In this episode of Earn Your Leisure, we sit down with the founders of Curl Girl Collective to unpack the journey behind one of the most iconic cultural celebrations in beauty—Curl Fest. From humble beginnings to national recognition, they share the origin story of their collective and how they built a movement that resonates deeply with the natural hair community.
We discuss the business behind hosting large-scale live events, the hidden costs they faced, and the reality of still working full-time jobs while building Curl Fest. The founders open up about how DEI cutbacks and sponsorship losses forced them to pivot, cancel events, and rebuild stronger than ever.
They also break down how Curl Fest sets itself apart from other beauty festivals, what it takes to compete in the event space, and the importance of community. We dive into the challenge of access to capital, offers to buy the company, and the need to be intentional with partnerships.
This is an essential conversation for entrepreneurs, event organizers, and anyone invested in culture, community, and ownership.
Invest Fest Ticket Link: https://investfest.com
#EYL #EarnYourLeisure #CurlGirlCollective #CurlFest #BlackEntrepreneurs #BusinessBehindTheBrand #BeautyIndustry #DEI #EventPlanning #NaturalHairMovement #AccessToCapital #BlackOwnedBusiness #CommunityOverEverything #Entrepreneurship #CulturalEvents
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 2 (01:51):
All right, guys, welcome back. Special episode of Earn Your Leisure.
Fat Yes, we have two of the co founders of
Curly Girl Collective and curl Fest, Mellie and Simone. And
Simone somebody that's been on the show.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Early early, like episode maybe fifteen. Ye. I got the
number right, I think so.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I'm not sure the number, but it was early.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Yeah. Shout out to the.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Hometown so first and one, Well, thank you guys for.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
Joining us, thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So okay, so for people that might not be familiar.
Right before we get into it. Can you talk about
what Curl Girl Collective is and curl Fests and how
it came about, like how it hit origin story?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (02:30):
Okay, So Curly Girl Collective is an organization that we
founded and created with our business partners, and what we're
most notably known for is curl Fest, which is one
of the largest natural beauty festivals. And essentially we created
a space for a population that literally had no exposure
(02:53):
to and really it's an opportunity to be educated, celebrated,
provide resources for women with natural hair.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
So this is I know last year, celebrated year ten,
year ten, which is a huge accomplishment from gradulations to that.
It would start out with five women, how what is
the situation now? I know you to it here and
there are other partners. What do we look like now
present day?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (03:23):
Sure, so there are there will always be five founders,
five beautiful black women.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Right now.
Speaker 7 (03:30):
We have three operating members Melody, myself, Simone and Sharis
who couldn't be with us today.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Gotcha? Gotcha?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
So okay, so you started it and it got really big.
I went I think like three years ago in Randalls Island. Yes, right,
so tens of thousands of people there, a bunch of sponsors,
and then the pandemic hits, so you have to kind
of put things on a whole for that because you
can't do events in New York, especially at that time
(04:00):
during the pandemic. And a lot of stuff happens. So
now we're in twenty twenty five. You'd made a decision
to postpone it this year and reconvene next year, right,
So what happened in that timeline and what was the
decision to actually, you know, put it on ice for
this year and look at twenty twenty six.
Speaker 7 (04:20):
Yeah, so a couple of things happened in the timeline.
I think since COVID, the event's business and industry has
been quite difficult.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
It has changed and never fully recovered, No, never.
Speaker 7 (04:33):
Fully recovered, and it's becoming increasingly more difficult. And this
specific year, I think with the political climate, with the
rollbacks and d and I, the economy, all these things
make the perfect storm. While it's becoming almost impossible to
have events kind of that scale without certain levels of
(04:56):
like sponsorship backing. And so when we saw a lot
of our big ticket sponsors saying, you know, we're not
moving in that direction and being very black and white
about not having a budget for events that look like ours.
We had to make a decision that we have to shift,
take a pause and shift and see what Curfez could
(05:17):
look like maybe without that level of sponsorship backing, really
pull the venera away and talk to our audience about
support and what it looks like with entrepreneurship, because there's
a narrative out there that is like super easy and
we have this like big, big company and we're you know,
doing this with our eyes closed, and we're all like
(05:37):
super wealthy and rich. But it's still been a passion
project even for ten years later. And so this specific
year we decided to it was important for us to
kind of just take a pause, take a beat, and
restrategize a bit.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, it's important that it's a reschedule, right, So it's
definitely gonna be back in twenty twenty six. But most
people don't understand the business of live events. And I
was telling me, I was telling you, I said, mal
because we're friends now that you know, when you get
into this space, it looks it looks great on the
day of yes, but it's a full year process to
(06:12):
get to show day. Sponsorships is one way that you
get money, obviously selling tickets to the event. Break down
the business of how it looked for you from year
one when it was sitting in the living room to
leading up to COVID. I think we're there in twenty nineteen.
I think right before, Yeah, that was a massive one.
It was in New York Times and I was like
(06:32):
so proud, like I know what, she's from our high school.
So talk about the business structure and how it's changed
obviously pre COVID post COVID.
Speaker 6 (06:42):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I think, yeah, pre COVID post
COVID is literally a thing, right, And it's like I
think especially Anyonet from an entrepreneur's stamp trip or business
standpoint could understand sort of the magnitude of of what
that created.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
That created for us.
Speaker 6 (06:58):
I think when we think about our scale, our scale
is the biggest thing. Like I think our first one
maybe had like we had two sponsors.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
On the lawn.
Speaker 6 (07:10):
We had a thousand people maybe mostly you know friends
and friends, and then you know, you scale to let's
say twenty nineteen, where there's over forty you know, sponsors
on the lawn. There's activations. There's people flying in from Ghana,
from South Africa, everywhere, And I think what we noticed
(07:30):
was that it scaled quickly, and so when you have
something and you build the infrastructure, you almost need to
have that foresight of like how far can it go?
And it wasn't something that we could have ever imagined
that it got to them. So we had to adapt
as it scaled and figure out are the different ways
to work when it came to the pandemic. I mean,
(07:51):
we were the largest natural beauty festival in the world,
right and you're like, okay, wait, the whole thing is
about being in person and connecting in person. What does
that look like when we can't do that on a
global scale, like the world is shut down? That year,
we actually did a virtual curl Fest, which was a
success at a Kaba Du game, and so it taught us.
(08:14):
What it taught us and validated was that what we
were doing was still needed, right even in the midst
of not being able to have it. But when you
break it down in terms of like what does that
mean to produce a live event? Skyrocket costs Skyrocket everything
from porta potties to vendors, all the behind the scenes stuff,
(08:35):
right that doesn't look like okay, day of beautiful sunshine,
beautiful people. But there's a lot of a lot of
actual work logistics that go into pace and everything is
that dited line to our finances.
Speaker 7 (08:47):
Yeah, and as we've gotten bigger, there's been more and
more expenses that we never thought right, Yeah, increased insurance,
all sorts of things that pop up us line items
that never.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Existed before when we were a couple thousand strong.
Speaker 7 (09:02):
So as the expenses continue to increase, the line item
for those expenses. Also, there's inflation in those things too,
but the income doesn't necessarily inflate at the same level. Yes,
you know, sometimes we have this, like you know, dichotomy
where we have to decide and make a decision what
things need to be cut, what one needs to be kept,
(09:23):
how do we keep people safe, et cetera. Those are
the tough decisions.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And y'all are five. This is pre COVID, this is
five working women, and this is not your Was this
full time or did this ever become full time? No?
Speaker 3 (09:35):
A lot of people think it is.
Speaker 7 (09:36):
It's full time for us, but no, and entrepreneurship looks
different for everyone. But yeah, it was we were still
working women with you know, seasoned careers, yes, also doing
this on the side. So it was you know, working
nine to five in your day job and then you know.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
The six to four in the morning the next day, right,
especially in.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
Crophesies, especially in Crawford season.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, So talk about the DI cutbacks like out locked,
when did that hit? Like, walk us through that whole thing,
because a lot of people when they heard about it,
it didn't they couldn't relate to it. So that was
a narrative that was pushed a lot where it was like,
this isn't something that even affects black people because we
never benefited from DI. Only people that benefit DI. It
(10:24):
was like white women. That's that's popular on the internet.
So you guys actually has been affected by it. So
can you like walk us through that.
Speaker 7 (10:33):
Yeah, that's a good point. I think it affects people
in different ways. Our direct impact would be kind of
sponsorship impact. And we saw it before a little bit
trickling it before kind of the this widespread rollback. We
saw you know, shifts and like oh, we don't have
budgets for you guys this year, or you know, our
(10:53):
budgets are tight you know, what can you do for
ten dollars?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Right?
Speaker 7 (10:57):
So, I mean some ridiculous conversations we have to have, right,
like all the time, we're justifying our worthiness all the time.
But it's been like a little bit egregious sometimes this year,
this year, and last year about like what they are
offering or not offering anymore, And then this year was
a complete we're just not moving in the direction at all.
(11:19):
We don't have a D and I budget, We don't
have a budget any longer for multicultural events. It just
doesn't no longer exist. And they've been pretty like black
and white about it, and we've seen it and we've
seen it quietly happening to a lot of our fellow
kind of event producers, but nobody's really talking about it.
(11:40):
So that's why we thought it was important for us
to kind of have this conversation because a lot of
people are suffering in silence and no one is talking
about it. So for us, our direct impact was just sponsorship,
and sponsorship for us is more than just money. That
also is as a part of the activations that are
part of curl Fest, right, and so folks come to
(12:02):
the event to experience these activations you know, like the
big box.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Brands like the Targets, et cetera, and will.
Speaker 7 (12:09):
Come and build out these beautiful spaces for our guests
to interact with, provide input all of these things. Even
and I'll also add it's not just like folks who
are also rolling back with Dee and I. There are
also other smaller brands that are affected by just the
economy in general and are unable to you know, the
(12:29):
maybe the mom and pop beauty brands that are also
unable to participate in Curlfest because they just don't have
the fund the fund and they're also not being funded
by other partners that they've had in the past, like
the Targets, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
You're in a unique space. And it's interesting because when
we talk about who is a prime target and we've
seen this in the UAE for consumers and people of wealth,
and it's black women. And when you go to curl Fest,
I mean, it is see of black women. And so
(13:05):
you said you had to explain to your audience what
support looks like. Can elaborate on that. Are you talking
from a standpoint of like, hey, it's not just come
to the event. It might be Hey, we need to
have community initiative. What does that look like? What did
you have to explain to the audience.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
Yeah, I mean I think it's layered right.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
So first I want to say, we have gotten to
where we've gotten because of our community. And so at
the onset when we created this, it was all in
service of our community.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
What do we need? And the good part about it
is we look like our community.
Speaker 6 (13:37):
We're literally a reflection of what we've built, right, And
so when we talk about what we might need from
our community, I think, you know, people probably aren't really
thinking about it, like they're thinking, oh, tickets out, I'll
get a ticket, come to the event. But support looks like,
you know, bringing us up in rooms that we're not in.
(14:00):
Support looks like maybe just taking a little beat to
understand what it takes from a financial standpoint to put
on something at the magnitude that we're putting it on, right,
And so support looks like sponsorship, you know, support looks
like understanding, right, giving grace when we have to make
(14:21):
a very difficult decision to you know, have to postpone.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
And so I think I think if we if we got.
Speaker 6 (14:29):
Granular support, is a ticket literally is purchasing a ticket
if you can't come, maybe purchasing a ticket for a
friend or bringing a school, you know, and and it's
only a fraction of it, but but it actually is,
like it's really important for us to continue to support
(14:49):
by us for us.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
And so.
Speaker 6 (14:53):
You know, with the rollbacks with DI yes, a lot
of large corporations are not able to to fund things
that we've been doing. However, what does it look like
if we just funded it ourselves as a community, right,
And so we know we've been validated by our community
(15:14):
that what we've created is like magic and it just
feels good and it feels good, but it's also education. Right,
we're very very mindful of the thumb print that we're
putting on for you know, the next generation, right, the
little girl who will wear her hair natural, because now
she sees that, and so how do we keep that going?
Speaker 4 (15:36):
So what's the pathway forward?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Because Okay, in the climate, Donald Trump's still president for
the next three years, right, so the d I think
probably is not going to get any better. And it's
also a recession, so spending habits is actually decreasing as well, right,
Like that's having an effect on events across the board also,
(16:00):
So from consumers spending less money in corporation spending less money,
how do you see a pathway forward to actually.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Rent back up?
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yeah, So I mean we're working through what that looks like.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
I think it's just setting expectations that curl Fest may
look a little different in the years. I think a
big thing that Melody mentioned was having grace and part
of these conversation is to kind of humanize what it
looks like to be an entrepreneur.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
And it's not this big corporation.
Speaker 7 (16:27):
These are three black women who are trying and you know,
carrying this business on our backs because it's bigger than us.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
And so when curl Fest does.
Speaker 7 (16:36):
Look different, right, and the reasons why, let's have these
conversations now proactively about why it's looking different. And may
not have you know, thirty five sponsors on the law,
we may have three, right, but what we do have
and will always have is community, which was the heart
of the event anyways, and you know, we'll just build
it back. I think we've got through We've got through COVID,
(16:58):
We've got through a pandemic, right, Yeah, all of these
things and the economy, inflation, all of these things and
we'll get through this too. It's just you know, being
for us. I think for the last several years, we've
gone through so many hurdles that we haven't talked about everything. Yeah,
everything that we could happen has happened, But we've always
(17:19):
kind of take the stance like let's have like this
very polished message, pr message to the audience and a
little bit like ambiguous.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
About what's happening.
Speaker 7 (17:30):
But I think we wanted to take a shift away
from that this year and be a little bit more
transparent about the process and the struggles and where we
need support, because it's not a victim story.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
It's really just like this is what it is.
Speaker 7 (17:41):
This is the reality, and we know everyone also has
their own reality. Because if you have to decide between
a curlf has taken and buying eggs, obviously you buy
the eggs, right, But we're not asking folks to do that.
But support could look like a different number of different things.
If it's not a ticket, it's alike on a post.
Because also the algorithm has changed from few you to
go to back from when we used to launch the
(18:03):
event and used to sell out thirty thousand tickets in
two days, now a post could be out for our
month and no one sees it, and so resharing, you know,
using you know, the different ways to have organic reach
is also a way to support.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Us as well.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Was there anything that surprised you. I mean, you're very
much grounded in reality, but you've had I don't even
want to call them sponsors at this level, right because
somebody's with you for more than five years. This is
a partnership, partnership, so like, were their partners who you
were with and you come to, you know, the past
couple of years and they're no longer there Was there
a surprising factor or are you just like this is
(18:41):
somehow sometimes out of cooking crumbles a little bit.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
So we were surprised. We were very surprised.
Speaker 7 (18:48):
Surprised folks who have been with us since the Beggay
one and said all of a sudden they can't work
with us, and sometimes it's not their decision. We've also
saw a lot of businesses get acquired in the last
several years, and.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
That's just the nature of the way you do business.
Speaker 7 (19:05):
Sometimes too Nobody talks about like exit strategies and like
the goal is sometimes to get acquired, you know, and
maybe if that does happen, you may not have to
say to say I really want to do crow Fest
this year, you may not have that level of power anymore.
So we've seen that happen with a number a number
(19:27):
beauty brands in the past that have been with us
since they won.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
So the other part of it, it was like a
second part of the question, is that from a competitive landscape.
Obviously crow Fest was for me the first and the biggest,
and I'm still going to look at it that way,
but from a competitive landscape, as you start seeing people
pop up with beauty festivals and beauty conferences and they
don't look like you tell me the realities that you
(19:52):
face when you see things like that happen.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
Yeah, I mean, it's just the reality, right of if
you've built something, at some point, at some turning point,
there will be something that perhaps maybe mirrors it or
it touches it. I think one of the things that
has also been interesting for us is, you know, we
talk about obviously our women are our number one supporter,
(20:15):
but the men are there too and right, and so
we've you know, we've had events where we've had activation
specifically for men for hair and beards and things of
that nature. We also have an empowerment stage right and
there we talk about very real aspects of our community
that isn't necessarily centered on here. But is it about
you know, empowerment, Is it about self image? Is it
(20:38):
about you know, mental capacity? And so I say that
to say that when you look at the aperture of
who our audience is, it actually is larger than just
the black female with natural hair. And because of that,
that means there's competitive when when when sponsors, depending on
who they are, if it isn't just a black hair brand,
(21:00):
there's choices for them to where they spend their money, right,
And so I think one of the challenges that we've
had over the years because we were fortunate enough to
be trailblazers in this space is, you know, brands are
now seeing the importance of the black female, the importance
of the billions dollars of money that is spent on haircare.
(21:24):
So they'll maybe have a little portion of their regular
event in a pop up of a hair a here
moment there, And I think everything can still coexist. I
think what makes crow Fests different is literally the community.
I think it's our community. I think it's the need
the voids that we're feeling that at scale, I feel
(21:45):
like some of the other places or touch points that
here brands may show up, it's not it doesn't feel
quite the same as when you support crow fests.
Speaker 7 (21:54):
Yeah, and I think we get that question a lot.
You know, what's your differentiating fact?
Speaker 3 (21:59):
There?
Speaker 7 (21:59):
Somebody else could come up with a festival that looks
and we've had a number of you know, Ceasyn desists
going out last several years.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Yeah, folks are coming out with the.
Speaker 7 (22:07):
Exact name right, curl Fest, Diana, cral Fest, right all over,
right logos everything, So that's another conversation. But I think
it's you know, our authenticity is part of our differentiating factor,
and there's no one that can kind of recreate that.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
And there's something special.
Speaker 7 (22:24):
About the fact that this this is for our majority.
Our demo is black women, and it is created and
founded and run by black women. I think that's also
something that sets us apart.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
But it's a it's a challenge.
Speaker 7 (22:37):
I'll be lying if I say it wasn't a challenge
that when somebody does come up with an event and
we're like, wait, this looks like curl Fest, you know,
and then we question like, are we doing the right thing?
Do we need to add something different? You know, will
our fans know the difference and all of these things,
and we have these conversations.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
All the time.
Speaker 7 (22:55):
But there's also something you know that you I think
there's there's a there's a level of like.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I was, there was a level.
Speaker 7 (23:05):
Of comfort in knowing that what you created was created
by us and no one else can recreate that magic
something that's might be not even tangible, just like no
one could create another investments.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
It would never be another Troy.
Speaker 7 (23:21):
Look into chemistry, create another investments, right like they could try,
but it will never be the same.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
So yeah, So what's the state of black women's hair
like as far as when we first talked, I mean,
obviously there was a lot of attention. I think Chris
Rock did that documentary, you know, billions of dollars. Is
it the same level of enthusiasm in regards to the
business of the hair or has that kind of died
(23:51):
down a little bit? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (23:54):
So the business of hair is I want to say
it has died down.
Speaker 7 (23:57):
There's ebbs and flows about like the natural movement when
it had you know, just caught on, and I think
we're a little bit spoiled being in New York.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
You know, it's just kind of the norm now, you know,
and everybody is so Fluidou's not the norm though all
around the world either.
Speaker 7 (24:12):
There's still conversations. There's still conversations being had in boardrooms
in corporate you know, walls as well about hair and.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
What is deemed kept and unkempt. And so there's still
work to be had.
Speaker 7 (24:26):
But I think the business of here care in general
hasn't died down at all, is actually increased, right, I think.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
I think this last stat I read.
Speaker 7 (24:33):
Was like Black women spend nine times more than any
ethnic group in beauty and personal care, and it's just
continuing to move in that direction. What that looks like
with beauty, whether you're wearing curls or twenty inches, you know,
bust down, it really doesn't matter. Like a black woman,
I think hair is an identifying factor for black women
(24:54):
much more than just aesthetics. It represents like who you are,
represents where you come I'm from, and represents my mother
and my mother's mother, you know, and stories.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
And creativity, relativity.
Speaker 7 (25:06):
And growing up and I remember this, you know, there's
a nostalgia with you know, your hair as well.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
So I don't think that's going anyway going anywhere.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah, I'm not sure if twenty inches is a bus
down gotta be like thirty.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Yeah, it's been a long time.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
I know when you give those numbers, obviously have a
watch over. Dough to braise is expensive. It's just expensive.
And like you said that, that number is going to
continue to increase as more people look at opportunities for
entrepreneurship to create in that space.
Speaker 7 (25:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
I want to talk about something that is important and
it's something that we've obviotually had looked into when we
were creating the event. Is the timing of it because
summer is usually when you see a lot of music festivals.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah, a lot of people are going on tour, a
lot of black events that happening. Yeah, and so you're
right and smacked in the middle of that. And so
talk about the timing of it in terms of why
you chose to do it when you did and competing
with some of those people who are fighting for those
same sponsorship dollars that you are looking for.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
Yeah, Well, when we think about when we think about
New York, Crow fests.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
It.
Speaker 6 (26:23):
You know, it's funny, right when we first first ponjured
up the whole idea, we called it a picnic in
the park, like if I gave you the flyer that
I made back then, we literally said crow Fest a
picnic in the park, which is kind of ironic, right
because we called it crow Fest. So it almost manifested
itself before we even realized what it had the potential
(26:44):
to be. And I only bring that up because the
grass aspect of it, the summer aspect of it, is
actually a pillar for what we've been able to create,
and so that puts us in the summer month for
New York. Obviously, you know what goals and asked rations
to expand to other countries and continents. You know, we'll
have a little bit more leeway in terms of that.
(27:06):
When we did Atlanta, Atlanta was in what's it September.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Twenty was that twenty nineteen?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (27:16):
Yeah, twenty nineteen.
Speaker 6 (27:18):
And so you know when we think about, okay, what,
you know, what's the formula for crow Fess, Like what
has to be true for it to feel like Crowfests
to not feel like maybe a convention inside, right or
a symposium and so the outside, the outside sort of
grounding of the earth is a part of it. So
(27:38):
what you know, what that means is tough decisions, right,
What that means is early pitching. What that means is
continuing to try and to be honest, convince some partners
that there's a need. Our audience is a spending audience.
(27:59):
They come with an tension. We have stories for days
of you know, partners that come on the grass, whether
that's a small business or a large business, they bring
in boxes and boxes and tons of products. When they
when it's time to load out, they're loading out with nothing.
And so I think when we think about it from
there's an economic part of it that we can deliver.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
We know that we have a primed audience who is
in need of service.
Speaker 6 (28:27):
And so you're going to check that box when you
come to Curl Fast as a sponsor. I think when
you think about there always will be something. So so
so it's like, Okay, well if we don't do it
in June, what if we're doing in July, oh something else?
Oh okay, how about August? There's always going to be something.
And so I think for any entrepreneur out there, yes,
(28:50):
there's ebbs and flows. There's things you have to ship,
you have to be fluid, but at the same time,
at some point you have to feel confident in what
you've created.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Otherwise why wake up and do it?
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Yeah, I was going to say the same thing.
Speaker 7 (29:01):
There's every month we've entertained, we've moved Curlfest from July before.
But there's always something right. There's always something there's always
proximity to another event. And in the boardrooms where we're
not in, you know, they probably have conversations like, listen,
we only have money for one black.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Event this year, which one is it going to be?
Speaker 4 (29:21):
Right?
Speaker 7 (29:21):
And so it's really just being steadfast and like what
you offer, keeping and maintaining those relationships with the partners
that you have so far, and just moving forward with
what you believe that you feel like it's offering the
most value to your audience and your consumer everything else. Like,
there's always going to be competition. There's not in really
much we can do about that. But it doesn't I
(29:44):
want to say that it's easy either, like's not. That's
probably part of what is part of the nature of
business everding flowing over the last few years as well
for us and not really kind of getting back to
where we were in twenty nineteen yet will but not yet.
But that's part of the conversation too.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
So what is the business model to expand like even
outside of a physical event, Like are there like tangible products,
is their online community? Like is there anything outside of
just the one event?
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Yeah, so that's a great point.
Speaker 7 (30:21):
We do have, you know, some merchandise that we offer
what we are working on this year, and part of
the kind of strategy is to like put more time
and effort into the other you know, ancillary things like
having a membership. We already have a community, right, but
we want to like amplify that in a bigger way.
So we're working on that and hopefully that will be
(30:43):
launched also with next year all of.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
The other things.
Speaker 7 (30:47):
I always say the melody that you know, crow fest
may not it be it's our biggest, you know, identifying
part of our brand. But sometimes festivals and things of
that space may not be the money maker. Somebody can
have an event that large and bring in millions of dollars,
but the money maker.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Are is the T shirt sales and the food and beverage.
Speaker 7 (31:09):
And your membership community and whatever ancillary things that you
can branch off of your main kind of like identifying
brand position.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
Yeah, yeah, I think I think we have a plethora
of ideas. Yeah, we are no shortages of ideas over
the years. I think if we haven't a real conversation,
it's the capital. And so even the non yes, Crofast
is our tempole, A physical event is our tempole. I
still will forever think there's such power in human in
(31:42):
person contact, right, and so you know, I don't see
a world in which that doesn't exist. But when you
talk about the other pillars, right, whether it's a product,
whether it's merged, whether it's you know, online sessions, they're
still capital that's needed to make those happen as well.
They're almost little subsets of businesses. And so some of
(32:05):
the work that we have been continuously doing is strategizing.
Speaker 5 (32:09):
On how do we increase capital.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
One of those ways is you know, I'm sure as
you're growing this business and people are seeing the size
of the audience, I'm sure people are approaching you trying
to figure out how they can acquire the brand, perhaps
merged with the brand and added to their portfolio. However,
those conversations going for you posts in pre COVID.
Speaker 7 (32:36):
Yeah, we've had conversations fairly early on even I think
probably it to curl Fest. Maybe on our firs you
have curl fees. We've had investors probably approach us and
you know those those we've gotten pretty close with conversations
with investors. We've never We still are own one hundred
percent ownership of our business, which is also you know,
(32:57):
I want to make sure that it's clear.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
But the.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
It's difficult, right because it's a learning curve for us.
We have been building.
Speaker 7 (33:10):
We didn't start out this business thinking it was gonna
be a business. We started out this business.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
It was something that we felt like we needed. It
was a hobby. Let's do this fun thing.
Speaker 7 (33:18):
We need this community, and it turned into a business.
So it was and sometimes it happens that way, and
so there was a little bit of like learning and
unlearning that had to happen. We're building the plane as
we fly it. And so if you asked us maybe
six years ago, like what's your valuation.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
For your business?
Speaker 7 (33:35):
There will be some off the wall numbers, like our
partners probably would have said at the time, like I'm
not again an investor until we get you know, two
hundred million dollar valuation, which is not realistic, right, And
so I think part of the conversation is, really, you know, what,
what are the real valuation numbers that you can assess?
Speaker 1 (33:55):
What is it?
Speaker 7 (33:56):
Is the exit strategy or something that you thought of
that it's probably something that we think of more lately
than we have in the past, because we built this
baby up, and we start to stop saying calling our
business the baby, because there's a there's a connection there.
As much as we feel like it's much more than
a business, it's still a business, right, and so there's
(34:18):
still impact that you can do even if you move
in different directions. So I think the investor conversation it's
something we still get approached daily. We're working on making
sure that we have we have the best numbers to
back up an evaluation that folks kind of try to
offer us.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
I think as black women, we also have the barrier to.
Speaker 7 (34:45):
Have to overprove our worthiness in those spaces, and so
we'll get low ball numbers all day, right, and our
counterparts may get you know, like some crazy, you know,
nine figure valuation for something that hasn't made a dillarg
learn profit, right, And so it's a it's a space
that we are still kind of navigating, and yeah, it's
(35:08):
it's it's still a learning curve for us.
Speaker 6 (35:10):
But yeah, yeah, I mean the only thing I would
add is there's also when you think about any partnership
in any any capacity, if you're still going to be
a part of it, whether it's you know, sometimes the
approach where the offers were a majority, right, and so
we know we do know to a certain degree what
(35:31):
that means, right, and so knowing communities at our center
and what we've done to build this empire that we've
been able to create, this movement that we've been able
to create, how do you scale grow potentially do you know,
a shared a shared investment, but also keep the integrity
(35:51):
of it.
Speaker 5 (35:52):
And that's a very that's a very real thing.
Speaker 6 (35:55):
And I mean most you know within our community, specifically
Black communities with typically we can all think of numerous
brands that were for us, by us and they've you know,
sold to big corporations and you know, there's mixed feelings
from the you know, community as to whether or not
was right choice or not has their product changed. That's
(36:16):
a big headline. It's no, this is no longer the
same they sold out, change the formula, and so of
course life is about change. We're not expecting to look
and be exactly what we were. However, I think when
we think about something a big decision like that, because
when we started it wasn't a business.
Speaker 5 (36:38):
That means the drive, the passion, all of that.
Speaker 6 (36:42):
What our core is isn't just a money driving thing, right,
and so I mean, if it was, we would be
doing it full time.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
But this hasn't been.
Speaker 6 (36:51):
We haven't been able to do it full time, right
in terms of paying our our personal salaries and things
that nature. But what we know is what we created
is bigger than us and that's the fuel that keeps
us going. But when you think about, you know, a
potential investor, I think it is important that like whatever
that partnership is, that there's core values that are shared
(37:13):
that we feel as if the next evolution of what
we built will at least come from the same space.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
What about like the elements as far as rain, stuff
like that, as that play in insurance and you know,
doing an event. We never did an event outside and
one of the reasons why is because of that, right,
So how.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
Does that plan?
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Yeah, it's tough.
Speaker 7 (37:42):
I was like the director of operations, right and the
creative director for the business.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
It's super tough.
Speaker 7 (37:51):
There's so much unpredictability in an event in general, and
adding the weather is another element.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
That you.
Speaker 7 (38:00):
Sleepless nights we've had, you know, oftentimes venues that we
work with you can't there's no rain day, right, that's it.
And then you know, we have insurances that you know
that are enormous numbers that we have to pay for
in case that there's a natural disaster or weather condition
(38:20):
where folks have to evacuate, and then they may get
some of the portion of the ticket sales back. We
may get that, but we wouldn't get fully one hundred
percent reimbursed at all. It would be a significant loss
even with the insurance and some weather conditions we've gone
through everywhether yeah monsoon right, yeah, I mean it was
(38:41):
literally like I mean, through God's grace, no one got hurt.
But probably one of our very first crol fests back
in and Prospect part. We don't really talk about it much,
but we have pictures of those times and right when
Curlfest was about to be over, when it was we
had a great day and then the sky opened up
(39:02):
and it was literally a hurricane that came through, trees,
falling things. Everybody had to run to safety and we
couldn't clean up the place. The cleaning crew had to leave, right,
and everyone had to go run to safety, like things
flying literally everywhere. We get back to should I tell
the story, it's over, So we get back to, you know,
(39:27):
like four in the morning. Okay, guys, the skun the
stop raining, let's go clean up. And it's a disaster. Disaster,
it is a disaster. There are things everywhere. At that time,
Curlfest was free and so folks could bring in whatever
they could bring in, right, And the one thing they
called it in Brooklyn was they called them the dog walkers. Right,
(39:50):
there's demographic of folks that would be up at five
in the morning, just make sure the place is clean.
That Prospect Park is back to where it used to be,
what it looks like before the first dog walker hits
the grass, And that did not happen. And all we
saw were the dog walkers out there with pictures with
our brand on the ground, right, taking pictures and sending
(40:12):
them to all these communities all over social media, all
of their you know, not in my backyard. Communities that
were like, we don't want this kind of debauchery back
in our space, even though we it was literally a hurricane, right,
and so those are the types of things that started
curw fends and it was.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Like, we can never get through this again.
Speaker 7 (40:32):
We were like in tears picking up trash with our hands,
you know, like they might have been like, you know,
we didn't have security at that time. So there was
a liquor bottle next door crow fest from Banner. That's
what they associated, right that. They didn't associate community and
like beautiful spaces and family event. They associated you know,
this this event of color that came into our backyard
(40:55):
and destroyed our part. So we had to get through that,
you know, we did. We had to rebuild the brand
and move right. We begged and begged and begged.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
To stay in Brooklyn. We're still here to this day,
ten years later.
Speaker 7 (41:09):
We hear people saying it's never been the same since
you left Brooklyn, right, And the fact that the thing
about it is, I mean, listen, I'm such an open
book and I've gotten spank for saying so much, but
I don't care, Like you know, we have tried, We
went all the way up to you know, the tops
of the offices to beg to stay in Brooklyn and
Prospect Park specifically.
Speaker 3 (41:30):
And they just won't don't want our type of event
in that space.
Speaker 5 (41:33):
Well they wouldn't allow us.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
They wouldn't allow us too.
Speaker 6 (41:36):
And so obviously once we scaled beyond you know, eight
hundred people, there's safety, right, and so every human that
touches on the grass we are responsible for, right. And
so yeah, the sea of crowds when you see our
videos and you actually don't see the grass because it's humans,
every single human we're responsible for. And so we had
(41:59):
to make decisions that have their safety, our safety at
the forefront.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (42:03):
But yeah, I mean, I think the great part about
a story like that is when that happened, it felt
like there was no return. It felt like close up shop.
How are we ever going to come back? And we
did and we will continue to do it. So when
we talk about like what is the landscape now? Okay,
DEI the Orange Man like all of it, it's roadblocks.
(42:27):
It's roadblocks, and we will figure out a way to
push past it.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
Does crow fests is this synonymous with New York? Does
it have to stay in New York. I know you
did Atlanta. What did we learn? What did you learn
from moving it to a different city? Right, we did
invest Fst London. We learned a lot, yes, right, Like
it was like, okay, obviously it's a shortened, more concise event,
(42:51):
but there was a lot of different things. You're doing
something international? Is that an option as well? Oh for sure?
Speaker 6 (42:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (42:57):
And we always loved like it's the birthplace of girl
us to have at least at least one curl fez here,
but yeah, curl Fez on the road for sure. What
we learned in Atlanta is that we have a beautiful
community in Atlanta too that loves us there. Right if,
I feel like the hair capital of the world of
the United States at least, and you know, they loved
us there. They opened us with you know, open arms
(43:20):
in Atlanta, and we love to come back. We love
to be in a lot of places. And you know
that's on the that's on the map.
Speaker 4 (43:27):
Well, thank you guys for coming.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
Before we leave, tell her what can they expect as
far as you know, twenty twenty six is any waiting
list website like you know, pre sale?
Speaker 4 (43:39):
Yeah, all of the doing Oh yeah, all those things.
Speaker 7 (43:42):
So there's a pre sale on curlfest dot com c
U R L F E SD should I talk to
you guys. There's a pre sale and curlfest dot com
special for folks who are riding for us for.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
Curl Fest twenty twenty six. We need your support.
Speaker 7 (44:00):
We need your support early, right and if you can't spare,
you know, buy a ticket, Tell your friends, share that
Curlfest is coming back. You know, understand like who is
behind the brand that we're here for y'all and we
are not going anywhere. We're also working on smaller kind
of community initiatives this year as well, So look out
(44:21):
for announcements on Curly Girl Collective, our Instagram page, sign
up to our mailing list on curlfest dot com and
buy a ticket.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
Yeah, And I want to say that we appreciate y'all.
And I told you just before someone we probably had
this conversation that watching you guys create an event helped
inspire us creating events. And there was some details when
we went to curl Fest when you bought the kids
from the community center, right, and I was like, Wow,
that's incredible. I was like, we're doing an event. We
gotta do the same, and so we've been finding kids
(44:51):
down from the community center to investors. So we appreciate
y'all for kicking down the doors and we're gonna support
you anyway we can.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Thank you, Thank you for having us us.
Speaker 4 (45:00):
God, thank you for rock Rooster seeing next week. Peace.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Peace.
Speaker 8 (45:04):
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(45:27):
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Speaker 2 (01:51):
All right, guys, welcome back. Special episode of Earn Your Leisure.
Fat Yes, we have two of the co founders of
Curly Girl Collective and curl Fest, Mellie and Simone. And
Simone somebody that's been on the show.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Early early, like episode maybe fifteen. Ye. I got the
number right, I think so.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I'm not sure the number, but it was early.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Yeah. Shout out to the.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Hometown so first and one, Well, thank you guys for.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
Joining us, thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So okay, so for people that might not be familiar.
Right before we get into it. Can you talk about
what Curl Girl Collective is and curl Fests and how
it came about, like how it hit origin story?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (02:30):
Okay, So Curly Girl Collective is an organization that we
founded and created with our business partners, and what we're
most notably known for is curl Fest, which is one
of the largest natural beauty festivals. And essentially we created
a space for a population that literally had no exposure
(02:53):
to and really it's an opportunity to be educated, celebrated,
provide resources for women with natural hair.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
So this is I know last year, celebrated year ten,
year ten, which is a huge accomplishment from gradulations to that.
It would start out with five women, how what is
the situation now? I know you to it here and
there are other partners. What do we look like now
present day?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (03:23):
Sure, so there are there will always be five founders,
five beautiful black women.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Right now.
Speaker 7 (03:30):
We have three operating members Melody, myself, Simone and Sharis
who couldn't be with us today.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Gotcha? Gotcha?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
So okay, so you started it and it got really big.
I went I think like three years ago in Randalls Island. Yes, right,
so tens of thousands of people there, a bunch of sponsors,
and then the pandemic hits, so you have to kind
of put things on a whole for that because you
can't do events in New York, especially at that time
(04:00):
during the pandemic. And a lot of stuff happens. So
now we're in twenty twenty five. You'd made a decision
to postpone it this year and reconvene next year, right,
So what happened in that timeline and what was the
decision to actually, you know, put it on ice for
this year and look at twenty twenty six.
Speaker 7 (04:20):
Yeah, so a couple of things happened in the timeline.
I think since COVID, the event's business and industry has
been quite difficult.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
It has changed and never fully recovered, No, never.
Speaker 7 (04:33):
Fully recovered, and it's becoming increasingly more difficult. And this
specific year, I think with the political climate, with the
rollbacks and d and I, the economy, all these things
make the perfect storm. While it's becoming almost impossible to
have events kind of that scale without certain levels of
(04:56):
like sponsorship backing. And so when we saw a lot
of our big ticket sponsors saying, you know, we're not
moving in that direction and being very black and white
about not having a budget for events that look like ours.
We had to make a decision that we have to shift,
take a pause and shift and see what Curfez could
(05:17):
look like maybe without that level of sponsorship backing, really
pull the venera away and talk to our audience about
support and what it looks like with entrepreneurship, because there's
a narrative out there that is like super easy and
we have this like big, big company and we're you know,
doing this with our eyes closed, and we're all like
(05:37):
super wealthy and rich. But it's still been a passion
project even for ten years later. And so this specific
year we decided to it was important for us to
kind of just take a pause, take a beat, and
restrategize a bit.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, it's important that it's a reschedule, right, So it's
definitely gonna be back in twenty twenty six. But most
people don't understand the business of live events. And I
was telling me, I was telling you, I said, mal
because we're friends now that you know, when you get
into this space, it looks it looks great on the
day of yes, but it's a full year process to
(06:12):
get to show day. Sponsorships is one way that you
get money, obviously selling tickets to the event. Break down
the business of how it looked for you from year
one when it was sitting in the living room to
leading up to COVID. I think we're there in twenty nineteen.
I think right before, Yeah, that was a massive one.
It was in New York Times and I was like
(06:32):
so proud, like I know what, she's from our high school.
So talk about the business structure and how it's changed
obviously pre COVID post COVID.
Speaker 6 (06:42):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I think, yeah, pre COVID post
COVID is literally a thing, right, And it's like I
think especially Anyonet from an entrepreneur's stamp trip or business
standpoint could understand sort of the magnitude of of what
that created.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
That created for us.
Speaker 6 (06:58):
I think when we think about our scale, our scale
is the biggest thing. Like I think our first one
maybe had like we had two sponsors.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
On the lawn.
Speaker 6 (07:10):
We had a thousand people maybe mostly you know friends
and friends, and then you know, you scale to let's
say twenty nineteen, where there's over forty you know, sponsors
on the lawn. There's activations. There's people flying in from Ghana,
from South Africa, everywhere, And I think what we noticed
(07:30):
was that it scaled quickly, and so when you have
something and you build the infrastructure, you almost need to
have that foresight of like how far can it go?
And it wasn't something that we could have ever imagined
that it got to them. So we had to adapt
as it scaled and figure out are the different ways
to work when it came to the pandemic. I mean,
(07:51):
we were the largest natural beauty festival in the world,
right and you're like, okay, wait, the whole thing is
about being in person and connecting in person. What does
that look like when we can't do that on a
global scale, like the world is shut down? That year,
we actually did a virtual curl Fest, which was a
success at a Kaba Du game, and so it taught us.
(08:14):
What it taught us and validated was that what we
were doing was still needed, right even in the midst
of not being able to have it. But when you
break it down in terms of like what does that
mean to produce a live event? Skyrocket costs Skyrocket everything
from porta potties to vendors, all the behind the scenes stuff,
(08:35):
right that doesn't look like okay, day of beautiful sunshine,
beautiful people. But there's a lot of a lot of
actual work logistics that go into pace and everything is
that dited line to our finances.
Speaker 7 (08:47):
Yeah, and as we've gotten bigger, there's been more and
more expenses that we never thought right, Yeah, increased insurance,
all sorts of things that pop up us line items
that never.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Existed before when we were a couple thousand strong.
Speaker 7 (09:02):
So as the expenses continue to increase, the line item
for those expenses. Also, there's inflation in those things too,
but the income doesn't necessarily inflate at the same level. Yes,
you know, sometimes we have this, like you know, dichotomy
where we have to decide and make a decision what
things need to be cut, what one needs to be kept,
(09:23):
how do we keep people safe, et cetera. Those are
the tough decisions.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And y'all are five. This is pre COVID, this is
five working women, and this is not your Was this
full time or did this ever become full time? No?
Speaker 3 (09:35):
A lot of people think it is.
Speaker 7 (09:36):
It's full time for us, but no, and entrepreneurship looks
different for everyone. But yeah, it was we were still
working women with you know, seasoned careers, yes, also doing
this on the side. So it was you know, working
nine to five in your day job and then you know.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
The six to four in the morning the next day, right,
especially in.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
Crophesies, especially in Crawford season.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, So talk about the DI cutbacks like out locked,
when did that hit? Like, walk us through that whole thing,
because a lot of people when they heard about it,
it didn't they couldn't relate to it. So that was
a narrative that was pushed a lot where it was like,
this isn't something that even affects black people because we
never benefited from DI. Only people that benefit DI. It
(10:24):
was like white women. That's that's popular on the internet.
So you guys actually has been affected by it. So
can you like walk us through that.
Speaker 7 (10:33):
Yeah, that's a good point. I think it affects people
in different ways. Our direct impact would be kind of
sponsorship impact. And we saw it before a little bit
trickling it before kind of the this widespread rollback. We
saw you know, shifts and like oh, we don't have
budgets for you guys this year, or you know, our
(10:53):
budgets are tight you know, what can you do for
ten dollars?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Right?
Speaker 7 (10:57):
So, I mean some ridiculous conversations we have to have, right,
like all the time, we're justifying our worthiness all the time.
But it's been like a little bit egregious sometimes this year,
this year, and last year about like what they are
offering or not offering anymore, And then this year was
a complete we're just not moving in the direction at all.
(11:19):
We don't have a D and I budget, We don't
have a budget any longer for multicultural events. It just
doesn't no longer exist. And they've been pretty like black
and white about it, and we've seen it and we've
seen it quietly happening to a lot of our fellow
kind of event producers, but nobody's really talking about it.
(11:40):
So that's why we thought it was important for us
to kind of have this conversation because a lot of
people are suffering in silence and no one is talking
about it. So for us, our direct impact was just sponsorship,
and sponsorship for us is more than just money. That
also is as a part of the activations that are
part of curl Fest, right, and so folks come to
(12:02):
the event to experience these activations you know, like the
big box.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Brands like the Targets, et cetera, and will.
Speaker 7 (12:09):
Come and build out these beautiful spaces for our guests
to interact with, provide input all of these things. Even
and I'll also add it's not just like folks who
are also rolling back with Dee and I. There are
also other smaller brands that are affected by just the
economy in general and are unable to you know, the
(12:29):
maybe the mom and pop beauty brands that are also
unable to participate in Curlfest because they just don't have
the fund the fund and they're also not being funded
by other partners that they've had in the past, like
the Targets, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
You're in a unique space. And it's interesting because when
we talk about who is a prime target and we've
seen this in the UAE for consumers and people of wealth,
and it's black women. And when you go to curl Fest,
I mean, it is see of black women. And so
(13:05):
you said you had to explain to your audience what
support looks like. Can elaborate on that. Are you talking
from a standpoint of like, hey, it's not just come
to the event. It might be Hey, we need to
have community initiative. What does that look like? What did
you have to explain to the audience.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
Yeah, I mean I think it's layered right.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
So first I want to say, we have gotten to
where we've gotten because of our community. And so at
the onset when we created this, it was all in
service of our community.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
What do we need? And the good part about it
is we look like our community.
Speaker 6 (13:37):
We're literally a reflection of what we've built, right, And
so when we talk about what we might need from
our community, I think, you know, people probably aren't really
thinking about it, like they're thinking, oh, tickets out, I'll
get a ticket, come to the event. But support looks like,
you know, bringing us up in rooms that we're not in.
(14:00):
Support looks like maybe just taking a little beat to
understand what it takes from a financial standpoint to put
on something at the magnitude that we're putting it on, right,
And so support looks like sponsorship, you know, support looks
like understanding, right, giving grace when we have to make
(14:21):
a very difficult decision to you know, have to postpone.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
And so I think I think if we if we got.
Speaker 6 (14:29):
Granular support, is a ticket literally is purchasing a ticket
if you can't come, maybe purchasing a ticket for a
friend or bringing a school, you know, and and it's
only a fraction of it, but but it actually is,
like it's really important for us to continue to support
(14:49):
by us for us.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
And so.
Speaker 6 (14:53):
You know, with the rollbacks with DI yes, a lot
of large corporations are not able to to fund things
that we've been doing. However, what does it look like
if we just funded it ourselves as a community, right,
And so we know we've been validated by our community
(15:14):
that what we've created is like magic and it just
feels good and it feels good, but it's also education. Right,
we're very very mindful of the thumb print that we're
putting on for you know, the next generation, right, the
little girl who will wear her hair natural, because now
she sees that, and so how do we keep that going?
Speaker 4 (15:36):
So what's the pathway forward?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Because Okay, in the climate, Donald Trump's still president for
the next three years, right, so the d I think
probably is not going to get any better. And it's
also a recession, so spending habits is actually decreasing as well, right,
Like that's having an effect on events across the board also,
(16:00):
So from consumers spending less money in corporation spending less money,
how do you see a pathway forward to actually.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Rent back up?
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yeah, So I mean we're working through what that looks like.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
I think it's just setting expectations that curl Fest may
look a little different in the years. I think a
big thing that Melody mentioned was having grace and part
of these conversation is to kind of humanize what it
looks like to be an entrepreneur.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
And it's not this big corporation.
Speaker 7 (16:27):
These are three black women who are trying and you know,
carrying this business on our backs because it's bigger than us.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
And so when curl Fest does.
Speaker 7 (16:36):
Look different, right, and the reasons why, let's have these
conversations now proactively about why it's looking different. And may
not have you know, thirty five sponsors on the law,
we may have three, right, but what we do have
and will always have is community, which was the heart
of the event anyways, and you know, we'll just build
it back. I think we've got through We've got through COVID,
(16:58):
We've got through a pandemic, right, Yeah, all of these
things and the economy, inflation, all of these things and
we'll get through this too. It's just you know, being
for us. I think for the last several years, we've
gone through so many hurdles that we haven't talked about everything. Yeah,
everything that we could happen has happened, But we've always
(17:19):
kind of take the stance like let's have like this
very polished message, pr message to the audience and a
little bit like ambiguous.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
About what's happening.
Speaker 7 (17:30):
But I think we wanted to take a shift away
from that this year and be a little bit more
transparent about the process and the struggles and where we
need support, because it's not a victim story.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
It's really just like this is what it is.
Speaker 7 (17:41):
This is the reality, and we know everyone also has
their own reality. Because if you have to decide between
a curlf has taken and buying eggs, obviously you buy
the eggs, right, But we're not asking folks to do that.
But support could look like a different number of different things.
If it's not a ticket, it's alike on a post.
Because also the algorithm has changed from few you to
go to back from when we used to launch the
(18:03):
event and used to sell out thirty thousand tickets in
two days, now a post could be out for our
month and no one sees it, and so resharing, you know,
using you know, the different ways to have organic reach
is also a way to support.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Us as well.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Was there anything that surprised you. I mean, you're very
much grounded in reality, but you've had I don't even
want to call them sponsors at this level, right because
somebody's with you for more than five years. This is
a partnership, partnership, so like, were their partners who you
were with and you come to, you know, the past
couple of years and they're no longer there Was there
a surprising factor or are you just like this is
(18:41):
somehow sometimes out of cooking crumbles a little bit.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
So we were surprised. We were very surprised.
Speaker 7 (18:48):
Surprised folks who have been with us since the Beggay
one and said all of a sudden they can't work
with us, and sometimes it's not their decision. We've also
saw a lot of businesses get acquired in the last
several years, and.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
That's just the nature of the way you do business.
Speaker 7 (19:05):
Sometimes too Nobody talks about like exit strategies and like
the goal is sometimes to get acquired, you know, and
maybe if that does happen, you may not have to
say to say I really want to do crow Fest
this year, you may not have that level of power anymore.
So we've seen that happen with a number a number
(19:27):
beauty brands in the past that have been with us
since they won.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
So the other part of it, it was like a
second part of the question, is that from a competitive landscape.
Obviously crow Fest was for me the first and the biggest,
and I'm still going to look at it that way,
but from a competitive landscape, as you start seeing people
pop up with beauty festivals and beauty conferences and they
don't look like you tell me the realities that you
(19:52):
face when you see things like that happen.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
Yeah, I mean, it's just the reality, right of if
you've built something, at some point, at some turning point,
there will be something that perhaps maybe mirrors it or
it touches it. I think one of the things that
has also been interesting for us is, you know, we
talk about obviously our women are our number one supporter,
(20:15):
but the men are there too and right, and so
we've you know, we've had events where we've had activation
specifically for men for hair and beards and things of
that nature. We also have an empowerment stage right and
there we talk about very real aspects of our community
that isn't necessarily centered on here. But is it about
you know, empowerment, Is it about self image? Is it
(20:38):
about you know, mental capacity? And so I say that
to say that when you look at the aperture of
who our audience is, it actually is larger than just
the black female with natural hair. And because of that,
that means there's competitive when when when sponsors, depending on
who they are, if it isn't just a black hair brand,
(21:00):
there's choices for them to where they spend their money, right,
And so I think one of the challenges that we've
had over the years because we were fortunate enough to
be trailblazers in this space is, you know, brands are
now seeing the importance of the black female, the importance
of the billions dollars of money that is spent on haircare.
(21:24):
So they'll maybe have a little portion of their regular
event in a pop up of a hair a here
moment there, And I think everything can still coexist. I
think what makes crow Fests different is literally the community.
I think it's our community. I think it's the need
the voids that we're feeling that at scale, I feel
(21:45):
like some of the other places or touch points that
here brands may show up, it's not it doesn't feel
quite the same as when you support crow fests.
Speaker 7 (21:54):
Yeah, and I think we get that question a lot.
You know, what's your differentiating fact?
Speaker 3 (21:59):
There?
Speaker 7 (21:59):
Somebody else could come up with a festival that looks
and we've had a number of you know, Ceasyn desists
going out last several years.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Yeah, folks are coming out with the.
Speaker 7 (22:07):
Exact name right, curl Fest, Diana, cral Fest, right all over,
right logos everything, So that's another conversation. But I think
it's you know, our authenticity is part of our differentiating factor,
and there's no one that can kind of recreate that.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
And there's something special.
Speaker 7 (22:24):
About the fact that this this is for our majority.
Our demo is black women, and it is created and
founded and run by black women. I think that's also
something that sets us apart.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
But it's a it's a challenge.
Speaker 7 (22:37):
I'll be lying if I say it wasn't a challenge
that when somebody does come up with an event and
we're like, wait, this looks like curl Fest, you know,
and then we question like, are we doing the right thing?
Do we need to add something different? You know, will
our fans know the difference and all of these things,
and we have these conversations.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
All the time.
Speaker 7 (22:55):
But there's also something you know that you I think
there's there's a there's a level of like.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I was, there was a level.
Speaker 7 (23:05):
Of comfort in knowing that what you created was created
by us and no one else can recreate that magic
something that's might be not even tangible, just like no
one could create another investments.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
It would never be another Troy.
Speaker 7 (23:21):
Look into chemistry, create another investments, right like they could try,
but it will never be the same.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
So yeah, So what's the state of black women's hair
like as far as when we first talked, I mean,
obviously there was a lot of attention. I think Chris
Rock did that documentary, you know, billions of dollars. Is
it the same level of enthusiasm in regards to the
business of the hair or has that kind of died
(23:51):
down a little bit? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (23:54):
So the business of hair is I want to say
it has died down.
Speaker 7 (23:57):
There's ebbs and flows about like the natural movement when
it had you know, just caught on, and I think
we're a little bit spoiled being in New York.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
You know, it's just kind of the norm now, you know,
and everybody is so Fluidou's not the norm though all
around the world either.
Speaker 7 (24:12):
There's still conversations. There's still conversations being had in boardrooms
in corporate you know, walls as well about hair and.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
What is deemed kept and unkempt. And so there's still
work to be had.
Speaker 7 (24:26):
But I think the business of here care in general
hasn't died down at all, is actually increased, right, I think.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
I think this last stat I read.
Speaker 7 (24:33):
Was like Black women spend nine times more than any
ethnic group in beauty and personal care, and it's just
continuing to move in that direction. What that looks like
with beauty, whether you're wearing curls or twenty inches, you know,
bust down, it really doesn't matter. Like a black woman,
I think hair is an identifying factor for black women
(24:54):
much more than just aesthetics. It represents like who you are,
represents where you come I'm from, and represents my mother
and my mother's mother, you know, and stories.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
And creativity, relativity.
Speaker 7 (25:06):
And growing up and I remember this, you know, there's
a nostalgia with you know, your hair as well.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
So I don't think that's going anyway going anywhere.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah, I'm not sure if twenty inches is a bus
down gotta be like thirty.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Yeah, it's been a long time.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
I know when you give those numbers, obviously have a
watch over. Dough to braise is expensive. It's just expensive.
And like you said that, that number is going to
continue to increase as more people look at opportunities for
entrepreneurship to create in that space.
Speaker 7 (25:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
I want to talk about something that is important and
it's something that we've obviotually had looked into when we
were creating the event. Is the timing of it because
summer is usually when you see a lot of music festivals.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah, a lot of people are going on tour, a
lot of black events that happening. Yeah, and so you're
right and smacked in the middle of that. And so
talk about the timing of it in terms of why
you chose to do it when you did and competing
with some of those people who are fighting for those
same sponsorship dollars that you are looking for.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
Yeah, Well, when we think about when we think about
New York, Crow fests.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
It.
Speaker 6 (26:23):
You know, it's funny, right when we first first ponjured
up the whole idea, we called it a picnic in
the park, like if I gave you the flyer that
I made back then, we literally said crow Fest a
picnic in the park, which is kind of ironic, right
because we called it crow Fest. So it almost manifested
itself before we even realized what it had the potential
(26:44):
to be. And I only bring that up because the
grass aspect of it, the summer aspect of it, is
actually a pillar for what we've been able to create,
and so that puts us in the summer month for
New York. Obviously, you know what goals and asked rations
to expand to other countries and continents. You know, we'll
have a little bit more leeway in terms of that.
(27:06):
When we did Atlanta, Atlanta was in what's it September.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Twenty was that twenty nineteen?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (27:16):
Yeah, twenty nineteen.
Speaker 6 (27:18):
And so you know when we think about, okay, what,
you know, what's the formula for crow Fess, Like what
has to be true for it to feel like Crowfests
to not feel like maybe a convention inside, right or
a symposium and so the outside, the outside sort of
grounding of the earth is a part of it. So
(27:38):
what you know, what that means is tough decisions, right,
What that means is early pitching. What that means is
continuing to try and to be honest, convince some partners
that there's a need. Our audience is a spending audience.
(27:59):
They come with an tension. We have stories for days
of you know, partners that come on the grass, whether
that's a small business or a large business, they bring
in boxes and boxes and tons of products. When they
when it's time to load out, they're loading out with nothing.
And so I think when we think about it from
there's an economic part of it that we can deliver.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
We know that we have a primed audience who is
in need of service.
Speaker 6 (28:27):
And so you're going to check that box when you
come to Curl Fast as a sponsor. I think when
you think about there always will be something. So so
so it's like, Okay, well if we don't do it
in June, what if we're doing in July, oh something else?
Oh okay, how about August? There's always going to be something.
And so I think for any entrepreneur out there, yes,
(28:50):
there's ebbs and flows. There's things you have to ship,
you have to be fluid, but at the same time,
at some point you have to feel confident in what
you've created.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Otherwise why wake up and do it?
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Yeah, I was going to say the same thing.
Speaker 7 (29:01):
There's every month we've entertained, we've moved Curlfest from July before.
But there's always something right. There's always something there's always
proximity to another event. And in the boardrooms where we're
not in, you know, they probably have conversations like, listen,
we only have money for one black.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Event this year, which one is it going to be?
Speaker 4 (29:21):
Right?
Speaker 7 (29:21):
And so it's really just being steadfast and like what
you offer, keeping and maintaining those relationships with the partners
that you have so far, and just moving forward with
what you believe that you feel like it's offering the
most value to your audience and your consumer everything else. Like,
there's always going to be competition. There's not in really
much we can do about that. But it doesn't I
(29:44):
want to say that it's easy either, like's not. That's
probably part of what is part of the nature of
business everding flowing over the last few years as well
for us and not really kind of getting back to
where we were in twenty nineteen yet will but not yet.
But that's part of the conversation too.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
So what is the business model to expand like even
outside of a physical event, Like are there like tangible products,
is their online community? Like is there anything outside of
just the one event?
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Yeah, so that's a great point.
Speaker 7 (30:21):
We do have, you know, some merchandise that we offer
what we are working on this year, and part of
the kind of strategy is to like put more time
and effort into the other you know, ancillary things like
having a membership. We already have a community, right, but
we want to like amplify that in a bigger way.
So we're working on that and hopefully that will be
(30:43):
launched also with next year all of.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
The other things.
Speaker 7 (30:47):
I always say the melody that you know, crow fest
may not it be it's our biggest, you know, identifying
part of our brand. But sometimes festivals and things of
that space may not be the money maker. Somebody can
have an event that large and bring in millions of dollars,
but the money maker.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Are is the T shirt sales and the food and beverage.
Speaker 7 (31:09):
And your membership community and whatever ancillary things that you
can branch off of your main kind of like identifying
brand position.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
Yeah, yeah, I think I think we have a plethora
of ideas. Yeah, we are no shortages of ideas over
the years. I think if we haven't a real conversation,
it's the capital. And so even the non yes, Crofast
is our tempole, A physical event is our tempole. I
still will forever think there's such power in human in
(31:42):
person contact, right, and so you know, I don't see
a world in which that doesn't exist. But when you
talk about the other pillars, right, whether it's a product,
whether it's merged, whether it's you know, online sessions, they're
still capital that's needed to make those happen as well.
They're almost little subsets of businesses. And so some of
(32:05):
the work that we have been continuously doing is strategizing.
Speaker 5 (32:09):
On how do we increase capital.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
One of those ways is you know, I'm sure as
you're growing this business and people are seeing the size
of the audience, I'm sure people are approaching you trying
to figure out how they can acquire the brand, perhaps
merged with the brand and added to their portfolio. However,
those conversations going for you posts in pre COVID.
Speaker 7 (32:36):
Yeah, we've had conversations fairly early on even I think
probably it to curl Fest. Maybe on our firs you
have curl fees. We've had investors probably approach us and
you know those those we've gotten pretty close with conversations
with investors. We've never We still are own one hundred
percent ownership of our business, which is also you know,
(32:57):
I want to make sure that it's clear.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
But the.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
It's difficult, right because it's a learning curve for us.
We have been building.
Speaker 7 (33:10):
We didn't start out this business thinking it was gonna
be a business. We started out this business.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
It was something that we felt like we needed. It
was a hobby. Let's do this fun thing.
Speaker 7 (33:18):
We need this community, and it turned into a business.
So it was and sometimes it happens that way, and
so there was a little bit of like learning and
unlearning that had to happen. We're building the plane as
we fly it. And so if you asked us maybe
six years ago, like what's your valuation.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
For your business?
Speaker 7 (33:35):
There will be some off the wall numbers, like our
partners probably would have said at the time, like I'm
not again an investor until we get you know, two
hundred million dollar valuation, which is not realistic, right, And
so I think part of the conversation is, really, you know, what,
what are the real valuation numbers that you can assess?
Speaker 1 (33:55):
What is it?
Speaker 7 (33:56):
Is the exit strategy or something that you thought of
that it's probably something that we think of more lately
than we have in the past, because we built this
baby up, and we start to stop saying calling our
business the baby, because there's a there's a connection there.
As much as we feel like it's much more than
a business, it's still a business, right, and so there's
(34:18):
still impact that you can do even if you move
in different directions. So I think the investor conversation it's
something we still get approached daily. We're working on making
sure that we have we have the best numbers to
back up an evaluation that folks kind of try to
offer us.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
I think as black women, we also have the barrier to.
Speaker 7 (34:45):
Have to overprove our worthiness in those spaces, and so
we'll get low ball numbers all day, right, and our
counterparts may get you know, like some crazy, you know,
nine figure valuation for something that hasn't made a dillarg
learn profit, right, And so it's a it's a space
that we are still kind of navigating, and yeah, it's
(35:08):
it's it's still a learning curve for us.
Speaker 6 (35:10):
But yeah, yeah, I mean the only thing I would
add is there's also when you think about any partnership
in any any capacity, if you're still going to be
a part of it, whether it's you know, sometimes the
approach where the offers were a majority, right, and so
we know we do know to a certain degree what
(35:31):
that means, right, and so knowing communities at our center
and what we've done to build this empire that we've
been able to create, this movement that we've been able
to create, how do you scale grow potentially do you know,
a shared a shared investment, but also keep the integrity
(35:51):
of it.
Speaker 5 (35:52):
And that's a very that's a very real thing.
Speaker 6 (35:55):
And I mean most you know within our community, specifically
Black communities with typically we can all think of numerous
brands that were for us, by us and they've you know,
sold to big corporations and you know, there's mixed feelings
from the you know, community as to whether or not
was right choice or not has their product changed. That's
(36:16):
a big headline. It's no, this is no longer the
same they sold out, change the formula, and so of
course life is about change. We're not expecting to look
and be exactly what we were. However, I think when
we think about something a big decision like that, because
when we started it wasn't a business.
Speaker 5 (36:38):
That means the drive, the passion, all of that.
Speaker 6 (36:42):
What our core is isn't just a money driving thing, right,
and so I mean, if it was, we would be
doing it full time.
Speaker 5 (36:50):
But this hasn't been.
Speaker 6 (36:51):
We haven't been able to do it full time, right
in terms of paying our our personal salaries and things
that nature. But what we know is what we created
is bigger than us and that's the fuel that keeps
us going. But when you think about, you know, a
potential investor, I think it is important that like whatever
that partnership is, that there's core values that are shared
(37:13):
that we feel as if the next evolution of what
we built will at least come from the same space.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
What about like the elements as far as rain, stuff
like that, as that play in insurance and you know,
doing an event. We never did an event outside and
one of the reasons why is because of that, right,
So how.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
Does that plan?
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Yeah, it's tough.
Speaker 7 (37:42):
I was like the director of operations, right and the
creative director for the business.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
It's super tough.
Speaker 7 (37:51):
There's so much unpredictability in an event in general, and
adding the weather is another element.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
That you.
Speaker 7 (38:00):
Sleepless nights we've had, you know, oftentimes venues that we
work with you can't there's no rain day, right, that's it.
And then you know, we have insurances that you know
that are enormous numbers that we have to pay for
in case that there's a natural disaster or weather condition
(38:20):
where folks have to evacuate, and then they may get
some of the portion of the ticket sales back. We
may get that, but we wouldn't get fully one hundred
percent reimbursed at all. It would be a significant loss
even with the insurance and some weather conditions we've gone
through everywhether yeah monsoon right, yeah, I mean it was
(38:41):
literally like I mean, through God's grace, no one got hurt.
But probably one of our very first crol fests back
in and Prospect part. We don't really talk about it much,
but we have pictures of those times and right when
Curlfest was about to be over, when it was we
had a great day and then the sky opened up
(39:02):
and it was literally a hurricane that came through, trees,
falling things. Everybody had to run to safety and we
couldn't clean up the place. The cleaning crew had to leave, right,
and everyone had to go run to safety, like things
flying literally everywhere. We get back to should I tell
the story, it's over, So we get back to, you know,
(39:27):
like four in the morning. Okay, guys, the skun the
stop raining, let's go clean up. And it's a disaster. Disaster,
it is a disaster. There are things everywhere. At that time,
Curlfest was free and so folks could bring in whatever
they could bring in, right, And the one thing they
called it in Brooklyn was they called them the dog walkers. Right,
(39:50):
there's demographic of folks that would be up at five
in the morning, just make sure the place is clean.
That Prospect Park is back to where it used to be,
what it looks like before the first dog walker hits
the grass, And that did not happen. And all we
saw were the dog walkers out there with pictures with
our brand on the ground, right, taking pictures and sending
(40:12):
them to all these communities all over social media, all
of their you know, not in my backyard. Communities that
were like, we don't want this kind of debauchery back
in our space, even though we it was literally a hurricane, right,
and so those are the types of things that started
curw fends and it was.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Like, we can never get through this again.
Speaker 7 (40:32):
We were like in tears picking up trash with our hands,
you know, like they might have been like, you know,
we didn't have security at that time. So there was
a liquor bottle next door crow fest from Banner. That's
what they associated, right that. They didn't associate community and
like beautiful spaces and family event. They associated you know,
this this event of color that came into our backyard
(40:55):
and destroyed our part. So we had to get through that,
you know, we did. We had to rebuild the brand
and move right. We begged and begged and begged.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
To stay in Brooklyn. We're still here to this day,
ten years later.
Speaker 7 (41:09):
We hear people saying it's never been the same since
you left Brooklyn, right, And the fact that the thing
about it is, I mean, listen, I'm such an open
book and I've gotten spank for saying so much, but
I don't care, Like you know, we have tried, We
went all the way up to you know, the tops
of the offices to beg to stay in Brooklyn and
Prospect Park specifically.
Speaker 3 (41:30):
And they just won't don't want our type of event
in that space.
Speaker 5 (41:33):
Well they wouldn't allow us.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
They wouldn't allow us too.
Speaker 6 (41:36):
And so obviously once we scaled beyond you know, eight
hundred people, there's safety, right, and so every human that
touches on the grass we are responsible for, right. And
so yeah, the sea of crowds when you see our
videos and you actually don't see the grass because it's humans,
every single human we're responsible for. And so we had
(41:59):
to make decisions that have their safety, our safety at
the forefront.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (42:03):
But yeah, I mean, I think the great part about
a story like that is when that happened, it felt
like there was no return. It felt like close up shop.
How are we ever going to come back? And we
did and we will continue to do it. So when
we talk about like what is the landscape now? Okay,
DEI the Orange Man like all of it, it's roadblocks.
(42:27):
It's roadblocks, and we will figure out a way to
push past it.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
Does crow fests is this synonymous with New York? Does
it have to stay in New York. I know you
did Atlanta. What did we learn? What did you learn
from moving it to a different city? Right, we did
invest Fst London. We learned a lot, yes, right, Like
it was like, okay, obviously it's a shortened, more concise event,
(42:51):
but there was a lot of different things. You're doing
something international? Is that an option as well? Oh for sure?
Speaker 6 (42:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (42:57):
And we always loved like it's the birthplace of girl
us to have at least at least one curl fez here,
but yeah, curl Fez on the road for sure. What
we learned in Atlanta is that we have a beautiful
community in Atlanta too that loves us there. Right if,
I feel like the hair capital of the world of
the United States at least, and you know, they loved
us there. They opened us with you know, open arms
(43:20):
in Atlanta, and we love to come back. We love
to be in a lot of places. And you know
that's on the that's on the map.
Speaker 4 (43:27):
Well, thank you guys for coming.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
Before we leave, tell her what can they expect as
far as you know, twenty twenty six is any waiting
list website like you know, pre sale?
Speaker 4 (43:39):
Yeah, all of the doing Oh yeah, all those things.
Speaker 7 (43:42):
So there's a pre sale on curlfest dot com c
U R L F E SD should I talk to
you guys. There's a pre sale and curlfest dot com
special for folks who are riding for us for.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
Curl Fest twenty twenty six. We need your support.
Speaker 7 (44:00):
We need your support early, right and if you can't spare,
you know, buy a ticket, Tell your friends, share that
Curlfest is coming back. You know, understand like who is
behind the brand that we're here for y'all and we
are not going anywhere. We're also working on smaller kind
of community initiatives this year as well, So look out
(44:21):
for announcements on Curly Girl Collective, our Instagram page, sign
up to our mailing list on curlfest dot com and
buy a ticket.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
Yeah, And I want to say that we appreciate y'all.
And I told you just before someone we probably had
this conversation that watching you guys create an event helped
inspire us creating events. And there was some details when
we went to curl Fest when you bought the kids
from the community center, right, and I was like, Wow,
that's incredible. I was like, we're doing an event. We
gotta do the same, and so we've been finding kids
(44:51):
down from the community center to investors. So we appreciate
y'all for kicking down the doors and we're gonna support
you anyway we can.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Thank you, Thank you for having us us.
Speaker 4 (45:00):
God, thank you for rock Rooster seeing next week. Peace.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Peace.
Speaker 8 (45:04):
An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child
in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador
accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with
filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just
some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President
Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Christy nom the United States
(45:27):
Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal border
crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded, and over
one hundred thousand illegal aliens have been arrested. If you
are here illegally, your next you will be fine nearly
one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned and deported, you will
never return. But if you register using our CBP home
(45:51):
app and leave now, you could be allowed to return legally.
Do what's right.
Speaker 3 (45:56):
Leave now.
Speaker 8 (45:57):
Under President Trump, America's laws, board and families will be protected.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security,
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