner with a friend of mine, Angelique, and then Jasmine a shout to y'all off, y'all out there watching this, thank you so much. So Jasmine Lawson was at the dinner and she was working at Netflix at the time, and I was just telling her about, like, you know, these gatherings that I do. I was just telling I didn't even know like what her position was. We were just out to dinner as friends and I was telling her about it, and little did I know, she was taking mental notes and went to her direct supervisor at Netflix and told them with just as much excitement as I had. They agreed to take a call with me, and that was it. So that's that's how it happened. So I think that putting it in motion, praying about it and leaving it like allow God to be God, and the things start to be orchestrated because I wasn't. It wasn't like a dinner that we had planned for weeks. We popped up and did that and Jasmine wasn't even supposed to come. She showed up, you know. And I think that's how.

00:12:18
Speaker 1: God works, it is that's alignment. Yeah.

00:12:21
Speaker 2: Wow, And you still have this relationship with nel. I just did a brunch with Netflix a few that I missed. I'm gonna let you know every every time, whoever's got it, then I need yours. I need every the brunch schedule to be in this city of COVID.

00:12:40
Speaker 1: Yes. No, but that's amazing, And that.

00:12:42
Speaker 2: Says a lot about you and the brand that you've built that you're able to sustain relationships with a brand as big as Netflix. You know, with all the brunches that you've had, what has been one of your most memorable brunches?

00:12:55
Speaker 1: Wow?

00:12:57
Speaker 4: You know you know what I always remember. I always remember with the conversations, and so I think like people that comes to minds like Tabitha Brown. Uh, it's just everybody what happens at the brunch, and it's part of it being in this divine spaces. People come and they show up so authentically. It's no pomp and circumstance. It's no like I'm here and you're there. I tell people, everybody is a v I P. But when I have these conversations because I honor like cultural icons, and we've honored Kelly Rowland and Tabitha Brown and both to Saint John and Making Good and Tina Mss Tina Knowles, and you know, we've honored so many incredible people, and people always.

00:13:42
Speaker 3: Show up with their heart.

00:13:43
Speaker 4: Yes, you know, I'm thinking about even the last Brunches I just did with Netflix and sitting with Victoria Mahoney who's the director of The Old Guard too, and Kiki Lane, who stars in it as a black woman super super hero.

00:14:00
Speaker 1: I mean she is so beautiful, first of all, just stunning.

00:14:05
Speaker 4: I'm telling you, and just also beautiful inside and out. And she came and she sat with us, and she poured her heart and she cried with us, and it's just there's no other spaces where I feel like people feel seen. And so when you ask about my favorite black excellents brunches, it's I have favorite moments within them, but it's hard to choose one. But I think that the thing that I love most is that you see people authentically and they feel seen.

00:14:38
Speaker 1: Yes, no, for sure.

00:14:39
Speaker 2: I've been to two Black Excellence brunches and I felt seen both times.

00:14:43
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I mean so much. Yeah.

00:14:45
Speaker 2: No, seriously, it's such a it feels like a failing reunion.

00:14:48
Speaker 5: Yes, that's the That's what I try to create, no matter how big it is, because you've been to like a smaller one and you've been to like the biggest one.

00:14:59
Speaker 1: Right, I say, we're gonna get to that.

00:15:01
Speaker 3: That was Yeah.

00:15:02
Speaker 2: Yes, if you had anyone on your wish list that you want to have a ten year Black Excellence brunch, would it be?

00:15:08
Speaker 3: Let me just pull out my not.

00:15:10
Speaker 4: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, gosh. Uh, there's so many iconic people that I think, Lisa Leslie, we can make that heaven, yeah, Leslie, Don Staley, Uh gosh, there's so many incredible people who Tyler Perry like, so many incredible people who I think.

00:15:41
Speaker 1: Listen, all right now I can put a bug out.

00:15:45
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:15:46
Speaker 4: There's so many incredible people that I feel like deserve their flowers, and I want to share this space with.

00:15:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, Beyonce, come on, come on.

00:15:58
Speaker 2: Speaking of Beyonce, her mom is seen as is a mentor of yours.

00:16:01
Speaker 1: Yes, how did that come? Like? How do you get Mama Tina to be your mentor? You know?

00:16:06
Speaker 3: Again another form manifestation.

00:16:08
Speaker 4: So I was living in New York and so Longa's album To See at the Table came out, which is a timeless classic.

00:16:16
Speaker 3: And I'm going to say it right now.

00:16:17
Speaker 4: The time hasn't passed yet, but we're going to be listening to that album fifty years from now, Like we listened to The Miseducation of Lauren Hill?

00:16:24
Speaker 1: Right, where did I say at dinner?

00:16:26
Speaker 2: That is like when if we had we were starting on the island and we only had one album, what would it be?

00:16:30
Speaker 1: A nest? The one?

00:16:30
Speaker 3: I said?

00:16:31
Speaker 4: Man, that album, Like I probably listened to it like over and over and over.

00:16:36
Speaker 3: I can't even count them out times.

00:16:37
Speaker 4: But there is an interlude on the album, and I love that she did interludes because like that was a lost art and she brought it back in such an amazing way. And Miss Tina was on one of the interludes and she was and it was during the time it was a dark time, for me, I would say where I was just feeling. I was in the corporate world before I became a full time entrepreneur, and I was feeling so down and and just taking advantage of I remember bringing so many creative ideas and I remember them being shot down and people being like, oh, they're not No, that's not a good idea.

00:17:08
Speaker 3: That's not a good idea.

00:17:09
Speaker 4: But then I would see them secretly try to do it, but they wanted me to think it wasn't good but they and then they wanted to give the credit to somebody else, and of course it was somebody who didn't look like love.

00:17:20
Speaker 3: So I was buried down. I was just like, what is it like?

00:17:23
Speaker 1: Why?

00:17:24
Speaker 4: And I remember listening to the interlude where Miss Tina was just talking about the joy of being a black person.

00:17:30
Speaker 3: That pride and that you know, and it reinvigorated me.

00:17:34
Speaker 4: And every time I would leave work and I would feel a way, I would turn to that interlude and I would listen to it, and I remember, and this is where a manifestation comes in.

00:17:42
Speaker 3: I remember sitting and I was like, I wish I.

00:17:44
Speaker 4: Could just talk to her, like I want to just talk to her, and I put it out there and I didn't think of nothing about it. And I have to say that in that moment, I feel like God started to put things in motion. So things got really bad at work, and at first I was like, well, what's happening? Like yeah, but if you know anything about the way God works, if God is telling you to do something and you're not heeding to what God is, things will get real, it will get real uncomfortable. And they got really uncomfortable. And so I was working. I remember I was working on this. I get she was thinking about. I was working on this event to the hope was to honor Beyonce Wow and and she was pregnant at the time, and so she couldn't you know, be there for and I ended up moving to La I met someone, Andrea Nelson Mix, who is an incredible agent, and she was sitting with me and she was like, Hi, you know, I'm working with Waco Theater Center. And she was like, they think that they're looking for a social media person, but I think that they're looking for you specifically, And she set up a meeting with me and mister Yes and Miss Tina just happened to be there at the time. She walked by and she looked and she came back and she was like, who is this? And so she walked into the meeting and we were supposed to meet for like thirty minutes. We sat there and talked for like three hours.

00:19:14
Speaker 1: Wow.

00:19:15
Speaker 4: And the first thing that I worked on her, worked with her on was a gala honoring Beyonce Yes, and so God had fulfilled the thing behind that too yet, like I got to help bring that to life. But Miss Tina's an incredible visionary. It's so smart, creative, like deserves. I'm so glad that she's getting her flowers now with the matriarch.

00:19:39
Speaker 3: But yeah, so.

00:19:42
Speaker 4: When God made that promise to me after I like said those things to listen to those albums, that album, it just started to come true. So that's how we met and we just been so close ever since. And I think it's because Miss Tina is one of those people that she sees your heart.

00:20:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, and she wants to help you know what I mean.

00:20:05
Speaker 4: And she also taught me just a lot about you know, you can't wait on somebody else to do something for you or to give you an opportunity, Like you have to make space and take up space yes, and I started doing that and.

00:20:20
Speaker 1: Man, look at you. You're occupying all streets right now. You're killing it.

00:20:25
Speaker 3: Oh thank you.

00:20:26
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:20:26
Speaker 2: So you talked about going from corporate to being an entrepreneur. Same thing, and I think we have something common. Well, you worked for the Obama campaign and I got recruited, but I didn't take the job. Yeah. I worked on the Hill before I moved to Atlanta to pursue acting in music. But you work from NBC Viacom and then he works on the Obama campaign. Tell me what that transition was like, going in that jump where you said, all right, I'm not gonna do this anymore. I'm gonna go work for myself and make my dreams come true.

00:20:55
Speaker 4: So that was things are really uncomfortable, like I was telling you earlier, and I knew like so I feel like at every place, So from the Obama campaign to NBC to Viacom, like every place that I was, I was a mentor taught me about this too, Like I was putting things in my toolbox. So you always collecting things, and sometimes you have the tools that you need, but and it's time for you to move on to the next thing. But you're so comfortable or you're so you know, you like the friends that you have, but whatever the reason is, and you stay too long. And people do this again and at jobs, they do their relationships, they do their friendship. They do it sometimes with family members, you know. And I think that when God tells you to get up and move, you got to get up and move.

00:21:42
Speaker 3: And so when I I actually.

00:21:45
Speaker 4: Would be in La a Lot, right, I would be in La a Lot for work. And one day, Crystal, I lie to you not. I was walking down the street, you know, a palm tree line street. I've always been anti LA and so pro New York. I was living in New York. So I was like, I'm here, you know what I'm saying. But when I was walking down the street, I heard God say so clearly home. I just kept hearing it, and I walked by this building that was named as soon as I heard that, I walked by this building and the name of the building was the name of my hometown. And they were building and I was like, oh, this is such a nice building. And I ended up moving and staying in that building.

00:22:23
Speaker 1: Wow.

00:22:24
Speaker 4: And so I feel like, too, when you're on this journey, like God will speak to us, and it'll be faint, and the more you lean in and listen to it, the louder and the clearer it becomes.

00:22:34
Speaker 3: And I think at that point.

00:22:35
Speaker 4: In my life I had gotten to a point where the voice was clear, and so when God was telling me to do something, all right, I'm like, Okay, let's go.

00:22:42
Speaker 1: Let get We're doing it.

00:22:44
Speaker 3: So I started. I got back to New York, I started looking up apartments.

00:22:47
Speaker 4: I started like calling people, and the next time I went to LA I just didn't take that flight back.

00:22:54
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness.

00:22:55
Speaker 2: So you talked about building your toolbox. What are some of the tools that you took from working in corporate America to be an entrepreneur and what impact did it have on you?

00:23:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course. So you know, one of the things that I took was like, and this word get thrown around a.

00:23:09
Speaker 1: Lot, like humility and being humble.

00:23:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, I learned that, Like, I don't want to be humble, you know what I mean? Like, and in corporate America you can't be like humble, and you know, so you have to like ask for what you want.

00:23:24
Speaker 3: You have to say.

00:23:25
Speaker 4: The thing, now, the part of the humility that I like is that you can be kind and considered and show grace. But if people don't know, like what you're capable of and what you can do, and like what tools that you have, and.

00:23:38
Speaker 3: It'll get looked over over and over. Yeah it's the truth.

00:23:42
Speaker 4: And so like I have this like love hate relationship with the word humble, and in corporate America, I learned like, put humble you know underneath some stuff, you know that's real, And I'm yeah, I can be kind, I can be considered, I can be all the things. And speaking of kind, like, I also learned that you can be kind, but you don't always have to be nice, Yes, because nice will have.

00:24:02
Speaker 3: You being taken advantage of.

00:24:04
Speaker 4: It'll have people low balling you, It'll have people treating you like you're lesson.

00:24:09
Speaker 3: So I am kind, but I'm not always nice, you know.

00:24:14
Speaker 4: So I think that's another thing. I learned how to pitch my brand, So when you are I did so many decks, And if you're not familiar with what a deck is, the deck is when you kind of take the thing. Say you're doing an event, and you kind of take the event and you put it in like a digestible package for people to be able to see like what it is that you do, how they can get involved, why they should get involved, And so I learned how to do that really well. And that's what helped me transition from that one that I paid for to the one that got paid for.

00:24:50
Speaker 3: Right. I knew from working in corporate America.

00:24:54
Speaker 4: Okay, I need to take photos, I need to have like notes, I need to invite certain people, and I need to package this all up and then have it prepared, because you have to prepare for what you're praying for. So you can pray for something all the time, but are you preparing for so when that thing walks up, it's like, all right, you don't want to miss that opportunity because you're not there.

00:25:16
Speaker 3: So while I'm praying, I'm preparing.

00:25:18
Speaker 4: And that was another thing that I learned in corporate America. And I also learned because and people do this all the time. They'll send one email and then they don't get a response from that email and.

00:25:30
Speaker 3: They're like, oh, they don't want to do it.

00:25:32
Speaker 4: But you are the one that needs something, So you can't send one email and just beginning, you have to be persistent, you have to follow up. You have to find the best contact you have to do all of your research, and you have to Sometimes you have to call after you sit the email.

00:25:45
Speaker 3: Sometimes you have to get a number in text. So I learned.

00:25:48
Speaker 4: Persistence and I think, but most of all, I learned to advocate for myself, you know, which I used to be so scared to do. Really yeah, yeah, like I was a person who would uh, this story comes to mind. I'm gonna go ahead and tell. So I'm in a fraternity, cap up the side, Fraternity Incorporated. Shout out to all the nups out there. I'm in a fraternity and we I was the president of n PHC, which is all the divine, and I was simultaneously the vice president of my chapter. And I remember I was sitting meetings and I like, I've always been a creative, so I would have all these ideas. And one of my profiles, one of the older the ones that older me, they would watch me in these meetings and.

00:26:34
Speaker 3: They were like you always.

00:26:36
Speaker 4: One day, like he got in my face, he was like you always, I know you got something to say. You never want to say what you what you have to say, Like I can see it on your face. You know you need to speak up for yourself and you know, I was like, oh, and that was basically he was telling me, like what you think matters, and it matters in this room. And so I had to get out of that, like it doesn't matter if I'm the youngest or if I'm the only person of color, or if I'm the only guy or whatever it is in a room, Like my voice matters, and if it didn't matter, I wouldn't be in that place.

00:27:09
Speaker 1: So true, Absolutely, that's so good.

00:27:12
Speaker 2: So you went from working on the Obama campaign and you went from a rooftop of a New York restaurant to the White House. I was at this one, yeah, trail. It was it was monumental, it was historic. It was I think for every person that had the honor of attending this event, it was something that made us believe in dream bigger.

00:27:40
Speaker 1: You know.

00:27:40
Speaker 2: We sat on the lawn and looked at a building that our ancestors built, died for. We sat on the line of a house that a lot of us haven't even been able to go to or even invited or welcomed, you know. So to be welcomed in that way, and for it to be a young black man that made that happen for us was I got. I'm like trying, Oh my gosh, it was.

00:28:09
Speaker 1: It was amazing. What was that moment life for you?

00:28:12
Speaker 2: You had your family there everywhere I turned, and then people were texting like wait, I saw you, where'd you go? Like we were all trying to catch up with each other. It literally felt like a big family reunion. The food was amazing. What was that moment life for you? Because I know what it felt like for us.

00:28:28
Speaker 4: You know, honestly, I was talking to somebody about this just just just yesterday. It was out of body experience. I felt like I was like covering above myself, watching myself time. It wasn't until I stepped off the stage and I don't know if you saw me, and I like broke. I had like a breakdown from that was when I came back into my body. I felt like but the whole time, I just felt like I was watching myself. And I think because I felt the weight of that responsibility and I wanted to do it right and I wanted to for us to be seen like that love and so you know, I'm just so grateful that it happened. I'm so grateful that, you know, people like you just shared have that experience, and you know, you're speaking about the things that I wanted.

00:29:14
Speaker 3: I wanted to give.

00:29:15
Speaker 4: Us opportunity to make space for us to take up space, and like also.

00:29:21
Speaker 3: Not for nothing.

00:29:22
Speaker 4: To your point, that place wouldn't be there if it weren't for us, our literal blood, sweat and tears, and so it's only right that we get to be celebrated in that kind of way, in that space, you know.

00:29:35
Speaker 3: And so that was my thought process, and it was just.

00:29:38
Speaker 4: And I think a lesson or thing that I learned and all of that is like somebody's.

00:29:43
Speaker 3: Always watching you. Yeah, somebody's always watching you, and that thing. People don't know that.

00:29:48
Speaker 4: But that was like three years in the making, and it came to me in a dream like I literally I was walking passed through like where the Rose Garden is. I was walking through there, and I had like deja vu because I dreamed walking the exact same steps I saw myself. I looked at the reflection of myself all those things and it was happening again. And so that's how I know it was divine. But for me, it was like I wanted to create a space for us to feel.

00:30:17
Speaker 3: Seen on a massive scale.

00:30:20
Speaker 4: And it taught me the lesson of like, always be preparing for it because somebody someplace is watching what you're doing. And that's that's what happened. Somebody at the White House was watching at the same time I was dreaming.

00:30:35
Speaker 2: I was gonna add ooh, I was gonna ask you that. That's powerful. Somebody was watching at the White House while.

00:30:43
Speaker 1: I was dreaming.

00:30:44
Speaker 2: Yep, my goodness, so good, so good. So how did that happen? The person that was watching reached out.

00:30:53
Speaker 4: So yeah, you know, I'm persistent. Anybody that knows me would tell you trail is the follow up. King, I'm gonna follow up and thenollow up and then follow up on top of the follow up.

00:31:03
Speaker 1: I love it. I'm for real. Uh and I will be following it up for your schedule, please, dude, think and I'll be following up too. I need that bread schedule.

00:31:13
Speaker 4: No, but okay, So I've been really blessed to have a lot of incredible people in my life, a lot of black women. To shout out to black women, you all are like the backbone of society. Nothing moves without black culture, but nothing really moves without black women.

00:31:32
Speaker 3: So it was black a black.

00:31:34
Speaker 4: Woman Joe Taka Edie who came to me, she's from South Carolina, who came to me and was like, you got some special brother.

00:31:42
Speaker 3: That's what you know.

00:31:42
Speaker 4: If you know, you notice how she talked, you got some special brother, like you got something special. And I was like, thank you, Joe Taka and you know, and that's all she said at first.

00:31:51
Speaker 3: And she was behind the scenes talking to people.

00:31:53
Speaker 4: And then my fraternity brother Stephen Steve Benjamin was advisor to the president.

00:32:01
Speaker 3: He also was like, you know, whispering ears.

00:32:05
Speaker 4: And for me, I was just calling anybody that would listen, like I was under people social media, I was dming some of them DM still unbread but it happened that it happened, you know. But yeah, any email I was sending the emails and so but I always made sure again like kind. I was always kind to people. My mom taught me that at a very early age. I remember when I she would drop me off to school, she would say, Trail, you treat the janitor the same way you treat the.

00:32:31
Speaker 1: Press, absolutely saying and that all.

00:32:33
Speaker 4: That's that's stuck with me my entire life. I've always treated almost especially you know, people who I felt like didn't also always get treated. You know, I've always made a point to be kind to those people. And you know, some of my biggest breaks have come from like somebody who a lot of people might have overlooked that I was kind to, that remembered my kindness and told somebody else about me.

00:32:57
Speaker 3: A big deal for me. I did PR.

00:32:59
Speaker 4: Like in my many lives, I would say I also did PR. And I remember my biggest thing. I got a placement in Old magazine, which was huge, and that placement came from me offering an assistant water somebody, the assistant oftentimes nobody ever talks to, and I had you know they you know, when you go visit office and stuff, they make sure that you have the things that you need.

00:33:20
Speaker 3: And I got another water, and I offered the assistant one.

00:33:24
Speaker 1: Wow.

00:33:25
Speaker 4: And the assistant told their boss, who told the editor who got me the placement.

00:33:31
Speaker 1: Wow.

00:33:32
Speaker 4: And I have so many stories in my life like that, where just being kind to somebody who needs a little more kindness can can open a big door for you.

00:33:43
Speaker 1: That's good. That is so good. Wow, I'm still suck on. Somebody was watching while I was dreaming.

00:33:50
Speaker 4: I'm telling you, probably was literally while I was having that dream. Somebody was like scrolling like who is this?

00:33:57
Speaker 3: Brother?

00:33:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know that's crazy. What do you feel has made your brand stand out? Because I feel like the brunch let's call it brunch industry, you know, is.

00:34:09
Speaker 1: Like very saturating.

00:34:11
Speaker 2: But what has made your standout over all the other ones?

00:34:15
Speaker 4: I think when God has given you a vision, God will give you provision.

00:34:20
Speaker 2: Come on this, Okay, we're gonna add pastor to your title because you're preaching right.

00:34:24
Speaker 4: Well, you know, I was in the church for my mom was my Southern school teacher, she was my vacation Bible school teacher, she was my choir director.

00:34:30
Speaker 3: I was in the church a lot.

00:34:33
Speaker 4: So don't let this set fool you, like I know my word, but no, it's real. Like when God gives you a vision, God will give you provision. And so it doesn't matter if it's a million people doing things. I mean, look at benty Yes, like Rihanna has has a billion dollar industry that everybody will say over saturated that you can't turn anywhere without saying some makeup, But it ain't fenty.

00:34:56
Speaker 2: Hello, and then it has deals after deals with other exactly just does everything, yes.

00:35:01
Speaker 4: And I feel like we live you know, we were talking about this. I don't operate in a scarcity mindset. We live in an infinite you know, there's enough of everything for everybody three times three and four times over. So I I've always been lived by that, like there's enough for me and so, but I think there are a couple of things that that that differentiate the brunch from other brunches, right, one is like the heart of it, And I think that you should hone it like you know, the know your why and the tension behind your why before you start anything, and be really firm on that.

00:35:36
Speaker 3: And I have been, like I've said.

00:35:38
Speaker 4: No to six figure deals because it wasn't it wasn't the heart that's so good. Yeah, you got to keep your integrity. You got to keep the integrity of your brain. Like how many place fast food restaurants did you used to love and then when it got too big, they messed with the integrity and now it's not good. And I think it's the same thing with your brain. You got to treat your brain like that. You got to keep being integral about it. And so for me, like I am, I know that my nose make way for my yesis so I'm not afraid to say no to anything, and that has has really helped the brand, like being having.

00:36:14
Speaker 3: Those clear boundaries, you know.

00:36:17
Speaker 4: I feel like another thing about a brand is like having something that's recognizable.

00:36:20
Speaker 3: So the all white really helps too.

00:36:22
Speaker 4: And for me, it wasn't about like making a brand, It was more so about I put us in all white because I wanted the concentration to be on the beauty of our melonis.

00:36:31
Speaker 3: So I didn't want anything distracting us from that.

00:36:33
Speaker 4: I wanted people to see, like the beauty of your skin, because it is about celebrating blackness. And blackness isn't because of black excellence, isn't because of all the accolades that you received.

00:36:43
Speaker 3: You were born. That is a birthright that we have.

00:36:46
Speaker 4: And I teach my sister to teach her sons, like, we didn't come like people are like, oh, yeah, they brought slaves over to American. No, they brought doctors and lawyers and engineers and all these things like we and kings and queens. We were born into royalty. That's our that's our ancestors, you know. So I wanted the concentration to be on the beauty of like all of the different shades of us. So that's another thing that has helped the brand. But I also think consistency and consistency is probably you know, paramount with any thing, any brand building. You have to be consistent, you have to continue to show up. That's the thing that a lot of people struggle with.

00:37:24
Speaker 1: I feel, yeah, it is.

00:37:27
Speaker 2: What is the legacy that you want to leave behind when it's all said and done, especially with this brunch, because it's ours, it's building a legacy of its own.

00:37:37
Speaker 4: That's such a like, Ah, you know, I want the legacy of Black Excellence Brunch and of myself just to be that like.

00:37:51
Speaker 3: People felt safe and seen.

00:37:54
Speaker 4: And affirmed around me and in the Black Excellence Brunch, because I believe that when people feel seen and affirmed, they're able to show up more authentically. And when you're able to show up more authentically, you you can walk your path, because our path is as unique to us as our thumbprint. And you can only get what's for you by being you, Like I can only get what's for traill by being trilled. I can't get what's for traill trying to be crystal. And so when you show up authentically you can collect all the things that are for you and so and when you feel safe, you're able to do that, yes, right, Yeah, And so I want people to feel a little safer and a little more affirmed and a little more scene when they're around me or when they're in spaces that I've created.

00:38:44
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:38:45
Speaker 2: So something that I'm really interested to know about is the day of a big event, the day of your brunch, because I've thrown parties and I know how stressful it is the things that happen. What is one of the craziest things that's happened where you're like, oh my god, this is gonna happen, Like are we going.

00:39:01
Speaker 1: To even be able to have the brest today? Because I know you probably need a reality show just around them.

00:39:10
Speaker 4: There's so many, but there's one that I could think about it and I can talk about it now, but for a long time I couldn't talk about it. So we were in Austin, Texas, my first time in Austin, Texas at Afro Tech.

00:39:20
Speaker 3: I was so excited to be there. We were doing this brunch at.

00:39:23
Speaker 4: This place and they told us like, hey, you know, we have like, you know, a semi kitchen, so you know, basically when that happens, like the chef prepares the food and then you come bringing in there you warming, that happens. That's okay, we get there. It is a parking garage, there is the outlets.

00:39:42
Speaker 3: Don't work in there. You can't have a brunch without food.

00:39:46
Speaker 4: And the chef thought like, oh, I'm gonna make the eggs in there because we didn't have any We didn't have any food, we didn't.

00:39:52
Speaker 3: Have any way to warm it up.

00:39:53
Speaker 4: We were down there buying we were buying hot plates to plug them up. I had to run an extension court up step to plug in the hot place. The other chef was at at this Airbnb cooking the food, driving back and forth to bring I mean, it was insane all above. You know, the music is playing, people are like, oh yeah, I'm down there running back and forth hosting.

00:40:17
Speaker 3: Hey, welcome to the Black Exis.

00:40:18
Speaker 4: But we're so glad for you to be run downstairs putting on gloves like and it.

00:40:24
Speaker 3: Was wild, wild, and so that was a moment.

00:40:28
Speaker 4: While it's just like, I don't know, And honestly, the White House was a very big undertaking because you can't do anything.

00:40:36
Speaker 3: There's a lot of checks and balances, as you can.

00:40:39
Speaker 1: They were every like even like the Secret Service. Yeah, it was a lot. It was so much. I was like, I remember, I just remember working on the hill. It felt like that all over again.

00:40:49
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:40:50
Speaker 4: So that was, you know, navigating that space. And I didn't like everybody. I didn't want And it's the same with the brushes, Like I wanted, yeah, people that you recognize and know and love like yourself there. I also wanted people that may have never gotten the opportunity to come, you know. So I invited some people from South Carolina who you know, probably never even been in a state building.

00:41:13
Speaker 3: Let alone the White House.

00:41:14
Speaker 4: So navigating that space and like you know, making sure that, Yeah, my family was there.

00:41:21
Speaker 3: My dad, my dad does not talk and he would not shut up, like he was inside the light. I was like taking pictures of everything. I think my dad took a picture of the floor. What you're gonna do with that?

00:41:32
Speaker 4: But yeah, but I wanted people to have that experience, and so navigating that was like, oh my gosh. And and you know, not only that I was building the program, I was you know, figuring out like the food and all those things. So doing it at that scale for three thousand people, and also trying to make sure like even you know, including like even the smallest people from the smallest town.

00:41:56
Speaker 3: I mean there's no small people, but you know.

00:41:58
Speaker 4: People from small town wouldn't get those you wouldn't get those opportunities to make sure those people were included as well.

00:42:03
Speaker 3: It's just that was that was a huge undertaking.

00:42:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can imagine. But Austin takes a cake that was, Oh that's crazy. Yeah, and you but you handle it. You kept pushing matters. Yeah.

00:42:15
Speaker 4: And and a lady that that I was, that one was with uh door Dash and the same lady went to another company and she We're doing a Black Exce brunch together in a few weeks.

00:42:27
Speaker 3: So that's why I can talk about it because I'm like, Okay, they did nobody do.

00:42:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, you pivoted. I love that.

00:42:38
Speaker 2: I want to know more about trail. So you have these amazing brunches. You've had an incredible impact on our community and culture. What does Treill do to stay grounded after all these monumental moments.

00:42:51
Speaker 4: You're gonna laugh at this, and maybe you won't, but I take you baths and it's not like you're like oh yeah, you take about everybody takes a bath, but no, I make it a thing. I get the candles, I've burned incense, I dimmed the lights, I have the music on, I have bath bombs, Like I really make it the more. And that has become like my recentering moment. And I was just sitting there and I think and yeah, run yeah. I was literally like I was finding the name. Yeah, it's my rare run moment. And I just sitting there and it resets me and it just calms me. And in that you know time, I'm just thinking about that because I've tried like every way to meditate, and I'm like, my mind is just soul, it's always going. But and there, I just feel like it's just it's so calmon.

00:43:45
Speaker 1: So I do that.

00:43:46
Speaker 3: And I like to travel, so I take trips.

00:43:48
Speaker 1: It's one of your favorite places to get.

00:43:49
Speaker 4: My favorite places. I have to say, I don't know if you have been to Ghana.

00:43:54
Speaker 1: I have not. I've only been to Ghana.

00:43:57
Speaker 4: Like when you're talking about it just felt like a big hug from your grandma being there. From the moment I stepped off the plane, I just felt like embraced in a way that I have never felt. Wow, so like that Ghana has to have been one of my favorite trips. I also really love like London is my spirit city, and I think London holds such a special place in my heart because if you haven't realized at this point, I'm a risk taker. And I booked a trip to London like on my twenty seventh birthday. The night before the trip, oh wow, by myself went and I had the time of my life. And it was my first thing, my first like solo trip. It was like a you know, what's that thing? Love eat prayer, eat pray love. It was that for me, and so ever since then, I've just had such an affinity for London.

00:44:50
Speaker 1: Really.

00:44:51
Speaker 2: I went to London in December, and I guess it was no One told me that wasn't a great time.

00:44:55
Speaker 1: To go because old and it rains.

00:44:59
Speaker 4: I was like, well, thank you, yeah, but it's so it's it's it's a vibrant city.

00:45:05
Speaker 3: The fashion is top tier. Like you just I just.

00:45:08
Speaker 4: Feel so cool, like Sherlock Holmes. I mean, I'm James Bond like walking down the street.

00:45:13
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.

00:45:13
Speaker 2: I love that you are known for creating safe spaces for other people.

00:45:18
Speaker 1: How do you curate your own safe space? Listen boundaries. People talk a lot about boundaries.

00:45:27
Speaker 4: I have really set like firm boundaries around myself and it comes with like learning. You have to learn yourself to know like what you're willing because I used to be. I'm a virgo too, So if you know anything about Burgos, it's very people pleasing signs.

00:45:41
Speaker 1: We want people to be happy. So mother Teresa is a Virgo.

00:45:44
Speaker 4: Like Michael Jackson, Beyonce, Kobe Bryant, Tyler Perry. Yeah, so like we're very much people who want people to to feel safe and seen and loved, and sometimes that comes at the risk of like not seeing and affirming and loving yourself. And so I creating that safe space has looked like me creating boundaries, me saying no when I mean no, saying no and letting that be it. Not no because not no, but not no, maybe just no no.

00:46:21
Speaker 3: You know that has attribute to me creating a safe space. Also just.

00:46:31
Speaker 4: Doing things with love, you know, like I don't do anything like I wouldn't be here today if I didn't have a love for you and what you're doing and what you create, and so like I do things from a space of love. And when you do things from that space, it always turns out beautiful every single time. If you operate from love, don't operate from greed, don't operate from transactional, don't operate from you know, trying to get a leg, jealousy, anger, Don't.

00:47:02
Speaker 3: Operate from those spaces.

00:47:03
Speaker 4: Operate from love, and I promise you the outcome every time will be so beautiful.

00:47:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that.

00:47:09
Speaker 2: If you could name a lesson or an affirmation that lives rent for in your head, what would it be.

00:47:16
Speaker 3: Leave it better than you found.

00:47:18
Speaker 4: It, leave it better than you found it. I enter every space with intention to leave it better than I found it, and I've showed up before. I anytime I go to a table, like, I'm always bringing something to the table, you know, like what can I bring? Because I don't want to be the person who just comes and takes.

00:47:40
Speaker 3: Something from somebody.

00:47:41
Speaker 4: You know, there's enough takers out there, Like be a giver and what you don't know, a lot of people don't realize when you give, you also get a lot. And so for me, I'm like, I'm gonna leave it better than I found it because I'm gonna come with.

00:47:55
Speaker 1: Something I love that that is so good.

00:47:57
Speaker 2: Now, music is a big part of everything that you built, because when you come to your events.

00:48:03
Speaker 1: The nineties hip hop and R and B. That's my nineties vibe.

00:48:07
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:48:07
Speaker 2: Yes, If you had a piece playlist where if you're centered in a list that brings you peace, what would be one song that has to be on that play?

00:48:16
Speaker 4: Oh my god, The Conquering Lion by Lauryn Hill. It's on her MTV Unplugged album. That song is short, but it is so powerful.

00:48:26
Speaker 1: Man.

00:48:27
Speaker 4: I play that song like anytime I need like your juvenation, anytime I need the reminder of who I am, anytime I need like that to feel spoken to. The Conquering Lion by Lauryn Hill. If you have not heard that song, were my camera right here. If you haven't heard The Conquering Lion by Lauryn Hill, please do yourself a favor and listen to that album. When you talk about love being poured into something, she pours so much love into that unplug and it was so utic. She let her voice crack, she cried, she started songs over like that whole album was amazing and it just taught me so much about like another Virgo trait, the chase of perfection, like you don't it doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to be real.

00:49:12
Speaker 1: Yes, that's because I struggle with that man.

00:49:15
Speaker 3: But it doesn't.

00:49:16
Speaker 4: It doesn't happen because in our imperfection, we are made perfect. And somebody will catch that, right.

00:49:22
Speaker 1: I caught it.

00:49:24
Speaker 3: I'm serious, and so you know, like, yeah, you are a perfection. This is personal right now.

00:49:32
Speaker 2: God, this is like literally got everything is aligned and this is guy's time.

00:49:36
Speaker 1: Everything you said today I needed to hear it. Oh my gosh, I'm just grateful. Thank you.

00:49:41
Speaker 2: So so before we get out of here, I love to play a little game.

00:49:46
Speaker 3: Okay, let's do it.

00:49:47
Speaker 2: We're gonna do a game of this or that brunt edition all right, Okay, Mimosa or Bellini Strength and Grits or fishing grits, fishing grits all right. Now we're from the South. Now, this next one is gonna be a little tricky. Grits with sugar or grits with salt.

00:50:03
Speaker 4: Don't you put no sugar in my grits. Don't put no sugar in my grits. I don't want oatmeal. I want grits passion.

00:50:12
Speaker 1: When I was a kid, I wanted sugar and butter. But now that I'm an adult, I like savory grits. Yeah, savory for sure. That is hilarious.

00:50:21
Speaker 2: Frieda eggs or scrambled eggs, scramble bacon or sausage.

00:50:26
Speaker 4: I don't eat meat anymore, but I was a bacon guy. Bacon was a bacon and pepperoni was the hardest thing for me to give up.

00:50:33
Speaker 1: I don't eat pork, but I still eat pepperoni. See, because that turkey pepperoni don't hit the same.

00:50:41
Speaker 2: Some people feel like like bacon when they say I don't eat pork.

00:50:45
Speaker 1: When I eat bacon, they don't feel like it. Count don't meat.

00:50:48
Speaker 3: For a long time, and somebody was like, no, come on, yeah.

00:50:54
Speaker 1: That is funny wallface or pancakes.

00:50:58
Speaker 3: That's toughcakes.

00:51:01
Speaker 4: You know, chicken and waffles is like a staple, brusting pancakes.

00:51:05
Speaker 2: I like, I'm with you, Yeah, sweet or savory savory? You want a vibes playlist or a live band? A live band, Yes, I like that. L thank you so much. Thank you literally been a blessing so much.

00:51:28
Speaker 3: I love you.

00:51:29
Speaker 2: I love you too, and I wish you many more successful black excellence brunches and whatever they may turn to something else even bigger.

00:51:37
Speaker 1: I pray that it just goes bigger and bigger and bigger.

00:51:40
Speaker 2: Seriously, and I can't wait to watch it and watch you do amazing things.

00:51:43
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of you.

00:51:44
Speaker 3: Oh see that. Can we pray? Can I pray for you?

00:51:50
Speaker 1: God?

00:51:50
Speaker 4: I just want to say, thank you so much for this opportunity. Thank you for this safe and beautiful in the firming space that Crystal has provided. Thank you for the doors that are opening. Thank you for the things that are happening. Lord, we just blessed the ask you. Just bless everything that her hand touches, every place that her feet goes, and we asked you open all the doors and need to be open and closed. All the doors need to be closed because we also know that Crystal is an amazing steward over everything that you had given her. Bless her staff, Bless everybody that is around this show, and bless everything that she puts her hands to.

00:52:19
Speaker 3: In your name, we pray, Amen, I love you.

00:52:29
Speaker 2: For today's Crystal's closet, I am wearing a matching denim set from Zara The top is a Gnom vest with gold detailed buttons. My shoes are blue rubber Otega Vanetta Sandals, super comfy and my signature Georgian.

00:52:52
Speaker 1: Sweeties.

00:52:53
Speaker 2: Are you prepared for what you're praying for? Thank you all so much for spending time with me today. Please don't forget to like subscribe so that you don't miss any of the impactful guests that we have planned for season eight. And always remember, if opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.

00:53:09
Speaker 1: I'll see you all next time.