July 27, 2025 • 39 mins
Can't Miss Events in Houston This Weekend!
Get ready Houston, it's going to be a busy weekend! Tune in as we chat with the fabulous women behind Curvechella, Houston's must-attend festival for curvy women. Founder Kimberly Williams and co-founder Holly Townsend give us all the details on the shopping, panels, brunch events and day of service they have planned August 1st-5th.
Next, we talk disaster preparedness with William Merrick of White Stone Developments. William breaks down the key steps Houstonians should take to prepare for hurricane season and potential power outages. With his passion for giving back to the community, he provides excellent tips like having backup power and emergency kits ready.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:13 Curvechella Details
8:45 Empowered CDC's Get Ready Houston Event
15:30 How to Prepare for Disasters
18:45 Future Community Service Plans
Key Takeaways:
- Curvechella has shopping, panels, brunch events and a day of service planned Aug 1st-5th
- Have at least 72 hours of food, water, medication and backup power
- Check out EmpowerCDC.org to donate and help their community efforts
Get out there and enjoy the weekend Houston! And be sure to check Curvechella.com for tickets to their amazing events.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
From your local Houston BMW Center Studios. Welcome to the
Public Affairs Podcast, addressing local issues that affect our nation
in Shape our World. I'm your host Kage She Smooth Women's, Women's,
Women's All in the building, surrounded by divine, feminine energy
this morning. Hey ladies, Hey ladies.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
O oh that was in harmony. Okay, no, welcoming back
on the program. It's been quite some time since she
has been on the program herself. She's been up here
with other people but didn't speak. She is the founder
of Curved Cella. She is a clothing designer and a
(00:48):
breast cancer thriver. Ladies and Gentlemen, the fabulous Kimberly Williams
is back on the Public Affairs podcast. How you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Thank you for having me. I'm back and this is beautiful,
Yes morning.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yes, yes it is, Yes it is. And you've brought
some reinforcement that your p I c absolutely who is
the co founder of Curved Cella. Ladies and Gentlemen and
h town Social Lite if you will, or at least
in my eyes, the lovely Holly Townsend is on. How
are you done? Good to see you.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I'm enjoying well, always good to see you, mister.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I know, right, we haven't seen each other in a while.
We talk, we see, but this is our first time
in a minute. Yeah yeah yeah, looking lovely and she
is one of h town's top pr people. Yeah yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah yeah with news ladies and gentlemen. Sheba Roy
(01:48):
back with us, Hi, ladies. Well, it's the summertime. We
were about in the home stretch. August is in a
couple of days, yes, but also on August first, something
is is kicking off real big huh Kimberly.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Yes, So this is our third year and we are
kicking off Curve Cella's annual series of events. It's our weekend.
If you mess say and we're excited because anytime, well
in the first two years, twenty twenty three, in twenty
twenty four, we have the opportunity to support local businesses,
(02:31):
black businesses. That's always our focus. And then, like you said,
women's women's women's like that is our goal. With everything
we do, we keep women, especially women of color, at
the forefront. So August first, if you want me to
just go into it, we kick off with our community.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
No, I don't want you to go into it now yet, Okay,
I want you to go into for those who may
not be familiar with curve Chello because it's been like
a couple of years. Yes, you have been on and
you guys have done a lot, So we got to
start with the origins. Sure, for the people who who
don't know what is Curvechella and how was this idea
(03:14):
of birth?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
So I believe it or not, Curvechella this year and
last year looked nothing like what we intended to do.
So it kind of resonates with the thought process of Okay,
I want to do this, but then God has a
different plan. Curvecella started off as a shopping expo. Okay,
so we when I called Holly and said, hey, there's
(03:41):
a space, there's a gap for this type of event,
and I need your support because I know with your
contacts and my contacts, we can bring women of color,
curvy women together with different boutiques and brands and just
allow them to place them in the space safe space shop.
And that was merely what it was all about. And
(04:04):
so when we went into it, we had no idea
that women would come from other cities. We had no
idea we had over four hundred people with our first year,
and I was battling breast cancer stage four at the time,
so I was thinking, Okay, I want this to be
my legacy just in case something doesn't happen. This is
(04:26):
what I want to leave my mark on because I'm
known for styling and known for fashion, and it just
took off from there. I would say the response was overwhelming.
There was absolutely a need, and what we were left
with was there's more to this because women weren't just saying, oh, hey,
(04:50):
I loved the shopping experience. They were like, I love
the experience. I met women, I met my tribe, I
met you guys, and y'all were cool, and we had
a black and I loved Houston and so then we
just took those elements and that's how we've evolved to
where we are today.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Now. When you say a space a safe space for
curvy women to shop, what does that mean? Is there
an attack on curvy women when they are like, y'all
get harassed or something like.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Harassed. We wish sometimes we would be harassed. It's just
been a longstanding issue that when women of you know,
certain sizes, if we don't fit just the the main aesthetic.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Of societal norms if you will. Thanks to social.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Media, absolutely and the media, we are not perceived as
a consumer that's worth them spending their time on. And
it's a known fact. When I when Sachs Fifth Avenue
had a whole department dedicated to plus sized clothing, they
were the number one. They took it out Salon z
(06:00):
if you remember they took it out and me and
my mom shopped there and they took it out, and
the guy who was over it said, we bring in
the most money in this department, even over couture, oscar
deala rend to anybody, our plus size department. We have
the most faithful shoppers and we have the most revenue
being brought in.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
And they got rid of.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
It, and they took it away because it did not,
like you said, it did not fit the aesthetic.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Oh, they're just making money. What are we doing? Go ahead,
he do you want to do?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
No, it's just being a former employee of Norseham, I
truly understand because I was in cosmetics and they didn't
see a need for women of color, and I was
telling them that you have no idea the dollars that
women of color are looking and pleading for these type
of things. So when Kimberly Up came with the idea
(06:55):
of let's do a day to embrace women of color
and give them a safe space where they can feel
loved and shop and get the things that they're need.
You know, I think people really don't know the stats
of when it comes to black dollars and that our
dollars mean more in different high end stores than anywhere, and.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
They don't get it.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
And that was one of my things that when I
worked at Norstrom, because I had that and I used
to tell them you're looking at an aesthetic and now
what the need is. And I would get the big
sales because they would pass them over. I would get
a ten thousand dollars sell. I would get a five
thousand dollars cell because they didn't think that they could,
(07:45):
you know, the figure it out. So when she wanted
to do it, she's kind of talking lightly about what
curve Tella is. She came to me and said, you know,
I don't know if I'm going want to be here
and if I leave this planet, I want to leave
this mark and give the people of Houston just one
(08:09):
day of.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Love.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Excuse me, So I said, well, let's make it happen.
We did it in three months. It wasn't six months.
She brought it to me. I said, okay, let's run
with it. You want a day in the city, no problem.
Let me call the city council people. You want this,
let me call my folks. So that's where it started.
And then you know, God bless that he healed Kimberly.
(08:39):
And now we said, since he did that, let's give back.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
To the people and become more than just a fashion experience.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So that's what kirk Jelle is now.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. So everything kicks off on Friday, Friday,
the first through day August the fourth? Is it the fourth?
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Okay, August the fifth is Curve Cella Day.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
It is.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yes, Mayor Turner, may he rest in peace, said so.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, gave us that day.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Thank you Sevesta Turner and thank you Edward Pollard for
allowing us and giving us that day. We really appreciate
them both.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
For sure, you're listening to the Public Affairs podcast. We
are talking to the women of Curve Cella, which is
happening this weekend the first through the fourth, as you
just heard, and you all are going to be there's
a plethora of events, so let's so let's walk through it.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Friday, Dear Future Hobby, Dear future Hobby, I have so
much to say to him, whoever he is. So Friday,
we are teaming up with ost Looker, who is our
They have supported us from the very beginning. They are
our community partner, and Chris the owner has extended all
(10:00):
the things to us anytime we do something concerning Kurfchella.
So we decided instead of us getting like the big
fancy hotel room, because the women that travel here they
think that Houston, like most Americans that don't live here,
most Black Americans, they think Houston is really and truly
top tier of cities for them to be in. And
(10:20):
so we decided to go more so into the streets.
We've done like hotel rooms and rented out event spaces.
So he's allowing us to use his space, his event
space in the back of the store where we will
host a panel entitled entitled Dear Future Hubby, and that's
(10:43):
what that's about. And it's a cocktail class. So we
have the panel as well as the mocktail cocktail class.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Lord here we go. So y'all gonna be up in
there with the theme dear future hubby, Yes, sipping on
cocktails and mocktail. I don't want to tell him that yes, yeah, well,
well just make sure everybody is showing up hole and
ain't nobody looking to be a captain.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
My very first thing, at the top of my my
questions that I've put together, the very first thing is
what do you bring to the table? I want to
talk about him. I want to talk about wholeness as
a woman before you enter into a.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Marriage that's going to be very into.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
We have space for you, KG you want to come,
come on, you know, you want to come and mc it.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
And you know, I think we talked about.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
This yesterday's price, it's not today's now.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
We talked about this about the futurehood because I was
telling her, Oh, I think a lot of people love
the concept of marriage, but.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Don't understand what it means.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
You know, why your mom and daddy stayed together, Yeah,
maybe twenty or thirty percent is because things were different,
but there were other facts you just didn't give up.
And now it's like everything is so tangible. You can
get a divorce online that you know, people don't understand.
You know, well, it's a relationship.
Speaker 6 (12:10):
You're not gonna like him.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
All. Well, everybody's soft these days, you know what I'm saying.
Society has become a bunch of you know, ba ns,
and it's it's it's it's an epidemic that has been
going on for quite some time. The smallest thing just
offends everybody. And then, oh, don't get me started on
the biggest cry baby group of them all. You say
(12:33):
one thing about them and it's all your I ain't
gonna even get into it. But yeah, everybody soft. Everybody
is soft.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Well, and I would like to add that, because I'm
the facilitator of this event, I am not going lightly
light on my women. I do plan on holding us accountable,
which you know, a lot of times men get all
the slack and the conversation. If you're thinking about attending
out there, I just know that this is not a
(13:02):
men bashing type of event. We are holding everyone accountable
to be whole individuals to enter into marriage. Because women
of color have the highest divorce rate.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Well let me tell you something. Yes, yes, I'm glad
for that because a lot of times women do hit
decline when accountability comes caught absolutely, you know, oh, okay,
and then you got Then we're going on to Saturday
Boosts on the ground that's going to be at the
anchor's home Chamber of Business and Economic Development. We have
(13:33):
a representative from there, Shiva Y. So the market is
going on.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Yes, the market is going on, and the market is
right here for you, as the jingle does say, so yeah.
You know, Kim is one of my clients, and I've
been with Curvechella since Curvechella was born. When she revealed
to me that she had breast cancer, I was like, Kim,
this is kind of a thing that could definitely, you know,
help move the message. But she was like na, and
so I was like, I'll keep your secret. So I
(13:58):
did that, and you know, many years later, we're still
together and I've got the Farmer's Market. And what better
way to bring Curvechella into the community than to bring
Curvechella to the acres On Chamber farmers Market.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
So no, so the Curvechello boots on the ground, line
dance class and farmers market. Lord, this is Houston. Where
the hell else can you go and be at a
farmer's market? And then also there's a line dance class
you can learn boots on the ground if you don't
(14:34):
know it while you get your fresh watermelon and summer fruits.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
I really hope I do have a watermelon person that day.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
That was Yeah, I really hope that you do too,
because tell me, let me tell you something. Them basketball
watermelons they sell in the those are not real. Oh
my gosh.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Let me tell you about what I heard from one
of my farmers. He said, they intentionally sell those seedless
watermelons so that you don't take seeds and go plant
for Actually, it's terrible.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
In tragic it is. It's terrible. Yeah, yeah, it's really terrible.
I could really go in on these folks that's causing
all of this nefariousness in the world. But I love
my job. Whenever you go up against this certain group,
you know, things start to happen. Ex Kanye. So let's
(15:23):
move on to Sunday. Sunday Sunday Curve Sheella Garden Party.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
So this is our brunch. We shout out to rock
House because our first two years were held there for
Sunday Brunch and we love them. But I now have
a friend who owns a club like a stone's throw
from rock House on Richmond, Do not Disturb. She is
(15:53):
one of my girlfriends that actually, yes, literally and I
met her talk about full circle. I met her styling
one of my clients when I was a stylist that
was on Shark Tank and she was my assistant. And
she's now since uh and this was in Atlanta when
we did the shoots, so she since moved here and
her and her girlfriend own do not Disturb. And I'm
(16:14):
so proud of them. So rock House, we love y'all.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
But thank you, Rob.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Yeah, They've really shown us love over the years. But
we just want to just this is what Kurchella is about.
So when we move this to do not Disturb, it's
to send a message that women of color, we support you,
we see you. They are rolling out the red carpet
for us and they the food is exceptional. She's had
(16:45):
us there.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
And I'm one of those girls that could drink a
man on the table. I can't that place one drink
only and they always.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
You know, I don't know what spirit is in that place,
but when I get off the air on Monday and
Tuesdays driving home because I got to pass there because
I'm over there, it is always jumping like dang y'all
on a Monday, like for real on a Monday? Now?
So now was it never leave Houston on a Monday? Now?
Because they took over.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
They took a concept where only camp had Mondays because
everything else has closed. They took a concept and they
built off of that. TikTok.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Everything has everything closed on Monday, but D, D and D.
That's why I'm like, yo, I'll be driving home like
no midnight, twelve thirty.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Ladies jumping jumping y end Central there on Monday. So
if that's your type, you know, we have some older
seasoned women that love y ND. That is the capital
of the y ends there on a Monday. The dogs
do not, yes, and.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
The Yans are for young nobles. Yes, yes. And then
we have the big one yes, the cella annual day
of service with Beacon. Oh wow, that's our people. Yeah,
I know some folks yeah yeah yeah, so tell us
(18:19):
about that.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
So we have worked with the Beacon. I think we
started that.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Did we start the second year?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Yeah? So last year we we started. They're just taking
things to their transitional home. Miss Loretta the director, we
love her, and so this year we decided to do
it again and we'll be at Acre's home chamber. Just
you can bring all your clothes if anybody wants to
(18:48):
come there, with toiletries. But it's seventeen women transitional housing.
They were previously homeless or on drugs, and that's uh,
that's the goal is to just give them clothing of
all sizes, toiletries. You can bring irons, pots and pants
because they transition them from that house to their own
they leave their to their own apartment.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Okay, yeah, so that's it. I mean that's one, two, three,
four days of a lot. Where can they get tickets?
You can log onto Curvechella dot com that is c
U R V c H E l l A dot
com to get your tickets beginning on Friday. Yeah, turn out,
(19:32):
Thank You celebration, the celebration and then but more importantly,
the the the Farmer's Market Saturday afternoon as well with
your with your dance class that's going.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Somebody was going to be wearing dukes. They already tell
me they were going to. I said, I mean.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
For it, I encourage people to cut up like that.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Somebody else told me they about a special fan. So yeah,
it's going to be exciting at the market, y'all should.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Be there, Well, yeah, I'm sure it's going to be
some things. Kimberly Williams, the founder of Curvechella, Holly Townshend,
the co founder of Curve Cella, and the PR guru
Shiva Roy. Thank you all for coming on. We love
We'll see you this weekend.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Thank you and.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
To everybody who listening to the podcasts. We'll be back
after this from your local Houston BFW Center Studios. Welcome
back to the Public Affairs podcast addressing local issues that
affect our nation and shape our world. I'm your host,
KG Smooth. Yesterday I was a part of the Empowered CDC,
(20:45):
white Stone Developments and Eco Flows get Ready Houston, a
family day for disaster preparedness, and we just talked about well,
I was the moderator for a panel just for an
hour talking about getting ready for this hurricane season and
all the things. And so joining me in the studio
(21:06):
this morning, we have mister will Merrick, the CEO of
white Stone Developments who helped put on this event and
he is also the executive director of Empowered CDC. Welcome
my man, Welcome you.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
For having men, thank you for having.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Me and representing innovative thing. I forgot the name of.
Speaker 7 (21:25):
Deafast Innovating Marketing.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Innovating Marketing Groove is the lovely Ayana Johnson PR Coordinator.
How are you today? I'm good, good, good. So yesterday
was great. Why was it important because this was some
great information that was given out. Why was this important
for you will to have? Get ready Houston man?
Speaker 6 (21:49):
This event was important to me for the same reason
we've been installing back up power systems in every house
we build anyway.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
It started off just as a conversation me and a realtor,
and we were just talking about the power outages in
Houston and in Texas in general, and us being on
a separate electric grid from everybody else, and we just
saw the need for people to have that access to
backup power systems. Not everybody is going to be able
to afford to go spend ten to fifteen grand to
(22:18):
put a generat on their house to try to protect
them in case of disaster.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Wait, that's the price tag for that generator.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
That's the price of it. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:26):
I've had generacs in two of my houses and it
ranged from ten to fifteen thousand dollars to install them.
So we just made the dedication to put backup power
systems in every house we build. So that's where the
passion for it started. And it also came from the
fact that you know, I just whenever I buy a
new house for my family's sake, I put a generator there.
(22:48):
You know, whether we moved here from Louisiana in twenty eighteen,
and it's a need. You know, we've experienced power outages,
we've experienced flooding, we've experienced hurricanes, and we just wanted
to offer that same comfort to pretty much everybody that
we serve. So if you're buying a house that's built
by Empower or white Stone, it's going to have a generator,
(23:10):
a backup generator in it. That same heart is what
drove this disaster preparedness event. We wanted to make sure
that we're reaching out to as many people in the
Houston market as possible, and this was a good way
to do it. You know, it started off as a
small project. You know, it's going to be maybe thirty
to forty people there. Something we were going to do
(23:31):
small in probably set a gas community, and I just thought,
why keep it small, Let's expand it and we're trying
to incorporate eco Flow into it. Eco Flow is a
pretty big backup, backup power brand, So we wanted to
do something that was worthy of them coming into the
Houston market, something to kind of introduce them and us
to the Houston market. We've been around for twenty years,
(23:52):
but not a whole lot of people know who Empower
or white Stone is, So we just we felt it
was a good opportunity to get back and also a
good introduction to us in.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
The Houston market.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Okay, well, to the very point that you just made,
to your latter point, tell us about Empowered CDC.
Speaker 6 (24:14):
So we've been around for twenty five years. It started
off just as a nonprofit organization. Blazer real Estate Properties
started Empower. Actually it started as education based Housing and
every time I told someone that, you know, we're with
education based housing, like, well, what does that mean?
Speaker 5 (24:32):
What is that?
Speaker 6 (24:34):
So we ended up changing the name. Actually, we have
a DBA for Empower Community Development Corporation and Empower just
I mean, it's it's exactly what it says. We try
to empower the people that we serve. We are a
nonprofit organization five oh one C three, but we're not
a charitable organization.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
We do give back.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
You know, our thing is all about just giving back
to the community and giving back to the people that
we serve and who who we benefit from. I mean,
the white Stone brand is a sub entity of Empower.
So we do all of our real estate development through
white Stone and again everything every community that we build
in we try to make sure we're giving back to it.
(25:16):
So right now we're mostly in third Ward and in Setagas,
which is the seven seven eight zip code, and man,
we we just have such a passion for that for
those two areas right now. Plus we just need to focus.
You know, Houston is huge. We can't we can't do
everything all over Houston. So Seta Gas community is a
beautiful community, very quiet, uh and it's an up and
(25:39):
coming community.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Oh yeah. I got a couple friend of friends that
they're married couple. They just bought a house out there
sitting Gas right there at northwest Side and Parker. I
believe there's this huge all new houses that they're building
(26:02):
over there, And every time I went out there to
go visit them, more of us are moving out there
in those mental developments.
Speaker 6 (26:11):
I hate to even give it away, but I don't
want to gatekeep either. It's it's a very quiet community.
It looks very much like a Sunnyside or a South
Union or Fifth Ward, but it's it's more quaint, more charming,
you know.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
What i mean. Quet except for the train, but the
train it's quiet.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
Well, and except for the horses and the chickens too,
because because you still got horses and chickens and uh,
you know, people raising you know, livestock out there, you know.
But it's only twelve minutes from downtown Houston, so it's
a it's a fairly well untouched market, uh, and we're
happy to be in it.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
You know.
Speaker 6 (26:48):
We've already bought up quite a bit of land out there,
you know, in expectation that it's going to increase in
value and we'll still be able to offer affordable housing
because we bought the land at a good price. So
so yeah, that's where again, that's where all of this
comes from. Man, it's just a passion to make sure
we're we're helping people. I mean, we have to be profitable,
we're a business. But it's it's my passion and I'm
(27:10):
sharing that passion with Empower and with white Stone and
using it as a funnel to serve the community.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Okay, now that's Empowered, So tell us about Whitestone.
Speaker 6 (27:20):
White Stone is a wholly owned subsidiary of Empower. It's
a for profit development company. We do all of our
real estate development through white Stone, and the name white
Stone has significance to it also, But that's a that's
a whole conversation. But Whitstone was actually the name of
(27:42):
my personal company, and I gave the name of my
personal company to Empower so that we could do development
work through it. But again it's it's a very powerful name,
and it's a we do really good work. If I
if I have to pat myself on the back, we
really we build really nice houses. Uh great quality. Nothing
(28:05):
is like a a mass builder quality. It's it's all
solid quality building. Central Living Development is actually my builder.
So I'm the I'm the developer. Whitestone is the developer.
We hire a general contractor to build all our houses,
and the same quality that goes in our half million
dollar houses goes into our sub three hundred thousand dollar houses.
(28:27):
So we we take a lot of pride in in
bringing something that's affordable.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
But also you can be proud of it.
Speaker 6 (28:36):
It's not just a house for the sake of saying
you have a house, it's a it's a solid home.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Well, I mean the fact that you all automatically add
the generator when building the house. Uh, says A says
A lot you know already with the backup generator. What
what about solar like do you guys and do y'all
you know?
Speaker 6 (28:59):
So it's expanded. So the system that we give, it's
the basic system. It'll run the necessities in your house
for two three days, but it's expandable, so you can
add batteries to it over time, and you can add
solar panels to it. You can add a lot of
other stuff, extra inverters, and you can expand it up
to ninety kilowatts of power, which will run a whole
(29:19):
house for a month. That it's expensive to do that.
So again we're just giving the basic system. We give
the inverter, the one battery and a smart home panel
that connects it directly into the home electrical box. And
as soon as the electricity goes off, it automatically kicks on.
The lights don't even flicker, it kicks on so quick.
(29:40):
So what we're again, what we're just trying to do
is make sure that people have something to cover them
and protect them in case of power outages. During Hurricane Barrel,
during the winter storm a couple of years ago, a
lot of people passed away or got sick or lost
food or valuables because they didn't have power for you know,
a few days. And this will this will cover them.
It'll cover the necessities just out of the box. And
(30:04):
they can take their time when they get their tax
return or whatever and buy an extra box or buy
some solar panels or something. But we just wanted to
make sure that we're setting people up for success.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Indeed, you're listening to the Public Affairs podcast. We are
talking to mister William H. Merrick, who is the CEO
of white Stone Developments and the executive director for Empowered CDC.
Also joining us is Ayana Johnson, who is a PR
coordinator for Innovative Marketing Group. Now, so, Ayana, why was
(30:36):
this this great event that we had yesterday, the Empowered
to Power Up Community event? But let's get Houston ready together?
What did that mean to Innovating Marketing Group? Yeah?
Speaker 7 (30:52):
Absolutely so. Will has actually been a client of Innovating
Marketing Group for some time now, and he has always
been about the impact work. And one of the first
things that I remember when when meeting him when I
joined the team was going out to the site of
his recent of a recent project and him telling me, like,
(31:13):
you know, one thing that I always make sure of
when building and developing things is that I would want
to live here. And so I think that his passion
for not only giving people quality, but also helping the
community is kind of what makes this kind of stuff
so easy, because people need to hear about people in
(31:34):
the community that care about the people of the community
for sure. So that's kind of what gave us a
lot of the motivation, and it makes it very easy
to kind of get people out to support and you know,
to congregate around these great causes.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Yeah. Yeah, with the event, you had a citywide call
to action and you gave away some stuff. It was
a generator give way. There was a free preparedness kids.
Of course, you know, there was food, but you also
had scholarship opportunities. I'm glad that you threw that in there.
(32:12):
I see scholarship opportunities for preparedness resources, booths, emergency kit donations,
all the things you guys really thought about this thoroughly.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's again.
Speaker 6 (32:27):
It was an important event for us just because we
want to make sure that people know what's available to them.
We want to make sure that people know that folks
are here for them. You know, there's quite quite a
few people in Houston who make good livings, who have
a lot of money, But there's also a sect of
people and it's mainly what Empower CDC serves is what's
(32:48):
called ALICE households. ALICE stands for asset limited, income constrained
but employed and having grown up in a house like that,
My mom was a single mom. She was a teacher,
and back then teachers didn't make what they make now,
So her trying to do that with two kids on
her own, she worked hard. She worked part time jobs
in addition to teaching all day and still barely made
(33:11):
ends meet. So there's the larger percentage of people in
general fit into that criteria, and we want to make
sure that those people know that we're here for.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Them for sure. So for everybody that's listening, you missed
it yesterday, let's can you give the people about maybe
the top three ready preparedness tips that they should have
if you live at home or an apartment, just to
be ready what it is that they should have in
(33:44):
case of an emergency when it comes to a natural disaster.
Speaker 6 (33:48):
Yeah, so, first of all, I would say, just because
Ecoflow was one of our partners on this event, we've
got to talk about the backup power, just having access,
whether it's it's an eco flow, whether it's a generac whatever,
or one of the ones you can pick up from
home depot, have some type of backup power. And if
you don't have it yourself, check what your neighbors. You know,
(34:10):
most people are willing to run an electric cord from
their house to yours if you just absolutely need it.
And I'm pretty sure somebody in your neighborhood has a generator.
But if you can't do that, make sure you've at
least got seventy two hours of food. We talked about that.
We've talked about having at least a few days of
clean water that you can drink just in case flashlights, candles,
(34:37):
be careful not to burn your house down with the candles.
It's summertime, so nobody's using space heaters, but if it
is winter time, make sure your space heaters are used safely.
There's been a lot of house fires with that, so
everything you do, just do it safely. If you're on medication,
we talked about that. Make sure that your medication is
(34:57):
properly cooled. If you don't have refrigerator, make sure if
you've at least got ice where you can put your
stuff on ice. And again, just food, electricity, water are
the primary things. Beyond that, We've talked about just being safe.
Anything beyond seventy two hours. You know, you're starting to
get into a different frame of mind for people, just
(35:21):
basic human instinct. After seventy two hours, you start going
into survival mode. So you just want to make sure
that you're covered for seventy two hours. And if you're
in a position to cover yourself for seventy two hours,
already prep to cover yourself for a week. You know,
we talked about just expanding on whatever preparedness items you
have already. You know, I'm not a conspiracy theorist by
(35:43):
any means, but I'm a firm believer in being prepared
for just about anything, So expand on it. You know,
if you're ready for a twenty four hour outage, get
ready for a seventy two hour outage. If you're ready
for seventy two, get ready for a week. If you're
ready for week, prepare yourself and your family for a month.
Speaker 5 (36:02):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (36:03):
Just whatever you've got going on, just continue to expand
on it and just make sure that you're not at
the mercy of any type of a disaster as much
as you possibly can. Some things out our control, that's
why they call it an act of God. But you
know what we can do.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Do it and that's that or that, Yeah, what you
can do do it. So in terms of the future,
I understand you guys got some other things that are
coming up that you want to share, you want to elaborate.
Speaker 6 (36:33):
Yeah, so we we've already given away ten Eco Flow DPUs.
We call them DPUs. The Delta Pro Ultra is the
system that we put in most of the houses. We've
partnered with the Restoration Team, which is another nonprofit organization
here in Houston. They solely focus on senior home renovations.
(36:54):
So they have a list of seniors who live in
different areas of Houston. They go out and these are
homes that have been under maintenance and the people can't
usually afford to maintain them themselves, so they'll go in
repair the houses, do some minor renovations to make the.
Speaker 5 (37:13):
House more livable and safer.
Speaker 6 (37:16):
And we've selected ten of those individuals who have their
home renovated and we've installed the back of power systems
in those as well. So we're going to do some
more of that as time goes on. These systems are expensive,
so we can't just give them away to everybody. We
have to go through a criteria which is on our
website EMPOWERCDC dot org. But we've got a lot more
(37:37):
of that coming up. We've got some affordable housing projects
coming up. We have our food pantry which we're looking
to expand on it. It's a lot of stuff. We're
doing a back to school drive and everything. Again, we're
we're trying to not be everything to everybody, but we're
trying to just do what we can and what's within
our power and our scope of influence, and we're just
(37:58):
running with it man for as much as we can.
And that's the benefit of Whitestone. You know, we're not
we're not like the average nonprofit organization. We definitely still
need grants, we still need uh donors, but you know, Whitestone,
a lot of the money is funneled back into Empower
for the work that we do, so we we get
to do something that we love to do in real
(38:18):
estate development and we get to fund our programs within power.
Speaker 5 (38:23):
So we were.
Speaker 6 (38:23):
Able to ethically recycle the funds that we make.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
For sure, yea. And what can the people do to
help continue these efforts?
Speaker 6 (38:34):
Go to Empower CDC dot org. There is a give
button tab on our website. Whether you're a corporation or
an individual, you know, just donate. It's going to a
good cause. Man, I would say that we are good
ground to so seed into. So click on that give
(38:56):
button and you know, do whatever you can for sure.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Man, Well, thank you for your time. Mister William Merrick,
the CEO of white Stone Developments and executive director of
Empowered CDC and of course representing Ayanna Johnson from Innovating
Marketing Group. Man, thank you all so much.
Speaker 7 (39:13):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Yeah yeah, yeah, we gotta we gotta stay in touch
because you know, hurricane season is through November, so yeah,
so thank you might.
Speaker 6 (39:24):
Need to call a friend on a friend right and
hopefully we can get you for the next event too, so.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Yeah yeah what your Yeah, we can definitely work that out.
Thank you all so much. I appreciate it. Thank you,
and to everyone listening to the podcast, I'm KG Smooth
and we will see you next week.
From your local Houston BMW Center Studios. Welcome to the
Public Affairs Podcast, addressing local issues that affect our nation
in Shape our World. I'm your host Kage She Smooth Women's, Women's,
Women's All in the building, surrounded by divine, feminine energy
this morning. Hey ladies, Hey ladies.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
O oh that was in harmony. Okay, no, welcoming back
on the program. It's been quite some time since she
has been on the program herself. She's been up here
with other people but didn't speak. She is the founder
of Curved Cella. She is a clothing designer and a
(00:48):
breast cancer thriver. Ladies and Gentlemen, the fabulous Kimberly Williams
is back on the Public Affairs podcast. How you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Thank you for having me. I'm back and this is beautiful,
Yes morning.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yes, yes it is, Yes it is. And you've brought
some reinforcement that your p I c absolutely who is
the co founder of Curved Cella. Ladies and Gentlemen and
h town Social Lite if you will, or at least
in my eyes, the lovely Holly Townsend is on. How
are you done? Good to see you.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I'm enjoying well, always good to see you, mister.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I know, right, we haven't seen each other in a while.
We talk, we see, but this is our first time
in a minute. Yeah yeah yeah, looking lovely and she
is one of h town's top pr people. Yeah yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah yeah with news ladies and gentlemen. Sheba Roy
(01:48):
back with us, Hi, ladies. Well, it's the summertime. We
were about in the home stretch. August is in a
couple of days, yes, but also on August first, something
is is kicking off real big huh Kimberly.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Yes, So this is our third year and we are
kicking off Curve Cella's annual series of events. It's our weekend.
If you mess say and we're excited because anytime, well
in the first two years, twenty twenty three, in twenty
twenty four, we have the opportunity to support local businesses,
(02:31):
black businesses. That's always our focus. And then, like you said,
women's women's women's like that is our goal. With everything
we do, we keep women, especially women of color, at
the forefront. So August first, if you want me to
just go into it, we kick off with our community.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
No, I don't want you to go into it now yet, Okay,
I want you to go into for those who may
not be familiar with curve Chello because it's been like
a couple of years. Yes, you have been on and
you guys have done a lot, So we got to
start with the origins. Sure, for the people who who
don't know what is Curvechella and how was this idea
(03:14):
of birth?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
So I believe it or not, Curvechella this year and
last year looked nothing like what we intended to do.
So it kind of resonates with the thought process of Okay,
I want to do this, but then God has a
different plan. Curvecella started off as a shopping expo. Okay,
so we when I called Holly and said, hey, there's
(03:41):
a space, there's a gap for this type of event,
and I need your support because I know with your
contacts and my contacts, we can bring women of color,
curvy women together with different boutiques and brands and just
allow them to place them in the space safe space shop.
And that was merely what it was all about. And
(04:04):
so when we went into it, we had no idea
that women would come from other cities. We had no
idea we had over four hundred people with our first year,
and I was battling breast cancer stage four at the time,
so I was thinking, Okay, I want this to be
my legacy just in case something doesn't happen. This is
(04:26):
what I want to leave my mark on because I'm
known for styling and known for fashion, and it just
took off from there. I would say the response was overwhelming.
There was absolutely a need, and what we were left
with was there's more to this because women weren't just saying, oh, hey,
(04:50):
I loved the shopping experience. They were like, I love
the experience. I met women, I met my tribe, I
met you guys, and y'all were cool, and we had
a black and I loved Houston and so then we
just took those elements and that's how we've evolved to
where we are today.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Now. When you say a space a safe space for
curvy women to shop, what does that mean? Is there
an attack on curvy women when they are like, y'all
get harassed or something like.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Harassed. We wish sometimes we would be harassed. It's just
been a longstanding issue that when women of you know,
certain sizes, if we don't fit just the the main aesthetic.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Of societal norms if you will. Thanks to social.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Media, absolutely and the media, we are not perceived as
a consumer that's worth them spending their time on. And
it's a known fact. When I when Sachs Fifth Avenue
had a whole department dedicated to plus sized clothing, they
were the number one. They took it out Salon z
(06:00):
if you remember they took it out and me and
my mom shopped there and they took it out, and
the guy who was over it said, we bring in
the most money in this department, even over couture, oscar
deala rend to anybody, our plus size department. We have
the most faithful shoppers and we have the most revenue
being brought in.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
And they got rid of.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
It, and they took it away because it did not,
like you said, it did not fit the aesthetic.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Oh, they're just making money. What are we doing? Go ahead,
he do you want to do?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
No, it's just being a former employee of Norseham, I
truly understand because I was in cosmetics and they didn't
see a need for women of color, and I was
telling them that you have no idea the dollars that
women of color are looking and pleading for these type
of things. So when Kimberly Up came with the idea
(06:55):
of let's do a day to embrace women of color
and give them a safe space where they can feel
loved and shop and get the things that they're need.
You know, I think people really don't know the stats
of when it comes to black dollars and that our
dollars mean more in different high end stores than anywhere, and.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
They don't get it.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
And that was one of my things that when I
worked at Norstrom, because I had that and I used
to tell them you're looking at an aesthetic and now
what the need is. And I would get the big
sales because they would pass them over. I would get
a ten thousand dollars sell. I would get a five
thousand dollars cell because they didn't think that they could,
(07:45):
you know, the figure it out. So when she wanted
to do it, she's kind of talking lightly about what
curve Tella is. She came to me and said, you know,
I don't know if I'm going want to be here
and if I leave this planet, I want to leave
this mark and give the people of Houston just one
(08:09):
day of.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Love.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Excuse me, So I said, well, let's make it happen.
We did it in three months. It wasn't six months.
She brought it to me. I said, okay, let's run
with it. You want a day in the city, no problem.
Let me call the city council people. You want this,
let me call my folks. So that's where it started.
And then you know, God bless that he healed Kimberly.
(08:39):
And now we said, since he did that, let's give back.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
To the people and become more than just a fashion experience.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So that's what kirk Jelle is now.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. So everything kicks off on Friday, Friday,
the first through day August the fourth? Is it the fourth?
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Okay, August the fifth is Curve Cella Day.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
It is.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yes, Mayor Turner, may he rest in peace, said so.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, gave us that day.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Thank you Sevesta Turner and thank you Edward Pollard for
allowing us and giving us that day. We really appreciate
them both.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
For sure, you're listening to the Public Affairs podcast. We
are talking to the women of Curve Cella, which is
happening this weekend the first through the fourth, as you
just heard, and you all are going to be there's
a plethora of events, so let's so let's walk through it.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Friday, Dear Future Hobby, Dear future Hobby, I have so
much to say to him, whoever he is. So Friday,
we are teaming up with ost Looker, who is our
They have supported us from the very beginning. They are
our community partner, and Chris the owner has extended all
(10:00):
the things to us anytime we do something concerning Kurfchella.
So we decided instead of us getting like the big
fancy hotel room, because the women that travel here they
think that Houston, like most Americans that don't live here,
most Black Americans, they think Houston is really and truly
top tier of cities for them to be in. And
(10:20):
so we decided to go more so into the streets.
We've done like hotel rooms and rented out event spaces.
So he's allowing us to use his space, his event
space in the back of the store where we will
host a panel entitled entitled Dear Future Hubby, and that's
(10:43):
what that's about. And it's a cocktail class. So we
have the panel as well as the mocktail cocktail class.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Lord here we go. So y'all gonna be up in
there with the theme dear future hubby, Yes, sipping on
cocktails and mocktail. I don't want to tell him that yes, yeah, well,
well just make sure everybody is showing up hole and
ain't nobody looking to be a captain.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
My very first thing, at the top of my my
questions that I've put together, the very first thing is
what do you bring to the table? I want to
talk about him. I want to talk about wholeness as
a woman before you enter into a.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Marriage that's going to be very into.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
We have space for you, KG you want to come,
come on, you know, you want to come and mc it.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
And you know, I think we talked about.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
This yesterday's price, it's not today's now.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
We talked about this about the futurehood because I was
telling her, Oh, I think a lot of people love
the concept of marriage, but.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Don't understand what it means.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
You know, why your mom and daddy stayed together, Yeah,
maybe twenty or thirty percent is because things were different,
but there were other facts you just didn't give up.
And now it's like everything is so tangible. You can
get a divorce online that you know, people don't understand.
You know, well, it's a relationship.
Speaker 6 (12:10):
You're not gonna like him.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
All. Well, everybody's soft these days, you know what I'm saying.
Society has become a bunch of you know, ba ns,
and it's it's it's it's an epidemic that has been
going on for quite some time. The smallest thing just
offends everybody. And then, oh, don't get me started on
the biggest cry baby group of them all. You say
(12:33):
one thing about them and it's all your I ain't
gonna even get into it. But yeah, everybody soft. Everybody
is soft.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Well, and I would like to add that, because I'm
the facilitator of this event, I am not going lightly
light on my women. I do plan on holding us accountable,
which you know, a lot of times men get all
the slack and the conversation. If you're thinking about attending
out there, I just know that this is not a
(13:02):
men bashing type of event. We are holding everyone accountable
to be whole individuals to enter into marriage. Because women
of color have the highest divorce rate.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Well let me tell you something. Yes, yes, I'm glad
for that because a lot of times women do hit
decline when accountability comes caught absolutely, you know, oh, okay,
and then you got Then we're going on to Saturday
Boosts on the ground that's going to be at the
anchor's home Chamber of Business and Economic Development. We have
(13:33):
a representative from there, Shiva Y. So the market is
going on.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Yes, the market is going on, and the market is
right here for you, as the jingle does say, so yeah.
You know, Kim is one of my clients, and I've
been with Curvechella since Curvechella was born. When she revealed
to me that she had breast cancer, I was like, Kim,
this is kind of a thing that could definitely, you know,
help move the message. But she was like na, and
so I was like, I'll keep your secret. So I
(13:58):
did that, and you know, many years later, we're still
together and I've got the Farmer's Market. And what better
way to bring Curvechella into the community than to bring
Curvechella to the acres On Chamber farmers Market.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
So no, so the Curvechello boots on the ground, line
dance class and farmers market. Lord, this is Houston. Where
the hell else can you go and be at a
farmer's market? And then also there's a line dance class
you can learn boots on the ground if you don't
(14:34):
know it while you get your fresh watermelon and summer fruits.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
I really hope I do have a watermelon person that day.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
That was Yeah, I really hope that you do too,
because tell me, let me tell you something. Them basketball
watermelons they sell in the those are not real. Oh
my gosh.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Let me tell you about what I heard from one
of my farmers. He said, they intentionally sell those seedless
watermelons so that you don't take seeds and go plant
for Actually, it's terrible.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
In tragic it is. It's terrible. Yeah, yeah, it's really terrible.
I could really go in on these folks that's causing
all of this nefariousness in the world. But I love
my job. Whenever you go up against this certain group,
you know, things start to happen. Ex Kanye. So let's
(15:23):
move on to Sunday. Sunday Sunday Curve Sheella Garden Party.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
So this is our brunch. We shout out to rock
House because our first two years were held there for
Sunday Brunch and we love them. But I now have
a friend who owns a club like a stone's throw
from rock House on Richmond, Do not Disturb. She is
(15:53):
one of my girlfriends that actually, yes, literally and I
met her talk about full circle. I met her styling
one of my clients when I was a stylist that
was on Shark Tank and she was my assistant. And
she's now since uh and this was in Atlanta when
we did the shoots, so she since moved here and
her and her girlfriend own do not Disturb. And I'm
(16:14):
so proud of them. So rock House, we love y'all.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
But thank you, Rob.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Yeah, They've really shown us love over the years. But
we just want to just this is what Kurchella is about.
So when we move this to do not Disturb, it's
to send a message that women of color, we support you,
we see you. They are rolling out the red carpet
for us and they the food is exceptional. She's had
(16:45):
us there.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
And I'm one of those girls that could drink a
man on the table. I can't that place one drink
only and they always.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
You know, I don't know what spirit is in that place,
but when I get off the air on Monday and
Tuesdays driving home because I got to pass there because
I'm over there, it is always jumping like dang y'all
on a Monday, like for real on a Monday? Now?
So now was it never leave Houston on a Monday? Now?
Because they took over.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
They took a concept where only camp had Mondays because
everything else has closed. They took a concept and they
built off of that. TikTok.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Everything has everything closed on Monday, but D, D and D.
That's why I'm like, yo, I'll be driving home like
no midnight, twelve thirty.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Ladies jumping jumping y end Central there on Monday. So
if that's your type, you know, we have some older
seasoned women that love y ND. That is the capital
of the y ends there on a Monday. The dogs
do not, yes, and.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
The Yans are for young nobles. Yes, yes. And then
we have the big one yes, the cella annual day
of service with Beacon. Oh wow, that's our people. Yeah,
I know some folks yeah yeah yeah, so tell us
(18:19):
about that.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
So we have worked with the Beacon. I think we
started that.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Did we start the second year?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Yeah? So last year we we started. They're just taking
things to their transitional home. Miss Loretta the director, we
love her, and so this year we decided to do
it again and we'll be at Acre's home chamber. Just
you can bring all your clothes if anybody wants to
(18:48):
come there, with toiletries. But it's seventeen women transitional housing.
They were previously homeless or on drugs, and that's uh,
that's the goal is to just give them clothing of
all sizes, toiletries. You can bring irons, pots and pants
because they transition them from that house to their own
they leave their to their own apartment.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Okay, yeah, so that's it. I mean that's one, two, three,
four days of a lot. Where can they get tickets?
You can log onto Curvechella dot com that is c
U R V c H E l l A dot
com to get your tickets beginning on Friday. Yeah, turn out,
(19:32):
Thank You celebration, the celebration and then but more importantly,
the the the Farmer's Market Saturday afternoon as well with
your with your dance class that's going.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Somebody was going to be wearing dukes. They already tell
me they were going to. I said, I mean.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
For it, I encourage people to cut up like that.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Somebody else told me they about a special fan. So yeah,
it's going to be exciting at the market, y'all should.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Be there, Well, yeah, I'm sure it's going to be
some things. Kimberly Williams, the founder of Curvechella, Holly Townshend,
the co founder of Curve Cella, and the PR guru
Shiva Roy. Thank you all for coming on. We love
We'll see you this weekend.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Thank you and.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
To everybody who listening to the podcasts. We'll be back
after this from your local Houston BFW Center Studios. Welcome
back to the Public Affairs podcast addressing local issues that
affect our nation and shape our world. I'm your host,
KG Smooth. Yesterday I was a part of the Empowered CDC,
(20:45):
white Stone Developments and Eco Flows get Ready Houston, a
family day for disaster preparedness, and we just talked about well,
I was the moderator for a panel just for an
hour talking about getting ready for this hurricane season and
all the things. And so joining me in the studio
(21:06):
this morning, we have mister will Merrick, the CEO of
white Stone Developments who helped put on this event and
he is also the executive director of Empowered CDC. Welcome
my man, Welcome you.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
For having men, thank you for having.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Me and representing innovative thing. I forgot the name of.
Speaker 7 (21:25):
Deafast Innovating Marketing.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Innovating Marketing Groove is the lovely Ayana Johnson PR Coordinator.
How are you today? I'm good, good, good. So yesterday
was great. Why was it important because this was some
great information that was given out. Why was this important
for you will to have? Get ready Houston man?
Speaker 6 (21:49):
This event was important to me for the same reason
we've been installing back up power systems in every house
we build anyway.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
It started off just as a conversation me and a realtor,
and we were just talking about the power outages in
Houston and in Texas in general, and us being on
a separate electric grid from everybody else, and we just
saw the need for people to have that access to
backup power systems. Not everybody is going to be able
to afford to go spend ten to fifteen grand to
(22:18):
put a generat on their house to try to protect
them in case of disaster.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Wait, that's the price tag for that generator.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
That's the price of it. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:26):
I've had generacs in two of my houses and it
ranged from ten to fifteen thousand dollars to install them.
So we just made the dedication to put backup power
systems in every house we build. So that's where the
passion for it started. And it also came from the
fact that you know, I just whenever I buy a
new house for my family's sake, I put a generator there.
(22:48):
You know, whether we moved here from Louisiana in twenty eighteen,
and it's a need. You know, we've experienced power outages,
we've experienced flooding, we've experienced hurricanes, and we just wanted
to offer that same comfort to pretty much everybody that
we serve. So if you're buying a house that's built
by Empower or white Stone, it's going to have a generator,
(23:10):
a backup generator in it. That same heart is what
drove this disaster preparedness event. We wanted to make sure
that we're reaching out to as many people in the
Houston market as possible, and this was a good way
to do it. You know, it started off as a
small project. You know, it's going to be maybe thirty
to forty people there. Something we were going to do
(23:31):
small in probably set a gas community, and I just thought,
why keep it small, Let's expand it and we're trying
to incorporate eco Flow into it. Eco Flow is a
pretty big backup, backup power brand, So we wanted to
do something that was worthy of them coming into the
Houston market, something to kind of introduce them and us
to the Houston market. We've been around for twenty years,
(23:52):
but not a whole lot of people know who Empower
or white Stone is, So we just we felt it
was a good opportunity to get back and also a
good introduction to us in.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
The Houston market.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Okay, well, to the very point that you just made,
to your latter point, tell us about Empowered CDC.
Speaker 6 (24:14):
So we've been around for twenty five years. It started
off just as a nonprofit organization. Blazer real Estate Properties
started Empower. Actually it started as education based Housing and
every time I told someone that, you know, we're with
education based housing, like, well, what does that mean?
Speaker 5 (24:32):
What is that?
Speaker 6 (24:34):
So we ended up changing the name. Actually, we have
a DBA for Empower Community Development Corporation and Empower just
I mean, it's it's exactly what it says. We try
to empower the people that we serve. We are a
nonprofit organization five oh one C three, but we're not
a charitable organization.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
We do give back.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
You know, our thing is all about just giving back
to the community and giving back to the people that
we serve and who who we benefit from. I mean,
the white Stone brand is a sub entity of Empower.
So we do all of our real estate development through
white Stone and again everything every community that we build
in we try to make sure we're giving back to it.
(25:16):
So right now we're mostly in third Ward and in Setagas,
which is the seven seven eight zip code, and man,
we we just have such a passion for that for
those two areas right now. Plus we just need to focus.
You know, Houston is huge. We can't we can't do
everything all over Houston. So Seta Gas community is a
beautiful community, very quiet, uh and it's an up and
(25:39):
coming community.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Oh yeah. I got a couple friend of friends that
they're married couple. They just bought a house out there
sitting Gas right there at northwest Side and Parker. I
believe there's this huge all new houses that they're building
(26:02):
over there, And every time I went out there to
go visit them, more of us are moving out there
in those mental developments.
Speaker 6 (26:11):
I hate to even give it away, but I don't
want to gatekeep either. It's it's a very quiet community.
It looks very much like a Sunnyside or a South
Union or Fifth Ward, but it's it's more quaint, more charming,
you know.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
What i mean. Quet except for the train, but the
train it's quiet.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
Well, and except for the horses and the chickens too,
because because you still got horses and chickens and uh,
you know, people raising you know, livestock out there, you know.
But it's only twelve minutes from downtown Houston, so it's
a it's a fairly well untouched market, uh, and we're
happy to be in it.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
You know.
Speaker 6 (26:48):
We've already bought up quite a bit of land out there,
you know, in expectation that it's going to increase in
value and we'll still be able to offer affordable housing
because we bought the land at a good price. So
so yeah, that's where again, that's where all of this
comes from. Man, it's just a passion to make sure
we're we're helping people. I mean, we have to be profitable,
we're a business. But it's it's my passion and I'm
(27:10):
sharing that passion with Empower and with white Stone and
using it as a funnel to serve the community.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Okay, now that's Empowered, So tell us about Whitestone.
Speaker 6 (27:20):
White Stone is a wholly owned subsidiary of Empower. It's
a for profit development company. We do all of our
real estate development through white Stone, and the name white
Stone has significance to it also, But that's a that's
a whole conversation. But Whitstone was actually the name of
(27:42):
my personal company, and I gave the name of my
personal company to Empower so that we could do development
work through it. But again it's it's a very powerful name,
and it's a we do really good work. If I
if I have to pat myself on the back, we
really we build really nice houses. Uh great quality. Nothing
(28:05):
is like a a mass builder quality. It's it's all
solid quality building. Central Living Development is actually my builder.
So I'm the I'm the developer. Whitestone is the developer.
We hire a general contractor to build all our houses,
and the same quality that goes in our half million
dollar houses goes into our sub three hundred thousand dollar houses.
(28:27):
So we we take a lot of pride in in
bringing something that's affordable.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
But also you can be proud of it.
Speaker 6 (28:36):
It's not just a house for the sake of saying
you have a house, it's a it's a solid home.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Well, I mean the fact that you all automatically add
the generator when building the house. Uh, says A says
A lot you know already with the backup generator. What
what about solar like do you guys and do y'all
you know?
Speaker 6 (28:59):
So it's expanded. So the system that we give, it's
the basic system. It'll run the necessities in your house
for two three days, but it's expandable, so you can
add batteries to it over time, and you can add
solar panels to it. You can add a lot of
other stuff, extra inverters, and you can expand it up
to ninety kilowatts of power, which will run a whole
(29:19):
house for a month. That it's expensive to do that.
So again we're just giving the basic system. We give
the inverter, the one battery and a smart home panel
that connects it directly into the home electrical box. And
as soon as the electricity goes off, it automatically kicks on.
The lights don't even flicker, it kicks on so quick.
(29:40):
So what we're again, what we're just trying to do
is make sure that people have something to cover them
and protect them in case of power outages. During Hurricane Barrel,
during the winter storm a couple of years ago, a
lot of people passed away or got sick or lost
food or valuables because they didn't have power for you know,
a few days. And this will this will cover them.
It'll cover the necessities just out of the box. And
(30:04):
they can take their time when they get their tax
return or whatever and buy an extra box or buy
some solar panels or something. But we just wanted to
make sure that we're setting people up for success.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Indeed, you're listening to the Public Affairs podcast. We are
talking to mister William H. Merrick, who is the CEO
of white Stone Developments and the executive director for Empowered CDC.
Also joining us is Ayana Johnson, who is a PR
coordinator for Innovative Marketing Group. Now, so, Ayana, why was
(30:36):
this this great event that we had yesterday, the Empowered
to Power Up Community event? But let's get Houston ready together?
What did that mean to Innovating Marketing Group? Yeah?
Speaker 7 (30:52):
Absolutely so. Will has actually been a client of Innovating
Marketing Group for some time now, and he has always
been about the impact work. And one of the first
things that I remember when when meeting him when I
joined the team was going out to the site of
his recent of a recent project and him telling me, like,
(31:13):
you know, one thing that I always make sure of
when building and developing things is that I would want
to live here. And so I think that his passion
for not only giving people quality, but also helping the
community is kind of what makes this kind of stuff
so easy, because people need to hear about people in
(31:34):
the community that care about the people of the community
for sure. So that's kind of what gave us a
lot of the motivation, and it makes it very easy
to kind of get people out to support and you know,
to congregate around these great causes.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Yeah. Yeah, with the event, you had a citywide call
to action and you gave away some stuff. It was
a generator give way. There was a free preparedness kids.
Of course, you know, there was food, but you also
had scholarship opportunities. I'm glad that you threw that in there.
(32:12):
I see scholarship opportunities for preparedness resources, booths, emergency kit donations,
all the things you guys really thought about this thoroughly.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's again.
Speaker 6 (32:27):
It was an important event for us just because we
want to make sure that people know what's available to them.
We want to make sure that people know that folks
are here for them. You know, there's quite quite a
few people in Houston who make good livings, who have
a lot of money, But there's also a sect of
people and it's mainly what Empower CDC serves is what's
(32:48):
called ALICE households. ALICE stands for asset limited, income constrained
but employed and having grown up in a house like that,
My mom was a single mom. She was a teacher,
and back then teachers didn't make what they make now,
So her trying to do that with two kids on
her own, she worked hard. She worked part time jobs
in addition to teaching all day and still barely made
(33:11):
ends meet. So there's the larger percentage of people in
general fit into that criteria, and we want to make
sure that those people know that we're here for.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Them for sure. So for everybody that's listening, you missed
it yesterday, let's can you give the people about maybe
the top three ready preparedness tips that they should have
if you live at home or an apartment, just to
be ready what it is that they should have in
(33:44):
case of an emergency when it comes to a natural disaster.
Speaker 6 (33:48):
Yeah, so, first of all, I would say, just because
Ecoflow was one of our partners on this event, we've
got to talk about the backup power, just having access,
whether it's it's an eco flow, whether it's a generac whatever,
or one of the ones you can pick up from
home depot, have some type of backup power. And if
you don't have it yourself, check what your neighbors. You know,
(34:10):
most people are willing to run an electric cord from
their house to yours if you just absolutely need it.
And I'm pretty sure somebody in your neighborhood has a generator.
But if you can't do that, make sure you've at
least got seventy two hours of food. We talked about that.
We've talked about having at least a few days of
clean water that you can drink just in case flashlights, candles,
(34:37):
be careful not to burn your house down with the candles.
It's summertime, so nobody's using space heaters, but if it
is winter time, make sure your space heaters are used safely.
There's been a lot of house fires with that, so
everything you do, just do it safely. If you're on medication,
we talked about that. Make sure that your medication is
(34:57):
properly cooled. If you don't have refrigerator, make sure if
you've at least got ice where you can put your
stuff on ice. And again, just food, electricity, water are
the primary things. Beyond that, We've talked about just being safe.
Anything beyond seventy two hours. You know, you're starting to
get into a different frame of mind for people, just
(35:21):
basic human instinct. After seventy two hours, you start going
into survival mode. So you just want to make sure
that you're covered for seventy two hours. And if you're
in a position to cover yourself for seventy two hours,
already prep to cover yourself for a week. You know,
we talked about just expanding on whatever preparedness items you
have already. You know, I'm not a conspiracy theorist by
(35:43):
any means, but I'm a firm believer in being prepared
for just about anything, So expand on it. You know,
if you're ready for a twenty four hour outage, get
ready for a seventy two hour outage. If you're ready
for seventy two, get ready for a week. If you're
ready for week, prepare yourself and your family for a month.
Speaker 5 (36:02):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (36:03):
Just whatever you've got going on, just continue to expand
on it and just make sure that you're not at
the mercy of any type of a disaster as much
as you possibly can. Some things out our control, that's
why they call it an act of God. But you
know what we can do.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Do it and that's that or that, Yeah, what you
can do do it. So in terms of the future,
I understand you guys got some other things that are
coming up that you want to share, you want to elaborate.
Speaker 6 (36:33):
Yeah, so we we've already given away ten Eco Flow DPUs.
We call them DPUs. The Delta Pro Ultra is the
system that we put in most of the houses. We've
partnered with the Restoration Team, which is another nonprofit organization
here in Houston. They solely focus on senior home renovations.
(36:54):
So they have a list of seniors who live in
different areas of Houston. They go out and these are
homes that have been under maintenance and the people can't
usually afford to maintain them themselves, so they'll go in
repair the houses, do some minor renovations to make the.
Speaker 5 (37:13):
House more livable and safer.
Speaker 6 (37:16):
And we've selected ten of those individuals who have their
home renovated and we've installed the back of power systems
in those as well. So we're going to do some
more of that as time goes on. These systems are expensive,
so we can't just give them away to everybody. We
have to go through a criteria which is on our
website EMPOWERCDC dot org. But we've got a lot more
(37:37):
of that coming up. We've got some affordable housing projects
coming up. We have our food pantry which we're looking
to expand on it. It's a lot of stuff. We're
doing a back to school drive and everything. Again, we're
we're trying to not be everything to everybody, but we're
trying to just do what we can and what's within
our power and our scope of influence, and we're just
(37:58):
running with it man for as much as we can.
And that's the benefit of Whitestone. You know, we're not
we're not like the average nonprofit organization. We definitely still
need grants, we still need uh donors, but you know, Whitestone,
a lot of the money is funneled back into Empower
for the work that we do, so we we get
to do something that we love to do in real
(38:18):
estate development and we get to fund our programs within power.
Speaker 5 (38:23):
So we were.
Speaker 6 (38:23):
Able to ethically recycle the funds that we make.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
For sure, yea. And what can the people do to
help continue these efforts?
Speaker 6 (38:34):
Go to Empower CDC dot org. There is a give
button tab on our website. Whether you're a corporation or
an individual, you know, just donate. It's going to a
good cause. Man, I would say that we are good
ground to so seed into. So click on that give
(38:56):
button and you know, do whatever you can for sure.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Man, Well, thank you for your time. Mister William Merrick,
the CEO of white Stone Developments and executive director of
Empowered CDC and of course representing Ayanna Johnson from Innovating
Marketing Group. Man, thank you all so much.
Speaker 7 (39:13):
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Yeah yeah, yeah, we gotta we gotta stay in touch
because you know, hurricane season is through November, so yeah,
so thank you might.
Speaker 6 (39:24):
Need to call a friend on a friend right and
hopefully we can get you for the next event too, so.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Yeah yeah what your Yeah, we can definitely work that out.
Thank you all so much. I appreciate it. Thank you,
and to everyone listening to the podcast, I'm KG Smooth
and we will see you next week.
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