April 30, 2025 • 22 mins
Anjelika Perry, CEO of Black Travel Go, joins Stay A While to discuss how travel can be a tool for personal growth, healing, and building generational legacy. She shares her journey of traveling as a form of self-discovery, how she built a thriving business in the travel industry, and why it’s crucial for Black travelers to connect with communities worldwide. Anjelika also dives into the impact of grief on her journey and how she has turned loss into an opportunity for growth and global impact. Whether you’re a frequent flyer or just beginning to explore the world, this episode will inspire you to travel with purpose.
Guest: Anjelika Perry
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Music By: Stichiz - Big T. Music / Roj & Twinkie
Guest: Anjelika Perry
| Powered by The House of Joy |
Subscribe & Follow:
Don’t miss an episode of "Stay A While"! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform. Stay connected and get the latest updates by following us on Instagram @StayAWhileShow and follow our host Tommi Vincent @cheftommiv. Watch full episodes on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/@ChefTommiV
Join the Conversation:
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode! Share your insights and stories with us using #StayAWhilePodcast on social media.
Music By: Stichiz - Big T. Music / Roj & Twinkie
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to a special edition of Stale Wild, recorded live
on Radio Row at Super Bowl fifty nine. I'm your host,
Tommy Vincent, and we are going to be hearing some
dynamic conversations with phenomenal guests here on Radio Row. So
take a seat, get comfortable in stale Wall. This episode
is sponsored by the House of Joy. Hey everyone, it's
(00:24):
Tommy Vincent, your host of Stalewil podcast, and today I
have joining me at the table Angelica. Perry Angelica is
the CEO of Black Travel, Goo and Systems architect and Strategists.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Welcome to the table, Angelica. Thank you somebody just happy
to be here. Yeah, beautiful moment.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I'm grateful to have you here so that we could
be in conversation today. I want to know more about
this business you've established and why did you feel like
it was necessary.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Okay, I'm going to start at the top of the
list because there's a few. But you know, I'm a
traveler and traveler of the spirit, traveler just in life,
and I really started traveling with my own spiritual journey
and it was really important just to get out and
(01:20):
see the world. Left home Alcadena, and my first trip
was actually to Mexico by myself, and I just traveled
for three months now, I want to say two. So
I was young, you know, and so I still trying
to find my way, but I just went and I
(01:42):
really had a desire to get to know myself, and
people had talked about it so much and so and
just doing research for it. I you know, I was
looking for just travel inspiration, and I wanted to see
some things that really would just inspire where I wanted
(02:02):
to go. And I didn't really see any travelers that
look like me, and a friend of mine suggested searching
the hashtag black travel and when I searched that just
pages and pages and pages of black travelers and just everywhere.
And this was, you know, almost seven years ago now,
(02:22):
when the industry was just really getting started and people
were realizing that you could have these dynamic experiences in Thailand.
You can go to China, you can go to Japan,
you can just go anywhere. And so I went, and
I went to Mexico and I met a couple of
(02:43):
other black travelers there, and I thought it was amazing
that there were people here independently, not just there traveling,
but they were also starting businesses.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
So these were my folks, because I am a serial entrepreneur.
I love to start a business.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
But it was beautiful to see that they were connecting
with the indigenous communities there and they were learning to
almost like this trade relationship of where, hey, I have
a group coming in from the States and these are
first time black travelers. They really are a little bit
nervous and a little bit scared, and they want to
(03:22):
trust this experience. And so I just started being in
community and connection with them and started learning about myself,
and so I had a little bit of a platform then,
and next thing I know, I started sharing more of
their experiences, the people that I knew, the people that
I didn't know, and slowly the community started building. And
(03:42):
about a year ago, I created a platform called Community
to Commerce because I wanted to really show the power
of community and how you can actually build together.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And that can be another way to see resources.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Is you know, sometimes with entrepreneurship, all of your resources
are sometimes centered on financial access, and I think as
black business owners, that's a challenge that we continue to face,
especially now with the current climate, and I just really
wanted to show, you know, resource can be just talking to.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Each other how did you do it? How did you
get information? Information?
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Absolutely people perish because they don't know exactly exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
And from there, you know, we had we just started
highlighting other travelers in a more dynamic way that says, Okay,
how do you travel with points, how do you build points?
How do you start a business in Mexico? How do
you start a business in Thailand? How do you connect
with other people in the community. And so from there
it just grew and grew and grew to where we
(04:49):
are today, and it actually led me to my next business,
which is entrepreneur.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Say that.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
So that you know was the starting point because you know,
there's a point of travel that I think it looks
really beautiful to be a luxury traveler, and I think
we all kind of have that experience. But when I
was traveling, there was a point where I was going
from one location to the next location, and you kind
(05:24):
of have this sense like you're stepping over the community
that's already there. Yeah, And after about five or so
years of just traveling really intentionally, it started to weigh
on my heart that I needed within my privilege, needed
and wanted to do more. So I connected with my
good sis Ana Set and she's a traveler. She has
(05:47):
a travel company, and we created a company called Just
Give Art and so with that, we decided to take
this information of knowledge and resources the things that we
were doing to bring travelers into communities, and we decided
to create this company to share the art of expression,
the art of humanity. How can we bring travelers that
(06:09):
have this privilege of experience to communities that are looking
to build.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
So we created this.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Experience called Global Impact and we're posting this in Uganda
where thank you, thank you, and it's a beautiful experience.
We're partnering with an organization there that just build a
school and we're just we're bringing you know, any resources
(06:37):
we have, and we're really showing that power of community
as an opportunity to be commerce.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Where I work in systems and.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Process building as you mentioned, and one of the big
areas that I work in is AI and teaching AI
to black and brown business owners or just hopefuls. How
do you use the power of this new tool that's
going to change the world, and how can we get
this into communities to help get creative about our resources.
How do we give access and how can we create
(07:09):
actual trade across the ocean. So all of it came
in together in travel, and I'm really grateful for this
community and it's just you know, the space to be
able to share whatever I can to build and growse.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
With your travel.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Do you curate your own experiences or do you work
with someone to build what that experience is going to
look like? Because that's a fear that people have with traveling.
Like it's sometimes if you get a situation where it's
kind of inclusive of the experience there, it's too expensive.
But if you can navigate, you know the itinerary yourself,
(07:50):
you're able to manage those expenses.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
So how do you go about that? So I'm a
lone traveler. Okay, I'm a road track and traveler. I
will not say travel like me, but I am very
much experience based.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
So I love to just pack a bag and go
and just here's my hotel. You know, I do have that,
But other than that, that was how I learned how
to travel and get to know the community that I
was traveling in. Because some of the greatest stories and
the experiences you're going to have are when you just
talk to people and you just say, hey, tell me
(08:25):
where's this, where do you like to go eat?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
So that's one way of traveling.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
There are some other ways, and we work with a
lot of specifically black and brown owned businesses that are
travel agents, and I really like to amplify their voices
because you know, I think the misconception is that travel
has to be expensive, and so that's what holds a
lot of people back is that they think that I
(08:50):
can't go to London because I got to pay for
the hotel and it's an arm in a lag. I
gotta you know, all of the travel that comes with it.
But there's really a lot of access and opportunity and
there's communities there now that didn't exist that will help
you navigate and travel and say this is the best
place to stay because it's central to this. And agents
(09:12):
are doing that now, specifically working with black and brown
travelers that have never traveled before or they want to
add more experience to their travel. Yes, so there's there's
there's a lot of entry points to this and access
for folks now that didn't exist purely based on platforms
like Black Travel, Go and so many others that exist
(09:36):
that are just showing you, you know, even if you
don't have an itinerary. You can pick a page and
someone has come with me to this tea shop and
are you've probably seen it before, and you know, come
with me to this tea shop or come with me
to this cafe.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
I got my hair braided in Japan and it was
a vibe. You know, it was a moment and it
looked good, and it looked good, you would be surprised. Yes,
I'll do right over there.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
So it you know, it just exists, and I uh,
I really encourage you know, search the hashtag black travel,
go black travel, black travelers. Uh, you know, travelers now
is a little bit more diverse, so now you know
we're making waves and other hashtags that still exist.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
So in your quest to really come into the space,
because you've you've mentioned multiple times about how you've gotten
to know.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yourself, how you've learned of yourself in.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
This quest, in this journey, what has been the most
challenging part about that for you?
Speaker 3 (10:43):
M M. I think the most challenging part has been
to get out of my own way. No one's out
to get you, and you're safe. I think there's a
(11:08):
sense of home that I really encouraged people to cultivate
within themselves with any travel journey, when you can identify
home within your operating outward and it's a place that
you really really love. And that was a hard place
(11:28):
getting to and it took a lot of loss. Specifically,
what kicked it off for me was my mother transitioning
into twenty eighteen and just a wave of grief and
not knowing how to manage that. And this is pre businesses,
pre anything, just Angelica living in the world with no direction,
(11:53):
and I think it's.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Grief can point.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
You in a lot of the right spaces when you
just open your heart to healing. And that was I
think getting out of your way, releasing attachment to your
narratives and that it has to be a certain way,
because every time that I have shed that it has
to be this way. The next level is a lot
(12:17):
that has led me to a deeper faith, and then
once you get your faith together, you can operate from
there because it's it's like this space of love that
I'm doing everything because I love myself at the end
of it, and so loving myself within that home within,
releasing all of that pain and kind of giving something
(12:38):
beautiful back to the world. It's been the hardest place
to get to, but also when it comes back out,
it's you know, it's full of love and it's full
of just creating opportunities for others, you know, And I
think that's a good space to be in with communities.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Before we started recording, you and our were talking about,
you know, your story and some of your legacy in
regards to your grandmother and how all of that really
came to the forefront as a result of the tragedy
of the fires in California.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
So can you talk about.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
How that experience has caused you to really look at
your legacy and the contributions that your grandmother has made,
the sacrifices she's made, and how that impacts you.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I love these questions.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
They're very reflective, and so legacy is important, and I
think that once you get to that place, you're building
your legacy out from there.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
At least for me, that's what it was.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
And I grew up in Alsadena, California, and it just
you know, you're growing up in this space that you
don't really you don't really see what this is. You
just know that it's your experience. And I grew up
knowing these stories about my grandmother, who you know, she
(14:17):
moved from Alabama out to start in Seattle, made her
way down to Los Angeles. You know, got married, had kids,
got divorced, started her career, went to fit them.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
As a black.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Woman in the fifties and sixties, that's a big deal
in Los Angeles. And she was just determined to you know,
something she always told my mother, and that was passed
down to us, is that always have you know, something
for yourself as a woman. As I don't know if
she attached black women too it, but she's just said,
(14:52):
as a woman, have something for yourself. And now this
is someone who had four kids. She grew up in
the jungles of La from La you know, but you
know she moved her family to this innovative town called
Altadena during the White Flight, if you're familiar with that,
that happened in Pasadena. And she brought this home from
(15:16):
working in the film industry because she was one of
the lead seamstresses on Star Trek, the original series. She
worked on I Love Lucy, and you know, we just
had these stories of you know, she would come home
my mom would say that she would come home with
like scripts that were from shows that she worked on,
and they just they didn't know what to do with
(15:38):
it when she passed, So everything just kind of went
into the storage of our garage, which was at the
house that burned down. We had her original, you know,
sewing machine, and it was a vintage singer, which doesn't
really exist anymore, but we had it and up until
recently it was still there. And she passed this entrepreneurs
(16:02):
spirit down to my mother, who was you know, then
took it on herself to support black and brown babies
and healthy maternities and you know, just everything that dealt
with community building. And then she started her own DULA
program and so she traveled all around the country and
just you know, she went to school, she went back
(16:24):
to school at a later age. So it just was
all of these stories of these amazing women. And then
I come along as an entrepreneur. Didn't know that this
was going to be my journey, but I think I
just kind of walked into it because I had all
of these stories already, you know, and I think my
(16:47):
mother was really passionate about healthy black and brown babies,
and so I feel like I'm taking that to the
next step.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Healthy black and brown communities. Yes, and how can I
create Okay, we had the babies.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I was one of those healthy black and brown babies.
And now I'm building a community, and now I'm connecting
all of these folks that are going through this moment
of awakening. I think right now, and I think with
what happened with our town and our home, legacy is
(17:22):
more important than ever now. And there is something really
important of Altadena's not for sale, which is a really
big campaign right now just within our community of you know,
we can't let Altadena be forgotten because of all of
the people. And these are people I grew up with
(17:44):
that you know, are working themselves in the film industry.
My siblings alone are in different industries as well, and
I just think it's it's important that folks look at
what's happened now and hopefully inspired to be a part
of the rebuild, knowing that we do want to rebuild,
(18:07):
and that we're now the leaders of this and absolutely
take it and we can build better, We can build differently,
and literally we're building from the ashes of something tragic
that happened, and it doesn't have to stay tragic. It
can be something beautiful and I think that's the legacy
(18:31):
that I want to contribute. An add to it is
how do we turn this into something that is beautiful.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Now for.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Future generations to come and see and hear the story
of my grandmother, my future kids one day and.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Things like that.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
So more than ever, legacy is important, and I want
to as we go into Uganda, as we go into
all of these other spaces, we're building legacy around the
world of what black and brown communities can actually be
when we come together, like truly come together with organization.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
So that's where I'm at. That was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
And you know the thing about legacy is that it's
supposed to transcend us and transcend the generations prior and
it's not a yes, we're not starting something new, we're
building onto And so when you talked about now the
home has to be erected from the ashes, yeah, you're
(19:30):
the foundation is still there, right, you know, the legacy
of your grandmother and your mother. Now you all get
to build onto the legacy that they've established, and so
it is going to be something beautiful. And so this
I know that, and I would never try to, you know,
try to console and minimize what that experience is for
(19:51):
you and your family, But I just want you to
be encouraged because now you all are in a position
to build on to the beauty that already existed.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
So thank you for sharing that. Yeah, it feels like
ancestral ground. Honestly, this was where my mother transitioned, my
grandmother transitioned, my grandfather, my dad. They are, they're there everywhere.
They're with us in spirit. Altadena is we're in spirit
(20:23):
now and I appreciate that, and I know it's why
my mom would say, well, you know, everybody's safe and
you can always get stuff back.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
And I have, you know, a few pictures that I
just happened to have with me just I carry them
around when I travel, and it was my sense of
home and they're literally the only remaining images of our
family that exist. And I think that's important and I
want to contribute to the community.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
With that in whatever way you can. So I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Yeah, absolutely, so, Angelica, in in your parting words, what
would you share with Angelica that was on her quest
to find herself? What would you say to her to
keep her encouraged to keep going on?
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Now? Hm hmm, what would I.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Say, everything happens for a reason. You're gonna be okay,
and you are more powerful than you probably.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Even know wherever you are in your journey. And thank you.
That's what I was. She needs to hear that absolutely well.
I want to thank you for joining me.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
On Stale Wile, and I just want you to know
that my table is always open for you.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
You always have a seat and you are welcome anytime.
Thank you so much. This has been everything I imagine
to just joy.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
I really appreciate that absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
I hope you felt the love and connection in today's conversation.
Every woman you heard from has faced the impossible and
emerged stronger. This is your personal invitation to stale while
longer at Tommy v dot com. That's t o mmiv
dot com for more inspiration for your mind, body and
(22:40):
soul and let's not forget your belly. You're always welcome
at my table. Please be sure to subscribe, make yourself
at home, and stale wild
Speaker 2 (22:54):
St
Welcome to a special edition of Stale Wild, recorded live
on Radio Row at Super Bowl fifty nine. I'm your host,
Tommy Vincent, and we are going to be hearing some
dynamic conversations with phenomenal guests here on Radio Row. So
take a seat, get comfortable in stale Wall. This episode
is sponsored by the House of Joy. Hey everyone, it's
(00:24):
Tommy Vincent, your host of Stalewil podcast, and today I
have joining me at the table Angelica. Perry Angelica is
the CEO of Black Travel, Goo and Systems architect and Strategists.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Welcome to the table, Angelica. Thank you somebody just happy
to be here. Yeah, beautiful moment.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I'm grateful to have you here so that we could
be in conversation today. I want to know more about
this business you've established and why did you feel like
it was necessary.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Okay, I'm going to start at the top of the
list because there's a few. But you know, I'm a
traveler and traveler of the spirit, traveler just in life,
and I really started traveling with my own spiritual journey
and it was really important just to get out and
(01:20):
see the world. Left home Alcadena, and my first trip
was actually to Mexico by myself, and I just traveled
for three months now, I want to say two. So
I was young, you know, and so I still trying
to find my way, but I just went and I
(01:42):
really had a desire to get to know myself, and
people had talked about it so much and so and
just doing research for it. I you know, I was
looking for just travel inspiration, and I wanted to see
some things that really would just inspire where I wanted
(02:02):
to go. And I didn't really see any travelers that
look like me, and a friend of mine suggested searching
the hashtag black travel and when I searched that just
pages and pages and pages of black travelers and just everywhere.
And this was, you know, almost seven years ago now,
(02:22):
when the industry was just really getting started and people
were realizing that you could have these dynamic experiences in Thailand.
You can go to China, you can go to Japan,
you can just go anywhere. And so I went, and
I went to Mexico and I met a couple of
(02:43):
other black travelers there, and I thought it was amazing
that there were people here independently, not just there traveling,
but they were also starting businesses.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
So these were my folks, because I am a serial entrepreneur.
I love to start a business.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
But it was beautiful to see that they were connecting
with the indigenous communities there and they were learning to
almost like this trade relationship of where, hey, I have
a group coming in from the States and these are
first time black travelers. They really are a little bit
nervous and a little bit scared, and they want to
(03:22):
trust this experience. And so I just started being in
community and connection with them and started learning about myself,
and so I had a little bit of a platform then,
and next thing I know, I started sharing more of
their experiences, the people that I knew, the people that
I didn't know, and slowly the community started building. And
(03:42):
about a year ago, I created a platform called Community
to Commerce because I wanted to really show the power
of community and how you can actually build together.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And that can be another way to see resources.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Is you know, sometimes with entrepreneurship, all of your resources
are sometimes centered on financial access, and I think as
black business owners, that's a challenge that we continue to face,
especially now with the current climate, and I just really
wanted to show, you know, resource can be just talking to.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Each other how did you do it? How did you
get information? Information?
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Absolutely people perish because they don't know exactly exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
And from there, you know, we had we just started
highlighting other travelers in a more dynamic way that says, Okay,
how do you travel with points, how do you build points?
How do you start a business in Mexico? How do
you start a business in Thailand? How do you connect
with other people in the community. And so from there
it just grew and grew and grew to where we
(04:49):
are today, and it actually led me to my next business,
which is entrepreneur.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Say that.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
So that you know was the starting point because you know,
there's a point of travel that I think it looks
really beautiful to be a luxury traveler, and I think
we all kind of have that experience. But when I
was traveling, there was a point where I was going
from one location to the next location, and you kind
(05:24):
of have this sense like you're stepping over the community
that's already there. Yeah, And after about five or so
years of just traveling really intentionally, it started to weigh
on my heart that I needed within my privilege, needed
and wanted to do more. So I connected with my
good sis Ana Set and she's a traveler. She has
(05:47):
a travel company, and we created a company called Just
Give Art and so with that, we decided to take
this information of knowledge and resources the things that we
were doing to bring travelers into communities, and we decided
to create this company to share the art of expression,
the art of humanity. How can we bring travelers that
(06:09):
have this privilege of experience to communities that are looking
to build.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
So we created this.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Experience called Global Impact and we're posting this in Uganda
where thank you, thank you, and it's a beautiful experience.
We're partnering with an organization there that just build a
school and we're just we're bringing you know, any resources
(06:37):
we have, and we're really showing that power of community
as an opportunity to be commerce.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Where I work in systems and.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Process building as you mentioned, and one of the big
areas that I work in is AI and teaching AI
to black and brown business owners or just hopefuls. How
do you use the power of this new tool that's
going to change the world, and how can we get
this into communities to help get creative about our resources.
How do we give access and how can we create
(07:09):
actual trade across the ocean. So all of it came
in together in travel, and I'm really grateful for this
community and it's just you know, the space to be
able to share whatever I can to build and growse.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
With your travel.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Do you curate your own experiences or do you work
with someone to build what that experience is going to
look like? Because that's a fear that people have with traveling.
Like it's sometimes if you get a situation where it's
kind of inclusive of the experience there, it's too expensive.
But if you can navigate, you know the itinerary yourself,
(07:50):
you're able to manage those expenses.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
So how do you go about that? So I'm a
lone traveler. Okay, I'm a road track and traveler. I
will not say travel like me, but I am very
much experience based.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
So I love to just pack a bag and go
and just here's my hotel. You know, I do have that,
But other than that, that was how I learned how
to travel and get to know the community that I
was traveling in. Because some of the greatest stories and
the experiences you're going to have are when you just
talk to people and you just say, hey, tell me
(08:25):
where's this, where do you like to go eat?
Speaker 2 (08:28):
So that's one way of traveling.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
There are some other ways, and we work with a
lot of specifically black and brown owned businesses that are
travel agents, and I really like to amplify their voices
because you know, I think the misconception is that travel
has to be expensive, and so that's what holds a
lot of people back is that they think that I
(08:50):
can't go to London because I got to pay for
the hotel and it's an arm in a lag. I
gotta you know, all of the travel that comes with it.
But there's really a lot of access and opportunity and
there's communities there now that didn't exist that will help
you navigate and travel and say this is the best
place to stay because it's central to this. And agents
(09:12):
are doing that now, specifically working with black and brown
travelers that have never traveled before or they want to
add more experience to their travel. Yes, so there's there's
there's a lot of entry points to this and access
for folks now that didn't exist purely based on platforms
like Black Travel, Go and so many others that exist
(09:36):
that are just showing you, you know, even if you
don't have an itinerary. You can pick a page and
someone has come with me to this tea shop and
are you've probably seen it before, and you know, come
with me to this tea shop or come with me
to this cafe.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
I got my hair braided in Japan and it was
a vibe. You know, it was a moment and it
looked good, and it looked good, you would be surprised. Yes,
I'll do right over there.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
So it you know, it just exists, and I uh,
I really encourage you know, search the hashtag black travel,
go black travel, black travelers. Uh, you know, travelers now
is a little bit more diverse, so now you know
we're making waves and other hashtags that still exist.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
So in your quest to really come into the space,
because you've you've mentioned multiple times about how you've gotten
to know.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yourself, how you've learned of yourself in.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
This quest, in this journey, what has been the most
challenging part about that for you?
Speaker 3 (10:43):
M M. I think the most challenging part has been
to get out of my own way. No one's out
to get you, and you're safe. I think there's a
(11:08):
sense of home that I really encouraged people to cultivate
within themselves with any travel journey, when you can identify
home within your operating outward and it's a place that
you really really love. And that was a hard place
(11:28):
getting to and it took a lot of loss. Specifically,
what kicked it off for me was my mother transitioning
into twenty eighteen and just a wave of grief and
not knowing how to manage that. And this is pre businesses,
pre anything, just Angelica living in the world with no direction,
(11:53):
and I think it's.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Grief can point.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
You in a lot of the right spaces when you
just open your heart to healing. And that was I
think getting out of your way, releasing attachment to your
narratives and that it has to be a certain way,
because every time that I have shed that it has
to be this way. The next level is a lot
(12:17):
that has led me to a deeper faith, and then
once you get your faith together, you can operate from
there because it's it's like this space of love that
I'm doing everything because I love myself at the end
of it, and so loving myself within that home within,
releasing all of that pain and kind of giving something
(12:38):
beautiful back to the world. It's been the hardest place
to get to, but also when it comes back out,
it's you know, it's full of love and it's full
of just creating opportunities for others, you know, And I
think that's a good space to be in with communities.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Before we started recording, you and our were talking about,
you know, your story and some of your legacy in
regards to your grandmother and how all of that really
came to the forefront as a result of the tragedy
of the fires in California.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
So can you talk about.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
How that experience has caused you to really look at
your legacy and the contributions that your grandmother has made,
the sacrifices she's made, and how that impacts you.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I love these questions.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
They're very reflective, and so legacy is important, and I
think that once you get to that place, you're building
your legacy out from there.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
At least for me, that's what it was.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
And I grew up in Alsadena, California, and it just
you know, you're growing up in this space that you
don't really you don't really see what this is. You
just know that it's your experience. And I grew up
knowing these stories about my grandmother, who you know, she
(14:17):
moved from Alabama out to start in Seattle, made her
way down to Los Angeles. You know, got married, had kids,
got divorced, started her career, went to fit them.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
As a black.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Woman in the fifties and sixties, that's a big deal
in Los Angeles. And she was just determined to you know,
something she always told my mother, and that was passed
down to us, is that always have you know, something
for yourself as a woman. As I don't know if
she attached black women too it, but she's just said,
(14:52):
as a woman, have something for yourself. And now this
is someone who had four kids. She grew up in
the jungles of La from La you know, but you
know she moved her family to this innovative town called
Altadena during the White Flight, if you're familiar with that,
that happened in Pasadena. And she brought this home from
(15:16):
working in the film industry because she was one of
the lead seamstresses on Star Trek, the original series. She
worked on I Love Lucy, and you know, we just
had these stories of you know, she would come home
my mom would say that she would come home with
like scripts that were from shows that she worked on,
and they just they didn't know what to do with
(15:38):
it when she passed, So everything just kind of went
into the storage of our garage, which was at the
house that burned down. We had her original, you know,
sewing machine, and it was a vintage singer, which doesn't
really exist anymore, but we had it and up until
recently it was still there. And she passed this entrepreneurs
(16:02):
spirit down to my mother, who was you know, then
took it on herself to support black and brown babies
and healthy maternities and you know, just everything that dealt
with community building. And then she started her own DULA
program and so she traveled all around the country and
just you know, she went to school, she went back
(16:24):
to school at a later age. So it just was
all of these stories of these amazing women. And then
I come along as an entrepreneur. Didn't know that this
was going to be my journey, but I think I
just kind of walked into it because I had all
of these stories already, you know, and I think my
(16:47):
mother was really passionate about healthy black and brown babies,
and so I feel like I'm taking that to the
next step.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Healthy black and brown communities. Yes, and how can I
create Okay, we had the babies.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I was one of those healthy black and brown babies.
And now I'm building a community, and now I'm connecting
all of these folks that are going through this moment
of awakening. I think right now, and I think with
what happened with our town and our home, legacy is
(17:22):
more important than ever now. And there is something really
important of Altadena's not for sale, which is a really
big campaign right now just within our community of you know,
we can't let Altadena be forgotten because of all of
the people. And these are people I grew up with
(17:44):
that you know, are working themselves in the film industry.
My siblings alone are in different industries as well, and
I just think it's it's important that folks look at
what's happened now and hopefully inspired to be a part
of the rebuild, knowing that we do want to rebuild,
(18:07):
and that we're now the leaders of this and absolutely
take it and we can build better, We can build differently,
and literally we're building from the ashes of something tragic
that happened, and it doesn't have to stay tragic. It
can be something beautiful and I think that's the legacy
(18:31):
that I want to contribute. An add to it is
how do we turn this into something that is beautiful.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Now for.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Future generations to come and see and hear the story
of my grandmother, my future kids one day and.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Things like that.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
So more than ever, legacy is important, and I want
to as we go into Uganda, as we go into
all of these other spaces, we're building legacy around the
world of what black and brown communities can actually be
when we come together, like truly come together with organization.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
So that's where I'm at. That was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
And you know the thing about legacy is that it's
supposed to transcend us and transcend the generations prior and
it's not a yes, we're not starting something new, we're
building onto And so when you talked about now the
home has to be erected from the ashes, yeah, you're
(19:30):
the foundation is still there, right, you know, the legacy
of your grandmother and your mother. Now you all get
to build onto the legacy that they've established, and so
it is going to be something beautiful. And so this
I know that, and I would never try to, you know,
try to console and minimize what that experience is for
(19:51):
you and your family, But I just want you to
be encouraged because now you all are in a position
to build on to the beauty that already existed.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
So thank you for sharing that. Yeah, it feels like
ancestral ground. Honestly, this was where my mother transitioned, my
grandmother transitioned, my grandfather, my dad. They are, they're there everywhere.
They're with us in spirit. Altadena is we're in spirit
(20:23):
now and I appreciate that, and I know it's why
my mom would say, well, you know, everybody's safe and
you can always get stuff back.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
And I have, you know, a few pictures that I
just happened to have with me just I carry them
around when I travel, and it was my sense of
home and they're literally the only remaining images of our
family that exist. And I think that's important and I
want to contribute to the community.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
With that in whatever way you can. So I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Yeah, absolutely, so, Angelica, in in your parting words, what
would you share with Angelica that was on her quest
to find herself? What would you say to her to
keep her encouraged to keep going on?
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Now? Hm hmm, what would I.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Say, everything happens for a reason. You're gonna be okay,
and you are more powerful than you probably.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Even know wherever you are in your journey. And thank you.
That's what I was. She needs to hear that absolutely well.
I want to thank you for joining me.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
On Stale Wile, and I just want you to know
that my table is always open for you.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
You always have a seat and you are welcome anytime.
Thank you so much. This has been everything I imagine
to just joy.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
I really appreciate that absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
I hope you felt the love and connection in today's conversation.
Every woman you heard from has faced the impossible and
emerged stronger. This is your personal invitation to stale while
longer at Tommy v dot com. That's t o mmiv
dot com for more inspiration for your mind, body and
(22:40):
soul and let's not forget your belly. You're always welcome
at my table. Please be sure to subscribe, make yourself
at home, and stale wild
Speaker 2 (22:54):
St
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