Podcast Feature: Minding My Black Business

Minding My Black Business: Episode 118 - Travel Anxiety During and After COVID-19 featuring Orion Brown

Audio and Photo Source: Minding My Black Business and JaNaè Taylor

Episode Summary

In this podcast Dr. JaNaè Taylor covers Orion Brown's entrepreneurship journey, her stance on travel during the pandemic, what she misses most about traveling, her tips on holiday travel and what minding your Black Business means to here.

Join them in a candid talk about all things Black business and Travel! 

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Episode Transcript

Minding My Black Business

Episode 118 - Travel Anxiety During and After COVID-19 featuring Orion Brown

JaNae Taylor (00:02):

The information provided in this podcast episode is for educational and entertainment purposes only, and is in no way, a replacement for a theraputic relationship with a licensed mental health professional. Hey family. Welcome back to the show. Another episode of the Minding My Black Business podcast. It is I, your host, Dr. JaNae Taylor, Nae Nae, Dr. T, it's me. I am so excited for you to hear today show. I had to have a really impactful conversation particularly about traveling, right? So the holidays are coming up. Some of us are getting the itch to want to be near our loved ones, particularly if they're hours away or maybe the States away. And we haven't seen them at all 2020, what are we going to do? Um, so we're still trying to figure that out. So in this conversation, we talk about that, the travel anxiety, whether you go somewhere or not. Or even if you need to just kind of walk beyond your door.

JaNae Taylor (01:03):

So our guest today, her name is Orion Brown, and she is the founder and CEO of the BlackTravelBox, which is a premium, clean beauty brand targeting women of color. She is a brand strategy professional with almost 15 years of experience in brand strategy and business management. But before becoming a full-time entrepreneur, she led brand strategy for Oracle and Hasbro. She spent the bulk of her brand career at Kraft foods, handling the marketing management and operational initiatives across several global brands. She's a graduate of university of Chicago and has the MBA from Duke. Orion is a lover of travel and food spending most of her free time outside of her career, pursuing the best of both. Family let's welcome her to the show, Orion Brown. Welcom to Minding My Business. Welcome to another episode of the Minding My Black Business podcast. And I am quite excited about today's guest, um, and partially for selfish reasons. Um, you know, I am wanting to get into some travel, but I must check in. So let me introduce our guests, Orion Brown. So welcome to the show Orion.

Orion Brown (02:26):

Hi, thank you so much Dr. Taylor for having me.

JaNae Taylor (02:30):

Absolutely, absolutely. Absolutely. It's I'm excited about what we're getting ready to talk about. So can you introduce yourself so the family and then let them know where they can find you.

Orion Brown (02:41):

Awesome. Awesome. Hey, y'all my name is Orion Brown. I am the founder and CEO ofBlackTravelBox is a personal care products company for travelers of color. So everything that we make is in forms and formats that's meant to travel well, get you through TSA without catching a case and are actually made for our unique hair and skincare needs. Um, so, so products that actually acknowledged that we do travel and we need to look fly when we do it. And you can find us online at theblacktravelbox.com or you can also find us on Instagram @blacktravelbox.

JaNae Taylor (03:18):

Fantastic. And as always, I will have those links in the show notes so that people can peruse your social media platforms, um, and go to the website and do a little window shopping like I was doing this morning. Um, cause there are some pretty cool things there. So let's start at the, I have tons of questions, but let's start maybe at the beginning. How did entrepreneurship find you? How did this happen?

Orion Brown (03:46):

Um, it's funny and I, if you, if you've heard me on any other podcasts, like people ask me this question and I feel like, you know, that little voice on your shoulder, be like, okay, tell them this. And it's like, no, I did not come out of the womb as an entrepreneur. Like I hear all these stories. It's like, yeah, I've been selling lemonade, slinging in these streets since I was five. And I'm like, no, Nope. I was like, you know, they make that already. You can just buy it.

JaNae Taylor (04:09):

They sure do. They sure do.

Orion Brown (04:11):

So for me, it was more of, uh, you know, I spent about 15 years in the corporate space. Um, the majority of that was in sort of brand management and the food sector. So, you know, working for Kraft foods and then doing some stuff for Hasbro and a few others. And I had spent years running businesses, multimillion dollar businesses. Um, and you know, over that time I kind of noticed, I was like, you know, there's choices that I would like that I would like to make differently. But in a corporate structure, you just, you got to go with the flow. Um, there's definitely a line and values that you don't go over and I've definitely spoken up when, when necessary. And so I just really didn't think anything of, you know, actually creating my own business. However, as I got further into my career, I got a little bit away from brand management, which is actually like owning a business suit to nuts, the PNL, the marketing, all of that stuff, and started getting into some more of like my skill-based, you know, my consumer insights skills and, and strategy and consulting, which was great.

Orion Brown (05:12):

But I missed having my hands in something. Um, at the same time I was also a Black female in the corporate space. And I think there's a couple kinds of people. It's like the kind of person that's like, all right, well, we just don't go with the flow and keep climbing and move in and then hits me. I was like, um, y'all can stop now. I really, I don't really need this. I don't need the, uh, abusive behavior. I don't need the disrespect. I don't need an environment that I do not feel comfortable or happy to be in on a daily basis. And that's not to kill all corporate, but you know, there's definitely once you've seen it a few times, it's like, yep, that was my last nerve. That was the, the very last nerve that was it right there. It's on, you're on it.

Orion Brown (05:57):

Right. You're on it. You're not even on anymore. It just rolled in a corner. So I was like, I made the decision that I wanted to get out of that space. And I, you know, the, the very prudent South side of Chicago, part of me was like, are you going to get you a job right now? And the other part was like, you haven't worked in a really long time. I think you should pull your inner Becky out and go on sabbatical. And somewhere between the two, I say, you don't want to take a few months off. In the meantime, I had had this idea for BlackTravelBox. It was something that had popped up on a recent trip up, uh, probably about a year, year and a half prior to this, you know, transition from corporate. And I started working on it as a passion project.

Orion Brown (06:39):

Cause I missed having my hands in a business and building something and talking to consumers. So I kind of just did it, you know, nights and weekends when I kinda got to with the holidays came, I didn't touch it for like months. Then I came back to it. And so as I took this time off and said, you need grow, you need a spa day and you need to cleanse yourself of all of the foolishness and the white cisgender male stuff that gets laid on you daily. Absolutely. I was like, well, you know, I could just work on this. Cause this has been so much fun and it's been, you know, exciting. And so I had my, I had my come to Jesus or maybe I was, it was more like Jesus come to me environment where I was like, here's what we going to do.

Orion Brown (07:20):

I'm going to try this and I need you to either make this a spectacular failure. Like I need it. Just fire balls is burning in planes, terrible failure. So I know, right. Or you need to give me some real good signs that I need to keep on with it. And I was like, if you do that for me, I will be obedient. And if it sucks, it sucks. And it doesn't, I would go for it and it did not stop. And I had three months and I had given myself a three month time period. And I will say, even in running this business now for a few years, um, I'm working on it. Those three months were probably the most magical three months of this time. And obviously it's amazing things have happened. We've been on Beyonce and stuff like that. The amount of, I felt communication that I was getting that I was getting here and stuff. I mean, just out of nowhere, it was amazing. So that's my very long story of how

JaNae Taylor (08:15):

Great cause there's nothing like confirmation this whole process. So exactly right. So, you know, we, we have our dream, we have our baby and then we launch it out into the world. And so to get confirmation, this is what we need this, we need to be validated. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, this is fantastic.

Orion Brown (08:35):

No, no one thing I've learned and I'm getting up there now. And I mean, my aunt who's like 88 was saying, I'm not that old, but um, but I am getting to a more mature point in my life and realizing is no man woman. I mean, man, as a human, no human can be sort of that for you like personally. Um, and, and so for me, I just was like, if God is in my corner on this, then it doesn't matter how things happen. Like it doesn't matter how it unfolds. I know I have the rest of, I have rest in the assurance that where I land, when I go look back, I'll be like, yep. Okay. That sense, you know, people, you can try and rely on people and people are humans and they, they can't always do all the things that you need them to do, but God, so I'm like, well, if you're telling me, this is, this is what I need to do next. I'm going to trust you. You haven't talked with specifics, so I know ain't no telling them what it's gonna look like, but I trust you. So

JaNae Taylor (09:38):

Right. Yes. Death divine. I hear you. So, so what has, you know, your products or for, um, so as I was reading the story on your website, I was tickeled. I was tickled because I thought about how, um, you know, hotel lotions are just kind of a joke, um, and thing,

Orion Brown (10:02):

How are you going to make lotion? And it puts ash on you. Like that's not even.. that 's the opposite. You only have one job.

JaNae Taylor (10:10):

In a very watery, uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, um, so I was like, yeah, this is definitely, and you know, it's kind of like an internal joke. Um, and you know, some of those things that also happened, those phenomenons also kind of present themselves on places like Black Twitter. Like how, how are we all having the same experiences? How is this happening? So, so that, did you have kind of stood in the gap, um, and say, you know, actually you don't have to be bothered with any water products or shampoo, shampoo, shampoo, and conditioner that you'll never use. I never put it in your bag. I never touched it because I already know automatically that it's not, it's not gonna work for me

Orion Brown (10:55):

As I was doing research. I was like, you know, and a lot of the Black travel groups on Facebook. So if y'all see me out there holler at me, the Black travel Facebook groups, and it's amazing how many women were saying, like, what do you do with these toiletries? Give them to the homeless. And the person's like, yeah. So, you know, I take a zip lock. I make sure I take them every day, you know, so they refill me and then I take them all and then I give them the home. And I'm like, that's a beautiful thing. But also how are you paying this much for this hotel room? And they can't give you something and they call it an amenity. Right. You know what I mean? And so I just, I find that problematic. And, and, and I hear from people of the more clear persuasion and God bless them.

Orion Brown (11:38):

There'll be like, well, nobody likes that stuff. And I'm like, there's a difference between not liking it. And it actually detrimentally affecting your skin and your hair creating damage. Right. As opposed to like, it's just like dudes who, who don't understand women want different shampoos and conditioners and stuff. They're like, I'll use plus two and one, it's like, well, that's on you. That's your business. That's cool. But I have different needs you. And at some point, you know, even the hotels realize they couldn't put that to a one mess in there. It was like, we'll off. All of them, all the women who, you know, could use it, not being acknowledged by the travel industry, not being acknowledged by the beauty industry. I really think that there's an opportunity for us to change the script. Black people who travel. We spent $63 billion on travel in 2018. We grew that $20 billion over eight years, we are insane travelers. We are a movement happening. And people have not even like, we've acknowledged it within our community, but nobody looked at us and be greedy enough to be like, yeah, let me get in on that equal opportunity community that you want to tap into. It's like, how are you gonna forget about me?

JaNae Taylor (12:49):

Right. We like, we like travel. We like to be pampered. We like luxury and we deserve it. So, yeah. And I, I appreciate you. Don't we

Orion Brown (13:02):

We spend nine times any other ethnic group on personal care and beauty, but we have the least amount of representation in the marketplace and we still have segregated aisles. Let's talk about that. How you gonna segregate the aisle then expect separate, but equal mess? It don' work with haircare and skincare. Let me get off my soapbox.

JaNae Taylor (13:23):

Oh, no. I'm like, you're right. There is a little corner where all the boxes, I automatically turn Brown or Black and you notice where you're supposed to be. Uh, yeah. Okay. So no, you do you hitting on stuff. That's for sure. What, what has traveling been like for you since... oooo since march?

Orion Brown (13:40):

Nonexistent.

Orion Brown (13:48):

Nonexistent and I refuse. I really, you know, I I've had family that's been sick and they're they're okay now, thank God. But I have friends whose families have been sick, I have a friend who, um, you know, recently gave birth and her father passed before meeting her child. Like it is not that serious for me to be out and I'm not worried of, I probably already got COVID to be honest, I got sick in March and was like pretty fevery and gross and all of that. And so whether I had it or not, my thought is I do not want to be the person that touches the rail that touches the bag that goes home with somebody and they get sick and lose their friends. Like I just don't. And so I haven't been doing that and I've been very, um, mindful in our communications around BlackTravelBox in terms of travel. I've definitely been, you know, encouraging people to stay home and think about travel, dream about travel and still be in the community and still have fun with it, but be safe. Right. And so that's been my, my thought process about travel since March.

JaNae Taylor (15:01):

Yeah. So I know I'm definitely seeing people not post as much in terms of like airplane travel, but I'm certainly seeing, it feels like this spring of road trips. Uh,

Orion Brown (15:17):

That's a great way to do it

JaNae Taylor (15:19):

That I have for that. Yeah. So what, what do you miss most about, about traveling?

Orion Brown (15:25):

Ooh, uh, food. I just, I love food. Whether it be like holding the wall spots or whether it be fancy spots, there's just something about having something either really fresh and new or just something really yummy or just something different. Um, and I'm a foodie, I'm just a foodie at heart, but definitely a foodie. And so a lot of my travel was like linked in with my food experience. Right. And, and then, you know, also locally, so I'm located in Denver, Colorado. We shut down pretty much everything for quite some time. And then now we have restaurants open, but I feel a certain kind of way about being piled up in a restaurant. So some of the books that are less can, you know, congested, I'll go to periodicaly. So I can like not completely be a hermit. But when I do miss that, I used to love to rotate through different food places and things that for me, travel, breaking bread with other people eat.

Orion Brown (16:27):

And even if it's just like interacting with the waitstaff and stuff like that, or interacting with the chef, like food softens, the everybody's heart, I think absolutely. You just feel good when you share about something and you ask them, what do you like, why do you like it? Well, my mom used to make something like this and you should try that with garlic. And then you had a moment where you, like, you like, are like, as much as I do it doesn't matter where you're at. You could be a Croatian, you could be Ireland, you could be in Japan, you can be in Kenya. It's like, y'all like that garlic. Um, but that's what I miss. I miss that connection. And, and sort of the beauty of the food experience.

JaNae Taylor (17:09):

Absolutely. Yeah. Damn, when I think about some of my best memories, food is involved. So either preparation of food or eating a delicious meal, or even trying to find a place to eat, like, yes, those are some of the, some of my best memories. So I get that for sure. So it speaks and thinking about this, this is kind of like a nice transition. We are in mid September and we are at the doorstep of holidays. Right. And so I know that people are really trying to navigate that and figure that out. Particularly people who might not necessarily be living in their state of origin. So, you know, the bulk of their family are, you know, hours. Um, and maybe they haven't seen them since March or maybe not even all year and are trying to navigate, should I, you know, should I get on that plan?

JaNae Taylor (18:00):

Should I get on that train? Should I get in my car, um, to go and be with my family? Cause we also, as we are being safe about traveling, we also dealing with this isolation, you know, you talked about being a hermit before a lot of us entrepreneurs, we have found with digging now into our businesses and all those pivots that we had to do, but now our, our missing, missing mom's hugs or aunties pie or whatever, like we're missing just what it means to kind of go back to that family space. And so I know that a lot of people are talking about doing some holiday travel, um, and at the same time being terrified of doing, of doing the holiday travel. So that's just from my perspective, but what are you hearing about, or have you heard anything in terms of people make it thoughts of plays about what they would do for the holiday travel?

Orion Brown (18:50):

Honestly, I feel like I've heard about basically three, three schools of thought, not necessarily just for holiday, but just for travel in general, because I think everybody's at a frustration point. It was different when it was just like six weeks at eight weeks at 10 weeks, but now we've been months and months into it. You have the people who are like, am I the only one still quarantined? There's a full group of that. Um, we have the people who were like, you know, going out super, super precautious doing road trips instead of, you know, not. And then we do have people who are just out here like, and Barbados is letting people in and a lot to do is just state my temperature. Cool I'm out. Um, and I don't think that there's necessarily anything wrong with any of those. I think the challenge is, you know, particularly in the United States that we are mindful of our public spaces, that we are taking the time to wash our hands and do those precautions because it doesn't really matter how far you go.

Orion Brown (19:50):

It matters how clean you are. That's just, that's truly what it is. Um, I think with the airports and, and especially with the air, I mean, with the airports being and restaurants as well, like I personally prefer to gather at public places as opposed to private places. Cause I don't know how you clean, but I know how they clean cause they got all these cleaner and they have to put procedures in place and all of that. And so I feel much more comfortable with that and, but it is interesting. I think there is that stress. Um, you know, my family, we had our reunion this year completely virtual, which was the first time in 55 years annual, but we were able to still have a virtual reunion and get together, get, you know, a smaller group together. And I'm hearing a lot of people doing that.

Orion Brown (20:38):

I was just talking to someone the other day. Her family does like a little Saturday, um, devotional together. We get on zoom and they, a little bit of, you know, they play a little gospel music, say a few words and like commune with each other a little bit. So I think people are finding ways and it's, it just really is a, it's a challenging balance. And what I think is probably going to be most intimidating for folks is holiday travel. If holiday travel turns into even half the rush, it was before we know those numbers are going to fill up because it's just a lot of people in a condensed space. So how do we fight that? And that's where things like road triping, um, some people, you know, if you're working remote, going and staying with family, so quarantining themselves and then staying with family and staying on for a longer terms, enables them to do that as well. So figuring out ways to get around it and hopefully we can remain safe here.

JaNae Taylor (21:35):

Yeah, no, I think those are some great, um, tips because that actually was my next question. Like what should we be traveling? Uh, and then to, if how do we kind of redirect it? How do we make use of the angst around? This is, you know, my need to be with my, put my eyes on my family kind of supersedes, um, me quarantining or whatever those types of things are. And so you're right. It's, this is kind of a thing where we're building the bridges, we're on it. We're trying to figure this whole thing, the whole thing out. Um, and so I think those are some really some really good feedback, um, for sure. For sure. What do you think, how do you think in what ways I recognize I'm asking you to predict, but I'm really curious. Um, what, uh, what are some things that you think we can do to be, um, best prepared and just kind of like the mindset of it all? So when are you going to get in your car? Um, are you going to, you know, go by plane, train, whatever, um, to your destination and managing the travel anxiety, uh, what are some things that, that we can do to best prepare ourselves?

Orion Brown (22:49):

Yeah, I would say there's a, there's a healthy balance between being anxious and aware, right. And being relaxed and enjoying the experience. And I always lean towards, I want you to be present and, and take advantage of the experience because travel to me is very cathartic and it's a great form of self care. So it's really about, you know, being mindful, things like checking the location that you're going to and understanding how many cases they currently have, what rules are in place and what the process is to enter there safely understanding that it's not just about you not getting sick. It's about you not communicating things to other people or touching things and bringing it to other people. So, you know, coming in with a mindset of not taking offense, if people are more stressed than you don't take, you know, if they're less stressed than you don't take either, it's not about you, it's about them.

Orion Brown (23:48):

Um, and you know, cause sometimes we can get really contentious and almost political about these things. And we've got a whole bunch of other baggage that's linked to it and you see how they are and just stop right. Then people are operating out of ignorance. Some are malicious, but that's very, it's usually very few. Some people are just mostly just ignorant of what they're doing or not aware or not. Or even sometimes you just forget, you know, sometimes you just hop in the car and you're like, Oh, I'm just gonna go to the wait a minute. I ain't bring them back. Am I doing, I can't go back home and that's okay. It happens. We're not used to this space. So kind of giving each other grace, but also just coming prepared yourself, make sure that you have a mask, make sure that you have hand sanitizer, try not to touch your face.

Orion Brown (24:32):

Um, you know, when in doubt wear the mask more than you need to. Um, you know, when you come in now this is, let me just keep it real. But whenever I travel in New York, New York is the dirtiest. I love New York. It is so dirty. And especially if I end up in like the subway or anything like that, I peel down like I need to, you know, like I'm coming out of a spacesuit. All my stuff gets rolled off at the door. My hand, I put on something clean. I may even take a shower if it's like summertime and I've had my skin exposed, just treat treated like that, treat it like you've been on a New York subway honestly. And then take the precautions, let them take your temperature. If you need to be quarantined somewhere, don't freak out because you know, that could be a part of the process.

Orion Brown (25:21):

And you know, what have a contingency plan if they're like, Hmm, I think you need to be at this hotel for a few days, then be like, okay, I need to be at that hotel for a few days. They don't tell them what could have happened if I wasn't here. So I'm going to enjoy their cable. I'm going to sit on the patio. We're going to use their site or whatever, you know, you have access to. I remember seeing this lady recently, uh, this young lady that was, I guess, an influencer or something like that. And she got quarantined and she was like, well, my friends didn't eat and she's, I got anxiety and I can't be in here. And it's like, at some point you just have to accept that this is a time full of immense change. Um, if it hits you in your pocketbook, like just reach out to people and let them know what hits you in your pocketbook.

Orion Brown (26:05):

But like don't, don't freak out because it's for your safety and it's for everyone. Else's. And even if they don't say it to you nicely, or, you know, act the way that you would hope they will give us grace and give yourself grace, because it's that heightened emotion that makes it such a terrible experience with, you know, being at home is not horrible. Being by yourself isn't horrible. Traveling by yourself isn't necessarily horrible. Not being able to see family. Now how many times a year or two ago you were like, Ooh, I can't wait till I get home. Cause these people getting on my nerves, it's all about perspective and taking the proper precautions, but not stressing yourself out and giving grace to the situation so that if it switches up on you just, just flow with it.

JaNae Taylor (26:52):

Right? So focusing on the things that you can control and being very flexible.

Orion Brown (26:57):

Yes. I am figuring out that the serenity prayer is the answer to everything. The AA folks had the right idea, except the things that you can't change, something about the ones that you can. And then just be smart enough to tell the difference between the two, because if he's not, you can do about it. Why stress, right, right. Nothing can do. And it's okay to be powerless in some situations because then you just go to God hour or two, whatever you believe. But like why put it on yourself if you literally have no say in it? And if you do stop kicking yourself and just do something about it,

JaNae Taylor (27:34):

This is true. All right. Yeah. I heard that, right? No, I think that was great. I think that was great. I think that's going to be really reassuring the folks as they are trying to make sense of how to make a decision and how to move forward. I think that's going to be really helpful for sure.

Orion Brown (27:53):

Yeah it's not going to be the end of the world. That's usually what we're afraid of that we're going to make a decision. That's going to be the wrong one. Something awful is going to happen. It's like honey people slide in their bathtub and die every day. I mean, I don't need to be crass about it, but it's true when you have accidents and all of a sudden, nothing you do, you know, unless you out drink and, and drive and, and making poor choices like that, there's nothing that you can do that's going to keep calamity away at all times. And so really it's just, you were put here to have experiences, go have good experiences and be responsible.

JaNae Taylor (28:26):

Absolutely. Absolutely. I like that. I like it. Okay. So I feel like I have tons more questions and I keep you here all day, but I will not do that because I recognize it for Black entrepreneurs. Time is money. Right. So I do appreciate you because I think that this is, um, you know, we haven't really talked much about travel, at least on the show. Um, we talked about it once, but that was certainly pre COVID. Um, but now this kind of creates a whole different way of thinking about things. Um, and sometimes travel could just even mean beyond your doors. Cause there's a whole, like you were saying, there's a whole like pep talk. You have to have, even if it's going to the grocery store or the gas station, or go in and get your medicine that you have to kind of do your, your check-ins about everything.

JaNae Taylor (29:18):

Um, and so we all are doing it. We all are having this dialogue with ourselves. And, um, as we make sure we're safe and as we also are surveying other folks who are in our environment, like you're standing too close, why don't you have your mask on your nose? You know, we're doing it, we're doing it. I think so. I think we all are walking around with some piece of anxiety and for some of us were able kind of shake it off and other folks, um, it's a little bit tougher, but these are the things that you said I know are going to be really helpful to, to folks for sure. Um, but I must ask you this. So before we, before we conclude, what does minding my Black business mean to you.

Orion Brown (29:57):

Ooh, there's so many different directions you could go with it. But I think as of late with everything that's happened with Black Lives Matter with, look with me digging further into beauty standards and some of the stuff that we talked about in terms of industry and for me, my day, my black business is being my brother's keeper and the many ways in which we need keepers. So you'll hear me and you'll see me talk a lot about mental health. Um, I have family I've, I've lost family and people very close to me to mental health issues. And I would shout from the rooftops if I could, that, you know, Black men are suffering in this country and culturally, they're not allowed to have the space to, to get help. Black women are suffering in this country and we all want to be...

Orion Brown (30:49):

It's not even that we want to be super women. We've been told that we are, um, and the burdens that we're carrying on us before COVID, before Black Lives Matter. And now, you know, day by day, we're seeing people slaughtered on the streets and it's traumatic. So we're, we're, we're being retraumatized on a daily basis. Our kids don't know what's going on. We don't know how to explain it to them. Everybody's afraid. And, and now we have the isolation and all of that. So for me, you know, I'm, I'm all about wellness and self care being very honest. There's a reason why I'm very honest about my business. You asked me pretty much any question I answer because you know, for, for entrepreneurs, we get told a lot that like, it should be overnight success and everything should be amazing and you should be taking photos in front of jets.

Orion Brown (31:34):

And if you're not doing that, you're not, you haven't made it. Um, you know, going through the process of fundraising and trying to get investment on this business in a world that doesn't see Black women as valuable and that, and they're the center of my business. Um, so there's just, there's so many elements to it. And, and so I think it's, it's sort of like without burning oneself out, it's seeing a fight and either lending your voice, your time, your money, your support, or even just your prayers to it. Absolutely. So that's, to me is minding my Black business, it's not about business. It's about the affairs of my people and being active in the affairs of my people in the way that's most constructive. Cause we all got opinions that doesn't mean we're all qualified to help out or do whatever, you know, but, um, what is definitely that, you know, just being really aware and being my brother's keeper. Um, cause I see a lot of people shy away from situations, Oh, that's not our business. You just let them do that. You know? Uh, I don't know if you watch Lovecraft country.

JaNae Taylor (32:37):

I haven't, but I've heard so much about it though.

Orion Brown (32:40):

There's a scene where a young lady in her, I think it's her cousin are fighting in the house and the two guys outside and they screaming and yelling at each other and he laughed. She'd go in and say something. No, no, no. That's, that's the family business. I just don't believe that. I don't believe that. I just, I don't. I remember as a kid hearing our neighbor being beaten up and down the walls in the apartment next door and my mom, certainly because you know, it was just her and me. She was like, we can't get in the middle of that, but I also am like, I have to be willing to put myself in harm's way. I have to. I don't know. That's just how I think about it. But um, cause we, we have to look out for each other who else is gonna do it? Right. So that's what minding my Black businesses.

JaNae Taylor (33:30):

I love it. I love it. Wow. Okay. I'm digesting all these things. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for these Jim. Thank you for this wisdom and encouragement. I really.. There has been a lot of like encouragement and reassurance and um, and the words that you've that you say. So thank you Ryan, for coming to the show today. Thank you.

Orion Brown (33:52):

Thanks so much for having me. And I'm glad I could, I could be encouraging. We all need encouragement right now. We just need to lift each other up and support each other and be like, you know what? I see you. you know?

Orion Brown (34:08):

I, I that's, that's what I'm all about. So even if we got to do it remote, we've got to support eachother.

Speaker 1 (34:13):

Absolutely. I hope you enjoyed this episode. As much as I did family. We appreciate you. We need you to do us a favor. We need you to like comment and subscribe to the podcast. Also join us @fallwiththemovement on our website on mindingmyblackbusiness.com. There, you can find Minding My Black Business merchandise and you can also find our digital Academy. Now our academy is the place where we are looking to expand our resources, particularly emotional wellness resources for Black entrepreneurs. And we already have worksheets there. We have more resources to come. You can follow us on our social media platforms. Twitter. We are @mindingmyblackbusiness on Instagram is @drdjanaetaylor and on Facebook @Dr. Janae Taylor. Peace and blessing to us all and when you're out there and they ask you what you're doing. Don't forget to tell them I'm minding my black business.

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