Wine Down Wednesday: Ashley Shaw

Wine Down Wednesday: Ashley Shaw

Aired: August 11th, 2021

Audio and Photo Source: Ashley and Instagram

 

Episode Summary

You guy's this WDW was a mixed bag. When we say it's random, it's real, we mean it! Orion Brown and Co-founder of CANE Beauty, Ashley Shaw, talked about everything... except for maybe travel LOL. From the craziest foods they've ever eaten stateside and abroad to beauty disparities and the relativity of natural ingredients, it's a winding conversation. Tune in and join us for the ride! 

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BlackTravelBox ® Clean Beauty (@blacktravelbox)

 

Episode Transcript

Wine Down Wednesday: Ashley Shaw

Orion Brown (00:04):

Hey folks. It's Wednesday. Hi everyone. Come on in. Hello. Hello. Let, let me get a bite of my little sandwich. Um, Hey y'all for those of y'all who don't know me? My name is Orion Brown. I'm the founder and CEO of BlackTravelBox, baby. It's been such a day. It's been such a day and y'all I call myself picking up drinking coffee today. I don't know why. So I'm over here doing the Harlem shake is hot. Like I'm not used to this whole caffeine thing. Um, but it's been a marathon of the day and I'm so excited to tell you all about it. And we're gonna bring in my girl, Ashley to talk as well. So we're going to get her invited. So come on in. Y'all it look laughing me if you want to. I have no clue. And so our birthday BlackTravelBox, personal care products company for travelers of color for those don't know - Hey,!

Ashley Shaw (01:06):

Hey!

Orion Brown (01:09):

Our birthday is on Saturday. And so today I have been, um, scrambling to get party favors and things for our shoot over to the studio and Hey y'all. Um, and so I stopped and got a cake y'all I gotta tell y'all about this cake. This cake is gorgeous. So much calamity tried to happen, but you know, Jesus came through and I found this cake. I went into this, this bakery and found this cake and I was like, I really want to eat the cake, but I'm not going to be there for the shoot. And I don't want to ruin the cake before. So I got myself a little cupcake with like this much. When I say this much, I'm talking like good three inches of frosting, buttercream frosting on top. And I got back to my house and I grabbed my coffee and I got my buttercream frosting. And now I'm like this, like I am shaking. It is out of control. So I have my sparkling wine. Hopefully that'll look, this is uppers and downers in this terrible, not too old to be doing drugs. Isn't that terrible y'all.

Ashley Shaw (02:10):

I've got soda, so.

Orion Brown (02:14):

So anyhow, oh, John asked me from where, what was the name of the place? Hold up. I haven't, I have it in my pocket. I'm gonna tag them too. This place is called French for Sugar and it's super cute. They have like this just super cute aesthetic. Um, they're in Denver, Colorado. Um, and I'm really excited and I'll be tagging them when you guys get to see the actual photos. I'm looking on my computer right now at some of I'll show you, uh, I just paid for these, hold up, hold on. What's the best way to do this. I'm gonna mess it up. If I try to show you, I think I might mess it up, but, uh, you guys will see there'll be coming a story soon. You guys will see that the cake was bomb. The decorations, all of it. We were just really excited. My baby is four, Which is crazy. Cause she's still a little. She little for her age. She little right? It's not her problem. It's not her fault. She's like in like the 70th percentile, but she's going to get catch up. She's going to catch up. I'm sure of it. So, Hey friend, I wasn't ingnoring you. I was like, I'm, I'm telling you it's the caffeine.

Ashley Shaw (03:15):

Oh, you're fine.

Orion Brown (03:18):

What's that ?

Ashley Shaw (03:19):

Your skin is all glowy.

Orion Brown (03:22):

It's A filter. Yes. Look at that. Filter. Come through. Come through instagram.

Ashley Shaw (03:28):

I've got a filter going on right now.

Orion Brown (03:30):

I have my go-to filter that I use every week. Um, and it's not like it hasn't given me a new nose or anything like that, but it does like warm up my skin. I throw on some lipstick though. I throw on some lipstick for you.

Ashley Shaw (03:42):

I appreciate it. It looks good. I didn't.

Orion Brown (03:48):

Ooh. As I'm sweating, cut caffeine out as I'm sweating caffeine. Okay. So for folks who don't know, you, please introduce yourself. Um, tell us where you live, where you're from. We're not going to do the number of passports stamps. I think we did that before. So I will say, tell us, oh, and also tell us about what you, you know, your day job, your day, you slash your night. I mean, you got different things going on,

Ashley Shaw (04:16):

Right? I am, I am hustling. So I am Ashley Shaw. Um, I have known this lady for, I've known you for almost a two dec_, like, okay. Yeah. Two, two decades. Um, I am a lawyer by training. I, um, I own a contract review service called contract RX. It's a service for positions. Um, I have somehow, um, become kind of like, you know, I spent so much time in in-house that I'm a generalist. So I am a lawyer by trade. I have the most randomest stories that are hilarious because you know, it didn't happen to me, but I watched some of -

Orion Brown (04:53):

Those are the best stories.

Ashley Shaw (04:55):

Right. And two years ago I decided to change my life. Um, because I was on the corporate grind, I jumped off the corporate ladder, like head first, launched the business and then decided that I wanted to enter the beauty space. So about seven months ago, I launched a company called CANA beauty, um, focus. Yay. I know it has been a journey. It has been a ride and has been a learning experience, but it is truly a passion. Um, because you know, we focus on providing hair care. That is for those that have sensitive scalps, but also just that are experiencing scalp conditions. Right. You know, I'm no spring chicken as I've gotten older, you know, I've noticed changes, you know, after I had my son, I had postpartum hair loss and there were moments where I felt like this can't just be me. I'm going through this. And so I partnered with my physician sister who was a a thousand percent nerd, but she's really smart. And

Orion Brown (05:54):

They are both nerds by the way, y'all, I can say this because a, and I know you're not the same person, but for the rest of us, they're the same person. They're identical twins. Number one, number two. Now obviously you guys look different and I can tell the difference now and all that, but don't that first year of school, I had no idea what to call them. I was just like, which one? I'm not going to say nothing. I'm like Hey girl!

Ashley Shaw (06:14):

We sound the same so that does not help at all. So I partnered with my sister who I am super crazy close with the other half of the egg, my twin, and we launched the brand. Um, and it has been a journey. It has been a wonderful thing. And so, and you have been amazing just helping with all my silly questions. Uh, so that is me. Um, but I still have the day job of an actual full-time legal practice, which is I enjoy it. Um, but you know, the beauty brand is where my passion lies.

Orion Brown (06:44):

I love that. I love that. And you know what, one of the things that I'm helpful, one of the reasons why I'm helpful and this doesn't mean like all y'all that are listening to be like, okay, let me just chat, tapping. All right. Cause Orion only got so much, I got extra energy right now, but it's about to burn out five minutes after we're done. Um, but one of the things I do really believe in as just an ecosystem of creators of color, uh, cause I believe brand people are creators as well, right? Like we're creating brands. We're not just, you know, like making graphics and things, which graphics are great. Right. Um, but like creators of color and folks who are birthing these things, we gotta help each other out in tangible ways. Not everybody has all the time in the world and I don't I'm sometimes I'd be like, oh girl, I mean, I gotta say uncle this week. I don't have time. But in so far as I can be like, oh, you have this problem. I saw that last year. Let me tell you what I did. I try to do that as much as possible. And I encourage all y'all to do that as well. Um, so

Ashley Shaw (07:43):

Because I think that, you know, when you're in these spaces, there are so few of us, um, and entrepreneurship is such a lonely existence, you know, I, you know, and then, you know, I'm trying to balance just having a family and doing this. Um, and so it really, it can get hard. And so just having that support and just having someone provide, like, for me, I will answer your questions up the wazoo, because for me, it's like five minutes and you have an answer, but now you've been Googling for two days trying to figure this out.

Orion Brown (08:14):

That! That!

Ashley Shaw (08:14):

Right?

Orion Brown (08:16):

Yes.

Ashley Shaw (08:17):

So it is, I, it is sharing the expertise. It is really treating us as like a community of expertise because at the end of the day, you know, we don't have a lot of resources. We don't have a lot of duties and it's up to us to really kind of pull each other forward. Um, so, and I'm all about Black girl power. So yes.

Orion Brown (08:37):

Right. Even if it's bright Black, um,

Ashley Shaw (08:40):

All shades! You know, I'm all girl power because I feel like, you know, it's, it is not, there are some days I feel impacted as a Black person. There's some days I feel impacted as a, as a mom and a woman. Right. So.

Orion Brown (08:52):

Intersectionality is so huge. And I love that we have a mixed audience for Wine Downs. Like I try not to be offensive to anybody, um, in the sense that there are things that, and we all have this, there are things that we will say in the comfort of our family or our friends, um, which is some of the things that we have to break, to be honest, like everybody needs to kind of work on, but I try to make sure that everybody feels welcome. There may be some times of endearment that y'all hear me say, but they're terms of endearment. I am, I do not like being disrespectful to people. It really actually bothers me. I'm like, you're a human being. You should be respected. But you know, as you said, like, I love that we have kind of a mixed audience because there's so much intersectionality in our experiences. Like you don't necessarily have to be a person of color to feel eyes on you or an expectation of you that has nothing to do with who you are as a human being. You don't have to be, you know, like we can have men on who are gay or whatever it might be. Now. Obviously if you're a white cisgender male, you're probably not having these issues. Um, but even if you're here, like I love that you're here and you're able to like kick it with us and get to know us. It's like, guess who's coming to dinner. I hate to put it that way for y'all old enough. That was a, that was a movie way, way back. And what was the early seventies? Late sixties?

Ashley Shaw (10:19):

Didn't they redo it?

Orion Brown (10:19):

Um, there was it, they did redo it, you know, you're right. They did have a remake, but I'm thinking Sidney Poitier like sixties.

Ashley Shaw (10:27):

No, please don't please don't. I know. Um, I know.

Orion Brown (10:31):

But, but, but the idea of, if you start to get to know a person more intimately, if you start to have more personal conversations that typically people will clam up, if they don't know you. Oh yeah. So this is where I love to have. Oh, so Donna said, I know what that is. Sidney Poitier boom.

Ashley Shaw (10:49):

One of the ways that I really, I think becoming a mom, like, so there were many ways in which I had to find myself and I, you know, I was 36 not to date myself here and feeling old when I had my son. And so me becoming a mother was later after a whole bunch of other things, but I find it's, it's a comradery. Like when you are, you know, and you're like, oh, I'm a toddler mom and they're like me too. And then you're like, yeah, I forgot the snacks this morning. And he didn't match it. And we lost the shoe in route. It was like, oh, I know like this, this week, this week has not been, I'm not winning in the mom game this week.

Orion Brown (11:26):

Yuh know, it's hit or miss though! Like beat your child and give them something to go to therapy about? You. Good. You good, as long as you didn't do that.

Ashley Shaw (11:36):

You know, there were, it gives a sense, a comradery that you have like, great is right. So like I've had shifts where we bought it on, oh, I've traveled to this place. And this was my experience or a lawyer who was nothing like me in a courtroom. And we are sharing the same experience from a difficult client. And so it is, you know, I always look for those moments. I'm naturally. Um, and I like, I look for those, you know, trust-building just information gathering opportunities, because if you talk loud enough, you'll find a point of connection there. Rarely I do find that I can't do that.

Orion Brown (12:22):

And, and that's what, um, is so remarkable about travel to me is because- Y'all see how I brought it back over. I'm like Barbara Walters over here. Y'all Um, but, but really Like, that's one of the things that's really remarkable about travel to me because I've, I, you know, when I first started traveling, I was like, let me go to places that are English speaking countries or people that look like me. Cause I need a comfort zone, which we all need a comfort zone with some, some regards, sometimes people are like, I need to know that they have a burger king. That's all I need to know. And then I'm good. Um, which by the way, I highly recommend trying and fast food in other countries. It is a really fascinating process. But the thing that I find really interesting is as I started going and getting more comfortable being in countries that I don't speak the language, they don't speak mine. And I really ain't trying to learn this in the next six days. Like I'm just going to go and interact with humans. It's amazing how much you can just by one coming in with humility. Like, I don't know how to say this. You don't owe me anything because I don't know how to say this. You know? And, and having conversations with people and realizing that you find the same things. Funny, you know, you like the same things. You have the same hopes and aspirations. You have the same frustrations. Like there is nothing like interacting with a person, uh, who doesn't speak the same language and they have their kid with them and the kid is getting on their nerves. And you're just like, and they're like, [inaudible] this child don't get beat later. Like you know, just, you know, it's yeah. There's that unspoken humanity. That is just so important. I think we lose a lot of that in America because we focus on, oh, they don't speak the language. So they have an accent or all of that. And yeah. So that's why I created this space.

Ashley Shaw (14:03):

The language is when your kid loses shit on a plane, every mom can relate to that. Oh. Oh, like, so yeah, that is, that is good. And I put you put, you also gotta be open to it too. Um, so yeah,

New Speaker (14:19):

And that's the key. And that's, that's also where I, you know, I've had, um, you know, Indian women on and things like that. And I did take a pause. I was like, oh, should I do that? Or should I make this a Black space? And I was like, no, this is a space. This is a space that always respects the Black experience. But that doesn't mean that everybody coming into this space has a firsthand account of it. It just means that we're very respectful of it and the same way with the brand, right? Like I am very Black woman forward and people ask me like, oh, is it just for Black people? And I'm like, there, this is a conversation to have. And there's one of the reasons why I wouldn't change the name. People like BlackTravelBox, you shouldn't use the word Black. And I'm like, there's so many things that are black that have nothing to do with skin, but have to do with being like handy. So like the little black dress for y'all who remember before cell phones, your, your black book, your little black book. Right. You know, it had all the things in it. And so while there's sort of a triple entendre happening, I also purposely didn't pull that back because I want us to have a conversation of why does representation automatically mean segregation it when it comes to, you know, seeing Black bodies?

Ashley Shaw (15:31):

Yeah. I mean, cause honestly I find in my experience, when you finally are inclusive, you uncover the issues that you ignored from the rest. Right? Because take, take your product. I'm sure. Non-Black people, we're not out here enjoying the hotel soap, the hotel shampo, like, you y'all thought that this conditioner is not good. This was not, it's just, you know, for us, it was like, I'm out here now looking a mess. I ain't got no options. Um, so I think that you find that often the Black experience is really not that different. It's just when you address the Black experience, you create a non it's almost like a you're addressing people experience, but sometimes in a luxury way, if that makes sense. Right. So, um, because you've thought about it and you've really thought through of like, cause it's a pain point. Yeah. It's just the pain point of like who's infected, you know, who's affected by it. It's one thing, but it's a pain point. I can tell you, I was not enjoying. I went, I did my honeymoon in Costa Rica and I'll never forget. It was two weeks. And I was wearing my hair. Natural. Don't even ask me why I decided to go natural on my honeymoon.

Orion Brown (16:48):

At Costa Rica.

Ashley Shaw (16:49):

Lady. So that hotel conditioner...

Orion Brown (16:59):

Let's have a moment of silence for that conditioner. Sometimes you hit, I'm not gonna lie. Like there's some of them that, Ooh, this the good stuff. And then you like pile it up and try to pretend like you used it every day. Even though you don't wash your hair everyday.

Ashley Shaw (17:08):

No, no. Well, I always take the conditioner cause I'll shave my legs with it. Cause I know I paid for the entire room. Everything in here is mine.

Orion Brown (17:19):

That's the plug y'all. She over here shaving her legs with the conditioner. She goes, my leg hair is so silky and then I cut it off.

Ashley Shaw (17:25):

But after it, it creates you don't get all those scratches and burns. I shave with conditioner.

Orion Brown (17:33):

It conditions the skin too. I mean the active ingredient conditions, the skin too. I have a lot of guys that cause you know, guys are hard-headed. So when you tell them this is a conditioner and they're like can I put it on my body? And you're like, well you can, but it's not a soap. And they're like,

Ashley Shaw (17:47):

Hair on their body tech they're conditioning. I mean, basically we all put a hair on our body that we're conditioning.

Orion Brown (17:56):

That's true. That's true. But they're like, can I use it as a soap? And it's like, well it's not meant to do that, but they'd be like, well, it feels good. Anyway. I can't tell you how many times I've had that conversation with dudes. And I'm like, but you know, you should still use some soap just before.

Ashley Shaw (18:08):

But I did that, Idid that too. When you told me, cause when I got tried, like I was like, oh, let me try it.

Orion Brown (18:14):

It feels good.

Ashley Shaw (18:14):

That razor flew right over girl, I'm telling you.

Orion Brown (18:19):

Boom right through.

Ashley Shaw (18:21):

My legs were so soft!

Orion Brown (18:24):

The shave bar is coming soon. That's a whole other thing.

Ashley Shaw (18:28):

I love it. All right. I'm see. I'm I'm I'm right there for it because that's, I don't like the other stuff [inaudible]

Orion Brown (18:34):

Well, and, and, and I think you really hit the nail on the head. The challenges that we face are really amplifications of the human experience, just based off of the country that we live in. And again, this isn't even to get political. It's just to recognize that when we fight for something, whether it be as frivolous as beauty or whether it be like civil rights or things like that and everything in between, we're not just coming in and going, we need this. It's like, people need this. We understand that people need this. And we just happen to be disproportionately affected. Um, negatively by the impact.

Ashley Shaw (19:11):

There a different fields, right? So like for us it was absolutely not. I cannot use this hotel conditioner. Other people like, eh, it's good enough. Yeah. You know, I'm cool hamburger until I have filet mignon. Then I don't want the hamburger. That's really what that is.

Orion Brown (19:32):

or go ahead and ground up that filet for me. I need some high quality Kobe beef burgers. Girl was you have a Kobe beef burger. It's like you looking McDonalds like, y'all are slipping.

Ashley Shaw (19:41):

You know what? I remember when I was doing baby food for my son. And when I first put salt in it, that was a game changer for him. I had to always put a little bit in there. I mean, it was [inaudible].

Orion Brown (19:55):

He got grown taste buds.

Ashley Shaw (19:57):

And it was just a little pinch of salt. It wasn't much, but before everything was bland now he's like, no, I need some salt mom.

Orion Brown (20:03):

The world has color. Now. I love that. I love that so much. And we got all this chat, all this stuff, going into chat, Black people aren't the only people that benefit from natural hair products. That is so, so true. This is why, but here is why you see it. Why we talk about it more because we have two things. One, the aisle is segregated in most places, there is mainstream total market. And then there's a section that is ethnic hair care

Ashley Shaw (20:36):

Locked, glass case in some places.

Orion Brown (20:39):

Yes. Yeah. But the thing is, is the things that are in those cases or the things that are in those segregated part of the Isles, 80, 90% of them have very harsh chemicals and unhealthy ingredients in them. And So, yeah,

Ashley Shaw (20:54):

I think I read a post about that like a few weeks ago, how, like there was a study done, how they did an assessment of products marketed to Black women versus everyone else. And the percentage of what would be considered low risk was way lower for the products marketed to Black women. Like, and I think it's, so I, you know, I struggle with this and I don't want to nerd out too much, but I feel like it's a safe place to.

Orion Brown (21:20):

Yes, let's nerd.

Ashley Shaw (21:21):

We all transition. Okay, well I'd never had a partner, but it's no judgment. Um, that was a, my mom refused to let me have one. Um, we moved away from the perm because it was horrible for, I hair, horrible for our skin and we, it was almost kind of like, oh, now we've made it cause we're wearing it natural. And we just stopped looking at, but it's, what's in here really all that great for me too. Um, so it's, you know, I don't think there's a problem unique to, uh, natural hair, but in general, I think we can do better with just kind of seeing an oversight for what is included. Cause it's just, it really is some stuff you read about and you're just horrified by it. And it's like, how, how does this happen? How do we, how do we get here?

Orion Brown (22:02):

So, but I, I, you're absolutely right. What is in these products can be horrible. Yeah. And, and the thing is, is, you know, with the study that happened in, I think it was 2017 where they looked at it, there were two, there were two major challenges. One, there was just more toxic stuff on the ingredient list than what you would see in the mainstream aisle. Um, which by the way, I don't necessarily blame, you know, the Black female community for using those because this is what we grew up with. And if you think about how the manufacturing process works, you know, and, and the distribution process is getting distributed to places like beauty supplies and things like that. It's sitting on shelves for a really long time. It's not fast term because it's not going into the big mainstream places and moving quickly. Right. And so they're like, we just need it to work and we need it to look clean. We needed to look the same color and smell is good, whether it's six months after it was made or two years, um, and you start seeing stuff pop up there, that's not safe. But the other alarming issue for me was, and I even noticed this when I started the brand and realized that like the FDA doesn't pay attention to what people put in stuff,

Ashley Shaw (23:12):

Do you know what's required to call yourself organic? A note from your supplier. Like, it's not, it really isn't like, that was one of the things where you could say clean, you could say natural and no one's checking you on it. And I think, you know, one of the things I will say, I think our community in these beauty supplies, I think there's an ignorance because I know when I sit down and I have conversations about what we have on our truly clean page and why we take certain positions, you know, it's all in relation to the skin. So for me, it's because I was that woman whose hair fell out. I was that woman, I will never forget. My son was three months old and it was one morning. And I'm trying to nurse him, he's having an allergic reaction because I put coconut oil on his body. And I didn't know that he was allergic to it. And my scalp was on fire because I was trying to combat my postpartum hair loss. And I had used Rogaine lady.

Orion Brown (24:09):

Wait, doesn't get into the system and into like, you shouldn't do it until you're breastfeeding or I don't know.

Ashley Shaw (24:17):

I didn't care then. Right. So like, and I remember like my scalp was on fire and then we're not going to talk about the time my mother-in-law told me to use onion juice. And I did that. And that was a whole other, but like, I remember like when you have that feeling, it is terrible. Right. I know, I know. Right. I felt so set up. Um, but when you have that feeling is horrible and you there's a loss of trust and who would know like people like people make a lot of assumptions about what's okay. What natural means and brands aren't required enough to disclose enough information for you to make an educated choice. Yeah. So I, you know, I think it's what is put in front of us. Cause we don't have a lot of options. Right. Um, when you're in your community and there's not a lot where you are, but I feel like that's not the consumer's responsibility that's on you and I that's on the brands, that's on the government because places like Europe and Japan, they figured it out. So it's not right. So I think it's, and so I, and that's why, you know, we do a lot of education. We, it may be a little bit nerdy, but we do a lot of education. So it's like, so, you know, did you know X, Y, and Z? So, yeah.

Orion Brown (25:28):

Well, and the thing is, is that you brought up an interesting point. Like if you look at the EU, the government has basically stepped in and said, yeah, I know you said that was healthy for people, but we don't really buy that. So we're just not

Ashley Shaw (25:39):

They don't even allow preservatives in their food. Like when you buy bread, you got three days in Europe to eat that. My bread been in the fridge three weeks and it's still being eaten. Like, what is it, my friend, you know what I'm saying? Like that is, and that's an over-simplification, but it's kind of like

Orion Brown (25:56):

But, it's true. And natural things, rot, natural things, mold, natural things, degrade. And there, there can be things that are natural preservatives, but typically natural preservatives slow down that process. If you have yourself, a natural organic Twinkie, and that sucker is still good after three weeks, there ain't nothing natural, or organic about it. Um,.

Ashley Shaw (26:20):

Uh, ain't nothing the word Twinkie and natural organic let's not

Orion Brown (26:27):

It could be though. You can make an organic twinkies.

Ashley Shaw (26:31):

Oh, oh You're making one, I thought -

Orion Brown (26:32):

yeah, yeah, yeah. Or a company could and we're going towards that now. Right. Like we're starting to see, um, you know, particularly in keto space because I've been over here trying to do my keto life, even though I had this earlier, now I'm sweating. See, that's why I got the sugar sweats, but they have these brands that are doing like, you know, look alike brands for cereals. And they're like, it's, it's kind of basically like trix, but it's, you know, keto friendly or whatever it might be. And we're starting to see that in a number of food spaces where people are like, you could just make the same thing with better ingredients. Like the reason why they made it like that in 1950 was because the world and the context was different, right? Like when you, when you're in 1950 and you don't understand the long-term effects of preservatives, but you just came through a depression 20 years, younger, 20 years before you

Ashley Shaw (27:21):

Nobody's know a lot of, you know, so in the old he was, I'm going to say that is because give it 10 years and see what the lawsuits look like.

Orion Brown (27:29):

Oh no the companies definitely know. What I mean is like pop culture. Like the culture, like the culture didn't know were like, this is great. It lasts long it's it's, you know, they they've added vitamin D to it. This is wonderful.

Ashley Shaw (27:40):

Yeah. Great marketing.

Orion Brown (27:41):

Right. It's great marketing. And I mean the orange juice, we can talk about the orange juice industry and all kinds of stuff where, where that's come in. But I do think there was at some point, a bit of innocence, just a smidge in, in that approach, especially coming out of the depression. And it was like, we need to make the same thing exactly the same every time we make it, but we need to make a million of them mastered and that mass, when you mass produce, it really does take an eye for yes, we need to make more, but how do we make it safer and healthier and this, that, and the other, and that's where we fell off. Oh yeah. Donna is over here. Going off girl, stop going off. It's okay. It's Wine Down Wednesday. Girl don't go off It's okay. It's okay. We're going to be all right.

Ashley Shaw (28:40):

It is, the world is what it is. And I think, but see, at the same time when you're trying to educate yourself, there's so much bad information out there because it is the internet. Anyone can post on it, like and putting information up there and -

Orion Brown (28:56):

It may or may not be true.

Ashley Shaw (28:58):

Yeah.

Orion Brown (28:59):

The things that I think, you know, and, and we have the benefit of going to a really nerdy school, um, you know, having been to such a nerdy school, like I'm the person like when PPP came out for COVID and they were like, we're paying whatever for payrolls and this, that, and the other and helping businesses. I went and read the statute. I didn't read what no bank told me until I read the statute first. And for all of y'all listening, like it's, you don't have to understand all of it, but just put your eyes on a source that is, um, you know, third party reputable, like this is the stamp of now they could still be giving us, but I'm not going to get that far into the conspiracy theory.

Ashley Shaw (29:40):

Someone that is independent in the sense they don't have anything to gain from it. I think that, that is the part I think when I was looking, when I look at products for myself is great with the company selling me, but it's like, you're trying to sell this to me. So yeah, actually look, on my own. But it also means that I don't, I'm hesitant to try new things because so for natural juice was not called, like they've had to make, so there is this in my phone, in front of the time, you might know this, there is a national advertising division where marketing claims get challenged. Right? Um, that's not public information that is, you will never find that on a docket, you as a regular consumer, you're not gonna find the changes that had to be made. You just got to watch for a, wait a minute. Now they're not saying a hundred percent natural now they're saying it in a kind a different way. What is that? You know, and it's, and you would miss it. And so, and so the reasons for it, you know, like derived from juice instead of natural juice, right? Like those things. And like, I, you know, those things frustrating, you know, because it's like, you know, you try to like, you know what this is like,

Orion Brown (31:00):

I think that there's a, but there's a fair point of, we also have to educate ourselves because having been on the other side of that table and here was my approach. You can, you can kick me if y'all like it. But I worked in the food business. And my thing was, I had a niece who was really young. I didn't have any kids on my own, but I had a niece who was really young. And I was like, would I give this to my niece? Like, would I be like, Ooh girl, I got a case of this. Let me, you, this, you put it in your lunch. And my stopping point was I would talk to our R and D people and I'd be like, all right. So y'all made this, do you take this home? And I would ask them the questions. Does it matter about HFCs versus sugar? And we will have some really interesting conversations where it's like, you know, often it came down to, it just depends on what you want to put in your body. Right.

Ashley Shaw (31:43):

Yeah. That changed when I got pregnant and it wasn't about me. And when I was nursing, uh, what I learned about baby formula freaked me out. Um, and it was like, oh, I'm going, this pumping thing is going to work. We're going to do it.

Orion Brown (31:56):

Yeah. It's super engineered. I mean, but in some places it's life-saving, but in other spaces and that's where you have to balance it.

Ashley Shaw (32:04):

I mean, it's better than starvation, but like, yeah. So, so yeah, so like, it's, it's just, it is the, the consciousness. I know I'm much. I mean, I wish in my twenties, I was more conscious of what I put in my body. Like I be, I was probably like doing the three second rule of food with the drop on the floor. Right. Like at that time, right.

Orion Brown (32:23):

Got made dirt, dirt don't hurt.

Ashley Shaw (32:25):

Right? Like, um, it does now these 30 something year old body parts and, I'm testing like, no, let's not do that. Um, but I think just being more conscious and, and, and taking that step to, to read it, if you want, I mean, you don't care. That's okay, too.

Orion Brown (32:43):

I think that the key is everybody has a different sense of what's helpful. Part of that is predicated on what your personal health is and what your goals are. And your part of that is predicated on just the information that you have. And I think everybody should keep the autonomy of, I either care that this is in my product or not in my, or I don't care so long as they know what it is and what it does and what the potential potential implications are, because not everything affects everybody the same way. One of the great things about CANE beauty is you guys were focused on people that have, you know, uh, skin sensitivities, right. And scalp problems. They CA I have people come to me and they're like, well, can I use this? I have this allergy. I'm like, no, you actually, can't sorry, I don't have it because I'm, you know, I'll be really upfront about what we have in our products and things like that. And then you go, okay, so some of us are, or what do they call it? Not tender-headed. I tender-headed is such a terrible term, but like, where it's like, you know, we can use things that are a little bit more rough and we don't get those same, meanwhile, I'm allergic to everything on the planet. So

Ashley Shaw (33:50):

Right. Having the option, that's really what it was like, I, you know, I felt really gated to doing DIY things for my kid. Yeah. Cause it's like, you will, there's no way you could feel that worse mom than being the reason why they're in pain. Right? Like, yeah. But this is focused with a woman who everyone, when I was like eight months pregnant, I'm sitting on the couch crying because I had convinced myself that my baby had broke his own arm in utero.

Orion Brown (34:20):

You're like I could feel his arm, his little chicken wing is hanging off in my tummy.

Ashley Shaw (34:23):

I was like, oh my God I can't help you. That was a thousand percent pregnancy on irrational hormones. Um, but it's kinda like, I know I had probably have that hypersensitivity to him, um, because it was like, this is my baby. Right. You know, you have to have him and he, and your first, like you have the only, only lady I'm not doing this again. I'm not, no,

Orion Brown (34:48):

First and only, but you know, we all know the adage. Right. It's like, by the time people get to their third kid, they're like, whatever, just put some bleach on, he'll be just clean them off. Like

Ashley Shaw (34:57):

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, um, but that, that was the turning point for me. Right. Kind of like crazy picky. I remember when I was trying to transition him off breast milk and put them on whole milk, his stomach couldn't take it. I was like I can't keep pumping. I'm so tired of this. My nipples don't even look right.

Orion Brown (35:17):

The funny thing to me, and I didn't think about this until I was an adult. Cause I grew up, I mean, I was breastfed as a, as a baby, but like as a child that, you know, had whole milk or whatever, but I was like, it's a whole nother species of animals. I mean, understanding that most food is a different species, but like, you know, it's, that's a very different thing than mother's milk. Like it's a very different

Ashley Shaw (35:39):

Thing for the woman's breast milk. So why are we not grossed out by drinking this female cows? Yeah, I understand. Yeah.

Orion Brown (35:47):

Well, and it's not even, yeah. It's not even the grossed out part. It's like the, I would not imagine, like I can totally imagine a child being breastfed and then being allergic to all other kinds of milks. Cause it just, it's a different species. It's a different animal. Um, and so to me it's really interesting that American culture and, and milk the milk industry and all of that stuff, it's still nutritional. I'm not saying it's not, but in terms of being surprised when, when kids can't stomach things and things like that, it's like, yeah, it's a different species.

Ashley Shaw (36:20):

Cause that wasn't, that whole food group of dairy was not, that's like a thing. Like you go back a hundred years. Okay. No, maybe not a hundred because it was 20, 21.

Orion Brown (36:31):

I mean, it's a European thing. So like typically most people who have, um, a heavy African set, um, Africa, African genetic profile, um, typically are pretty lactose-intolerant there isn't a lot of cheese and dairy in those spaces. Um, other than from a parent from a mama. I mean, if your daddy's lactating, I don't know what's going on there, but uh,

Ashley Shaw (36:56):

Well, no, I mean, in general, like you go back 150 years, milk and cheese just simply was not consumed at the rate. It is now. Yeah. And so like, you know, that industry is just, it's so different. Like we didn't need it then, but we also had lead paint and all the, you know, all that stuff too.

Orion Brown (37:15):

It's sort of relative. I think it's one of those things. Like you put, you make a really good point. It's like, as we scale civilization, as we scale food and all of these things, we maybe sometimes miss out that there's almost too much access and our bodies can't keep up with the level of access that we have to, the things that we're exposing it to. Like, you know, it's one of those things that it's like, yeah, you probably ate something green. I mean, people go all the way to the paleo diet. I'm like go back 400 years, 500 years. It like, you know, now that we can create pasteurized milk products and dairy products, now we know how to manufacture more of it because we know how to make it safe, to consume all the time. Um, I, all I'm gonna say is blue cheese and Gruyere and all those other ones that don't need to be pasteurized. Cause they supposed to be moldy. Um, the stinky cheeses are my friends and I loved them. Uh,

Ashley Shaw (38:12):

The only cheese I hate his goat. Like I will flip a table for goat, cheese and cilantro, like, cause I feel cilantro. I feel like people use as a garnish without disclosing. No, some people taste cilantro differently. You can't add that in there. You can't. And so, you know, and so like that, that changed actually after I had my son, my tastes have changed with goat cheese. It tastes furry to me in metallic. I don't know why.

Orion Brown (38:42):

Furry? Girl you sure you didn't just get some bad cheese.

Ashley Shaw (38:44):

Nope.

Orion Brown (38:47):

So this is what I used to say. I'll try anything once when I would travel, I'd be like, people would be like, oh, are you going to eat the local food? Like, what's the really? And I'm like, I'll try anything once. And then I realized I would try something and I didn't try it from the right person or from the right place. And I'd be like, that made me sick to my stomach. I totally hate that. Clearly I don't like this food. And then later accidentally eat it somewhere and be like, this is really good. What is it? I had this before. So now I say, I'll try anything twice.

Ashley Shaw (39:14):

Like eating other people's potato salad. Like you try some potato salad with raisins in it. And then you got the real one and you're like, oh, it's not that I don't like potato salad

Orion Brown (39:23):

I've actually never witnessed potato salad with raisins in it. I feel like it's an urban legend. Like the, like the, um, Big Foot.

Ashley Shaw (39:32):

No they sell it. Um, they have, I kid you not, they sell it in the grocery store here. It is so, you know how there's yellow potato salad and then there is the white kind. So this is, I saw it was like the, with the red, what are those red potatoes? And it had cellery and it was white. And then there were literally like, it was like almonds or some sort of nut plus raisins. It looked like chicken salad. But with potatoes,

Orion Brown (39:54):

Check us out. This Waldorf salad, we put the grapes and the nuts and all of that stuff.

Ashley Shaw (39:59):

Someone- It could have, it could have been someone's first day, but I've seen it.

Orion Brown (40:04):

So it's not an urban legend. It's real

Ashley Shaw (40:06):

It's not! I've tatsed it. I just, I was like, can I - I just want to know.

Orion Brown (40:11):

This is where I'm like, this is where I'm like, what was that horror movie where they'd be all up in the air? You guys it's real. There's really raisins.

Ashley Shaw (40:19):

Yeah. Don't forget the snot runnning down.

Orion Brown (40:29):

The snot running. I'm so scared. Someone out cayanne in the potato salad and there's raisins too. Uh, oh my goodness. But you know what I mean? There's but there's also like, if somebody was like, no, no, no, no, no, it's a delicacy. I'll try it. I would try it now about lady. I'm like, I'm gonna tell y'all like, you know, there's some things that I've come upon. I'm like, oh, okay. Okay.

Ashley Shaw (40:47):

That was a miscalculation on my part. I will never do that again.

Orion Brown (40:55):

What's the, what is the strangest thing you've tried state side and then what's the strangest thing you've tried like abroad. And do they actually compare to each other? Like, was it scary or scarier there?

Ashley Shaw (41:08):

I'm not that adventurous. Um, because I feel like my tastebuds are hypersensitive. You're super taster. So when it's nasty it is nasty, right. It is like, I I'm very protective when it comes to my tongu. I really like, I really, um, let me see. What is the craziest, I mean, the sea urchin was crazy for me, um, yeah.

Orion Brown (41:40):

Did Candy tell you we had to artificially inseminate those in biology class in college.

Ashley Shaw (41:45):

No and it tastes like, it was not meant to be. Because it tastes like it was not meant to be.

Orion Brown (41:53):

We did some freaky stuff to those urchins. And I remember going to a restaurant after that and I was like, it's not that I don't think this could be tasty. I just I'm having flashbacks of just things that I shouldn't be thinking about.

Ashley Shaw (42:05):

It's too real. I think the most adventurous I've been abroad would food was in Japan. Yeah. Everything was so fresh. Um, um, oh, I actually forgot to do something. Um,

Orion Brown (42:22):

Donna over here talking about shark meat and hot sauce. Girl. Be quiet.

Ashley Shaw (42:26):

I did try shark. Uh, did not like it. And it was a fin. Was it Finn? Shark? Fin. Oh, and turtle soup. That was gross. I think it probably could have tasted different if they told me long after I ate it what it was.

Orion Brown (42:46):

It's like green pea, It's split pea soup, then you would have been, yeah.

Ashley Shaw (42:49):

Oh, okay. Maybe this tastes a little weird, but I couldn't even choke it down. I couldn't even choke it down.

Orion Brown (42:58):

You know what, it's funny. I remember being a kid and my mom telling me stories of growing up in Chicago and she went to, um, a Catholic school, which ironically, she went to a Catholic school, but there were Jewish kids. I don't understand how that happened, but whatever. Um, but I don't know. I don't know. Don't ask now. No. Um, but she would tell me that there was this kid in her class who his mom would send him to school with turtle soup. And I was like, it's got feet in it and everything. She was like, no, no, no, no. It just looks like, like split pea, but it's actually turtle. And I'm like, Hmm. But I liked the ninja turtles too much. I will try it though. I would try it. Frog legs. I remember getting frog legs not actually too long ago. I was in Chicago, my aunt and I, we go out, we're like, oh, had a frog leg appetizer. And it has like the sauce. That sounds really fancy. I'm like, okay. But girl that the legs were like, all, you know, leggy.

Ashley Shaw (43:51):

I have a, I have a don't judge me. I have a weird thing. I can't eat something that looked like what it looked like when I was alive.

Orion Brown (43:58):

Normally I can't, but I could grow the legs were crossed on the plate. And I said, you don't see this, you don't see this. This is a gentleman. That is a, that is a gentleman right there. I can't eat a gentleman.

Ashley Shaw (44:11):

I do like tripe. Have you tried tripe?

Orion Brown (44:13):

I have not had tried in years. Um, I had it like not fried, but like, I dunno if it was boiled down or what? And I was like, it's okay. I didn't love the texture. The flavor wasn't bad though. Okay. Well

Ashley Shaw (44:27):

Is that's what it is like Dominican way. The is like, is it Mofongo but what does it? Yeah. Yeah. I haven't I've had it like that, but I also had the, I don't know. I don't know. I don't want to call it the Southern way. Cause that's the only really find it here in St. Louis. It's just a fried type sandwich where it's like fried. It looks like, like how you eat fish on white white bread

Orion Brown (44:45):

Yeah. It's like a little fish Patty. Yeah. Honestly you could fry anything and pretty much make it taste good. Like, uh, Don says she don't like, she don't like a alligator fried alligator. I gave fried alligator to two little kids and they had no idea. They thought it was chicken. They were like, this chicken's really good. Tastes different, but it was good.

Ashley Shaw (45:04):

Yeah. I didn't, I didn't. I tried that. I didn't like it. Someone put, have you ever tried tongue? No,

Orion Brown (45:11):

I have. I've had beef tongue before. Um, I've had it on tacos. The only thing that gets me, it tastes and smells amazing. The texture lets me know that I'm chewing a tongue and I'm like, I feel like I'm biting my own tongue. I'm like, that's not right. You're not supposed to do that.

Ashley Shaw (45:32):

I'd be like, oh, I like the flavor. And it is like the squishy squishy, like, Nope.

Orion Brown (45:37):

Yeah. It's texture. I'm a texture person. For the most part. Most foods I will try and like, but if the texture is a little questionable, I had Springbok carpaccio when I was in South Africa, which we were at this fancy little gourmet type restaurant and Springbok cause basically like local deer. Right. But it's a carpaccio. So it's raw. So you use like an asset to cook the meat. So it's safe, but it's looks very raw. And then it came with this. When I tell you this pear sauce was off the chain, it came with this like balsamic pear sauce on top. And I was like, oh my God, it smells so good. It looks so good. And I got into my mouth and I was like, this is really good. And then I realized I was still chewing. I was like, and I was like, no, I can't. I can't. And after a while I started thinking like, you just, you just eaten deer butt. You eating raw deer butt. And I was like, no, but it tastes so good. And my brain was like, no, it's raw deer butt you still haven't chewed it. You can't even swallow.

Ashley Shaw (46:38):

That will freak you out. Cause it's like, it is. Yeah.

Orion Brown (46:44):

Oh my gosh. Yes. So, but I think that food can be a real adventure. One of the things that one of my favorite Christmas gifts I've ever gotten was a game of Thrones cookbook, which, um, incidentally, I had read a few years earlier about some of the history of cooking, like Southern cooking and how it heats back to like, you know, sort of old English cooking. So it was brought over and then slaves kind of added some spice and some flavor to it and it's twisted things up. And so I get this book and they've got like meat pies and all these things and I'm like, Ooh, that sounds terrible. And then I was like, but does it really? Cause if I have some Mari's on that meat. And so there's definitely things that, you know, you got to have to try it a little bit too.

Ashley Shaw (47:28):

Yeah. You could jazz most things up. Like I think the one thing that isn't a hard stop for me, it like beef, Wellington, nothing about that seems appealing to me. Like this looks extra bland, like no personality. That is a real thing. Like, no. Yeah.

Orion Brown (47:47):

Well, and then that's the beauty of food too. And this is where fusion foods and fusion restaurants become so interesting where people start to go, Ooh, it doesn't have enough flavor. It doesn't have enough color. Or, you know, what if I took that Curry and mashed it with this thing, it would be off the chain. That's one of the reasons why I love Caribbean food because it truly is a mashup of native flavors of African flavors and, and you know, vegetables and roots and all of that stuff and whatever other countries I hate to say conquered or, or, you know, occupied. And it's, you know, Escabeche, escbeche is amazing escbeche. So escbeche is, um, a Jamaican thing and I'm sure they have it on other islands as well. Um, but it's basically you take a red snapper whole. So it does have a face, which I don't mind.

Orion Brown (48:37):

I'm not gonna eat the face, but I also has a face. You can do it without when you fry it in oil, just, you know, you, you carne it with, um, black pepper and seasoning and stuff, but you don't put like batter on it. You fried in oil, put it to the side and then you take that fishy oil and you take your vegetables and you fry the vegetables in there and get them nice and soft. So your onions are clear and all of this and you put scotch bonnet in it. So it's really hot take all of that off. And the vegetables have been pickled prior. So you've pickled like carrots and onions and all this other stuff. And you take that and you apply that. On-site, it's basically fish with hot sauce, but it's a, it's a chunky vegetable, hot sauce Escbeche, which is where it came from in Spain is like, it's fish, there's vegetables.

Ashley Shaw (49:22):

That.

Orion Brown (49:22):

And which is fine you know, sometimes you tell me, can't take all that, but there's something really cool about bringing flavors together.

Ashley Shaw (49:31):

I can't do the whole fish. I can't,

Orion Brown (49:33):

Well, you know what we'll do? We just- we'll cut it up and filet it for you.

Ashley Shaw (49:37):

Right. Or like it's it is. Yeah. You got to do that in the back and bring it out to me.

Orion Brown (49:45):

I love it. I love it. So, so we had a question. It was like, what is the craziest fermented food you've ever eaten? Hmm.

Ashley Shaw (49:54):

I don't eat fermented food

Orion Brown (49:55):

At all. Not even like kimchi or pickles. Well, I guess pickles-

Ashley Shaw (50:01):

Are pickles fermented?

Ashley Shaw (50:03):

Ah, no, they're pickled. That's that's her that's true Keifer or any of that? Um, I am a big fan of kimchi.

Ashley Shaw (50:12):

I've had bean paste and - Is it firmented.

Orion Brown (50:15):

Yeah. I think that is. Soul is technically soy, I think. Or not soy, but tofu.

Ashley Shaw (50:22):

Okay. So I've eaten those two things. Yeah.

Orion Brown (50:25):

I love kombucha. I mean, from a beverage perspective, I do really love kombucha from a food perspective. Kimchi is my go-to. I also like, um, um, sauerkraut, which I believe is also considered. Oh miso is fermented. That's a good point. Miso is fermented. Miso is good. I love me so soup. Yeah. Mm me so hungry. So hungry. I've got no sense. Oh, I'm sorry. Y'all it was a play on words. Um, oh my gosh. We've been talking it's almost an hour. We've been talking all kinds of things, but this has been so, so much fun. And now I'm hungry.

Ashley Shaw (51:01):

I know. I know. I gotta tell you my funny story though. Tell me your funny story. Oh, okay. You know how, when you're trying to help family with something, it always just leads to something. So here I am in small claims court helping a family member and I have to pass family court to get the small claims court. So here I'm masked up. I'm extra diligent. I'm looking, everyone's got their mask on. And as I'm waiting my turn cause we're, we're waiting like there's a line. Um, I'm slowly standing directly where I could see the family court and this man gets so upset. Mind you, he has an, a mask he bends over and moons the judge while making sure his mask is on. So your mouth-

Orion Brown (51:43):

Is covered, but your ass is out.

Ashley Shaw (51:43):

And I made this weird sound. It was mixed- I was stuck between horrified, like a horrified, oh my God. That happened. And like, this is hilarious. And I just made this weird donkey like sound. It was like, oh my God. I was so mortified that I got out of line. I just got out of line, hit out. It was like, yeah,

Orion Brown (52:22):

She in the back of the courts, talking like [donkey noise]. What was that?

Ashley Shaw (52:28):

like everybody was like, *gasp* and was like [donkey noise].

Orion Brown (52:35):

It was, that is hilarious. And it is so funny how, I mean, I feel like that's even more petty, like the level of petty that have to be like,

Ashley Shaw (52:45):

And in response to the lawyer that the judge he had said to the judge, well, what do you think? Or dah, dah, dah. He was being smart. And the judge gave him what he was supposed to have. Like what do you think of that? I tell you what I think of that. So like,

New Speaker (53:00):

I mean, he did ask what he thought and you know, it's a free country. Although I feel like it's indecent exposure. So he should have gotten,

Ashley Shaw (53:08):

Yeah. Like he, he got in trouble, but it was just like, it was, it was my response to it. That was just so awful.

Orion Brown (53:18):

I'm so glad you said so y'all she, she messaged me. She texted me before we got on, she was like, I have the story for you. And I was like, okay, that was so worth it. Like that was worth the whole conversation just to get to that.

Ashley Shaw (53:30):

And it was all my, cause the person in front of me looked like, what is wrong with you? I'm just

Orion Brown (53:35):

Like, y'all, didn't see that. I see, I have no shame. I'll just stand there and be like, nobody else thought this was hilarious. Seriously seriously, like you, people are made of stone and I don't trust you.

New Speaker (53:46):

There was some that chuckled but like

Ashley Shaw (53:47):

But it was like, what came up? My mouth was not a laugh

Orion Brown (53:51):

From the belly of your being the very bottom of your being came out of belly, laugh of epic proportions,

Ashley Shaw (53:59):

Right. Something. Um, but it was absolutely hilarious because could you imagine getting to that point where you feel compelled to that is your response. So then I felt bad for the mother. I was like, what exactly have you been dealing with if he just did this to the judge.

Orion Brown (54:14):

This is where, but you know what I, and I think we all have those moments. Right. And especially now that COVID stuff has been happening where we're under so much more pressure in so many situations. And whether we're angry that people are wearing masks and not wearing masks or that like there's traffic, even though nobody is supposed to be out and all that stuff, you have those moments. Like if I just push that old lady in front of the bus with anybody say anything.

Ashley Shaw (54:36):

We all, yes, we all have unreasonable moments. Yeah.

Orion Brown (54:39):

Now the key is to hold yourself to enough sanity to not actually do it. Um, but when you do do it, you may end up on somebody's live and the butt bah dum bump of courtroom jokes, which I'm so here for. I love it.

Ashley Shaw (54:57):

Well, someone got that on camera. That would be awesome.

Orion Brown (55:00):

Gosh, it's going to be on like one of those dumb criminals shows you ever see the D there. I was like, yeah, you know, he, he lopped his finger up, but he wiped off all of his fingerprints and left the finger. It's like, what?

Ashley Shaw (55:12):

Right. Okay.

Orion Brown (55:14):

That's terrible. I hope everybody has all their fingers and toes. I really do. Um, but that was, that was the perfect close. We're all giggling. We're all giggling. Um, tell everybody completely off topic of this man. Mooning people tell everybody where they can find CABE beauty and where they can follow you and see more of your journey.

Ashley Shaw (55:35):

Yes. So you can find CANE beauty we're on Instagram and Facebook on Facebook is just CANE beauty, C a N E. Beauty. And on Instagram is at CANE Beauty Brand. You can find me on Instagram at Ashley Nal Shaw that's H L E Y N a L L S H w. I am actually trying to get better about doing lives. I said, I was going to do stories of like, on today's episode of entrepreneurship, mom edition, or wife edition, or what the hell edition, like, whatever. Like I said, I was just going to do that just to kind of narrate this journey, um, for that. Cause I find, you know, I'm, I'm working on my, I feel like I give very much Monte vibes in my environment and I feel like we all just need a little something right now. So that's what I said. So you can follow me or the brand. Um, I'm going to commit to doing some stories for entertainment purposes. Yeah.

Orion Brown (56:36):

I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for joining us, Ashley. This was joyful and fun and real. We talked about some heavy stuff, but in a really lightweight, which was good. And again, like, you know, my whole goal for doing these every Wednesday, they started out at the beginning or sort of mid COVID of, we need, I need a break. I need a moment. I need a release valve. And I made it all about travel and beauty and just fun and, and having real conversations. Like we were actually in the same

Ashley Shaw (57:06):

Room. I can't wait to watch this when we are all just like, this is all behind us. And we are all just going about our Merry way in the world and hearing those stories.

Orion Brown (57:15):

We're going to be like what? But at the time it makes sense. And it's all good.

Ashley Shaw (57:20):

I don't normally do this, but it was my first trip after COVID. And

Orion Brown (57:24):

What had happened was, yeah, I mean, but that's what we're here for. This is a safe space for us to cut up and love on each other and have fun conversations. I want to thank everybody that joined us. You guys have been killing me with the comments. I'm dying over here from the comments. I'm laughing, my little tail off and it's been a highlight of my week. I hope this has been a highlight of yours. It's Wednesday. I usually say it's all downhill from there, from here, but I want to say it's all up from here. Not uphill, not work, but everything's going to get better. I'm speaking that into your lives. Hopefully this week will end better than it began, even if it began great. And that you guys have a wonderful week and a wonderful weekend, and we're going to do this again next week and kick it. And next week, God willing and, and COVID aside, I will be coming live from Sonoma, California. So I'm really excited. We'll be doing wind down from Sonoma. Our brand birthday is on Saturday, happy birthday to BlackTravelBox. It's my four year old. She's a little, she's a little undersized from her for her age, but she about to catch up about to have a growth spurt. Y'all y'all don't even know what things that are coming.

Ashley Shaw (58:36):

It's the little ones you gotta worry about.

Orion Brown (58:37):

It's the little ones you gotta worry about. My uncle, God rest, his soul was a preemie. He was like three months premature or something crazy. So super tiny when he was born, that man was a big dude. He was a big guy, like 6'5", 6'3" something like that. Big dude. I was like, you lied, you weren't a preemie. I had to ask aunts just to find out, but so we're going to say she was a preemie, but there's some really amazing things coming. I really appreciate y'all. And for all of you who supported our crowdfunding campaign that we just shut down. Um, I just really love on y'all. There's some really cool things that we're going to do with those funds. Ashley, thank you for kicking it with us. Say hi to Candy for me. And we have to definitely do this again soon. Girl. Thank you for coming.

Ashley Shaw (59:18):

Yes. Thank you. You guys have a good night.

Orion Brown (59:21):

Good night, everyone.

 

Also in Travel & Slay | The BlackTravelBox® Blog