S1, E94: Unity Block Party - Michelda Castro

What happens when you move to a new city and can't find the community you're searching for? For Michelda Castro, the answer was simple: build it yourself.

In this illuminating conversation, Michelda shares her journey from South Florida to Salt Lake City and the culture shock that inspired her to create Unity Block Party—now celebrating its third year. Drawing from cherished childhood memories of neighborhood gatherings with boom boxes and street basketball, Michelda crafted an event that brings authentic connection to Utah's Black community and beyond.

"I was always the person behind several projects, helping people's dreams come true," Michelda reveals, discussing how she transitioned from financial services to nonprofit leadership. With remarkable candor, she opens up about the mental health challenges she faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd's murder, and how these struggles ultimately fueled her commitment to creating spaces where people feel seen.

Now expanded to a three-day festival featuring Grammy-nominated artists, film screenings, marketplace vendors, and a creatives brunch, Unity Block Party exemplifies Michelda's philosophy that "arts always equaled economics." The event intentionally bridges creative expression with business development, helping participants build sustainable careers while celebrating Black culture.

Michelda also offers fascinating insights into Utah's little-known Black history, including the Black pioneers who explored the territory before Brigham Young arrived—a narrative often missing from mainstream accounts of the state's settlement.

Whether you're interested in community building, cultural events, or the experience of Black Americans in predominantly white spaces, this conversation provides a blueprint for creating meaningful connection in unexpected places. Follow Unity Block Party on social media or visit unityblockparty.com to experience this remarkable celebration for yourself.

Have a Question? Ask it here!

50% Off Minky Couture Blankets: softminkyblankets.com/SMALLLAKECITY

www.skydiveutah.com

Cache Valley Creamery Showdown

Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time 

Support the show

Join Small Lake City: https://www.smalllakepod.com/subscribe

Instagram: @smalllakepod
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SmallLakeCityPodcast
TikTok: @smalllakepod

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What is up everybody and welcome back to another
episode of the small lake citypodcast.
I'm your host, eric nilsen, andthis week's guest is someone
who's not from salt lake city,utah, but moved here and didn't
feel like she had the communitythat she wanted or had back home
, so she decided to build itherself.
Now michelle de castro is thefounder of unity block party.

(00:20):
That is now in its third yearrunning.
Now, unity block party aims tobring the black community
together and empower each otherand truly build community around
growth and supporting eachother in the process.
We also talk about what it waslike of being a Black woman and
moving to Salt Lake and theculture shock that it was.
So if you're curious about theperspective of someone moving to
Salt Lake and being a member ofthe Black community and wanting

(00:42):
to support the Black community,then you're going to love this
episode and the conversationwith us.
So, yeah, let's jump into it.
And excited for you to listento more.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
It's lots of work but having the right group of
people to work with who havetheir own thing going on, and
it's just like Salt Lake Scoops,that was a good partnership for
you guys.
It just made sense because youguys are moving in the same
direction, kind of being able tohighlight things that are
happening in Salt Lake City.
Like it just made sense for youguys to partner up and kind of

(01:13):
expand y'all base with the basethat you had they had.
It just made sense.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
And it's fun when you find people like because
there's so many things thatpeople start to do that are very
like niche or specific, likeit's hard for me to talk to my
life with I mean majority of myfriends.
I mean, let's call it typicalnine to five corporate america
they don't get it, real estate,real estate, tech.
Like, oh, yeah, you know, Ireally have to create this
content, I have to do this, orthere's this post, or blah.
They're like, okay, like, like,they just like I don't get it.

(01:40):
Or like, oh, that's all youhave to do.
I'm like, uh, never mind, andso it's nice.
When I mean especially likebeing I was talking to someone
about it the other week of likebeing a male content creator,
it's not like there aren't asmany of us and like there's a
table of us at this umconference.
We were at one of them becauseI've been to enough where I'm
like okay, like I know kind ofwho's who more or less always

(02:02):
like excited me people, but atthe same time, like they're
exhausting, and some of thepeople there, you're like I'm
okay like I, like you, like Idon't need this, but he was just
so grateful, be like it's sonice to meet other people who
are doing the same thing, and Iwas like yeah, it made

Speaker 2 (02:13):
me like reflect I was like, especially here in utah,
if you're not a certain type ofcontent creator, both male or
female, a lot of people resonateor kind of gravitate to the
like, lds, mormon type ofcontent because of the base yes,
majority LDS or Mormon people.
So it's being able to see whitemen create cool, engaging

(02:35):
content that is not centeredaround either fangirling over
the church or, yes, it's sayingno, I mean, it is what it is or
like bashing the church like youknow, you being authentic and
like true to like finding whatyour niche is.
I like your content.
I love looking at your storiesand stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
So it's been it's refreshing it's been fun to see
because, like I, just hang on,do not disturb, or else I know
yeah, I just.
I take mine off and I flip my myphone over, because I'll get
distracted um, but yeah, becauseI remember I promised my,
because, like when I was firstputting together the idea and
like really putting, like justnoting everything down, what do
I want the vibe to be, how do Iwant this to go, what do I want

(03:17):
the flow, who's the guest?
And because, like again to yourpoint, so much of the people
that I know that create contentsaw like it's either super pro
or super anti and I'm like I,like I don't I'm obviously not
active more man and I talk aboutall the time but like I'm not
going to do the other, like I'lljest at the culture of it
sometimes but I'll never be likeit's funny, your content it's

(03:37):
funny I, and it's fun too,because, like there's this like
anxiety that people get aboutposting, being like, oh, I don't
know.
I like some people that likeliterally send me pictures, text
, or like, hey, should I postthis?
Like, yeah, just like you'rethinking way too much about,
like the amount I think about,like I'll think about a post,
but it's not like I'm like allright, let's go through every
sound on tiktok or instagram, orlike let's make sure this is

(03:59):
perfect.
Like there's this guy I wastalking to.
He's like just just send it out.
Like, yeah, the things I spendthe most time on flop, the
things I spend five seconds onto the moon.
Yeah, that's what I'm talkingabout, and then have people be
like hey, I like this, justoffering myself out there
honestly, hey, doing your thing.
I would love to help.
But enough about me and thepodcast.
I'm curious to learn about youbecause you reached out.

(04:21):
We hopped on a call and heardabout I mean unity block party
your child of an event thatyou've thrown.
Now has brought and broughtyour own experience.
Like there's one thing I loveabout so many people that aren't
from here that come here in anentrepreneurial way is they come
here, they feel like they'remissing something from home and
want to bring it here yeah andso hearing your story of growing

(04:43):
up in New York.
Right, is it New York I?

Speaker 2 (04:45):
wish.
What was it?
Florida, florida, my bad.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
No, it's okay, why did I think New York?

Speaker 2 (04:49):
I love that I have New York vibes.
I'm here for it.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
I feel her.
But yeah, so, growing up inFlorida, having these
experiences that you had as achild, moving here, I want to
build something that makes mefeel like home and then building
it from there.
So I'm excited to hear, I mean,more of the story and hear
about it all.
But I mean, let's start fromthe beginning of Florida and
again these experiences that youeventually brought to here.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, well, you know what?
I moved here to Salt Lake Cityin 2019.
My profession is polaropposites to the creative world,
which, to me, arts alwaysequaled economics to me, but hey
, for some people they don't seethe parallels.
So my career is in financialservices.

(05:34):
I'm licensed, I work in privateequity, so I have extensive
experience with estate planningand wealth management, things of
that nature.
So I was coming to work atWells Fargo to continue pursuing
my career in wealth management,to get my series six, seven, 26
, you know all of the stuff.
And that's how I ended up herein Utah.

(05:56):
So I mean, I knew I was movingto Utah.
Obviously I didn't think thatit would be like South Florida,
but you're absolutely right,there was just something that I
was like oh my God, I need thisthing here.
And that's how, really, theblock party started.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, because when we first met you were telling me
about you'd have theseexperiences in your neighborhood
to come together and like Imean, what was the original
block party?
But tell me about those and howthose got started.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
So I lived kind of like not in a cul-de-sac, but
like where my house was there,like it's like a T, and so you
have a street that goes that way, street that goes right in
front of my house, and then youhave a street coming directly to
my house, and so I created thislittle cul-de-sac and so right
there we would like cut off thatstreet and we would play like
basketball and someone wouldbring the boom box out and we

(06:47):
had those little grills that youcan just wheel to the street,
and that's really just howthings happen.
Or we would do it in the frontyard or in the backyard, like
gathering was something that wealways did, no matter where it
was.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
That's awesome and it's like, it's fun when it's I
mean at the times of like beforeinternet, before phones, before
everything, where it's like oh,it's just everyone on their
bikes in their neighborhood, andthe people around you, the
people that you have.
Yeah, and that's it.
Yeah, and that's all that youneed to have.
I mean these meaningfulconnections.
It's all like geographicallybased.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
But then at some point along the way we all kind
of, I mean, grew up, moved out,did things, got busy, and but
then, like it always comes backaround and like, oh, I remember
that that was a good time.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
It was very nostalgic for me because it was almost
like thinking about just likeraw human connection Right.
Like social media makes thingsand communication a lot more
easier, which we appreciate theadvancements of technology but
like we have a grassrootsapproach to how we're
advertising and getting theinformation out about the block

(07:53):
party.
It's like I was when I was achild.
All you do is like ride yourbike and knock on your
neighbor's door and say, hey,can so-and-so come out?
You know he can come outside andbe like we're down the street
or we're going to the park.
You know what I mean.
Because he'd come outside andbe like we're down the street or
we're going to the park and wewould all just be like 10, 15
bikes riding to the nearest parkor basketball court and that

(08:13):
was us having a good time.
And that was like every singleday too.
It wasn't like every nightNowadays it's like every once in
a while when you have thosetype of gatherings but it was
like every single day where youhad an opportunity to like, just
get together authentically andjust have fun.
And with the minimal resourcesthat we had to, it wasn't a lot.
One person had a dollar,somebody had five.

(08:36):
We go to the corner store, geta bunch of bag of chips and like
a two liter soda and we're alldrinking from it.
Oh my gosh, don't do that.
But it was just like that.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
It was just like whatever, let's just have a good
time, yeah those days when youhop on your bike and you start
to look for everybody else'sbikes to see everybody's at yep
just so simple, I mean.
I mean, obviously it's nice tothink of the times where I mean
there isn't stress, there isn'tany like worries about oh yeah,
you're not, you know that.
Yeah, but there are those times, like I always love those
moments where you're completelypresent and you don't have it

(09:08):
all kind of dissipates.
For me that's a lot of naturetime, a lot of exercise time.
Especially live music is one ofmy favorite things.
So it's been.
I think summertime is myfavorite.
I love going to shows.
At America First Amphitheater,I'm going to see it at Rust
tomorrow, a big show, I'mexcited for actually the whole
and just going to see, I'm goingto see Russ tomorrow.
Big Sean, I'm excited forActually the whole Scoop Squad's
going.
I'm excited for that.

(09:29):
But so you moved to Salt Lakeand then, before you moved here,
I mean, what was your thoughtsof it?
Were you excited to come here?
Were you a little different?

Speaker 2 (09:35):
Probably not.
No, not really.
No, I'm not going't completelynew?
No, it wasn't completely new tome at all.
Honestly, I'm going to say mytransition to Utah probably was
the smoothest ever.
And you moved here from SouthFlorida, from South Florida, and
you'd been in South Floridalike pretty much for life, born
and raised Like my parents,migrated from Haiti, so I was

(09:59):
born in South Florida.
I have five older siblings I'mthe baby and the only girl.
Florida.
I have five older siblings, I'mthe baby and the only girl.
And so yeah, born and raised inSouth Florida.
But one of my brothers, whichis right above me, he moved to
Richfield, utah.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
And why did he go to Richfield, utah?
I can't think of a more polaropposite place of South Florida.
Like, literally Like my grandpa, my uncle, at separate times
lived in Richfield.
I remember going there as a kidfrom Salt Lake and being like
can we leave?
What are you doing?

Speaker 2 (10:28):
like, can we stay here for not too long, like you
know what I mean, so I'm notgonna lie, I do like richfield
also.
I love that like small hometownfeel when you wake up and
there's like produce on yourfront porch and like everybody's
like hey, they know you.
And like my nieces are likecelebrities there.
Like you know it's like you know.
So I love that, but I can'tlive there per se.

(10:49):
I feel like my personality is alittle too rambunctious for
Main Street.
You know what I'm saying.
If you know Richville, you knowwhat I mean.
Like everything's right off ofMain Street.
So my brother lived there.
He's a police officer officer.
He also serves in the militaryand he had just had his first
daughter.
I am a very active aunt, okay, Itake antique life extremely
seriously.
So god thought it was funny,like, yeah, go visit your

(11:11):
brother.
He just had his daughter gohave a good time.
And so that's what I thought itwas.
It was like, oh yeah, let me goand, like you know, just spend
time there.
And god was like, um, I thinkyou kind of missed the message.
I'm gonna going to need you togo back.
And so I went back and then itwas like kind of seeing Utah
through God's eyes and I waslike, oh, this is really my vibe

(11:35):
, like entrepreneurship, likesmall business, like economic
development, like you know,finding gaps of opportunity and
making something from nothing,like that is literally the core
of my existence as a person.

Speaker 1 (11:51):
So I was like, if you will, yes.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
So I was like, yeah, that's it, this could work.
But my I had friends whoalready lived here too, from
Fort Lauderdale.
We all lived in the same.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Oh, you're from Fort Lauderdale, yes, so my day job's
based out of Fort Lauderdale,so I go there at least like two
or three days a month.

Speaker 2 (12:08):
Oh wow, I love, obviously I love Fort Lauderdale
.
I love the food there too.
Oh, my God, I love being ableto just go down the street and
get Jamaican food or Indian foodor Hispanic food.
I miss that.
I'm not gonna to lie yes um,but I had a whole bunch of
friends.
We all lived in the sameneighborhood.
Legit eric, I lived here, shelived on the corner, another one
lived around the corner,another one lived right down the

(12:29):
street and they all lived herein salt lake.
Oh, no way, it was the weirdestthing.
The weirdest thing.
Like everyone thinks I'm lying,and then when they meet the
business, oh, it's a real thing.
We all lived in the sameneighborhood and then you all
ended and they all ended up here.
Madeline princess jasmine, whoelse lived here, um kelly lived

(12:53):
here too like they all all inthe same neighborhood and they
all lived here.
That's why my transition, Ifelt like, was just so seamless,
because I kind of already had alittle bit of a community here,
cool so it was cool.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
I mean, it's nice.
Like hey, that's like wild Be.
Like hey, I don't know, becauseI imagine it wasn't like you
all hopped on a Zoom, like hey,we're all moving here.
It's just like all of theserandom paths that you are.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
Absolutely not.
No, it wasn't like oh, I'mmoving to Utah, so you pack.
They were already here and theyhad lived here for years.
They're just getting ready foryou.
Yeah, literally, because one ofmy friends madeline her

(13:34):
apartment is the apartment thatI moved into.
No jazz, did you know?
Yes, she was there.
No, when I walked.
I know that this probablysounds crazy, but god is like
literally the center of my life.
And so I feel like when Iwalked into her apartment just
going to go interview for whereI I was going to be working at
the time I didn't know I wasgoing to be working at wolf's
fargo, but it's like when I camethere to do the interview, I

(13:56):
walked into her apartmentbecause she was letting me stay
with her.
I said the.
I felt like the holy spirit waslike this is where you're gonna
live and I was like okay, likewhatever.
That's was like this is whereyou're going to live and I was
like okay, like whatever.
That's weird, like you knowwhat I mean.
If you're a spiritual person,you know.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
And I was like, yeah, whatever.
So then later that night shewas like yeah, I'm looking for
somebody to like take over myapartment, like sublease my
apartment.
I want to go take a look atthis opportunity in North
Carolina, this, this job.
And I was like I'll take it.
And literally later that nightin that conversation she said
yeah, I'm looking for somebodyto sub leave my apartment.

(14:29):
Yeah, cool and then boom.
I said I'll take it.
She was like, are you sure?
Because there's a train.
I hate it, it's so loud.
I said no, it makes me feellike I'm living in New York and
I've always wanted to live inNew York.
So yeah, it was.
It was kind of like divineorder, personally, for me as an
individual, that I ended up herein Utah.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Well, and it's nice when you do those like large
life transitions, especiallylike to move somewhere, when
you've been in poor Lauderdaleforever To have these little
like breadcrumbs of being like,hey, like it's going the right
way.
Here's a little validation.
Yes, like you're going to dogreat, compared to like where
you're just sitting there andyour thoughts are like what am I
doing?
Is this the right thing?
I'm a mom.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
And you know what's so funny?
I never had any of thosethoughts.
I'm like a person that if Ibelieve wholeheartedly that God
is telling me to go and dosomething, it's a wrap.
That's it.
Like it's never a second guess,I never think about it twice.
It's not that I'm going to gotalk to my friends and be like,
hey, I'm thinking about movingto Utah.
What do you think it's like?

(15:29):
Nope, god said we're moving toUtah.
And I'm like let's pack up ourstuff and let's go.
And that time when I got thatspiritual confirmation, it was
random.
I really thought that it wasn'tUtah.
It was like I was kind of goingaround to like California and
New York and possibly going tomove.
I was passing out a few placesand my parents the whole time

(15:53):
was like no, you're single, wewant you to stay home until you
get married.
I was like I'm an adult, I cantake care of myself.
Like it's not that deep.
And I'm like, no, we want youto stay home.
So the night after I got thespiritual confirmation that I
was moving to Salt Lake City,utah number one, I cried the
entire night.
I cried the entire night.
My friend was walking by thetable and she was like Michelle,

(16:15):
are you okay?
Do you need water?
And it was like what you said,those little breadcrumbs.
God was like how did you notknow you're moving here?
Do you not remember this?
Do you not remember this?
I introduced you to this person.
Like what, did you not get themessage?
And the morning I woke up Icalled my parents.
I said hey, I'm gonna be movingto utah.
And they said okay.

(16:35):
And I'm thinking to myself likedid y'all talk to jesus?

Speaker 1 (16:39):
this morning.
Last time we talked, you weretrying to convince me to stay
here for as long as you possiblycould, and now you're having
now you're just like okay, we'llget the car ready.
I was like okay like pick alane mom.
Yeah, seriously but.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
I also.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
Obviously it's good that there's somebody.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
I don't want you but I felt like the.
I felt like they literallytalked to jesus that morning and
when jesus was like, let her go, it's like heads up a total
little thing yes, just let hergo.
And they just said yes, okay,we'll help you get ready.
Cool, and that was how I got to.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
Utah.
So you have these confirmations, you pull the trigger, you move
in, you take over your friend'sapartment, you start working at
Wells Fargo.
I mean, talk to me about howyou eventually are like you know
what, I'm going to go do my ownthing.
Well, actually, no, let's talkabout Black White first, because
I think that, chronologically,I would imagine that happened
first.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
No, actually it happened after.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
Okay, so talk to me about that, because I mean again
, like I mean it's a goodindustry, it's a good career,
yeah, but to be able to look atit and be like, ah, I'm out,
like walk through how thathappened.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
I worked at Wells Fargo for four years actually.
I was rebuilding my companyVersatile Image, simultaneously
to me having a full-time job.
I worked at Wells Fargofull-time.
I had a part-time job at Targetbecause I needed income to
support what I was doing with mybusiness right.
And then I was in schoolpart-time trying to finish my

(18:07):
economics degree.
So I was doing this allsimultaneously at the same time
while living in a new state.
You know it was a lot going on,but I I was driven.
I had my goals.
I knew I needed money to beable to support what I wanted to
do with my business.
I didn't want that to impede myability to take care of myself.
Like right, you're an adult,you have like insurance myself.

(18:28):
Like right, you're an adult,you have like insurance, rent
food, gas, and so that's whereTarget came in.
I was making decent money.
It was like $15 an hour.
I was like heck yeah.
So all that money literally wentinto a business account and it
helped me fund my new logo, mynew website, you know, being
able to start taking on someclients to hire assistant who

(18:50):
can do certain things.
If I was like still at work inschool, so that's really how it
was up until like 2020 COVID hitand then George Floyd happened
and most people, I think, in theworld who had a human bone in
their body that that was a bitof a shifting kind of redefining
moment for us as an Americansociety and I just was.

(19:14):
So I was tired and I was so sad.
People at work were like havingthese conversations of like
well, what if this happened?
Like playing these deviladvocates, conversations of, oh,
this is how, why did he do this?
And it was just like do youguys know that people who are
human beings are literally dyingon the street.

(19:34):
Like this isn't like workconversation.
So I kind of felt very isolated,being the only Black person who
was also working for a companyin the entire state of Utah.
I was the only Black banker,and that was for four years, and
so it was challenging havingthose types of trying not to

(19:55):
escape it.
So, from a mental and emotionalstandpoint.
I kind of just was at my wit'send and I kind of looked inward
and was like, michelle, when didyou feel joy?
Like when did you feelhappiness?
Let's figure out what that isand let's do something.
And that's really how the blockparty started.
I was just strolling oninstagram one day and I saw this

(20:15):
traveling memorial that startedin portland, oregon, and I just
slid in their dms and I said,oh my god, can I please do this
here in utah?
And their first reaction waslike, are there black people
over there?
And I was like, yeah, I meanI'm here.
Get all 12 of them over there,it'll be fun.
Get all three of us together.
Um, I mean, we may go less thantwo percent, but it's a fairly

(20:38):
decent size of a black communityhere.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
So I mean like a very strong community yes because
it's like there's there'scertain things that you can go
into a room, be like.
Well, we're obviously like toget.
Like there's similaritiesbetween us, right, like there
was one time it was actuallywith scoop we were getting
together, for no, I was doing ashoot for one of our um
advertisers and shows up andit's my friend who's with his

(21:01):
other friend who's black, and Iwould like my videographer,
chris black, and like oh, hey,do you know xavier's?
Like oh, what's up?
Like, what's up?
Like, how do you know eachother's?
Like we're black, I go back inUtah.
It's like we stick together.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
Yes, like most people .
If they're, we don't know them.
It's just because like they'respread out, like they're in
Ogden and like we just miss themat an event or whatever.
But it's a very strong,tight-knit community in Utah and
it's two things.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Number one is it's nice when and I've talked like I
mean I hate to say this, but Ihave black friends it's like and
they're like hello, what kindof back whatever, what kind of
black friends are you got?

Speaker 2 (21:34):
or just kidding her?
No, I'm just messing with you.
You know, you saw, you gotta bespecific, oh fair and it's like
going off.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
What you were saying is like you're having these
unique experiences.
There's a lot of internalconflict about the course of
america.
What's going on, which is likea lot to take in, oh my god, but
then also having that people belike well, no, we're sure that
you're the only person likedon't tell us about this.
I don't want to talk to youabout this let me tell you
something.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
The amount of times that I have to have had to say I
am not a representative for theentire black race here in
america and throughout theafrican diaspora here in America
and throughout the Africandiaspora here in Utah is
exhausting.
Like it's almost like commonsense doesn't like exist.
Yes, I tell people sometimes itfeels like I'm living in the
Truman show, and that has beenmy experience here in Utah.

(22:22):
I wish it wasn't, especiallybecause I'm a devoted Christian
and apparently the predominantreligion here is Christian.
But that hasn't been myexperience, not even within my
own church.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
It's interesting.
I totally agree on that piece.
But it's interesting to seebecause, again, you're having
these experiences, they'rehaving these experiences.
But to have someone cometogether and be like hey, it's
so nice to have a friend in thisthat I can actually like put my
hair down, relax and like talkabout it.
Because, that's one of thethings that I mean.
Brings people together morethan anything is similar

(22:59):
experiences, especially the morenuanced and niche.
Right the more that they'regoing to have and going to
happen.
And then the second thing thatI really appreciated about it
was like because it's somethingthat I had to do years ago as
well about saying like, hey, Idon't like where I'm at.
I like I was doing everythingthat people told me to do.
I was checking the boxes, but Igot far enough down this path.
I'm like I don't even like thispath.

(23:19):
Why did I even do this?
Who are the people that like, Idon't even know why, but like
that's usually the advice I giveto people because I had to do
it, it worked and it's workedenough.
It's like go back to the lasttime, turn around in the path,
go back to the last time.
Oh, this is when it felt right,this is when I was happy, this
is when I could be present andnot have to have my brain full
of all these other thoughts ofif or what, or I can't believe

(23:42):
this and all of those, and youcan just kind of go back to this
, like I mean for lack of abetter term, there's a lot of
people I've read that agree withit's like that childlike state
of play where you're just havingfun.
Again.
It's no longer about quarterlyreports and earnings, and I am
still done with a metric system,exactly.

Speaker 2 (23:59):
Yeah, no, I, I appreciate that that you said
that, because I think,especially here in Utah, even
though we are doing somethingthat is centered around Black
people, it doesn't necessarilymean all people are not welcome.
I think, as a Black community,we've never been segregated in
the sense of we just want ourown community and you guys stay

(24:21):
out.
We've also always been a veryinclusive community, and so that
was one of the things thatpeople felt like, oh well, maybe
they're just it's just forblack people and it's not just
for black people just say youknow, you can come to the
uniblock party.
The whole point of it is foryou to be able to discover the
you in community.
We want to be able to model theworld that we live in.

(24:43):
Yeah, not the make-believeworld, but the world that we
actually live in, especiallyhere in amer America, is
extremely diverse.
So we want to be able to modelthe world that we, that we
actually live in, and so wewelcome all people.
But that's how it started, withjust a traveling memorial.
I just like cut off a road, um,just like I did back home, and

(25:05):
right outside of my apartmentproject opened there was super
cool, they let us use the gateand we just invited some vendors
and from some food trucks wehad a dj volunteer their time.
It was like magical and we justlike danced in the street and
kids were there and ice creamand food and music and we had
like two or three artists comeand perform like poetry and

(25:27):
stuff and we had an artinstallation on the gate and it
was just, it was magical.
I was like, oh yes, like this.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
This is what I used to be doing this is it
especially.
You can look around and you cansee people having that
experience.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
Oh my god, it's like this.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
Look in people's face yeah like you can see it, it's
like wow, I feel comfortable Ifeel seen, I feel like present

(26:05):
in this moment that we'recreating collectively together
in this space.
Let's call it an interestingexperience where someone was
just kind of like.
I was like, was that racistTalk about it?
And I, well cause they wereessentially just like.
So I've been essentially justbeing like how do you take care
of your hair?
How do you do like just a lotof questions, right.
And they kind of walked awayafter I was like I asked them, I

(26:26):
was like but that race, like Iwas uncomfortable, were you like
?
There's this experience I'velearned in Utah, where they
haven't had access to blackpeople, and so they just it's
almost like they don't know howto like act.
And he's like it's an ignorantthing, not like an intentionally
negative thing, right.
And so, going back to yourpoint of like, hey, this is for

(26:47):
everybody.
Like, come, hang out, come,come experience my culture.
And like I don't know why andyou can tell me to fuck off
respectfully if you disagree onthis one but like, because, like
one thing is like if I'm outwith friends and someone's like
hey, we're gonna go to like agay bar, a gay club, I'm like
sure, let's go, let's go.
And so I was like you went to agame where I'm like, yeah, it's
fun, like I get free drinks,and then when they ask me like
I'm actually really straight,and they're like I'm so sorry,

(27:07):
I'm like actually, if there'sone thing I've learned, it's
like gay men have really hot,straight female friends, so we
can help each other out rusty.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
Be my wingman and then we're all singing and
singing backstreet boys allnight and in the pinks only club
having a great time, and butthen some people like I could
never like it's not like, youdon't have to, because you know
what, what I found?

Speaker 2 (27:25):
eric, thank you for being so open and like having
this conversation, because thereare two, two sides of the coin.
Right, one, especially evenlike being black in utah, like
where, when I wear my naturalhair, people want to come and
pet me like a, like a dog insertwhatever petting thing that
whatever here is, y'all arecrazy, crazy here in Utah about

(27:47):
y'all dogs.
Okay, you can't say you are nota golden doodle.
Oh, my goodness, I am not apoodle, thank you, but it's like
yes, right, there's a certainlevel of ignorance to it, but
there also needs to be a certainlevel of common sense.
Yes, you don't walk up tosomeone that you don't know and

(28:11):
think it's okay for you to petthem like a dog.
Yeah, I'd be throwing hands,like you know what I mean.
Like if I was back in florida,you would be dragged all up and
down this street.
Like it's like, yes, there'signorance, but there's also like
a common sense, totally side.
Yes, to like just humanengagement it's.
I think it's that that Istruggle with, because I would
never meet someone for the firsttime and think it was

(28:33):
appropriate for me to come andask you intimate questions about
how you take care of your hair.
That's just, you don't know me.
Yeah, I don't know you.
And though it seems likesomething like, oh, what
conditioner do you use, as I'mlike stroking your hair?
Like that I just met you forthe first time?
Yeah, that is not.
It's like give me and ask me myname.
Yet my name is Michelle Doug.

(28:53):
Good to meet you.
Like it's just like there's likeyou're interacting with another
human being.
The fact that I'm black doesnot change the fact that you can
still approach me as someonethat you've never met in your
life.
It's like there's just a wayyou go about having conversation

(29:17):
and you might just want to sayhello first.
Crazy concept, crazy concept.
So, yeah, there's that, butalso the other side of like
being able to just go to a gaybar as a straight man and being
comfortable and being able to bein that space.
There's a lot of people here inUtah who are not comfortable
with who they are.
Right, and that's just thereality of the situation.
I feel like if you'recomfortable in who you are, you
know your boundaries, you knowwhere you stand, you should be
able to go in any space and beable to conduct yourself

(29:39):
accordingly.
I just feel like what's theproblem?

Speaker 1 (29:42):
Yeah, and like I'm lucky enough that I've built a
life around me where I get toexperience like a myriad of
different contexts and peoplelike it's funny with Scoop
because like I joke with them,I'm like cool, I get to be your
guy's token white friend andthen I get to go to I love being
somebody's token black friend.
I'm telling you like again, youcan tell me to fuck off respect

(30:03):
to run this one, but like, butlike.
The one of my favoritestand-ups of all time is Dave
Chappelle Killing Him Softly ohmy God.
And there's part of it whereshe's like he's with his friend
who's white and he's likedrinking, driving and speeding
and he pulls over and he's like,oh, I've got this one, dave.
He like tells him I didn't know, I couldn't do that.
And he's like putting memes,I'm like.

Speaker 2 (30:29):
And there's another skit where he talks about he's
like token white friend to gotalk to the cops when, when they
show up, and so I naturally umcomes to, comes up every now and
then.
Yeah, I know I love beingpeople's token black friend.
Yeah, absolutely, it's a good.
It's a good um like card tohave in your pocket.
I would say it's about strategy.
You know what I mean.
I guess amongst friends itdoesn't seem like that um,
anyone or whatever you guys arefriends, so it's something that
you know that, yeah, if a whitewoman or a white man goes into a

(30:54):
place, they are most morelikely to get treated a certain
way.
So it's like, yeah, man, go goget us a free.
You know, go get us a freedrink or whatever.
Just like me being a woman, Ileverage being a woman sometimes
too and say, oh yeah, I can goget me and my friends free
drinks because I'm a pretty girl.
I'm going to go get us freedrinks.
This guy's going to try to talkto me, but I'm not.

(31:17):
I'm just going to get the freedrinks for us and we'll just
like go off to another club.
Like it's just leveragingcertain aspects, I guess.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
And it's fun Cause, like again, like yeah, and it's
fun because, like again, like Iget the scoop experience where I
get to be like quote tokenwhite person, and then I go,
like even one weekend, like we,on thursday we recorded these
reaction videos, um, in thehotline with scoop, and now I
saw them oh, it's gonna get becraved newly.
I'm like I, because when westarted to record, I was like
I'm not a youtube reactionsperson, I don't know who this is

(31:45):
, and then we started gettingthese calls.
I'm like, yeah, and I watchedit back.
I was like, oh, yeah, that'sthat's how these work.
Okay, yeah, yeah, no, it's fun,it's good content.
So it's like I have that andthen, like the next day, I go to
a rave and then I go to ahosier concert and then I come
here for a drink and then, likeyou're on, like yeah, and then
I'm golfing and then, like eventomorrow, I have a gala for,
like, american Cancer Societyand then I get a dip out of

(32:07):
there to go to Russ and Big Sean.
At least it's fun to be able tolive a life that there's so
much dynamic to it and I get tohave conversations with
interesting people and haveaccess to so many spaces and
people where I look at somethinglike my other friends and
people and it's no directnegative to them, but their life
is very homogenous and they seethe same people, same

(32:28):
background, same belief system,same everything.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
Because they have chosen that life for themselves
and they can.
But then they worry about, theywonder why you know people,
engage with them a certain way,like you're not making an effort
to intentionally go out intodifferent spaces to meet
different people.
And then you wonder why younever have experienced black

(32:51):
people or never have experiencedgood things with gay people, or
you never wonder why you don'thave certain lived experiences
or like a a cultural um, I getoutlook on certain things
because the things that you doare like I want to say, cookie
cutter, but cookie cutterexperiences, like you don't put

(33:14):
yourself in differentenvironments that challenge your
way of thinking or speaking orengaging with people, and so
yeah, I know a lot of familiesthat don't let their children,
or them themselves, don't,engage with people who are not
LDS or Mormon, and so it's like,well, do you live in a world
where it's just only LDS andMormon people?

(33:37):
It's like, just go outside, likeit's not that big of a deal.
But I know people who don't lettheir kids play with people who
are not LDS or not Mormon ordon't go to church.
They want to know if you'reactive or not active.
They want to know if you payyour tithe or don't pay your
tithe, and these are all likequalifiers on whether they let
you in to their life or whetherthey even speak to you or build

(33:58):
a relationship with you.
So my experience here in Utahhas been unique.
Unique in the sense of like notreally, because there's a lot
of people who experience some ofthe same things, but I would
say unique for me, like just asbeing a black person trying to
navigate this state as if it'slike not a part of the United

(34:20):
States.
It's just weird.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
It's an island.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
It's weird.
It's weird how people in Utahjust act like it's not a part of
the United States, like as a UScitizen, I can't live and work
anywhere in the United States.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
Like what a concept.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
Like you know what I mean.
It's just like y'all do know.
Utah is in the United States,right, it's like here, it's like
flat-out, almost in the middle.
Yeah, just so y'all know.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
Love, just so y'all know, love it.
So you have the Unity BlockParty, the first one or the
memorial.
Yeah that they come through andyou look around, you have these
feelings.
You see people having a goodtime and is that when that first
light bulb started to flicker?
You're like I want to dosomething.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
No, no, eric, I'm going to be honest with you.
Okay, I thought it was justgoing to be a one-off done off,
like I have fed my soul foranother maybe year, and like I'm
fine again.
I was working two jobs and inschool and rebuilding my company
.
Yeah, like I didn't think thatI would have like the capacity
or the time or the resources,like money, to like put
something on.

(35:20):
So, no, I did not think no, notat all, not at all.
It wasn't.
Until people kept sliding inour dms on instagram.
It was like yo, when are y'alldoing another block party?
And we're like block party.
It wasn't even a block party,like you know.
It was just like a little youknow, I don't know what to call
it.
At that time parking lot, likeyou know, we just blocked off a
row, but I guess it was a blockparty because it was on the

(35:41):
street, but that's not what wecalled it.
So I was like it wasn't even ablock party.
But I was like, okay.
So people just kept asking uscan you guys do it again?
Can you guys do it again?
And I was like all right, well,let's put an events committee
together.
And we converted my companyinto a 501c3.
And so now we're a nonprofitand we're like okay.
Then all of a sudden people arejust like yeah, I want to serve

(36:03):
on the board or I want to be onthe events committee.
I on the events committee, Ican do graphic design, I can do
the.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
I was like whoa, I did read.
Chill out for a minute.
Let me think, let's chill out.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
For the last 12 years it was just like contracting
people I didn't have to managepeople directly, you know what I
mean and like overseeing anorganization.
It wasn't like that timeconsuming.
But now people want to be theturn versatile image into like a
full blown company and I waslike, was like whoa, wait a
minute.
I was like three years out here, yeah, hello.
But people just wanted to,companies wanted to support, and

(36:34):
I was like, okay, let's figureout how to do this thing.
So we partnered with Brownies,brownies, brownies.
The next year, um, her businesswas in Sugar House.
yeah, she had on 11th East yeah,she she had to close, obviously
, like COVID was hard on a lotof small businesses, but Molly
was like super down to supportour event and what we were doing

(36:56):
, and so she offered her spaceto a lot of people to come and
do a lot of different things inher parking lot.
And so that was the second onewe did.
It was the 100th yearcelebration of Black Wall Street
, which was probably the worstmassacre that ever took place in
Tulsa, oklahoma, and we're like, okay, for every event that we
do, we wanted to make sure thatthere was a story behind it.

(37:16):
It was like more sociallyimpact driven, like it was
sharing some light on somethingto make people feel something.
And so that was what we did forthat year.
And again, everybody, againeverybody was like, okay, we
love this, like let's just keepit going.
And so we thought, okay, we'rea 501c3, we need to make money.
I said, how are we going to dothat but also meet the need of

(37:38):
the community?
Yeah, I said, all right, let'sdo what we do best, let's create
a brand, let's turn this intoan actual event.
And that's how the uni blockparty came about.
Cool, well, I love when I'msorry.
I gotta my eye and my hey doyour thing nose is running like
I'm cold.
I'm not even cold.

(37:59):
I don't know why my nose andeye are running thank you, it
happens.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
But the thing I love about it is I think it's like a
great indicator when you're ontosomething special is like when
people just come out of thewoodworks and like how can I do
something, how can I enjoy it?

Speaker 2 (38:15):
I was I'm not going to lie.
I was just like, well, I don'teven know y'all.
You know, I was like I don'teven know y'all, I'm a very
social butterfly, like I lovepeople.
But I also was kind of goingthrough something personally
within myself of I was like kindof becoming a hermit, a little
bit of just I don't know.

(38:36):
But something happened to mepersonally like during this time
and I just didn't want to bearound people and I just started
to become a little antisocial.
Yeah, started getting likeSocial missing.
Yeah, just like I've never hadsocial anxiety before.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
So it was like COVID time.
Yeah, oh yeah.
I've never had social anxietyand I got social anxiety, okay.

Speaker 2 (39:14):
I was just like maybe it was just me, but like there
was a lot going on like insideof me, and so I wasn't really
interested in keeping somethinggoing or having people depend on
me for something year afteryear.
I just really wasn't in thatspace.
And then ultimately I kind ofhad to walk away from Wells
Fargo and say, ok, like I'mleaving, this is such a toxic
work environment for me, I justhave to just move on.
And so I was going to quit.

(39:35):
And then they offered, hey,just take a mental health leave
and just like, take a break,it's a lot going on, let's see
where you are.
So, all right, fine.
So during that time I actuallychecked myself in for treatment
for depression and anxiety withketamine, and so I was trying to
figure out how to take care ofme but also like fulfill this,

(39:56):
like need in the community ofthem, like needing to feel this
love and this joy and this likespace of belonging, and I was
kind of like trying to kind ofkeep things going behind the
scenes.
I'm, like you know, checking,like doing my treatments and in
four different types of therapy,and and everyone just saw like,
oh, this block right and on theinside I was dying, like you

(40:19):
know.
I was just like I needed sometime to really take care of
myself, and so a lot of my teamkind of did a lot of the work on
the front and thank God rightthat I had people who wanted to
support because at that time Icouldn't give 100% completely
and so they are who carried usinto our third year, when the

(40:39):
block party took place atLibrary Square and we had Aniko
as our headliner, and so thosewere the people who carried us
through to the third year, whichI'm super grateful for, because
for me personally, I was goingthrough a lot.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
Yeah, it's nice.
Like my family right now isgoing through a lot we just had
a recent death and it's likesimilar to trust, like you can't
ever trust someone until youhave a reason to trust someone.
Because there has to be amoment like I need this from you
.
Here's an expectation, here's arequest Ball's in your court

(41:14):
and either we're going to cometo the end of this and I'm going
to have increased trust for you, or decrease or zero trust for
you.
And in the same way, we spendall these time with people, we
build the communities around us.
We have these social, all thesetime with people, we build the
communities around us.
We have these social um, uh,complexities of our life, but we
don't know the strength of ituntil they need to catch you.

(41:34):
And so it's amazing.
You hear that I mean, hey, youcreated this amazing thing.
These right people came in tothe boy.
We're like hey, guys, like Iknow this is all great, you want
to be this, but I, I can't bethis right now and I just need
to take a step back.
And they, they're like we gothere, like we're going to make
this happen, it's all going tocome together and to see that be
like oh shit, like all right, Iguess you guys can yeah it was

(41:54):
overwhelming.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
To be honest, I had been always been the person
behind several like a lot ofdifferent projects, just helping
people dreams come true,whether it was like in my
professional career, of themreaching their financial goals
or getting that PPP loan, orlike getting that line of credit
or getting capital they neededto take their business to the

(42:16):
next level, or whether it was myfamily who had this thing that
needed to be done.
Like you know, I've been theexecutive assistant for my
parents for I don't know howlong, so they there's always
like some family life thing thatneeds to be taken care of, and
I'm like always the person likedriving those projects or those
things to be done.
And there came a point in mylife where I had to like really

(42:40):
let things go and say, ok, Ican't do it.
So, yeah, if you guys could doit for me, that would be great.
That was really hard to liketrust somebody to do something
for you, knowing that you justthere was nothing that you can
offer.
I felt kind of like helplessand felt I felt small and I felt

(43:06):
weak and I felt like Vulnerableand hard, yeah it was just a
lot.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
And that's like the.
To me, that's a definition ofcharity, yeah, of someone coming
in to help someone withsomething that they can't do on
their own, with no expectationof anything in return.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
Yes, and I have to say I think I said it recently
that I'm living in my like findpeople who want to build with
you stage of my life, and Icould not be more grateful the
way people have like ralliedaround me to say, hey, michelle,
do we got you?
And it's it's really hardbecause, like you don't have

(43:43):
money to pay people, like you'redoing this out of your own
passion and you want people tofeel like you value them.
And in America, as capitalistsociety, the dollar is what
tells someone that you valuethem.
And then people say I don'tneed your dollar.
I know you value me.
Like I know you value me,you've been here for me for this

(44:07):
and this and this and this.
I value the relationship thatwe have and you're like whoa,
you know there's like peoplehelping you create this new
outlook on just what servicelooks like and what
vulnerability, and being able totell the people that look up to
you and that come to you forhelp and advice that, hey, I
don't have anything to giveright now and they still look at

(44:35):
you like you're a leader,someone for them to admire and
still seek advice from.
That was my biggest fear of likeletting people see that I
wasn't strong and that I wasn'tcapable, because would they need
me anymore?
Would they want to come to mefor advice?
Am I still going to be theperson that they admire, that
they inspire to be like?
And I always tell people thatdon't never really aspire to be
me, like me, be like Jesus,because that's where I get my

(44:56):
strength from, that's who helpedme form my identity.
But still there's this thinglike I can't tell my nieces not
to look up to me, look up toJesus, like that just doesn't
make sense to theireight-year-old and five-year-old
brain.
But that's what was so scaryfor me is like, wow, if I show
this vulnerability, if I saythat I can't do this, will I

(45:18):
ever have the opportunity to dosomething again?
And that was really hard for me.

Speaker 1 (45:24):
Yeah, that's a hard one, that I mean there's a lot
of different flavors of that, oflike will I ever be able to do
this again and I hear that a lotfrom, like, my creative friends
, I hear that from, like, myintramural friends of just like
this anxiety, of like I've doneit once.
Is this going to be a one-handwonder or is like people going
to leave?
Like it's a tough emotion tonavigate.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
Yes, it is no-transcript.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
I like obviously the biggest year you've had yet, but
, um, tell us what you'reexcited for and how this year's
gonna be better than any otherones you've done before okay,
number one, I'm excited becausewe'll be all together again,
like um, it's just somethingabout being together in
community that just lights mysoul absolutely on fire.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
Yeah, maybe it's like that scripture when one or two
are gathered, you know what Imean.
Oh, that just, oh, just lightsme up on the inside.
I'm always looking for thosetypes of experiences like
aggressively wait, I love it.
Um, but this year, oh man is,it's beautiful.
So it's grown from one day tothree days and so we have.

(46:58):
Our first day is Friday, august29th.
We have a partnership with UtahMarch, we thought, because at
the beginning of the year we hadthe executive orders that
wanted to take and strip DEI outof a lot of organizations, you
know, schools, etc.
I think about two years now thestate of Utah also passed the
HB 261 that retracted DEI out oflike government universities,

(47:25):
you know whatever.
Like government universities,you know whatever.
And so we partnered with theUtah March to do a little bit of
a rally for us to be able tosay something.
We had like two federal grantsget pulled because of that, and
also five corporate sponsorsdecided that they were taking a
different direction and so thathurt us financially being able
to really get us the fundingthat we needed to produce the

(47:49):
block party to the degree thatwe would like.
And so we partnered with UtahMarch and was like, yeah, we
should say something.
So we're having a little bit ofa rally at Washington Square,
excited about that.
And then we transitioned intoan outdoor film screening at
Library Square, across thestreet.
In partnership with Sundance,we're doing Summer of Soul.

(48:11):
It's a great documentary andthat day is completely free.
Anybody can come, anybody canjoin.
We're excited about that.
And then day two is like themain day.
That's the meat and potatoes,as people will say.
So we have Grammy-nominatedDuran Benar, who is currently on

(48:31):
tour.
We're like officially one ofhis tour dates and so he is our
headliner for the Benefitconcert.
But we also have, like MilesMinnick, who is a Christian
hip-hop artist coming from theBay.
We have Quell, who's comingfrom Florida, my home state.
We have Honey Baby that'scoming from New Bay.
We have Quell, who's coming fromFlorida, my home state.
We have Honey Baby that'scoming from New York.
We have Cure Paranoia, which iscrazy.

(48:52):
They will be here.
Insane artists, and then wehave a lot of local artists and
poets that's going to be openingup for these artists, so we're
really excited about that.
But during the day between 11and 4 we have like um shades and
strengths, um, strength andshades market, and then we have

(49:14):
520 arts that's coming to dolike a dance battle, like
activation.
We have a vip lounge that'shosted by a former utah jazz
player, cj miles, sponsored byunclearest, and we have a ton of
activations happening in there.
And, yeah, it's just going tobe crazy.
We have two fashion drops oh myGod, by Akomi and Soul by Ame,

(49:38):
which are these really cool,trendy, like brands that are
based out of here in Utah, thatare also Black-owned which is
amazing.
Yeah, there's just like so muchstuff happening on every day.
Oh, we added a kid zone becausemy babies were bored last time.
They weren't like really bored,but like they didn't have a lot

(49:58):
of activities for them to do.
So, yeah, it wasn't a lot ofkid stuff.
So we partnered with Curly Meanto do a kid zone with, like a
bounce house and activities, andlike they won't be bored this
year until you have to deliver.
So shout out to the kids thatare gonna benefit, because my
nieces were like bored last time.
Um, so we have a kid zone thisyear where we're really excited.
All kids under the age of 12are free, and so they can come

(50:20):
and enjoy with their familiesand some of the activities.
Also, their parents can alsojoin in, and so we were really
thoughtful in that way.
So, yeah, that's like day two,and then day three is the black
creatives excellence brunch.
A lot about what we do is reallybridging the gap between arts
and economics.
Like I'm all about beingcreative and doing a whole bunch

(50:42):
of dope stuff, but like how arewe going to get to the check
though?
Yeah, like where's the coinscoming from?
So we decided to like curatethis panel.
That would help really open upcreators minds to say, okay,
these are things that you shouldbe considering if you are
looking to scale your businessor kind of get out of that
starving artist like kind ofmentality or way of running your

(51:05):
business.
Like, okay, you have a greatInstagram name, but are you
actually registered with thestate, though?
Do you have an EIN?
Like, what are your personalfinances look like?

Speaker 1 (51:14):
What does your business model look like?
How are you going to do this?

Speaker 2 (51:16):
Yes, Like how are you going to scale, like you know
that types of conversations, andthen we'll have a fireside chat
with an actual artist that'sbased here in Salt Lake City,
that has done all those things,so you can see the product of
actually taking your businessserious or your craft seriously
from a business standpoint, whatthat can yield you, and so

(51:37):
that's what that day is going tobe.
It's private invite only.
We didn't want to like springon another day with another
ticket, like a cost for ouraudience, especially since we
just expanded to three days, andso it's private invite only.
I'll get you on the list if youwant to come.
Thank you, and in the scoop teamyeah um, and so, yeah, that's
gonna be super chill.
Then, last but not least, wehave an after party.

(52:02):
Um, that's gonna be taking placeat driftift Lounge with Black
on Mars.
We partnered with them and liketickets are like five dollars
and like just come and vibe, andit's an opportunity for that
partner to be able to gain somerevenue for them to continue to
do the things that they do.
A lot of what we do is like howcan we collaborate and partner

(52:22):
to give people a platform oropportunity to like generate
some income so they can go outand continue to do the things
that our community needs them todo?
So they threw they throw a tonof different types of events
that are very intentional, andso we wanted to partner with
them and allow them theopportunity to like make some
money so they can go off andcontinue to do it more than just

(52:43):
once a year like us and be reallike you're too nice, michelle,
that you're like a non-profit,like you're just doing too much
and I'm just like I feel likegod will provide for me and, um,
he has been through thecommunity support, like
opportunities like this to comeon a small business with a
podcast to be able to highlightus and elevate us.
So I feel like you know, youreek what you sow and I want to

(53:07):
plant and sow good seeds, andfor me, it's more about being
there for the community and,yeah, I trust that what I do
professionally outside of thiscompany will yield me the life
that I want.

Speaker 1 (53:21):
Hey, if you can ever invest in, absolutely and
because, then they invest backand you create your own
community, your own people tobring it all together.
And I'm excited.
I mean hearing you talk about.
I mean it's fun to see yourface light up about it, first
and foremost, but also, like I'mexcited for it, I'm always
excited to see what people bring, what people come together with
.
I mean, meeting more people isalways something I like to do,

(53:42):
and hearing about people'sbackgrounds and everything comes
together.
So I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
It's gonna be an exciting one yes, it's gonna be
great, and I want you and theguys to be there, um, because
we're also looking for peoplewho can give us that
constructive criticism, yeah,and so there's, like, certain
people that we invite to withthe eyes of like, yeah, I have a
good time, but help beat oureyes and ears on the ground,
like as it's hard sometimes whenyou're like, hey, like how was

(54:06):
it?
like it was great, it wasperfect, it was amazing yeah
that doesn't help me, thank youthat doesn't help me so we do
ask like a few, like people tocome and like have a good time,
but look through a critical lensand like, as a person coming,
like what have you have wantedto see and experience?
Were the people nice, like somereal, like you know how they do
those like secret shoppers?

Speaker 1 (54:25):
Yes, so if you see Eric, just know that he's secret
shopper, he's got some likeaviator glasses on and a
clipboard Fake mustache becauseI can't grow one.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
So yeah, we just want to be intentional about the
space that we're curating, so Iwant you guys to come and have a
good time, but I need somepeople to tell me the truth.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
Cool, we can do that.
No, I feel like we had a greatconversation, I agree.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
I want to talk about these black friends.
You got Eric, I love blackculture.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
It was funny.
So one of my friends she isfrom Florida moved here, then
moved back and she had a goingaway party and she's Haitian, I
think she's half black, halfLatin American.
Somewhere in there I I thinkshe's.
I think she's half black, halfLatin American.
Somewhere in there I was likeyeah yeah, like I didn't think
much about it, I was like, yeah,I'll be there and I walk in.
I'm like, yes, like like it'sexactly it, and so it.

Speaker 2 (55:14):
Do you prefer to be around black people?

Speaker 1 (55:20):
Um, I mean, it feels weird to say like yes or no.
I would say I always appreciateany sort of unique experience I
can have and especially in Utahthat is a very unique
experience, and so it's likeyeah, I mean I always gravitate
towards it, just because I don't.
I mean, if I want to go talk toanother Ashley from Orem, utah,
who has fake blonde hair, blueeye, like I can rinse and repeat

(55:42):
that conversation all day, butI'd rather meet unique people
and have unique conversations.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
Yeah, I personally feel like you are definitely the
white like token friend, likeyou definitely give those vibes
like you just like to be aroundlike multicultural people.
Yeah, whether they're black orhispanic or whatever, I think
you value like um uniqueexperiences, like you said, and
like here in utah it's it'sunique to just be around anybody

(56:08):
who's like not white yes, it'slike, it's even like again,
because I go to florida semidecent around, just travel in
general.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
A lot like I was in florida the last time and I was
at.
Where was I?

Speaker 2 (56:20):
I was at public sitting at pub tub and I'm
telling you this, eric, youabout to be my friend?
Hey, we're Telling it.
Miss, eric, you about to be myfriend?
Hey, we're already there.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
There's not a lot of people who know about Publix.
I could have a breakout bedsome.
Every time I go because I goenough like my boss would be
like, hey, what do you want?
I'm like, let's go to Publix.
I got to go get my buffalochicken tender sandwich.
And he'll be like, really, I'mlike, yeah, I do.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Yeah, and get you some of that lemonade, brother.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
Yes, yes, you get it.
You don't understand.
And I was sitting there in lineand I was like, oh shit, that's
right, like multi-culturesexist outside of Utah.
Because I'm just so weird, youjust get so like blah, that's
what I want to use.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
Just so, like whatever that means.
Like you know there's a hey,you know there are people
there's like this thing of themkeeping Utah Utah and just
remember why you moved here andwhy it, like you know it's the
family living and the this andthat.
Like there's this kind of likeblanket statement of like let's

(57:36):
keep Utah Utah.
And I don't know what thatmeans per se, but got a sense of
an idea of what that means.
But it's like keep Utah Utah.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
Can you expand on that for me?
Can you?

Speaker 2 (57:52):
elaborate, because what's is it not a part again?
Is it not a part of the UnitedStates Like it's, like this
island.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
I would say there is like a little bit of lingering
sentiment about that, justbecause, like I mean, utah was
founded by the Mormon pioneerswho were trying to escape from
persecution and they found thisplace and like I mean, there's
so much history to it of how itbecame a state, blah, blah blah,
but like so I think there'skind of this lingering, like
this is our place, you just kindof live here.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
Oh, you mean the Black Mormons, like the Black
pioneers, who came here BecauseBrigham Young sent the Black
people here to check it outfirst and they were already
actually like an establishedcommunity and that was the first
community block party.
Okay period so.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
I'm a nerd.
Brigham's sitting there on topof the mountain.
He's like this is the place.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
I'm like, yeah, so to be transparent, I am a member
of the Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-day Saints.
I don't, really, I'm not goingto say really I do not consider
myself LDS or Mormon.
Like I don't take those labelson because I don't see it
anywhere in the Bible, like theBible says to take on the name
of Jesus Christ.
And especially when labelsstart to create a sense of

(58:59):
classism or elitism orseparation, I don't want to be
associated with it at all.
So you're either Christian oryou're not.

(59:29):
So for me I can talk from likethe inside looking out and from
the outside looking in, becauseapparently I'm a convert to the
gospel, because I wasn't borninto the gospel.
But I mean whatever.
Again, I'm not the sistercousin to brigham's young like
second third nephew, so I don'thave the right to speak I would
have for you to tell someonethat you are and watch their boy
.
He's just like someone asked meoh, where are you from?
I said I'm from nevi andthey're like what really?

(59:49):
I was like, yeah, they're likereally.

Speaker 1 (59:51):
I was like, yeah, I'm born and raised there all my
life yeah and I was like, yeah,you just go to the corner store
all the time and debase the man.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
And I was like it's developed over the time and I've
been a kid like, oh, wow, likeyou know, and this is like, so,
yeah, I do love to play withpeople and be like, yeah, I'm
from Nevi or I'm from wherever.
Like when I learn new likecities, I switch to Payton.
I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm fromPayson, like these little small

(01:00:17):
places throughout Utah.
So I feel like for me as amember of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints,especially as a Black one like I
have have a.
That's why I said I have aunique experience from the
outside looking in, and from theinside looking out, where it's

(01:00:38):
just, it's disheartening to seethe level of of separation that
takes place and how, um, they'revery adamant about keeping it a
certain way when historically,it's not even correct.
Yeah, because it was already,as established, placed by the
indigenous people.
So you can't say you foundsomewhere that already exists,
especially if you were just likeup north.
Like what do you mean?

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
Imagine me walking your house and be like wow never
seen this before.
This is my apartment.
I found an apartment Exactly.
You're like oh, excuse me.

Speaker 2 (01:01:05):
Eat this and in Ogden .
There was an established blackcommunity there already before
the LDS or Mormon people foundUtah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
Interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
So, yeah, they can say whatever they want to say.
It's also not historicallycorrect.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
But you also can't do that.
You just can't.
Like you said, a very plain,simple example.
You just can't do that.
But anyways, yeah, it was theBlack pioneers that you never

(01:01:43):
hear about in conference or younever hear about anywhere, that
actually came to see if the landwas viable before Brigham Young
and the rest of his posse cameand talked about.
But the University of Utah hasa great digital archive of the
Black pioneers for over acentury and so I encourage folks
to go and research and look,and they also have the catalog
online.
So all you have to do is likesearch 100 centuries of Black

(01:02:04):
pioneers and you'll be able tosee it.
It's at the University of Utah.
They did a good job of blackpioneers and you'll be able to
see it.
It's at the University of Utah.
They did a good job ofarchiving it.
So, yeah, it's not historicallycorrect, Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
Go get learnt.
That's how I tell my grandpa.
He'll say go get learnt, yeahgo get learnt.
Yeah, I like that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
Michelle, I want to end with two questions.
I always ask everybody at theend of each episode Number one
if you could have someone on theSmall Lake City podcast and
hear more about what they're upto and their story.
Who do you want to?

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
hear from.
That's hard.
There's a lot of people doingsome stuff here in Utah.
I think you guys shouldinterview this young lady named
Lexi.
Okay, she owns a hair accessorycompany and she started it in

(01:02:55):
her college apartment.
Wow, and like now she's doinglike these, like partnerships
with these really big brands anddoing these big activations as
a vendor.
Like she's amazing, she is amother.
I think she just well, she'spregnant now, so I don't know,
y'all might have to hurry up andget her on here before she pops
.
Yeah, clockstick, yeah she is,she's killing it right now,

(01:03:17):
killing it right now.
Lexi is like killing it.
She has a great social mediapresence and everything you know
.
She year.
She's killing it.
Uh, if not lexi, who else?
Our sundays, which is one of ourum partners, community partners
for this block party, um, theyspecialize in community

(01:03:38):
retention and people don'tunderstand how important it is
to have community retention,especially if you're talking
about, like, marginalizedcommunities and a predominantly
white and red state.
It's really important.
A lot of people move here forwork, like I did.
I moved here for work and theyoften stay for a little bit and

(01:03:59):
they don't find a community orlike a tribe and they just like
go off somewhere else and I feellike, as a state, we're losing
quality.
Like you know, professionalsand potential entrepreneurs, or
like other people that cancontribute to our civic
leadership and, just like you,just never know, if they don't
stay long enough, they can'tlike find like where they want
to be?

Speaker 1 (01:04:19):
We might be venting out another block party.

Speaker 2 (01:04:22):
Or like the next movie theater or the next like
great invention or manufacturingplant, like there's just like a
lot of opportunities here inthe economy for Utah where I
feel like people don't getCommunity retention.

Speaker 1 (01:04:34):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
Community retention.
It's a real thing.
So I would say that because Ithink that that's really
important, and then that's it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
Cool, I got some other people.
We can chat later, yeah, andthen, lastly, if people want to
find out more about Unity BlockParty and all the other stuff
that you're doing, what's thebest place to find information?

Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
Unityblockpartycom.
First of all, also follow us onInstagram Unity Block Party.
It was the kids who had mecreate a separate everything for
the unity block party, justlike no, um, miss gastro, it's
gonna be big, like these littletiktok kids like you know what I
mean.
Um, they were like no, yougotta have its own instagram,
its own facebook.
And so we have like a unityblock partycom instagram,

(01:05:22):
facebook and tiktok.
And so follow us on all theplatforms so these kids can
leave me alone.

Speaker 1 (01:05:27):
Yeah Well, michelle, this has been amazing.
Everybody come hang out.
Unity Black Party end of August.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
I'll be there.
I'm excited.
Yeah, I'm going to come join.
We're going to have a good time.
Yeah, sounds good.
I got your tickets ready foryou Deal.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
Thank you.
Oh, that was so great.
Oh, you're such a gem.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
Oh, thank you for having me.
First of all, I didn't know wewere recording that whole time
Until you were like let's justjump into the conversation.
I said, okay, so we're notgoing to start recording, but I
love how you do it.
It's just like free-flowinginto a conversation.
We're always just like.