0:04

The Washington Football team's Black Engagement

0:06

Network known as BEN has organized a Shop

0:09

Black initiative and celebration of Black History

0:11

Month. This initiative is a shopping and dining

0:13

directory of small businesses that are owned by

0:15

people of color from all over the DMC.

0:18

We're excited to bring you a special Wild home Field

0:20

featuring two of those business owners. I'm

0:22

Jane Kenney and joining me as Stephanis Jokien and Janine

0:25

Samuels. And this is a while brought to you by

0:27

Fresh Fine Wine. Yes, this is a

0:29

very special edition of Wild home Field.

0:31

We are talking two of my most favorite things

0:34

other than the Washington Football Team of course, food

0:36

and fitness. So we have husband

0:39

and wife duo James Indiana Robinson

0:41

with us here today. James is

0:43

a chef and my new best friend. He

0:46

is owner of Kitchen Cray with locations

0:48

in Lanham and Eighth Street in

0:51

Northeast DC. And Indiana

0:53

is owner of Fab Body Fitness

0:55

Jim as well as a fitness instructor

0:57

and trainer for our very own women

0:59

of Wyhington. So to you both,

1:01

thank you so much for being here and welcome to

1:03

the Wow. How are you doing? We

1:06

are great thank you for having us. Yes,

1:10

well, I want to start right at the beginning.

1:12

We're gonna learn all about who you guys

1:14

are as well as all of your endeavors. But I want to start

1:16

from the start. When did you

1:18

know you wanted to own your own business?

1:23

So I M I've

1:25

always known I wanted to own my own business. I think

1:27

even from being a younger

1:29

child, I was always a leader. Um.

1:33

I always knew that I wanted to If I

1:35

wasn't owning my own business, I wanted

1:37

to be the boss. When

1:40

I was younger, I was classified as bossy,

1:44

and then later on that got

1:46

classified as having more leadership

1:48

qualities, which I prefer. Um

1:51

And so I always knew that I wanted to be

1:54

in the lead. I knew that I wanted to

1:59

I wanted to be able to have my own

2:02

creative thoughts and use

2:04

those use those creative thoughts to

2:06

run my business how I wanted to run it. So

2:09

I did start off working a job. I was actually

2:11

a palegal, and

2:14

I did not like it at all. I didn't

2:16

like having a regimented nine to

2:18

five schedule, um, And so

2:20

I did that for a while until I get

2:22

built up enough savings in order to open

2:25

up my own gym and kind of running on my

2:27

own so awesome, and

2:31

I knew I wanted to be a

2:33

business owner when

2:35

I figured out I didn't have to request

2:37

days off and

2:41

instead you work every day.

2:44

That was my turning point, like asking for

2:46

a day off and then they can deny it. So I just

2:49

felt like I was in the wrong

2:51

place. So I just said, you know what, I'm going to work

2:53

hard so I won't ever have to ask anybody

2:56

for a day off. I can make my own schedule,

2:58

live my own life, and also provide

3:01

jobs for people in the community, and

3:04

you know, do what I wanted to do. So I just felt

3:06

like that motivated me to go

3:08

above and beyond in any place I ever worked.

3:10

I worked in the restaurant industry for about

3:12

ten years. I treated the restaurant

3:15

like it was my own, and I always did, you

3:17

know, took the extra steps to

3:20

learn other people's jobs so that when

3:22

I opened my own I know how it worked.

3:25

So yeah, yeah, I mean, that's

3:27

wonderful. I mean, and kind of talking about that.

3:29

You know, I've been on my own since two thousand

3:31

and seven, and there are a lot

3:33

of ups. There are a lot of downs. But then

3:35

it's that initial hump of how

3:37

do I push through and how do I do this? This is a passion

3:40

of mine. I know that I want to work for myself. I know I

3:42

want to be my own boss, but actually

3:44

starting is what is sometimes

3:46

the roadblock for a lot of people. So what would you

3:48

say, just kind of thinking back when you

3:50

first opened up your business, what was the biggest

3:52

challenge maybe that you hit, and then how did you

3:54

overcome that? And then bringing it

3:56

to present day with the pandemic,

3:59

you know, how have you been able to keep your business

4:01

running through COVID nineteen. Yeah,

4:04

so I'll start. So first let me say that I

4:07

think that it's important too for

4:09

aspiring business owners to know that in

4:11

order to be a leader, on order

4:13

to run a business, you have to know how

4:16

to serve first. And but just kind of way to say

4:19

so, I think it's important. It was for me it

4:21

was really important to work at nine to five as

4:23

a paralegal to be able to

4:25

learn how to work under someone

4:27

first, to learn how to serve someone else

4:29

first, because being a leader,

4:31

of being a boss is not always all

4:33

it's cracked up to be. Sometimes you are the

4:35

one sweeping the floors. You know, you're not

4:38

always the one just side in the check, so you really have to

4:40

learn kind of all aspects of the business and

4:42

be able and humble enough to take on all

4:44

aspects. So as far as

4:46

the most challenging part of business,

4:50

I think it has been hiring

4:53

and retaining good

4:55

staff, and that kind of goes

4:58

back to, you know, being able to serve, you

5:00

know, knowing that, um, you

5:02

know, you do have to take authority

5:04

from somebody else and maybe you

5:07

know your ideas may not always be the ideas

5:09

that are taken, but having

5:12

to follow through with someone else's ideas

5:14

even though they may not be your own. So for

5:16

me, it's been really hiring

5:18

good staff, staff that you can trust,

5:21

staff that align

5:24

with your brand, and then staff

5:26

that just kind of are able to

5:30

kind of follow your lead and be

5:32

kind of proactive as well. You

5:36

know. On my side, I felt like the hardest

5:38

thing was first to get funding

5:41

because like being

5:43

a black business owner, you don't really have like all

5:45

the resources or access to

5:48

get the funding, and nobody ever tells you how

5:51

to do it. Like growing up and you know how

5:53

we grow grew up in like the hood, what

5:55

everybody call it. So I just felt

5:57

like just going out getting that knowledge, getting

6:00

educated on how funding works and

6:03

when you start before you start your business,

6:05

actually getting that account

6:08

and a lawyer, even if you can't afford

6:10

it. I did. I bought it with them. I said, hey, I do

6:12

your meal preps and you

6:14

do my contract, so you do my taxes. So

6:17

I just had to figure out how

6:19

to make it work so when I did go to

6:21

the bank, I can present them with a package

6:23

that would allow me to get the funding

6:25

that I needed to go forward. Because

6:28

you know, I don't have a mother father

6:30

that's just going to hand me a million dollars to

6:33

start a business. So we just had to really

6:35

figure out and get creative on how to raise

6:38

the money to actually get the loan because

6:40

a lot of people don't know that

6:42

you have to put down ten percent, so you have to invest

6:45

in yourself and you have to be a growing business

6:47

for a bank to even touch you. And then

6:49

in the restaurant field, it's one

6:51

of the industries that banks don't

6:54

like to touch because it's the number one failing business

6:56

in the world. It's a restaurant.

6:59

Restaurants usually don't get past six months,

7:01

but we're going on our fourth year, so

7:04

I just felt in our third location, so

7:07

I felt like, you know, the next location

7:09

is in Virginia, Alexandria, Virginia,

7:11

and like then that said the

7:14

staff part, like when you're

7:16

working with humans, period, it's always

7:18

going to be issues because

7:20

humans know how to mess something up, like they're

7:23

going to come into work and don't

7:25

want to work today, or you know, bring

7:27

their issues in. So you just have to figure out how

7:29

to deal with the personalities.

7:31

You have to be strong, You have to kind

7:34

of be cutthroat because you want to be fair

7:36

to everybody. You don't want to give anybody special

7:39

treatment and treat others different. So you want

7:41

to make sure you're a fair person. You

7:43

want to make sure everybody understand

7:47

what your vision is because I feel like

7:49

sometimes people could come in and try

7:51

to steer you in another direction

7:53

just because they have a little more knowledge. So you have to

7:56

like really build your foundation

7:58

and know where you're going, and when you bring people

8:00

in, they understand what the missions. That's

8:04

great. Love that creativity

8:06

with the financing. I will food prep for

8:08

you. I mean that is so

8:11

cool, such a

8:13

great idea. So I know Jannine's

8:16

second part was just about pandemic and

8:18

how that's affected you guys. And obviously you're both

8:21

very creative because I work with Dana all the time and

8:23

she's such a problem solver for me when

8:25

we want to be creative for WOW events. So

8:28

I have it. I'm making it two part two because

8:30

you have an addition coming to your family.

8:32

So now let's talk about how

8:35

you how are you're surviving the pandemic

8:37

and now how are you going to add this extra little member

8:39

to the family with balance? Yeah,

8:41

so um So as far as

8:43

the pandemic and running business, I think it's

8:45

been hard for all businesses, um

8:48

specifically small businesses because you

8:50

know, we're working on a tighter budget than

8:52

larger businesses are. M and

8:54

a lot of small businesses have really

8:56

been affected, especially our two industries,

8:59

you know, with restaurant industry and gyms.

9:01

Right now, we're both at twenty five percent

9:04

occupancy your capacity, and

9:06

you can imagine that only being able to bring

9:09

in twenty five percent of

9:11

you know, what you were making before.

9:13

It can be tough for a business. So we

9:15

both have to really learn how to kind of like pivot, how

9:19

we can figure out ways how we can generate

9:21

revenue in other ways. And

9:23

that's why I always say to other

9:26

business owners that having multiple

9:28

streams of income is always so important

9:31

because even if you feel like you have one stream

9:33

downpack, sometimes

9:35

things are out of your control and like this pandemic,

9:37

so you have to be able to pivot

9:40

and find new ways to create different streams

9:43

of revenue. And so

9:45

as far as bringing in this new addition and

9:48

balancing at all, so

9:50

far, we've so we've been married now for almost

9:52

four years, and we've been doing a great

9:55

job at balancing, but it's kind of really to spend

9:57

us. And so now with this

10:00

new addition, we're

10:02

gonna be facing some new challenges.

10:04

But I think that because we've

10:08

we've been married for four years, and

10:10

because our communication has gotten so much

10:12

better within these four years, it's gonna be a lot

10:14

easier for us. And I think that that's the key

10:16

to balance, is that communication. Because

10:19

there's not really a turning off

10:21

the clock for us, Like we can't say

10:23

at five pm, you know, we're off the clock. We're

10:25

answering emails all through the night,

10:30

him more than I. He's taking phone calls

10:32

all through that communicate

10:36

what we kind of have going on, you know, letting

10:38

each other know, Hey, this is a crazy month for

10:40

me, and so you know, I

10:42

may have to put a little bit more focus into my

10:44

business, but we still also take time

10:47

to really have quality time. And even if we're

10:49

in the middle of kind of watching a movie in the evening

10:51

and he says, hey, pause this real quick, I

10:53

need to take this call or I need to you know, answer

10:55

this email. It's fine. I'm very

10:57

understanding. He's very understanding, and it helps.

11:00

We're both entrepreneurs so that we kind

11:02

of know the game each It may have been a little different.

11:04

One of us were working in nine to five

11:06

when we were kind of off and then the other was still kind

11:09

of working, but really understanding

11:12

the entrepreneurship game and knowing that there's

11:14

never really off time really helps

11:16

us to manage

11:18

and balance our time better and put

11:20

you right into parent life because the baby doesn't

11:23

stop crying at five either. Yeah,

11:29

I feel like, you

11:32

know, with restaurants, since they dining restaurants,

11:34

so we had to adjust to take

11:37

out. So we have to figure out a plan on how could

11:39

we go from being ten percent

11:41

takeout to one hundred percent takeout, And

11:44

we just had to come up with a plan make it work.

11:46

The hardest part was laying off the front of the

11:48

house staff because I feel

11:51

like the county they're not

11:53

on the same page with each other. So two

11:55

months will be open for twenty five percent,

11:58

and then next month they shut us down lead

12:00

then they opened us back up. So it's just like we

12:02

have to keep adjusting every morning, like

12:05

our businesses are not set in stone. And I feel

12:07

like that's how you went when you're able to adjust to

12:09

what's going on in the world. And

12:12

we figured it out. We made packages.

12:15

We try to just do a lot of fun stuff to interact,

12:19

you know what, our clients. I go on social

12:21

media and do like little dishes and

12:23

sell them online just so like people can see

12:25

what's going in there. I'll give you the ingredient list,

12:27

you can make the dish with me. If if

12:29

you can't make it, you can, It'll be the special

12:32

the next day so you can order it online. And

12:35

you know, as far as a new baby, I

12:37

just feel like I'm gonna be the

12:39

morning shift. She's gonna take the

12:41

night shift because I always wake up at like

12:44

six o'clock in the morning anyway,

12:46

So yeah,

12:48

I love that and you know what, I want to add to that

12:50

too. This is why I love fitness so much, because

12:52

I feel like fitness is kind of

12:54

a microcosm of the real

12:57

world. And he was

12:59

talking about like being flexible

13:02

and being and not being like and not

13:04

having everything kind of set in stones that you're able

13:06

to kind of bend with the times, and

13:09

I feel like that totally relates to fitness, you

13:11

know, where we have to stretch and we have to be flexible,

13:13

old muscles have to be pliable,

13:16

and then even like the strength of fitness,

13:18

like being able to kind of overcome challenges,

13:21

is a great way to kind of look

13:24

at life, you know. So I

13:27

love what you said about pivoting.

13:30

I think that is like the word for twenty

13:32

twenty and unfortunately it's looking like for twenty

13:34

twenty one early on is we're just all having to pivot

13:37

with what with the cars that are being dealt and

13:39

along those lines, what are your thoughts and advice

13:41

for people that are still, you know, working

13:44

from home, not in their normal routine

13:46

or having to adjust to nutrition and exercising

13:49

during a COVID time. What advice are

13:51

you giving to those And like you said, you're getting

13:53

creative and doing more virtual things

13:56

to inspire people. So what advice and tips do you have for

13:58

people going through it? Yeah,

14:00

so, I mean in some cases, quarantine

14:03

and being at home has been easier

14:06

for people to kind of keep their their fitness

14:08

regiment because they are at home, they don't have as much

14:11

their schedule is not as busy, and so they're able

14:13

to kind of carve out more time for fitness. But

14:16

then some people who really rely on

14:18

the gym, they rely on their coup exercise

14:20

classes, it's been a little tougher

14:22

for them, so definitely,

14:25

like for us, So James has

14:27

actually built a home

14:29

gym downstairs, which has been kind of tough

14:31

because now things have really been at

14:34

a stop because a lot of people are trying to build a home

14:36

gym. But that's a great thing, like having

14:38

something inside your home that

14:40

you can refer to for your health

14:43

and wellness regiment. And

14:45

then you never really

14:47

so when you have to go out and

14:49

get in to work out. A lot of times there's

14:51

things that come up you have to incorporate travel

14:54

time. But when your gym is

14:56

in the basement, you know you don't have to worry about

14:59

the snow and don't have to worry about I don't have time

15:01

because I don't have twenty minutes to get there, twenty minutes to get

15:03

back, and then an hour to work out. So

15:05

really taking advantage of the fact that we

15:08

can be at home and we can create

15:11

a workout regiment that's tailored for the

15:14

house. And then as far as nutrition goes,

15:17

I think that being at home has definitely

15:20

been a huge help. Like you you're not always

15:22

on the go, um, you have more time to kind

15:24

of be at home to mill prep to

15:28

kind of really plan out

15:30

what your meals are going to be. I know, for us,

15:33

like instacrat has been a savior and you're able

15:35

to kind of look at you know, what

15:37

your males are gonna look like for the week, and then you

15:39

know, order that stuff on instacrat and have it delivered

15:42

right to your house and you know, we're home most of days,

15:44

so you can accept the deliveries. So

15:46

it's just kind of blicking on the bright side of things

15:49

and trying to figure out how being at

15:51

home can really be beneficial to your

15:53

fitness regiment. Yeah,

15:55

Like I started doing Hello Fresh and I did

15:57

not know how to cook at all, and now I'm

15:59

not seff. I don't think I'll be getting hired any time soon

16:01

value of James, but yeah, like things like

16:03

that, just making the most of what we're what we're dealing with. Yeah,

16:07

And so I have to say with Kitchen

16:09

Cray, like I actually live right off of

16:12

Martin Luther King, you know, home depot,

16:14

all of this, So your restaurant

16:17

is in normal life outside

16:19

of COVID was always jam pet like

16:22

hart to get in, but once you

16:24

got in, it was well worth the weight.

16:26

And so when I went, one thing that

16:28

I didn't realize was your mission and

16:32

like just reading up a little bit more on you

16:35

know, the whole mission of making five star dining

16:37

an accessible and personal experience

16:40

for everyone, one I think is absolutely

16:42

amazing. But then you also have a goal

16:44

of teaching underprivileged youth about

16:47

healthy eating and opportunities for career

16:49

in the culinary arts, which is sometimes

16:52

you know, not thought of as a sexy

16:54

or fancy career. So kind

16:56

of talk about like your thought

16:58

process on really making sure that

17:00

you have this mission of fine dining for

17:02

all, but then also teaching youth about

17:04

the importance of eating well and then

17:07

being creative with food and maybe going into

17:09

culinary arts. Yeah,

17:11

I started catching Craig so

17:14

I can do my own thing and actually do

17:17

things I wish chefs would do for me when

17:19

I was coming up in the industry and you

17:21

know, have a mentor and

17:23

just be being real and connected

17:25

with the guests. I feel like in our industry, we'd never

17:28

get to do that or see that, And me

17:30

growing up in this industry, I just felt like, why

17:33

I need to change the culture. And Craig

17:35

was actually an acronym

17:37

to see. It's for the creativity, the arts,

17:40

for the revolution that we started with black chefs

17:42

actually getting recognized for the work

17:44

that we're doing, the aids for the artistry,

17:46

because of the culinary artists and the wives, for the youth,

17:48

because we do go out to the schools and actually

17:51

connect with the kids, because I

17:53

feel like a lot of kids in certain

17:55

neighborhoods have no clue

17:58

with certain things art. So I just like

18:00

it was my mission

18:02

to actually go and teach them these things.

18:04

And it felt good actually giving back because

18:06

we never really got paid for it, Like

18:08

sometimes the schools will cover the food, but most

18:10

of the times they don't have a budget for it.

18:13

So I just felt like, since

18:15

God was blessing me with all

18:17

the blessings of owning my own things, I

18:20

can share the blessings by going out

18:22

and giving back and even like feeding homeless

18:24

shelters because I was homeless when

18:26

I was in high school, so I knew how it felt like

18:29

to feel like nobody's there for you,

18:31

nobody loves you. So we went out

18:33

to like men shelters and you know,

18:35

made them feel religant because you never know what

18:38

situation you will be in tomorrow. So we're

18:41

going to continue to do that. And everybody that

18:43

works me, works with us, have that

18:45

same heart. Like when you come into kitchen Create, they're

18:47

gonna make you feel like the king or a queen for

18:50

the time that you're there. So it's like whatever you're going

18:52

through, when you walk through those doors, we're gonna

18:54

be like that weight off your shoulders and that

18:56

relief that you were looking for, and then you're gonna get

18:59

good food, drinks and a

19:01

good you know, some good music and good staff

19:03

and good people around you, a good energy. Yeah,

19:06

you're absolutely right. If anybody wants recommendations,

19:08

shrimp and grits and or the catfish, like

19:11

those are my favorites so far. My

19:13

favorite. I grew up eating that, so that's why I had

19:15

to put it on the menu because my grandmother will

19:17

always make fish and grits

19:20

like on the weekend. So yeah,

19:23

I mean, I know one thing for me really quick. I'm sorry because

19:25

I know we're almost out of time. We had so many questions for

19:27

you guys, but one thing when I was there, I was like, people

19:29

are not gonna want to leave here ever, because you're absolutely

19:31

right just as far as the atmosphere or the music,

19:33

it's a fun, upbeat environment, and then

19:36

the food is just so good. So you're just like, I'm just

19:38

gonna beat really slow. So then maybe I'll get

19:40

hungry again and I'll just order again. We

19:43

had up to like four hour weights and people will

19:45

wait four hours and I'm like,

19:47

wow, like it's

19:49

worth the weight. I'm just saying. I

19:52

know he had the brunches on Astras on

19:54

Diana. You can't get into those. Those things are

19:56

sold out. Well

20:00

quick, I wanted to ask. I mean, we had a lot more questions.

20:02

Mean, Dan, I know you're doing your own impact

20:06

and activities for empowering young

20:08

kids to develop lifelong healthy

20:10

habits, so I think

20:13

what I'd like to pivot though, is to ask you guys,

20:15

if you could both talk to your younger

20:17

self, what would you

20:20

say to your younger self.

20:22

And it could be now that you've learned more about

20:24

staying healthy, becoming an entrepreneur, anything

20:27

like that, but we just want to hear what would you say

20:29

now to your younger self. So

20:31

I would tell my younger self to

20:36

to be flexible and

20:38

to know that there

20:40

are ups and

20:42

downs, and just to

20:44

realize that when there are downs, there's

20:47

an upcoming because a lot

20:49

of times, I guess the entrepreneurs we can get really

20:51

discouraged if things are

20:53

not going the way that we wanted to go. And

20:56

then sometimes in business there's just times when

20:58

we're really grinding around the clock

21:00

when we start to wonder like is

21:02

this what I signed up for? But

21:04

just knowing that there is kind of that ebb

21:06

and flowing business and that you

21:09

know, the table's kind of always time, and just

21:12

really being more resilient

21:15

and knowing that flexibility is key.

21:19

Yeah, I would tell my younger self to

21:21

take your time, give

21:23

humans grace because they're not perfect.

21:28

Make sure you do the right thing with your money,

21:31

invest in yourself, and

21:35

you know, just stay focused and

21:37

make sure the vision is greater than the temptation,

21:40

and just stay on the right track and don't

21:42

get sidetracked by everything by trying to please

21:44

people, because you can't please everybody.

21:46

And I feel like we get caught up in overworking

21:49

ourselves trying to please people when

21:51

some people you can never satisfy them.

21:54

And then in our industries, I know we all

21:56

deal with it or dealt with it at one point

21:58

in time. So you just gotta stay stay

22:01

focused and knowing if you've given it

22:03

one hundred percent, you gave it one hundred percent, and just

22:05

live with it and be happy. I

22:09

love that you said investing yourself. I think that is

22:11

like the biggest thing that you know. I tell

22:13

my younger self if I could, is to know yourself

22:15

and know your worth and know you know that if you're

22:18

given it your all, then you can have no regrets with you

22:20

know the outcome of things. Somehow

22:22

this is this conversation is winding down and come

22:24

to an end. But before we let you guys go, can you

22:26

please plug where everyone can find you? Yeah?

22:29

So I am on

22:31

all social media platforms, um AT,

22:34

DNA, Robinson

22:37

Fit, and My

22:39

website for the gym is bad Body

22:41

Factory dot com. And that's bad

22:44

fab Body Factory

22:46

dot com. And I think that's about

22:48

it. Let me yeah for me on

22:50

social media kitchen Crai. If

22:53

you just put in kitchen Crai, everything could come

22:55

up pitching Craig dot com

22:58

and yeah, that's it

23:00

great. I'm looking forward to checking out your

23:02

restaurant. You're soon you getting some cast absolutely

23:07

well. Thank you guys so much, thanks for joining the while, Thank

23:09

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dealer and take on winter. Today, we

25:53

are heading into wow overtime and it's been a

25:55

little bit since we all the three of us got

25:57

to huddle up after an interview, but

25:59

we just want to take a second and highlight some

26:01

amazing events that are coming up. We have one

26:04

more show it'll be coming up the end of

26:06

February to round out Black History Month.

26:08

We will be doing a WOW spotlight highlighting

26:10

a Washington employee as well

26:12

as a business owner. So make sure you tune in

26:15

for that that's coming up the end of February. But

26:17

Stephanie, let's talk about some other well events we have.

26:20

Well, my goodness, So we have Women's History

26:22

Month coming up in March. And I know last year,

26:24

ladies, it was right before the shutdown,

26:27

we did a five k together in

26:29

DC to celebrate Women's History Month.

26:32

So this time we're gonna kick it off

26:34

with an inspirational series.

26:37

It's going to have a Women's History panel

26:39

on Wednesday, March third, and then

26:41

on Mondays from that, we're

26:43

going to do every Monday a positive

26:46

motivational speaker and a workout

26:48

together. So Wednesday, March third will be

26:51

our panel that is free and open to everyone.

26:53

With I mean the panel, we'll talk

26:55

more about it, but it's it's some amazing women

26:57

that will be on it, and then Monday workouts

27:00

with our own Diana Robinson we just talked to for

27:02

the kickoff workout on March eighth.

27:04

A lot of fun to come. Yeah,

27:07

And then if I could just add in as well, because obviously

27:09

I'm super excited about next month, but

27:12

then just you know, this month being you

27:14

know, Black History Month, I just want to obviously remind

27:16

everyone about Shop Black. I know that we already

27:19

mentioned it, but we have an amazing directory

27:21

of black owned businesses right

27:23

here local in the district

27:26

actually Maryland Virginia DMB. So if

27:28

you can, like go to Washington Football dot com,

27:31

I believe it's slash been slash Shop

27:34

Black and you can see we have different

27:36

organizations within accessories and apparel,

27:38

beauty, career and lifestyle, delights,

27:40

faith, gifts, and home health

27:43

and wellness. You know, we even have a kid's corner.

27:45

So it's just a lot of opportunity for us to just give

27:47

back to the black owned businesses in

27:49

the DMV and just kind of get outside

27:52

of our norms of what we may normally

27:54

do because it's right around the corner and

27:56

just the importance of supporting black

27:58

owned business, especially you know, not just this

28:00

month, but all all year round. So I just

28:02

think it's super exciting. Um me

28:05

being a part of Ben and being able to actually

28:07

make and do outreach for businesses

28:09

to see if they wanted to be involved.

28:12

I just think it is an amazing effort within

28:14

the Washington football team and I was just really excited to

28:16

be a part of that. And

28:18

you know, just kind of giving back to the community

28:21

in a very specific way was just

28:23

you know, I don't know, it just gave me warm and fuzzies.

28:25

And then to see it online and

28:27

see the businesses some of the businesses that I contacted

28:30

and see that they're on the website, which is super cool.

28:33

Yeah, And obviously it's such

28:35

a hard time right now with COVID, so I think

28:38

just going that extra mile of shopping local

28:40

in general is just such a small

28:42

thing that you don't think about, you know, purchasing

28:44

flowers for your you know, for someone's

28:47

birthday, like going local versus you know, the normal

28:49

corporate route can just really help someone so

28:52

much during this time. So kudos

28:54

to Ben and to the watching football team for kind of doing

28:56

all the hard work of getting it all in one

28:58

place and making it easier on everyone to shop

29:00

block and a shop locals, So definitely

29:02

take advantage of it, not just for Black

29:05

History Month, but you know for all year, in

29:07

all seasons. That's going to do it for us.

29:09

Thank you so much for joining the while connecting empower

29:11

women through sports. Brought to you by our amazing

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