Troy Benjamin – The brains behind Blak Brews Tea and building a First Nations-led enterprise - Yarning Up First Nations Stories with Caroline Kell

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Black Cast Unite our voices. This podcast is brought to
you by on Track Studio. Welcome to Yanni Up, the
podcast that showcases First Nations stories and conversations to help

(00:24):
us learn and unlearn Australia's history to work towards a
better future. I'm your host, proud barber woman and founder
of Black Waddel Coaching and Consulting, Caroline cow We acknowledge
the Runderi people and elders where this podcast is taped,

(00:46):
but we also acknowledge the lands that you are listening
in from today. It always was and always will be
unseated Aboriginal and tourist Red Islander Land. Well, I'm so
excited to speak to my next guest. I know he's
not shy or unfamiliar with being in radio and having

(01:09):
his own show. And actually the last time we connected
in this particular way, of course, was on your show,
really good radio. So it's nice to have you on
the other side. Today I'm sitting down with Troy Benjamin
and yeah, just really keen to connect and hear what's
been happening and get to know a bit more about you.

(01:31):
So welcome to the show, Troy.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
So good to be here and yeah, good memories that was.
That was through Arnie Rohner and trying to do exactly
what you're doing now to stay connected and what a
hard time that was. But I can feel your excitement
because I was so excited to interview you. I know
what it feels like to have just guests on and
that you're kind of you know, you just wonder what

(01:58):
they've been up to, but also they've got some value
to add and it's yeah, good to be hon here.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, no, it was.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
It was so lovely. I feel like you really, like
you really kept us connected and afloat during covid by.
This is the thing about MOB and just jumping in
and doing what they've got to do for the benefit
of MOB. And so a lot's happened since that time.
I'm now pregnant. You've gone on to you know, go

(02:26):
on to National TV and build this evolution of your
idea of Black Bruise from very you know, very humble
beginnings into you know, onto a global stage. So I'm
so excited to connect and find out exactly what's been happening.
But as we always do on this show, we always
like to start by getting you to sort of introduce
yourself how you would like to be introduced. So yeah,

(02:48):
can you tell us a bit about your mob and
just a little bit about your story and who you are?

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, it's cool. So yeah, I'm a proud First Nations
man living down here and what are on country? You know,
I'm back in back in my birth home, but my
mob's up. Tuddy tuddy muddy muddy buddy wuddy LATCHI latchy
country out Robin Vail by Ranald It's now. I've had

(03:15):
a cool life, cool journey. I've got a lovely wife
now in my in my world, been together for five
years and inherited an absolute champion of a son for
legal term steps. But man, I'm just loving fatherhood. And
good things come to those who wait, I guess or
or put yeah, I don't know if I wasn't waiting.

(03:37):
But what amazing world that we can live in. You
when you kind of hit your late thirties and ticking
over to forty and you're wondering, you know, am I
going to be these guys that wasting their life away
and keep kind of shifting and moving house and relationships
and or jobs change or you know, I've had a

(03:59):
pretty a variety of movements in my life, which as
a young fellow, yeah, especially in the nineties when back
then it was really everyone's really proud to say that
you've got a sturdy job, like you know, you've got
your nine or five. And as much as I kind
of agreed at the time, I never I didn't have

(04:21):
that style of living. Things ended sooner than I guess what,
when everyone one else wanted. But guess what entrepreneurship is this?
And I'm just grateful that interesting journey of youthful, eventful
life where there's no commitment and everyone's wanting you to

(04:44):
settle down, and it's like, well, I don't know. I
like exploring. I like exploring and I like switching it
up if I don't feel it. And I'm an instinct person,
not a numbers and grafts person. That might mean that
my emotions take me to different areas and often pinch
myself and and think what am I doing. I'm like,

(05:07):
I'm currently sitting in my old spare room when I
was a teenager in my mum's house. Mum's moved out.
But you know, yeah, it's just crazy to be in
Geelong and I'm one of those oldies that go, you're
going to come back to your hometown when some stage
when you want a family. And you know, I left
Geelong in early two thousands and went to Melbourne and

(05:28):
tried to spread my wings there. But now it's good
to be home. Home is Geelong for me and families here,
my schoolmates. You know, I was brought up in a
very small community and I like, I like the power
of small community and yeah it's good, but it's it's

(05:53):
a journey.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, wow, it's so interesting. I mean, you know, money
and money Lati Lati like all along Robin Vowe, all
along the Murray River there and val Renald and then
back to the coast of you know, Waterong and you
know that water cooling And it sounds to me like, yeah,
you're in a phase where you're grounded and anchored in

(06:16):
but still you know, being creative and like you say,
trying to carve out your own entrepreneurial journey in this
space and that isn't always designed for mob but it's
almost like those small country towns force you to be
resourceful and you have to sort of then think on
your toes in other ways.

Speaker 4 (06:35):
So yeah, and I think, yeah, you spot on and
to add on to that, I realize the important parts
of your life.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
A good base is when you move. As growing and
challenging as it is, you still need a good base
where you go. I think, and my best years have
always been when I'm I'm not moving and where its
relationship or my own health, or am I living a

(07:08):
central life to my beliefs that my core values, and
where am I just been a little kind of leaf
in the wind And I don't want people to name
my name And you're not having any impact deep impact
with people, You're just being surfaced since you go through
those times in life where you I don't know, you

(07:29):
just pretend to be something else for a bit to
see if it suits you. And through all those kind
of I guess snakes shedding moments, skin shedding moments, what
was in central was my bay. I found my base
to be here and it's where you know, other people

(07:49):
find it in other places. I'd love to hear from
other people out where they think home is. But some
people find home in other countries or completely different to
what they were brought up in. But I think from
the most part, your home is where you can settle
and be nurtured and feel safe, and the people in

(08:11):
Geelong just have always known me, So I just didn't
think that would be the most valuable thing to me
now where it is very strange.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
Very yeah, so interesting to hear. Yeah here say that,
And I think we've definitely all gone through phases of
life where it's easier to meet ourselves small or chameleon
or you know, when we step into authentic selves, it
can be really vulnerable. But it's interesting. Did you imagine
when you were growing up in Geelong that you would

(08:41):
come back? Was that a part of your your what
you thought would be your base or what's important to
you now or these are just parts of these shifts
and evolutions.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, I think like up until nineteen, like I hadn't
we really, I was that kid that hadn't been to Melbourne,
like nineteen years old. It's so crazy. We might have
gone on a train or something, but we're going a
dim rou or. But you know, like to experience living
somewhere else, like yeah, you know, you've got to move
away from the family, Like I've got no brothers and sisters,

(09:12):
so my mum's got me on a short chain. You know,
she's scared of Lisby to the big smoke, you know.
But even in my world, like we just didn't have
a lot of people typical country town I guess back then,
but we just did have a lot of people going
to look for opportunities in Melbourne because most people would
classically just get a trade, work in their parents' business,

(09:36):
play footy on Saturdays and just kind of never really
dream outside the norm and like to think that that.
And so I was not aching. But when I got
an opportunity to go up to the Gold Coast, it
was just because I knew a friend up there. I
was classic rebelling against my mum's chain, short chain and like, yeah,

(09:58):
I'm done with this and I'm out of here and
I'm calling a friend who lives in another place. Until
I was out there and I didn't come back because
I came back to Geelong two years later after my
stint in the Gold Coast, and I had changed. They
had changed. I had seen things, I had done things
I had There's different just even within you know, just

(10:19):
this country. Gold Coast is very different to Geelong. Gold
Coast different at Melbourne perse different. You can purse different
than Adelaide. It's just different, you know, and Geelong didn't
definitely didn't suit me, so I for a long time.
It's funny whenever I had a relate and you know,
it sounds like a serial relationship person, but you know,

(10:39):
when I have a relationship, but they're usually my book ends,
like when people ask me like remember that time I
go who was I with? Was I.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
Who was there?

Speaker 2 (10:50):
Person? Because other than that, they were really important to me.
Those moments you know when I usually have you know,
I've got a beautiful wife now, but she on his
relationship has been really take you on journeys with people
and they can yeah, you know, you experience the highs
and waves of those people. And whenever I would I
felt like I was by myself, I'd always come running

(11:11):
back to Geelong. I'd come back for a weekend, I'd
move out of the house. I'd come in back home mums,
Mum's cooking.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
I never like, you know, Muma would always say you're
going to come back here at some stage because you've
got to settle down in some stage, and I'm like, yeah,
but my wife is the catalyst of me being open
to this style of living. And it's it's considered everything.

(11:41):
You know, we're living a very considered life down here
with Melbourne. I was in Melbourne last fifteen years. It
was your event calendar is crazy, yeah, just because of
the the city life. And you go on, You've got
trivia on Tuesdays, You're playing basketball on Wednesdays. Barco's got
a gig on down Brunswick East, and you've got to
get over to Chapel Street for lunch and yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
And just the sounds on the butt, like just everything,
everything's like heightened and yeah, yeah, the nervous system is
constantly on and almost, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yeah, yeah, yeah it was.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
It was just kind of beautiful timing coming back here
and then meeting my wife and going she would love
Geelong and I could nurture this boy and be a
father role to her then seven year old. And I
know exactly where to go because I was a seven
year old in this town. You're going to this basketball club,

(12:40):
you're going to this school. I'm speaking of the principal.
This is my old teacher, this.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
Is my classroom. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
I had a good time down here. You know, it's
just so no, I didn't think i'd be here, but
it just makes so much sense. Yeah, yeah, mind you,
I wouldn't mind randomly picking up the family and going
to Bali for a year. We think about it often.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah, oh my god, I've it was very recedent.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yeah sure, I mean.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Thinking about ways how I can change my name or
fake myself, leave set set up somewhere else for a while.
It wouldn't be nice just to de plug from some
of the yeah things.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
Yeah, I was late to the overseas cultural trip, and
I wish I know, I do. I wish I went
overseas as a teenager or as anything like Lucky. Now
he's been to Italy and Barcelona and Bali, and you know,
he's like, you know, that's cool for I noticed kids
that have traveled, they they reflect a bit bit more

(13:48):
factually about their life. It's all about the PlayStation, it's
all about why and I getting picked in the team.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
It's like comment, Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Opens your eyes a bit, doesn't that I've talked about family?
Can we just talk about family for ever?

Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah? I know, I mean I love it so and
it's certainly something that I think, you know, as becoming
in this new journey. It's something I'm really interested in,
is Yeah, how people find their own peace or carve
out their beautiful life or yeah, want to raise their
families or their own values. So yeah, there's there's lots
to lots to explore. I mean, I think it's beautiful

(14:24):
and I think it's always interesting. Like, yeah, Mum was right,
and you know you were going to come back there.
It's like thanks Mum, But yeah, it's something. It feels
very resonant because you are such a product of your environments,
aren't you, And and you want to be like intentional
with Yeah, the people that you know, you know, and

(14:46):
the community there and Locky is upbringing and you know,
just the pace of life that the coast brings. Yeah,
all of these sort of like eco networks are attached
with where we live and what life you want to have, really,
isn't it. It's all it's all relative. Yeah, it sounds
like you and CRUs have been on quite the adventure

(15:07):
over the last five years of marriage. How long When
was this relationship? When did you guys meet?

Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, about five years ago. We married a year later,
Rock around two week COVID COVID marriage. It was just squeezed.
When it went from zero to twenty, people were like,
that'll do.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
Wow, I had to wait twelve years my end. Look
here this one well done. When you know, let's get this,
let's get this game back track, get it done.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
Give it a crack. Look. It's hard to commentate on
this world. Hey, but long while committed relationships hard, but
man they're awesome.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, yeah, because you sort of you kind of go
through your own seasons and evolutions as an individual. And
if you find someone that you can do that with
and you know where you're constantly you know, falling in
and out of love with yourself and blah blah and god,
just navigating that with someone and you enjoy them, then

(16:18):
tick like like bonus. You know, it's like I still
say my partner and i'd be We've been together for
almost fourteen years, and I look at him and I'm like,
I still like hanging out with ya. You know, I
actually just still like you. But yeah, you and Curusa,
you you founded your business and I'd love to talk

(16:41):
about that. So in twenty twenty two, you and Carus
are founded one hundred percent First Antions, Black own operated
business that offers ethically sourced premium tea with native ingredients.
You took that idea onto a global stage. You were
on the first ever Food Stars last year and which

(17:05):
was run by Gordon Ramsey, and your follows went on
to win. You got the two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars investment and a mentorship with Black Bruise. So where
did this all come about? How did this fit into
the picture? You know? Where did your mob come up
with the idea?

Speaker 3 (17:23):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (17:23):
Where did it all start for you mob?

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Just so you know why you were doing that little
wrap sheet on the journey of the Black Bruise. I can't.
I shake my head because if I really listened to
what you said, I still don't. It's not believable. It's
not Yeah, what happened?

Speaker 1 (17:40):
How did just the boy from DeLong who went on
to win on TV? It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
It's tea company. It's it's just not obvious. But you know, man,
it's so hard. I often do talks that, you know,
because that's what happens when you're in TV shows. People
want you to talk on things. It's really interesting. Yeah,
even though I ate the pro on any topic at all,
I talk about this kind of you know what you're

(18:07):
doing here, like bringing people together, and I often talk
about how I fell into most of my career defining
moments over the last twelve years, whether it's running my
own cafe, to running a barista agency, to running that
radio show, to running Deadly events, open mic nights, to
comedy like I just jumping on radio, Like it's all

(18:28):
kind of I don't think about it too much other
than I just feel like it'd be really fun to
talk to others and hear about what's going on. And
it's the same like this teeth thing came about. I
was trying to encourage Carissa because she was a bit
She's a nine or fiver. She's a nine or five.
She loves the nine to five grind. Yeah, give me
my lunch break, give me my wage at the end

(18:49):
of the week, and I'll look after the She's a
home woman. She wants to come home and bait the
cakes and make your beds look nice. She loves it.
I was like, love it. Well, you know, during yeah,
and during COVID, you couldn't really do that as much.
I reckon, you've got a good idea. She had an
idea to do an essential oils business with native ingredients,

(19:11):
and I knew someone who knew a thing about she
knew about herbs plants. I thought she'd be a good
starting point here in Geelong. She's also a tea master
World Reround Tea Master. Wow, But I didn't think about
the tea. I just thought, I'll let Chrissa go over there.
She could have a little dabble of exploring her this
project that she's really keen on, and I would just
stand back and let her have the fun ride of

(19:31):
exploring this brain of hers and see if she can
get a product off the ground. And I just overheard
the conversation and started thinking about Man, these tea blends
that she had in store also could apply to native
ingredients and maybe I started tea range. And I went
back a week later and just asked her what it
takes to kind of develop some tea blends with you?

(19:53):
Would you be interested in working with her with me?
Just a couple of the hoops, like you thought that
might be hard to get through, Like how much money
do I need to get a brand? I don't know,
like get a web brand off the ground. And I've
been in coffee operation, Like it's different, somewhat different, like
to get a product like and then to release it

(20:14):
online and had to work out shopify and how much
do I protect the product the names of the teas. Anyway,
I went crazy for like three weeks just in the locker,
just like this is the best idea in the planet,
and just thought we just took some tea's out there,
and the product spoke for itself, very very high quality tea,

(20:35):
very little insert of anything other than native ingredients. So
it's just those pure plants and fruits.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
It's and like with that, like where is it is
it source when you're say like native ingredients, Like is
there like places where Like I imagine that would have been
really hard, Like okay, very hard. Where do I source
the tea? Like who's making it, who's farming it? How
much is that?

Speaker 3 (20:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (21:00):
How did you navigate that? The sourcing of ethical.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
The sourcing part. So Sharon, who's a very good friend
of mine. I had a coffee relationship with her. It's
his mum. Yeah, And you know, often the topic that
kind of comes through black fellows is I prefer to
deal with First Nations people, but like, who's this white
person that's gate keeping this product?

Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Anyway, but the person that we're talking about is someone
that I know, Like I was like, where are you're
getting all this lemon mital from? And she's like, look,
I've got a guy like who's just they call him bush.
They call him bush. He's there people that live out
in the bush and just grow it and I don't
have And she just pays for it and often like

(21:49):
give me the bushy's name. She's got a business. She's
got a business to run. She's got a business and
she has supported She runs her own Native blends. She
helps people that are non Indigenous and black fellow like
you know, but she helps a lot of the other
brands that we know about. She's just person that's got
great connections over her thirty year career and I think

(22:12):
love it rightly. So I don't you know, I would luck.
And this is one of your questions is really interesting
one and might be jumping there already, but yeah, I
had to really kind of work out is this the
right thing to do?

Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (22:27):
Or do I avoid benefiting giving her? Look, she's got
the product. What do I do? Yeah, blow a hair's
house up and say I got it now, like which
might make sense, might be a good revenge, but yeah,
and I've got to work with this woman, and I
love her. She's a brilliant woman. And she was just like,
whatever you want to do, let's do chi with Native

(22:49):
and whatever you want, Troy and I will lend you
anything that you need. You're like a son to me.
You're such a good friend with my son. What do
you need to get these blends off the ground. I've
got people that can help you design. I'm like, nah,
I'll go to Naamilli and I want at least go
there first, you know, just to get a pulse check,

(23:09):
culture check. How does products get released in this market?
How can we hold onto some our pride and our
culture and our strength. And you know, I just went
with it. She's a good person. And now Ethos and
our brand is you know, be good people, work with
good people. It's not it's not be black, stay black
only work with black. Can't. I can't, I can't. Can't.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
You'd be hard pressed to be able to get any
business off the ground if we just relied solely on
the black economy. Sadly, like, you have to use your
resources accordingly, and you have to go where people have relationships,
and that's business. That's the that's just the name of
the game.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yeah, And who's who's the client. Who's the client who's
buying this tea? Yeah, and I know this is just
for Aboriginal people, Like yeah, no, like the client in
Australia is not Indigenous. So I've got to work with
people that stand that crew, which is not saying we don't.
But anyway, I was just really early on and I've
never really been like, nah, you're not black, like you

(24:10):
can't get into this space. I'm like, yeah, if you're
a good person and you're going to support me, and
I'm I'm you want to work together, I'm let's get this.
And she just she is the reason I've gotten to
this point today. Whilst it's my story and my reason
and we got in this show in the first episode,
She's one of the four people that I got to

(24:32):
I brought. I said, shads, you you have got me
to this point. You've let She's even mortgaged her house.
I'm not joking. You mortgaged her house to get me
enough stock in the lead up to the Grand Final
to ensure that I've got enough product. Wow, this woman
is just an ultimate human being.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
What a weapon? And like also to you know exactly, yeah, seriously,
but you know I think this is the thing that's
like just working with people who share similar values. I mean,
anyone who's going to put your neck on the line
truly believes not just in the product, but believes in you,
you know, and that's what you want, someone in your
in your corner who believes in you and what you

(25:14):
stand for and the mission. So I'm all for it. Wow.
So three yeah, three weeks went into this sort of
like chamber, got your resources together, and then and then
how did and then where did you land with black bruise?
Like how did you how did you pick the flavor combinations?
How did you then move through the process. I'm just

(25:36):
being a dory because I love tea, by the way,
I love drinking it and I love spilling the tea.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
And I get, hey, look she's the tea Samelia, right,
that's what they call their songs. They are high class,
high level palettes. I am not going to get on
that wagon. And I could not wait to release these teas.
I'm not going, yeah, take this home. I'm like, give
me some bangers, and I tasted the bangers. Give me

(26:02):
a lemon grass and give me a breakfast tea. But
what do we gotch like Danetrey grows incredible tea in
the danger.

Speaker 3 (26:10):
Forest like great, yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
Give me an el gray. But let's put a blackfellow
twist on it. What are we doing? She goes, just
wack some finger. I'm in there to be unreal. It's
going to cool. So we came up with six blands.
She did, and I will never never stop campaigning her.
She come up with them. Just try these and I went,
they are incredible. Yeah, I'm going out to the Greene
Freedom Festival in a month. I'm going to take these

(26:32):
blends out there and Greene Freedom Festival. My wis't country,
it's all unpowered sites. So heaps the campfires. I just
went and dunked, like all day long, dunking teas in
people's pots, and oh my god, the response just the
market said, this tea is off its head? What's going on?
What do they call it? Once? I better go back
and make some names, And that's how it launched the

(26:54):
Shopify site. No really, we're brilliant. Big shout out to
them crew there, Monique Rennie who's just created on country
a brilliant artist.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
Niques actually in our leadership program, my leadership program.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
She's the best is again again early early backbone of
She gave me the brand direction. She she designed the
logo wow, and then I changed it to solid red
yellow black. But we'll muck around with logo design. But
she got the concept and amazing verbs. She designed that

(27:30):
coffee van that you see around everywhere. She was cool.
She was cool. That's how it got done. No, I
didn't have I didn't have no cash.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
I want to tell people that if I ever looked
at this bog, I had no cash. Yeah, no cash here, Robbo.
But my wife told a.

Speaker 1 (27:49):
Lot of passion and a lot of enthusiasm. And that's
all you mean?

Speaker 2 (27:54):
No cash, more pash? What should be Yeah, passion, passion.

Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
Help has been my currency. So when I do these talks,
I always feel out it's complete and poster I'm like,
why do they want to talk to me? I go.
I think I can teach people, or at least encourage
people ask for help. Yeah, in any possible format. My
wife tells me all the time, I don't know how
you ask people for help. I don't get how you don't. Yeah,

(28:25):
you need it, but two people, too many people are
too scared to look inferior. They don't know what they're doing,
or they might get backslapped and go, no, you do
it yourself, or yeah, maybe at thirty you should have
had your life together by now. All these stuff.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
It's like, what so true?

Speaker 1 (28:40):
That's sun You're going.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
To make your questions because I go off and that's okay.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
I love it. I love it with this go where
we need to go? No, I think you're right. It
sounds yeah, there's such strength and giving help. I think
mob are really good at showing up and doing but
also just the strength and receiving help and playing to
everyone's strengths and sharing that responsibility and their passions and
you know, identifying your roles. So wow, I mean, were

(29:06):
you prior to launching Black Bruise were you and Crisa
tea drinkers? Did you enjoy a Kappa?

Speaker 2 (29:13):
Nah? Chrisa was a little bit, but nah, And like
I'm still not.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, I ever haven't quite convinced.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
I'm not going out there like I'm the dial with my
family where the Kings and Queens of tea like yeah,
yeah tea tasting yesterday at a sharp and they're like
the baristas like yes, I love that cocal.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Little god like these woody notes and I they say
with wine, like is that a good thing?

Speaker 2 (29:49):
Good? Good? I believe you. On the show Carolyn, episode three,
I got super sick, and I'm confident it was COVID. Right,
that's two years ago, almost to the day, and I
can't it smell and tastin two years of being Yeah,
so I trust that I remember the flavors back in

(30:11):
the day. But right now, if I taste the lemon
grass and gin to tea, yeah I can smell it
a little bit. I get a hint. But yeah. But
what I do know about tea is tea's very peaceful
to people. Yeah, there's a different, different attitude towards it.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
Yeah, it's a ritual, I feel like for any way,
for me, it is so sacred. It's like we just
had a conversation. I Mean, there's there's this really old
I don't know if you're a Big Brother fan, but
back in the day, there's this Big Brother celebrity and
David Bowie's wife is in there and this English woman
speaking to an American woman and she's just talking about

(30:51):
her obsession with tea and she's like and it's like
a grand and this Americans like right, okay, like does
not understand And I don't know. I think if you
grew up in black communities too, like it is. It's
a gesture, it's a gift. It's a when I don't
know what else to say and I want to break
the eyes, let's do that. It feels like it's an exchange,

(31:13):
it's a ritual. I know, we just had a big
conversation in our women's leadership program that we run with
Blackwattle about what's the difference between a routine, so something
we might do versus a ritual, something when we're a
bit more intentional, and and tea came up heavily throughout,
and it does. It feels like it's it's that warmth,
it's that the smell, it's it is a really Yeah,

(31:38):
it's also quite you know, linked to so many traditional
ceremonies and practices. So I'm a very big tea advocate.
If you ever need me to try any of your
teas that you can't taste.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
Exactly the way this was going, I've had these conversations
on the daily.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
Yeah, but it is sacred, and I just think it's
so beautiful to see that you know you take from
that to TV as well, like and just watching you
on TV in your in your natural element, like you
were fantastic. Did you talk me through the first time
you were on the set and you met Gordon Ramsey?
What was that like, we're just freaking out, will be

(32:25):
back you mob right after his short break?

Speaker 2 (32:40):
It is the most Yeah, I don't know the most famous.
Who's the most famous person you ever met? Most? Is
it Gordon level? Have you met a Gordon level person?

Speaker 1 (32:48):
I'm just trying to think.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
I'm sorry to put you on the spot.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
No, let me think. Probably the most famous person I've
ever met? Well TV whise I sort of fangirled over.
I had Kirby Bentley from Survivor on my podcast and
she is the best. Yeah, she was a legend and
I'm a huge Survivor fan. So I fangirled for days,
I know, and then I was like, yeah, I don't know,

(33:13):
I met your indie like the that's around the caliber.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
No, Gordon ram It's like, look, I get it, the Survivors,
Like you know, once you see someone on TV, so
you didn't met you hadn't met Kuby before she was
on No, Yeah, the TV first same with Gordon TV.
First YouTube everything Gordon, and then he's at ya, Troy,
what's going on over here to get the team together.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
I'm like, what is in real life?

Speaker 2 (33:45):
So fun? Carolyn? He's the funnest. He's immediately in your corner. Yeah,
and he knows how to He's just ruthless with his
pursuit for excellence. If you're not interested, he won't invest
in you. If he sees the range, interested in ruthless

(34:05):
execution and get on with it and just from sheer
route aggression, we will get there. If you're in that page.
He's all into it. He's India and how he treats
people like he's just like, well, why didn't I don't
need that right now? I need solution? Like he's very
good and he had to deal with so many different
personalities and this is one series of like so many

(34:28):
formats that he looks after. He's got a little ear
piece in his ear, right, tiniest little like the size
of this little tissue in his ear all the time, right,
So he's got someone he can't he's not around. So
I remember the audition when he came up to my
van and I'm packing dacks and I'm in my elemant,

(34:48):
I'm van packing it. I was walking down. They've got
the longest red carpet. The carpet that goes to them
is too long. It should be cut in quarters. But
you're walking all the way down. It was just Jeanine
Alliss there, which I'm big fan of Jeane eel Us too,
but yeah, Gordon in the real life is just full on.

(35:08):
And I just tried to pay attention to what they
were saying and not. I didn't want to get too
comfortable because this is flipping TV, So I was scared,
do I do some joke or am I going to
say something that I might say? Comfortable with you but
this shouldn't go one on TV, really nervous about just
what you're going to say. Gordon's great, He's like, man,

(35:30):
good to see you, and good to see you too.
Goodon Hi Jeanine, and he's like, tell us your name
and I told he goes, tell us your first name,
and I'm like, Troy. It was so one lineup. I'm
like and he's like great, great, yeah, great, Like what's
going on here? And they had to cut the episode
and go pause, Troy, are you going I heard that

(35:51):
there's going to be a welcome to country, because there
was going to be I had a lovely auntie here.
I'm not going to say her name. She pulled out
one hour beforehand. Who was going to do a smoking
a foot No, he's going to do a welcome And
so he didn't understand what was going on. And he's like,
I go, oh, I was going to acknowledge country, but
do I do it now?

Speaker 1 (36:12):
About high I'm Troy like acknowledged.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
Anyway, I said, And so the episode kind of looks
real casual, and they kind of edited out to make
it not look like that anything that happened, but very
quickly the stuff ups and the cameras and him, we
were all in we all stuff up mode very early.
But Gordon is he's got an incredible memory bank. I

(36:37):
think that's his biggest weapon. If he saw you, Carolyn,
met you, high chance he would get you again and go, hey,
I've met you before, haven't eye He's very good Tarrissa
and asked about Lockie and yeah, yeah, So he would
kind of float in and out of the set. He'd
come in do his bit, but he's not in the

(36:57):
background watching us. He's he's off doing other stuff, and
he's a producer, so he's probably standing at the back
making sure certain people are maybe fighting and they've got
to find some stories to follow.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
Yeah, yeah, totally.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
That was all cool. But we were given the vote
of at the start. They did say, hey, just in
case you're scared, like this, TV shows about elevating you
and your brand, So unless you provide some content for us,
we're not gonna get at you to be this person
that you're not. So just shine and that was really helpful.

Speaker 3 (37:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
Wow, very fun being on TV though.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
I must say I'm gonna say, I mean, you're a natural.
I mean you're I mean, you're up on stages, You've
been in radio. You know, you're an entertainer ethic at
its core really and so you know that's that's the
hard part where I think where people might have like
a business or an ideation and being able to sell
and promote because you are the brand, you know, you
doing that flying that flag. So yeah, I mean, what

(37:55):
was that experience like? So once you got rid of
the initial nerves and just the awkward Gordon Ramsey ditters,
how did you go like what was your mind set
going on to said and when were you like, at
what point we like, Okay, we're going all in here
and we're just going to give this a red hot go.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
How you work in teams and you're in their leadership space.
It's really strange. And I don't know you well enough, Krent,
to know what would you be like in a team,
But I'm sure you'd support if you knew that there
was time to support. And you're not the leader. Yeah,
you've got room awareness and instincts, and you read the room.

(38:35):
We had people in our team that couldn't read the room. Yeah,
and we're trying to push their agenda and say, nah,
I've done catering for forty seven years. I know, like
just trying to like we just weren't weren't jelling and yeah,
you know, disclaiming For the people that haven't watched the show.
We struggled with the first two episodes because and I
didn't know what to do. I didn't know. Yeah, I've

(38:57):
never been in a room with all dingbats who are
a bit not sure what to do. Because everyone was
kind of a bit cautious and didn't want to upset
each other. And yeah, you knew this was going to
be on TV on Channel nine, Like it's like, I
don't want to look bad. I don't want my family
look I don't look like a psycho. Go down Aldi
And someone's like, yeah, I don't want to go a

(39:17):
shopping center, and like you're the dude that berated a woman.
It was like, oh, man, like I'm just everyone's freaking out.
I think, yeah, anyway, I trusted that I wasn't going
to do anything too wrong. But at the end of
episode three, I mean you saw the show, I walk
out the door and Gordon. That was, by the way,
that's all unscripted. A lot of this show is unscripted,
like it naturally happens. They don't say Troy Gordon's gonna.

(39:40):
God's like, Troy, get him going, man, get him going.
That's the first time he's talked to me.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
Directly, right, I believe in you. You got this sort
of gone.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
Then just gave me the nudge to go. We need
someone to because at least I can go, Hey, Gordon
told me to.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
I'll throw his authority around. So if you don't like it,
talk to him.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
We just needed that nudge've gone call Yeah. Let's have
just a central point at the top of the leader
and then funnel your stuff through. We ended up winning
the next episode. We got the jury, Jury's on.

Speaker 1 (40:13):
There and Jake Kennedy.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
We just pulled together this cultural masterpiece.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
It was like, yeah, it was beautiful, and it was
nice for people like us watching me, like oh my god, Stace,
oh my god. You people that we know, like you know,
And that's another thing about MOB. It's like if we
are on, we bring in our contacts with us. So
that was nice.

Speaker 2 (40:35):
Yeah, it was powerful. And I hadn't seen family for
two weeks. And because you know, how to leave the
hotel really unless it's for filming, and yeah, you can
get some food. But I bawled my head off when
I saw Mandy and Stacey. And I was known as
the crying guy on the set because I think I
was just overtired. But I'm an emotional guy, right, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
We wear our heart on our sleeves.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
Ye, yeah, you know. So when they came in, I
was like, it's so good to see you. You know.
We were halfway through the dinner and it's like we're
gonna I said, stage just make me so good. I'm
so clead here and we're going to win this. We
need to win this episode.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
And yeah, no pressure, but.

Speaker 2 (41:12):
Pull out all strings, like, yeah, put on a show
for the crowd because it was a seated dinner that
we had to impress kind of eighteen or fifteen socialites.

Speaker 3 (41:22):
But that's right.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
The show was one of the most funnest experiences. But
going back to what you're saying, like a half by
that episode, I felt comfortable being myself. Usually I am anyway,
but on that weird setup, I was a bit cautious,
and I could feel myself being cautious. Normally I would

(41:43):
have spoken up two episodes earlier and called out someone
and you can't you're an idiot while we're doing this,
But I didn't speak like that, you know, And I
realized that Gordon can see probably that I've got some
qualities to add that maybe the team needed. And funny enough,
it's weird when it happens, but the team will right
behind it. Go man, this is so good to have
a word group. I'm like, Wow, all it takes is

(42:05):
someone just to kind of get the structure right and go, look, oh,
lead everyone's support. We just lost three challenges in a row,
like we were on the garter. Gordon was losing his
mind going. This is called Gordon Ramseys Food Stars and
my team's losing.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
Yeah, like I need you guys to step up.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
Yeah, step up? And it went really well from there.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
Wow, very still.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
Yeah, I still I still tingle about it, thinking did
I really did that happen to me? It's very weird,
do you know what? I often say? Sorry to keep
going with this, no dying. I told so many of
production like, you know, because people like you're so real
and so genuine, so authentic. You were community orientated, you're

(42:49):
patient with all the production crew. You're the nicest guy
to interview. I'm like, I've got so many Mob. Yeah,
that would be we balanced. We balance that world, I
think very well, totally.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
And this is why Mob don't only just make good tally,
but they easy to work with. They bring the right
you know.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
Yeah is a great example. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:10):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
She was lovable and yeah and and cheap out yeah yeah. Wow.
I'm sad to hear that you enjoyed the experience. Do
you reckon that might be it for you for TV?
Because I reckon You've got I reckon. Yeah, you were
you were just so so easy to watch, so fun

(43:32):
to watch. We got to see the real emotion. Yeah,
it's more than just the brand of the tea, wasn't it.
It's about you stepping up in these scenarios and yeah,
do you reckon that's it for TV? Or would you
give it another opportunity.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
Yeah, I'm trying. I was to be honest. And you
talk about Big Brother or something before, Like I remember
the Big Brother days when someone would finish the show
and they're like on ten the next morning after they.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
Got the careers, Like, yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:58):
I thought that was going to happen and it didn't,
And you know, I went and try to I'm trying
to push you know, it's been a year for it's
flown years since the episode finished, and I'm trying to
get into you. Yeah, I've got, I've got. I enjoyed it.
I think there's I think Tony Armstrong's doing a great
job on air. We need more black representation, but not
just black, but like you just said that description, if

(44:20):
we can find an audience for that style of interest
natural combos. People don't want to be over dramatized anymore.
Like you look at the Block and used to be
a good show where you learn how to build buildings.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
Now it's it's just yeah, it's like conflict and yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
Yeah right, Math's still going strong. By the way, we
were very honored to be our ads were in the
intertwined into Maths. So I had to start watching Maths because.

Speaker 1 (44:56):
It's a slippery slope.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
I'd love I'd love to do TV or some I thought.
I really enjoyed the value of large exposure. I want
to reach more people, like yeah, you know, like probably yourself,
Like you know, you're just the ideas you want to
reach people, Like how big you want to go? I
don't know, in a natural setting, as long as I'm

(45:21):
not losing my life and ignoring my family, and you know,
I do not only a superstar, have been a superstar?

Speaker 1 (45:29):
No, no, And I think MOB always like inherently conscious
about how you can balance both your individual pursuits with
like community ways, you know, and sometimes that's also our
achilles here. I think it holds us back. And it's
interesting when you say that, like how big do I
want to go? Like it's in I've actually never really

(45:49):
thought of that, but I do think about I do
have the like the subtext conversation where I'm like, oh,
am I doing too much? Am I being too out
there or am I being too individual? And you know,
I'm constantly having that sort of like internal dialogue and
trying to find a space where it feels comfortable. This

(46:11):
is the most like gaming thing I've ever gonna say.
I'm said on the show, but I read this. I
wrote this post a couple of months ago, and like Sissa,
like the rapper singer songwriter, reposted it and shared it
and like just this little old like black wattle, you know,

(46:32):
this little thing who's just like a small business, like
you started with no money, just a logo and a
lot of enthusiasm, had no idea what I was doing,
no business now, so whatever. When she shared it, like
my following just went up like within and I started
to get really scared about that in a way because

(46:53):
I was just thinking, I don't know, we just it's
just always this thing about being a black follow It's
like with such a collective that sometimes I feel scary
putting yourself out there, you know, and doing the thing,
but really having to try to just sit in that
because other mob don't have to think about that, you know,
we And so how do you balance the collective responsibility

(47:14):
with your own individual pursuits is something I have torn
myself up over over many years.

Speaker 2 (47:20):
I reckon, Yeah, I know, stay small and you.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
Can do you can do more when you've got more
of an influence and when you've got more reach, and
you know, ultimately we all should be acquiring power resources
to do more so we can help more of our mob,
or or reach more of our mob, or you know,
show that we exist. We're here, we're valued, We've got

(47:44):
lots of skills and contributions to bring. So you know,
we shouldn't really be like our elders and old people.
They wouldn't want us to play small, but we can
still find ourselves in that mindset and I think we
all got to push through that. So seeing people like
yourself on TV and others, it gives us that sense
of like, hey, this space is it for us too?

Speaker 2 (48:04):
You know what do they say shine your light? Like
it's so true, Like yeah, why why have if you've
got whatever your light is? Why hide it? Why why
dilute it? Why turn the flame down? If you can
turn it out, like if it's going to produce more
light metaphorically and visibly.

Speaker 3 (48:24):
You know, like totally like that's good, Like yeah.

Speaker 5 (48:28):
Yeah, people are gonna it's sad that the hard pat
I think, and maybe you relate to this too, is
like you're doing good, your heart's so into it, you
put this effort in, and you get people trying to
knock you down.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
It's really tough. That's the tough part. I think, Man,
come on, yeah, me go knock out someone else.

Speaker 1 (48:46):
Yeah, I know, and I don't yeah crack. Yeah. I
get a bit wild when it's like mob piling on
mob in that respect, because you know, you never really
know what battles they've fought to even put themselves out
there in the first place, you know, And I hear, yeah, So.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
The vacillating party is challenging, and I think that goes
back to what we started at. Like if you've got
a good bass, I think you can get through anything
like that. And you know, like I won't lie like
when we got off the show. In all that I've
done and you know, kind of some of the things
I've done with events and whatever else whatever, they know,
they're kind of all just little passion projects. I'd never

(49:26):
got more positive experience than off this show. People that
I didn't know had a complimentary nature.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
Yeah, yeah, I didn't know you liked it.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
Maybe they didn't have an opportunity to do it, but
I just assume. And you say about Black Fellows, it
really affects me when mob come at me or struggle
a bit at times to kind of just go man,
especially people that you might know for a long time
and you don't always have had the most fun open
line of convo. Some of them to come over and like, man,

(50:06):
me and my dad watched you. You made me so
proud of like I thought you hated me.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
Yeah, we're good anyway.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
It's probably self self kind of PRIs like I just
want to protect and not read into what other people think.
But at the same time, it's really nice when people
have said nice things. And I'm just thankful that that
show it wasn't about as much as it was Troy
from Black Bruise, I hope in the same way you're
doing this podcast and anything that we've ever done, it's

(50:35):
not about status. No, I don't. I don't anyway. I don't.
I like being known for something good, but I don't.
I don't want to be known for being arrogant or
having a big ego or I want to try really
hard to make sure that you guys all know that
we're doing this for the for the to shine the
light on us and others.

Speaker 1 (50:55):
Yeah, and I think, you know, seeing people like you
on TV or even I had a young sister girl
saying I want to do a podcast, it just gives
permission for this other generation and our peers to to
you know, dream a bit bigger, to believe they're worthy
of those things, to back themselves a bit more, you know,
the more people that we see. You know, we grew up,

(51:18):
like you mentioned before, in the nineties, and I've said
this on the show before, but like it was literally
Ernie Dingo, Uncle Ernie on our TVs and that was it.
Maybe Deborah Melman of course, but like no disrespect uncle
and his stature. But you know, it's like that's all
we got. That's all was. There was no one on

(51:40):
TV that looked like my mom or me or my
Arnie's you know, or so it's like this it's changing.
It needs obviously, there needs to be more opportunities for
mob Mob make great TV. You know, I think that's
the best thing. It's like we because we don't really
subscribe to the those those norms. We're not a about ourselves.

(52:04):
We're funny and cheeky, and we bring good, you know,
good energy, and we're willing to be loud and silly
and everything. So we make great TV to watch, and
it's just badly to see.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
Oh you talk. You mentioned Ernie didn't go there before,
and I'm going to want to say he got that gig.
So we live in a world now where blackfellows or
any kind of minority group they get a gig. You
get told that you got that because of Yeah, whatever
minority group live.

Speaker 1 (52:33):
Ah, you just whatever, it is, diversity.

Speaker 2 (52:36):
The topic of the day. He's got that because you're
black and it's nateoc week. Ernie didn't get it. No,
Ernie didn't get it because he was They were not
up for putting black people on TV back then.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
No, think about what he would have gone through too,
being like an uncle Stan Grant even you know him,
thinking about when he was on the news and what
they would have gone through in the nineties where they were.
I mean, it's still it's still got a long way
to go, of course, but yes, they really flew the
flag ah and really opened the doors.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
Yeah, and you talk like I just think of anything. Oh,
that's why I started laughing, like, man, he was just
the best to watch, Like.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
Is everyone's uncle?

Speaker 2 (53:18):
Yeah, it was just brilliant with he was just he
got stories out of people. He was beautiful to watch.
And I like to think that we're coming back to
that now and that's why people don't watch TV anymore
and they find the stuff that they want to watch
because they're going to get the stuff that they want
to watch.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
Yeah, and you're right too. I think TV is like
our one medium. But you know, there's like so many
incredible black creators and storytellers people on Like I'm not
quite there yet. I'm sort of in the weird custom
being TikTok and no. I mean there's like all these
young people on TikTok and doing incredible things, and you
think they've even just gone outside of the mainstream and

(53:59):
making their own entertainment. You've got, you know, more as
an artist and just so many more with this explosions.
So it's exciting to see.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
I just DM Sorry, I just Dmlder Jacobs yesterday and
I was so excited she liked my my DM and
I'm like, can I send you some tea? Like I'm
such a fan and you're the coolest and you're on
Channel ten News. She's like, love it, love it. I
love some tea.

Speaker 1 (54:29):
Yeah, oh well you could so use you could so
just slide on into people's dms. So, by the way,
me and Gordon Ramsey were talking, right and I know yeah,
so okay. Two questions on the show I want to
finish off is very quickly. Is Gordon Ramsey the same
on the show and on what we see on TV

(54:50):
as he is in the wild, like when you guys
were doing the Wild? Yeah, just in the wild every day.
Is he the same or is it even better?

Speaker 2 (55:02):
I don't know what the same is to those people
out there, but hey, you watch Hell's Kitchen. He's not
Hell's Kitchen Like he's not because he's not swearing at
people like making people feel crap. Yeah yeah, even though
a lot of that stuff's justified. He's one of the
most beautiful men on the planet. I would love to
have all that's going on in his world and have

(55:22):
his grounded nature. He's an incredible human being with their
biggest heart, and his passion for family is incredible. Some
people ask me what he's got a wife, and what
did you think?

Speaker 1 (55:36):
Yeah, he's got He's always on TikTok with his daughters,
like he loves a family man.

Speaker 2 (55:40):
Yeah, a family man. You know, he's got six kids,
five or six. He's just had another one. I don't
know how his production systems he's still pumping him out
at fifty eight. He's a good man.

Speaker 1 (55:53):
And you can tell someone that passionate, someone with that
much like skin in the game and that longevity has
like got to be a good bloke to work with. Yeah,
and then with the got A twelve, you got the
you won some prize money and then you also got
a mentorship. How's that journey been? What's been? And what's
next for the Black Blue Bruise on what's next for

(56:14):
you in this sort of entrepreneurial space. I mean, if
there's anyone listening from TV, hopefully there's somebody who can
give you a nice plug. But yeah, I mean, what's
been the evolution since the show? And what do you
think's next?

Speaker 2 (56:29):
Yeah, Gordon's been great. He flew me over there about
three months after the show and gave me full access
to his entire team. And when I say entire team,
he's got a small office in Soho, London that runs
his entire global empire being one person has four things.
They're very talented, multi skilled people, and he wanted to

(56:49):
make sure why it took three months for me to
get over there, because he wanted to make sure they're
all in Soho and him at the same time to
be able to attend to me and some other things
that they were doing at the same time. Post that,
I'm not really at this stage where I need to
be calling him and going hey is my website slow?
Like go away. He's been brilliant in whenever I've talked

(57:13):
to him or his team since the show and over
the last year, he always says, you're going so well, mate,
reach out if you need anything. Gordon, I've got his
private number. So it's I'm very careful that I don't
have a wine or two and go good o wat,
But to be careful. The amount of people that have

(57:33):
come up to you as well and gone hey, can
you get my wine glasses in Gordon's hands, They're like.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
Yeah, I can imagine everyone coming out of the wood.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
It has been incredible. So what we're doing now we
realize where we've probably just got a bit more clarity
in what Black Bruise is and what that is is
we're a high end, luxurious brand. We're in the premium
brand space, which means sadly, we can't say yes to
everyone that wants to stock our teas, and that's really hard.

(58:02):
It's really hard. We can't really go into every single
tea possibility because otherwise a lot of these premium tea
brands they will cross check and see where your brand
is and say you're not for us. It's like imagine
going to Gordon's restaurant and showing him my tea and
we're in bakeries and like we're in coals and woolies

(58:23):
and IGA's and he's like, we're not probably going to
take you on. So with Gordon's help, we're trying to
and his contacts but also my own contacts in Melbourne
and Sydney. We're trying to just solidify ourselves as a
very exclusive, high end, multiple faceted tea company that's kind

(58:44):
of got medicinal properties and flavors and it's exclusive to
Australia and we're just trying to build that brand the
same way kind of yet he did, or I mean
even the big brands like Nike and stuff, you can't
get Nike and Kmart for a reason, you know.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
Yeah, so we're talking like I don't know, I'm trying
to think of luxury, but like hotel chains and yeah yeah,
and so volume, yeah.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
That premium presence. Yeah, and that takes time. It takes time.
You know. We're in we're in all the resorts at Ularu.
That's a really good kind of tourism one volume, because
there's you know, if anyone goes into sales in the desert,
we've got a high tea there with our tea and
you can get it around. We're in View to Mind
at the moment. We just got recently signed up with them,

(59:28):
and my name's getting out there just through word of
mouth from these people, because the great thing about being
in View to Mind is that they are also a
vessel of information for other people that might say, hey,
what tea do you guys use and they say, we
got black bruise. They are cool and they trust. It's
a trust system and yeah, otherwise.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
I'm just getting this image of you just having to
like rub shoulders with all these like swinging to.

Speaker 2 (59:59):
Caroline.

Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
I could imagine that would be the hard bit, because
you know, that's the sort of caliber of the people,
and yeah, I could just it's hard.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
I'm not hard, and I'm critical and I've got to
shut my mouth and it's a little bit of sucking,
but it's just it's it's business. At the same time,
as long as I don't go like yesterday I had
to rush rush from the warehouse to a tea tasting
and I was in my warehouse trackies and I was late.
I can't go to this tea tasting in my night tracks.
Your pants.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
Disarm them.

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
So I have to kind of have a level of polish.
But at the same time, our story is it's not
a polished one, but it's a if I can be
as natural and as long as I'm going to be
who I can maintain and not change. And that's why
you I mean back to the show and once you're yourself,
If when you're yourself all the time, you're not too
worried about either we're going to fit there, fit their

(01:00:58):
restaurant or not. I can't pretend to be someone else
that I'm not because I've got a I want to
talk to them again. Yeah, I want to ring them
up again and deal with them. And they go, well,
you're not you're not the guy that was in a
suit the other day.

Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
Yeah, I thought we were going to.

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
Get this real polish deal, Like now you're going to
get me and yeah, the phone's going to answer and
it's me in the car driving and my son's basketball.

Speaker 3 (01:01:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
I think people appreciate that though too. I think, you know,
that's the one thing you can't is like you can't
in business or I've found like when I came in,
there was no like blueprint in how to do it.
There was no roadmap. The only like projection that I
had was like how white Fellows do it? You know,
you got to show up like this and find your

(01:01:44):
niche and market like that and run around. I was like,
all right, I'll give that a crack. But then you
sort of just have to carve out the way that
it feels right for you for you to have that longevity,
I think. And it's all about the relationships. So if
you're not yourself and you're trying to be someone you're not,
people know, you know, they know women they're like, I'm

(01:02:05):
not going to deal with you, and so you know,
sometimes I remember when I first started, I would present
in certain ways with governments and clients, and now I'm like, look,
we're going to get things wrong. We're actually not the expert,
and that's probably the worst thing to say when people
are giving money to be an expert. We are the
expert here, but we'll take your money. And but yeah,

(01:02:25):
it's just it's just like I think just being yourself
is like such a an important business quality, and you know,
there's there's such a cookie cutter approach, and I think
people really appreciate you being you totally.

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
You spot on, like people can smell that something's up,
like if you're not yourself. We are very good humans
are very good at usually picking up somethings that's not them.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
Yeah, why would I invest if I don't feel right?
To feel right, doesn't it?

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
Yeah? What do they call that that meter? I don't know.
My wife says it all the time, like a bullshit
yeah kind of like yeah, pretty much, you kind of
know that's not the that's a too a bit too
vanilla or a bit too plastic. And I usually I'm
horrible at hiding when I think someone's being a little

(01:03:13):
bit over the top or they're being a bit too presentable.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
And like my wife of Detroit's all over your face.

Speaker 2 (01:03:22):
Out, we're going We're not hanging out. We've got to go.
Something's come up, We're out of here. You gotta be
more kind and you know what. Yeah, on the other
side of maybe a good natural, good healthy conversation, people
open up. There's probably no you know, through your industry,
people open up when you just give them a bit
of extra time, past the past the walls.

Speaker 1 (01:03:44):
I think that's another reason why black follows are like
inherently entrepreneurial, because they spend that time to get to
know who are they selling to, who are they working with?
Let's do this together, not just like looking at people
as you know, target markets, but relationships. And I mean
for anyone who listening is thinking about going all in

(01:04:07):
on something like this, or you know, thinking about pursuing
their own business or their own idea, or just maybe
lacking a bit of confidence in themselves to take that
step in their idea. Got any words of wisdom or
advice that you didn't part to any of the mob
who Yeah, I have watched what you've done on TV
and the black business, which is a monumental growth in

(01:04:28):
like such a short amount of time in this wild ride. Yeah,
any tips any advice, any thoughts.

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
I don't know if I'm in the position to be
the person that people go to, which is you know,
I've always found that the people that know more than
you or are professionals in their field, they are almost
like aching to be asked, can you help me?

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
Don't do you know what? Like they love it? Yeah,
they love it. Go ask for help, Go ask. Don't
be afraid to go to I went to sharing like
a tea master, a world renowned tea mask I given.
I had a relationship with her. But there's lots of
people that I don't have per friendship with that I've gone, hey,
I've got to hire someone. I've never hired someone before.
They're an executive assistant and a HR person. They're asking

(01:05:10):
for this wage. What do I do? All right? Call
him five minutes and it's like, I've got lots of
friends that are in but you don't even need to
be made to them. You could easily meet someone in
your networks. I'm sure everyone's got someone around that they
could ask that might know someone. Even if they don't,
you know who the right person to ask ask me
if you want to tink connect to someone. But if
you want to build something, or I don't know brand,

(01:05:30):
I don't know what how to do my taxes? Come on, Like,
we're in the world of the internet, chatch etp. You
can teach you a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:05:36):
Yeah, go to Google and.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
Type it in, like I just find that. Yeah, and
what do they say? Just start? But I would ask
for help. Some people need to know from the pros
is this a good idea? Even though they do know it,
it's is a good idea, Like, yeah, just be careful
of the taxes, be careful that you don't go too
heavy on the moqs and buy five thousand stickers. Just
go three hundred stickers.

Speaker 3 (01:05:58):
Just starting.

Speaker 2 (01:05:59):
I'm going, I'm going, I'm going, I'm going. Yeah, I
think just getting your idea out. It's if it's a
business idea or start a podcast or I'm having this
conversation with myself right now because I've got to get
on TikTok asap.

Speaker 3 (01:06:11):
Yeah, I feel like.

Speaker 1 (01:06:12):
The ship sailed for me, but good luck for you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
I'm with you the best, like and LinkedIn, I've got
like it. They're big at the moment for businesses and
building brand and relationships, and especially as the CEO, there's
so many big crew that are doing it and.

Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
Sadly, like you genuinely have to jump on and you
have to. It's part of the part of the parcel.
But they're really picked beautiful pieces of advice. You know,
ask for help. I mean that's what comes with people
who have experience in wisdom, is just that knowing and
that guidance. Be willing to listen. I think to the
advice and know that you've got, like you know, some

(01:06:49):
learning to do. And I think you're right. We live
in a world where we are all connected and with that.
You know, one thing when I started this business is
I sort of got out like my contact list, like
literally my phone book and my email contacts, and I
just started to map out like who's in this space,
who who's going to be helping?

Speaker 2 (01:07:11):
Who?

Speaker 1 (01:07:11):
Who can I ask for this? And you know, it
takes a bit of humility to say, hey, I don't know,
but it's yeah, this is And like you said, people
really are. They want to share. Like it's like when
you're yearning with someone you feel a bit shame. It's
like people love yearning about themselves, just like some questions
and listen, you know, you'd be surprised at what comes out.
You actually don't need to know everything, believe it. Look

(01:07:34):
real talk, you don't need to know anything. I still
don't know a lot at all. We've been in business
for four years and I say not openly, but you
know to my partner of like most of the time,
I feel like we're still improvising, right, and it's with
the same ingredients of like connection, being committed, trying to

(01:07:55):
have discipline, getting the right people around me. Like there's
ingredients that that out, but I'm still very much improvising,
make mistakes, getting things wrong, fumbling through this and then
starting again.

Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
That I like it how that I think that is
what makes us not cookie cutters. Like if you had
a script that's not your jam, like it's not it's
not your offer.

Speaker 1 (01:08:20):
No, and it's very hard to sell that, Like we
could be this this day and.

Speaker 2 (01:08:24):
Not the next. Come to it, come to it, come
to us, come to a session where we don't know
what's going to happen. It's right up your alley. It'll
really get you on the right track exactly. Kind of
the truth like come with nothing, like yeah, come with
everything to learn and soak up. Don't think you know

(01:08:45):
it all.

Speaker 3 (01:08:46):
Yeah, it's good.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
It's good. This is really this feels like a therapy session.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
By line, I've really enjoyed just sitting down with you today.
I mean it's You're just a joy. You're just a
joy to be around. You've got such wonderful energy. No
matter what you do, it's going to be successful because
you've got yeah, the head and the heart there and yeah,
it just had a good laugh along the way.

Speaker 2 (01:09:07):
I'm sweating from laughter.

Speaker 1 (01:09:08):
And thank you so much for being on the show today, Troy.
It's been a pleasure. I am so excited to see
where you go next. Will be following. Where can people
who are listening along and want to come and get
some of your deadly teas? We're talking Ossie Brecky, Minty Green,

(01:09:28):
Kakadu sunset, a little bit of lemon myrtle for your
ritual you like that plug? No, where can people follow along?
And more importantly, where can people come and buy your tea?

Speaker 2 (01:09:39):
We're a small biz, so you know you can get
me on socials It's me black Bruise dot com be
lakbi e ws. But our website we've got stockers. We
are trying to get some more credible ones. But at
the same time, if you order online, it's coming from us.
We're packing it. As much as i'd like to say
stockers are great. You don't know how much stock they're moving,
or might not have spoken to him for six months.
It could be kind of old stock. I don't know.

(01:10:01):
Come and if you're ever in Geelong down O Country,
come down to our warehouse. We're always around. But also
though Carolyn, I don't know how when this will air,
but by the time this my air ball and Ballon
will be open. Which is the new cultural center's name
down in Geelong. It used to be called Narana and
that has just reopened to the public this coming Monday,

(01:10:22):
where we will be the cafe operators. It will be
a black bruise cafe. So we're opening up our first
bricks and mortar. It couldn't have happened in a better area,
to a better community, at a better time. And we've
always been asked to kind of where can we come
and drink your tea and meet you guys. Well, you're
going to have a spot from the thirty first of March.

Speaker 1 (01:10:44):
Wow, that is so exciting to have a place going
from your hole in the wall to TV to now
and Narana is such a place as significant to people
who might not know. It's like attached to the Aboriginal
co op there. They've been handed back. It's now an
Aboriginal hands. It's a part of all like this big

(01:11:04):
reclamation that flagging and the crew do I believe so, yeah,
that's right, how deadly to be a part of that.

Speaker 2 (01:11:11):
It's good times down here in Geelong. And yeah, some great, great,
great people involved and community have been waiting kind of
for just the right time to really take it on.
And we've got so many deadly people here. The young
people down here, us old fellows if you call us,
that are still wanting to, you know, bring up the
youngies and work together. And that we already had. It's
a mob thing recently with Mai it was so good

(01:11:34):
and that was kind of the first time that all
the community were invited down there and we had k
E and Dreaming Now and Philly and it was so
cool to be sitting on the grass under those gums
with the with the boomerang classic stage at the back there.
But it's going to be really busy and they're already
booked out for all of April in terms of like
conferences and lunches, and we're just all chomping at the

(01:11:57):
bit to get in there and give community a space
to go to regularly. You know, a hub.

Speaker 3 (01:12:02):
It's going to be call oh deadly.

Speaker 1 (01:12:05):
I was gonna say, if you need an excuse to
get away from the hustle and bustle and a part
of the slice of paradise that Troy was talking about
earlier with the coast and your dog and your family,
you know, go on down there. It's beautiful to get
out of Melbourne. We all could use a bit of
a reset of our nervous systems and connect with some
of these these mob doing deadly things. I'll be down there.

(01:12:27):
I'll have some tea. All we waiting any Johnny cakes
and scones. You reckon.

Speaker 2 (01:12:34):
You got to get a recipe of someone. But yeah,
I'm sure someone will drop them off if I can't
make them.

Speaker 1 (01:12:40):
Yeah, oh deadly. Well, I can't wait to see what's next.
And thank you so much for being on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:12:47):
You are welcome. It's been a pleasure.

Speaker 1 (01:12:49):
Thanks he thank you so much for listening. You mob.
If you are vibing this season of yearning up, then
please head over to Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get
your podcasts from to show us some love, rate and RO. Alternatively,
you can get in contact and give us some feedback
by visiting www. Dot Caroline Coow dot com dot au

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Troy Benjamin – The brains behind Blak Brews Tea and building a First Nations-led enterprise

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Troy Benjamin – The brains behind Blak Brews Tea and building a First Nations-led enterprise