Wine Down Wednesday: Nadeen White

Wine Down Wednesday: Nadeen White

Aired: April 27th, 2022

Audio and Photo Source: Nadeen White and Instagram

Episode Summary

The pandemic has effected a lot of things, a major one being our virtual presence. Please tell us we aren't the only ones who refer to people by their Instagram handles now? In surviving a tornado warning together, we found our dear friend @thesoplife who we got to know as Nadeen this Wine Down. Tune in to get insight into this travel bloggers, ski trips, wine tours, and local travels.

 

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Episode Transcript

Wine Down Wednesday: Nadeen White

Orion Brown (00:01):

Hey, y'all look at this girls popping today, baby. They popping, they popping baby. They popping. Look at that. Look at that bleach and everything still feeling right. Wait, I have a little fuzzy spot there though. Y'all see that right. Look. I'm just showing y'all the really release. Hey, welcome. Welcome, welcome. Uh, y'all I literally just took an unsolicited nap. I didn't mean to, I just, I didn't mean to that's, but that's what we ended up doing.

Orion Brown (00:32):

I mean, you know, I'm just doing it for the culture. That's all. That's all. Hey everyone. It is Wednesday. Nadeen!

Nadeen White (00:42):

Hey, I love the curls.

Orion Brown (00:46):

They pop in. They pop in.

Nadeen White (00:48):

I love your view.

Orion Brown (00:49):

Thank you.

Nadeen White (00:51):

Is that your place?

Orion Brown (00:52):

Yes, it is Denver, Colorado. That's the entirety of downtown. Y'all it's so small.

Nadeen White (00:57):

Oh, but it looks beautiful. Oh,

Orion Brown (00:59):

It is really gorgeous out and sunny. I'm actually kind of sweating. This is one of those things is like, you know, first world problems. I have so many windows. Oh my God. You guys, I have so many windows that it just gets really hot and I just get so uncomfortable. Um,

Nadeen White (01:17):

In Denver. That's a good thing to have you have one of the, like, it's one of the Sundt.

Orion Brown (01:22):

Oh yes. We get over 300 days of sun, more than Florida.

Nadeen White (01:26):

Nice, nice. Oh my and live here. And they always say that they're always telling me that I'm like, yeah. Yeah, but still Denver still cold, but no, that's beautiful. It's not

Orion Brown (01:36):

Even actually that cold here. Uh, well, I mean, I guess it's relative. It's, it's relative to what you know, I'm from Chicago. So I'm like, it's not that cold. It's, it's great. It's way better than Chicago. The snow melts here. Like for those of you in the comments, if y'all live like north of the Mason Dixon and you know, the, uh, the horror that is the wintertime where the snow hits and then they make a big pile out of it in the middle of the grocery, the grocery store parking lot. And then it never melts,

Nadeen White (02:05):

Never leaves. Right. It just

Orion Brown (02:07):

Turned into a dirty iceberg. Yeah. That doesn't happen here.

Nadeen White (02:11):

Um, interesting. I've been there once. I've been there once to visit him, I plan to come back because my stepson now lives there also, so. Okay. Yeah. I've definitely, definitely are coming back up there. Yeah. Gotta visit.

Orion Brown (02:24):

I love it. I love it. Oh my gosh. Let's get into it. I'm so excited. Wait, I got my little rose. Oh wait, let me get, let me give,

Nadeen White (02:32):

I just went for like this walk, took a shower. So I'm actually drinking water, but oh

Orion Brown (02:37):

You, well, you're

Nadeen White (02:38):

Choice.

Orion Brown (02:39):

I'm on my couch and you're doing a healthy thing. Oh. And I'm drinking for both of us. So here

Nadeen White (02:46):

I love rose this time of year. I have a whole block post just on rose, cuz I love, love, love rose.

Orion Brown (02:52):

Okay. We're not even gonna get it. So let's start with rose though. Cause I have, there is a spot in, uh, I think they're on the Sonoma side. Okay. Uh, called three sticks.

Nadeen White (03:05):

Yes. Yes. I had their, that

Orion Brown (03:07):

Castana

Nadeen White (03:07):

Last ball. They make excellent wine. Woo. Yes. That was one of my favorites in November.

Orion Brown (03:13):

Yeah. They almost got me. So what I've been trying to do, you know, in the last like year, year and a half is change all of my luxury purchases to black owned, but y'all three sticks though. This is good. The three sticks is good though.

Nadeen White (03:27):

<laugh> it's it's I went to a wine bar and um, cuz I was in Sonoma county and people like were giving me recommendations of what to try at the wine bar, uh, was really cool place. And so I had their wine and yeah, it's good. It's like one of the best out there I think. Yeah.

Orion Brown (03:42):

And the experience is amazing. Have you been into the, I didn

Nadeen White (03:46):

Get to go there? No, I didn't get to go there.

Orion Brown (03:49):

Oh we about to talk about this. Okay. So we are gonna talk rose. We're gonna talk about the Adobe and then we're gonna talk all other kinds of stuff, but I wanna make sure that we get you. Hey chill baby. 72.

Nadeen White (04:00):

Oh that's my um, cousin husband. Hey,

Orion Brown (04:05):

Hey buddy. Can't by doing EB, wait, hold up. EB. NA I'm so mad at you, but I'm also loving the Phonet there. Get it gets, um, introduce yourself to everybody who you are, where you live, where you're from, if that's a different place. Right. And this is gonna be real interesting. How many stamps you got on your passport?

Nadeen White (04:30):

Oh gosh. You know, they don't even stamp anymore, which is just a shame, but yes, I'll do a quick introduction and it's so funny how we reconnected. Right. I know. I mean so funny, but um, I am uh, Dr. Nadine white. I call myself a blogger by day physician by night because um, my blog, the sophisticated life I've had for, um, gosh, I guess I've been in Atlanta 10 years. So it's been over 10 years, but I kind of started doing it more often than taking it more seriously as a business, I would say for about eight years. Um, it covers travel food and wine, but I also cover like health, um, issues related to travel like COVID so I've been covering the pandemic for the past, like two and a half years. Um, I work here in Atlanta. I live in Atlanta. I, uh, I work at a hospital here, but um, my family's Jamaican and I grew up along the east coast. So mainly New York, New Jersey, but I lived in DC for a while, Florida now, Atlanta. Um, and we, um, this live video is being moderated.

Orion Brown (05:30):

It's hilarious. I just added, I, I just added our girl Janique as a we're we're learning new technology. So we're not being monitored. We're not, I was, is gonna chat

Nadeen White (05:40):

Hilarious. I'm like, is somebody on Instagram moderating monitoring our top? Like

Orion Brown (05:47):

Mm-hmm no the same clubhouse.

Nadeen White (05:49):

Right, right. <laugh> she? Hi. So we reconnected at wonderful, um, travel festival, um, in new Orleans. And that was really cool because when you, I don't know if it was when you first started out, but like when you were getting going, I guess you had contacted me on Instagram. And so I had received one of your travel boxes, which was amazing. And I had posted about it. So that was a couple years ago. And here we, we are in new Orleans talking. It was like, wait a minute, we know each other. And so we know

Orion Brown (06:21):

Each other.

Nadeen White (06:23):

Yeah. So I'm just so happy for you and how your brand has expanded and that you were there as a vendor and bought some more stuff. And so, yeah, I'm really glad that we reconnected and to see how much you've grown with your product. Yeah. So excited to be here.

Orion Brown (06:40):

And I, so you, you had, it's so funny now that we, well, before we lived in a very digital world, but now that like everybody's been indoors for the most part. Right. And like not meeting people as much face to face. I know some folks have still been traveling, still been doing stuff. So people frontline, I totally get it. But in general I feel like I know more people by their screen name

Nadeen White (07:02):

Right. Than their real name. Yeah. Their real name. Yes. Yes. Sorry,

Orion Brown (07:09):

Q2, I'm sorry. You know, like

Nadeen White (07:11):

Right. And people think my name is like people, me and they think my name is Sophia or Sophia because of my Instagram name.

Orion Brown (07:17):

Um, girl, that's your club name! That is your club name. It's short for sophisticated, but they don't need to know. It's like, what's your name? Sophie.

Nadeen White (07:26):

Sophie. Yeah. Call me or email me like, but my name is there. So, you know, that's like sometimes spammers cuz they'll email me and say hi Sophie or hi Sophie. And I'm like, so you didn't even read beyond that cuz my name is there. Yeah. No I hear you. Like those people find their like Instagram names. So yeah, it's been, it was great for like to be at a live event and like meet people and perfect. Yeah. It

Orion Brown (07:49):

Was so much fun. And even though like we had, so we had a little bit of a scare the first, well I guess it's like the first half day. Um, because we had a rainstorm and a tornado watch and y'all we were in the, um, uh, what is it? Sazerac house like the museum they

Nadeen White (08:09):

Oh that, yes. I forgot about that too. Besides all the cold and the wind

Orion Brown (08:12):

Son. So we, but this was when it was still warm. So like that night before it was still warm, the winds were crazy, but here's the thing. They put all of us. They, they funneled everybody into the distillery. Cause this place has like six different floors. And at first people were like, why are they putting us in here? I don't really get it. And then I look and it's like this wall of glass bottles going all the way up to the six floor. It's gorgeous. It's great for photos. Right.

Nadeen White (08:37):

Bad

Orion Brown (08:37):

For wind. Yeah. Very bad for wind.

Nadeen White (08:41):

That was crazy. The way to get this conference started was to be in the basement with a tornado warning. Yeah.

Orion Brown (08:46):

But they brought the drinks though. So it was so new Orleans y'all it was so new Orleans. They were like, and so you ready to drink? You ready to drink? Okay, let we pass the drink. And that little lady, she was so cute.

Nadeen White (09:00):

Yes, little old lady.

Orion Brown (09:02):

We got stories already. Y'all we met in person once and we got stories. We got the "You remember that time.." already.

Nadeen White (09:09):

It was awesome. Yeah. It was just such a great, great deal. Like even like I said, with the cold and the, we, everybody just kind of being out there together and um, I just loved the feeling of it, you know, just coming together like that. It was, it was awesome. It was yeah. To just be back out traveling period. I was like, yay. I'm somewhere besides Atlanta. Yay.

Orion Brown (09:33):

So tell me, so was that your first four way or did you manage to like squeeze in a trip here? There?

Nadeen White (09:39):

Yeah. So I've just been up until I went to Canada. This, this is April, so right. So I went to Canada. My cousin's actually on here was my cousin, uh, the beginning of the month. That was first. Yeah. First time I left the country in two years. Mm-hmm <affirmative> that was the first time. So I've just been doing domestic travel. Um, so I've been a few places this year, like Florida, New Orleans. I had been to Charleston the weekend before for their widest festival before I came to new Orleans. Yeah. That was, that was great. That was my first time going to that. And then I went to Whistler in Canada for a week and Whistler in Vancouver. So that was my first. It wasn't - What's that?

Orion Brown (10:16):

Are you you a skier?

Nadeen White (10:17):

Well, I skied when I was younger up until like my late twenties when I was in medical school. I had not skied since then. So that was my first time back on skis and I had a great time. I actually loved it. That's one of the things I wanna do when I come out to Denver again, cuz my cousins a big ski. My, he does snowboarding.

Orion Brown (10:36):

I was gonna say -

Nadeen White (10:36):

How about you? Have you done it since you've been out there?

Orion Brown (10:39):

I, so I have, I have been skiing numerous times in my life. Okay. And I have sucked at skiing numerous times in my life. I mean, I'm cute as hell. Like I'll get the outfit. I'm ready. I don't even mind the cold. I like being out the sun hitting off the snow and everything. Right. But whether it's like hard packed on the east coast or powder out here, I still equally suck <laugh> so my, my real, my strong suit is snow tubing. Uh yeah. What and adults try to be like, oh no, it's not fun until they get on the tube. I always make them do it at least once. And then they're screaming their heads off the whole way now. Oh, oh my God. That was fun. I told you. Yeah. I, I told you

Nadeen White (11:18):

Yeah. My cousin saying same. I was surprised that I actually enjoyed it and I wanted to keep doing it and like practicing. We had an private instructor and so I was like, nice. I am ready for next season because I really feel like I could get, I was probably this time we did just like the higher bunny slope. But I remember when I was doing it regularly, I was on like, I forget what the, the green, yellow, right. Whatever. But I was actually like medium slopes. Like I definitely, yeah, no. I went back when I was doing it. Cuz the, the town I grew up in New Jersey had a ski mountain. So when I was younger, like through high school, we used to ski. Uh, but like I said, it had been decades. So, but I really enjoyed it. I was like, I'm ready next year my cousin goes to like Breckenridge and veil and those places. So would I come next year? Maybe we'll try. Come

Orion Brown (12:05):

Through, come through. And the season is long. Like people are still, I'm just like, wait, I'm looking out the window. Like I can see the people I'm looking at the tops of the mountains. Y'all because you know, oh my God, I have like this total mountain view. Um, so

Nadeen White (12:19):

Beautiful. I love the mountains.

Orion Brown (12:20):

But its dope. So you can see there's a little bit of smell. There's there's definitely people out there. It's

Nadeen White (12:24):

Definitely, my cousin goes until the, I mean he will be out there until the last, last weekend. I mean he is an avid snowboarder and that it, when it flips, he's like mountain biking. So he's just an outdoor person.

Orion Brown (12:36):

It's beautiful out there.

Nadeen White (12:38):

Yeah. Beautiful. He's totally an outdoor person.

Orion Brown (12:40):

It really is. I need to get my tookus out there. I've been admiring from afar. Every time I go hiking, it's like gorgeous. Oh that's. And I'm like, I should do again. And then I'm like, Ugh, I haven't done hiking in like six months. It's like, it's so bad. I'm I am a homebody when I'm at home and when I'm out, I'm out. And there really isn't like, I don't know the motivation. The spark is like kind of hard in between.

Nadeen White (13:06):

It's totally different. I told my cousin that when we were in Canada, I mean, it was like, but I'm traveling. I'm like that. Boo, boo. I'm ready to go. I'm around. I could walk for hours when I'm home in Atlanta. It's like, I, I like, I just went for a walk, but like that was the first time all week I have like no energy. I'm just like on the computer. Like, like I'm trying to make myself, my husband and I have like this, like, okay, this summer we're gonna get out. We're gonna like explore neighborhoods, do stuff. But I don't have the same drive in energy. Like I do when I'm traveling and exploring a new place. Yeah. I just, I just don't. I think that's kind of common, but there are great things to do here in Atlanta. So I'm like, I need, we're gonna try and make a summer checklist. Yeah. To try and hit some of the things here. Because if not, you look around like the good weather's gone and we're back into like winter. It's like, what have we done? Anything? Like, we haven't done anything, but I do have a bunch of trips coming up, um, you know, in the next couple months. So I'm excited. Uh, not. Yeah.

Orion Brown (14:07):

And you, you know, you hit the nail in the head, like kind of being that home tourist is totally it's. It's a, it's a challenge, especially if you are used to going international y'all my glasses are sweating off my face. They're

Nadeen White (14:17):

So cute though. Aren't

Orion Brown (14:19):

They cute? That's why I refuse to take 'em off Savant and Scholar Black owned. I put this up on my FSA. I got a few frames.

Nadeen White (14:26):

Wait, what's the name?

Orion Brown (14:28):

Savant and Scholar.

Nadeen White (14:30):

Oh,

Orion Brown (14:30):

I've I also have, I have a brown pair. Wait, wait, hold up. We got to do a fashion switch.

Nadeen White (14:37):

Oh, I like those. Those are nice too.

Orion Brown (14:40):

Yes.

Nadeen White (14:41):

Okay. I'm gonna have to check those out.

Orion Brown (14:43):

Yes, hon. It's the same frame, but I have a bunch of different frames from them that at the end of the year, when your FSA is about to run out and you're like, well, I ain't really break nothing this year. Uh, but I wanna get this money back out, cuz I'm gonna use it or lose it. Go get you some frames,

Nadeen White (14:58):

Get some phrase

Orion Brown (15:00):

I'm telling you

Nadeen White (15:00):

Your hilarious <laugh> And

Orion Brown (15:04):

Then put, put those dollars back into the Black community. I'm saying

Nadeen White (15:09):

Black owned all, all the way. I totally totally agree.

Orion Brown (15:12):

We make and do some phenomenal things and we just, you know, we gotta support. We gotta support. And it's not just about grabbing anybody on the street cuz that's how we get into that. Ooh. But the quality don't just grab anybody. But look for the quality. Look for the style. Look for all the things that you're looking for. Cuz it is out there. It does exist. Totally. They just have a harder time finding you. That is my soapbox. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk. Um, let's talk about though. Uh, <laugh> local traveling because I lo like one of the things I I'm originally from Chicago, I left. Yeah. And came back as a, not broke adult, you know? So it's like I left after college and it was like, I know what Chicago is. No I didn't. I had no money. Right. I was pre-med I didn't, I wasn't going nowhere. Right there. There was no going to the club <laugh> so when I came back years later, I actually started doing things like, go on like going on, do three, one, two.com, which is like the zip code, the area code. Um, and they had a list of things to do and I would put them on my calendar ahead of time.

Nadeen White (16:13):

Ah, nice.

Orion Brown (16:15):

Yeah. And so then I had an itinerary and the only rule I gave myself was you have to check, you have to check the calendar on the weekend. You can't just be like, I don't know what to do. I'm just gonna lay here. Now if you look at it and you're like, Ooh, I don't really wanna do that. Then that's fine. Don't do that. Right.

Nadeen White (16:29):

Um,

Orion Brown (16:30):

But it was a great way to kind of, I would go to different neighborhoods like art festivals and things like that. Just cuz I hadn't been there before. Right. So I'm sure ATL has some

Nadeen White (16:42):

Dope stuff. It's so much stuff. We went to a wine and jazz festival already on Saturday. I mean there's stuff all the time in Atlanta all the time. And the great thing is since things are kind of opened up, granted, I never really closed. To be honest, we've been party town.

Orion Brown (16:57):

We ain't say nothing.

Nadeen White (16:58):

Oh yeah. <laugh> um, but I've been getting invites, you know, as a blogger to a lot of different events. So I mean just in the past weekend of a half, I've been to a wine event. Um, I'm part of a local wine society here. So they have events mm-hmm <affirmative> society. Yeah.

Orion Brown (17:15):

That's how, you know, three sticks cuz usually nobody knows what I'm talking about. Oh

Nadeen White (17:19):

Yeah. Well that was um, but I went on a price trip at Sonoma county that day helped me, you

Orion Brown (17:23):

Know, but your Wises, not in the best way, in

Nadeen White (17:26):

The best sense, like,

Orion Brown (17:27):

You know, you're seeking out those experiences and the complexities and all this, like we all have that moment where we're like, I just wanna kick you with my girls over some table wine and, and talk shit. We have that. Right. But then when you have an appreciation, you like,

Nadeen White (17:43):

Oh yeah, y'all get that.

Orion Brown (17:44):

Y'all getting the hint of peach on

Nadeen White (17:46):

Tops. Absolutely.

Orion Brown (17:47):

And the chocolate

Nadeen White (17:48):

Milk, that's definitely me when my husband goes it with wine, I'm like, are you tasting it? Like what does he tasted? I ask him about that. Cuz he's like, it's just wine. It just tastes good. I don't know. It tastes

Orion Brown (17:59):

Like wine.

Nadeen White (18:00):

Yeah. It just tastes like wine. But no. Yeah. Atlanta I've like I was at an event last night. It was like a scotch tasting. So yeah. I've been invited to so stuff that I kind of have to decide sometimes what I'm saying yes to, or no to, because there's always something going on. There's and yeah. Especially as a blogger here, I get invited to a lot of, you know, local events. So it's cool. And then we kind of then decide on top of that. What we wanna go to like Memorial day weekend is always a jazz festival. And uh, like I said, they have a lot of wine events, live music events, and then like the blogger events. So there's yeah. Atlanta is off the chain. There's there's always, if you wanna do something every week, there's actually was a happy hour tonight. Then my friend told me about, um, for sorrow, which is a Black owned, uh, LA cure. So I don't know like if like in the island stage sorrow. Sorrow. Yeah. Yeah. But there's now a, I forget his name, but it's a Black owned spirit that is sorrel. So yeah, we can put that up if they like sorrel and he was having a happy hour tonight actually. Oh, um, yeah. In Atlanta. And so, and then there's another event tomorrow. Yeah. So yeah. There's always something.

Orion Brown (19:09):

How, how do you navigate all this? Because

Nadeen White (19:13):

That's usually the number one question I get asked with my multitasking <laugh>

Orion Brown (19:17):

Well, and, and, and the, and hopefully this is a slightly different angle cuz it's less about like that. How do you get it all done? Like, oh my gosh, you must have 12 different hands. How you figure this out. It's a little bit more of like, how do you make choice decisions about where you wanna go and where you wanna expend your energy because yeah. Being somebody that people want to interact with, they're gonna pull from you. Right. And you know, some people thrive on that. Some people don't. So like how do you kind of navigate all of that, all that love.

Nadeen White (19:47):

I know, I know for me, my job has definitely helped. I mean, that's specifically, it's not easy because I work night shifts mm-hmm <affirmative> but I specifically picked that kind of lifestyle because it does allow me the time off to travel and to work on my blog. So, um, working on my blog takes up more time than my, my job at the hospital. I'm gonna be honest. I mean, I hire a virtual assistant because like, it was just too much. I don't, I didn't have the time to create all the content of all the stuff that I have and places I travel to. So that is definitely helpful to have somebody there and um, to do that. And then like I'm on the board of the Black Travel Alliance and that takes up a lot of time. We need to talk

Orion Brown (20:28):

About that too. Yeah. Yeah.

Nadeen White (20:30):

So it definitely is. And I definitely have to prioritize, I am married. So I also have a husband, his kids. It

Orion Brown (20:37):

Has some full time.

Nadeen White (20:38):

Yeah. Yeah. So, um, you know, I definitely have to prioritize and it usually will be things that I turn to tell people what are the things that I would be doing on my own that let's say I would pay to do, but they're now being offered to me hosted or complimentary. So if somebody offers me a trip to a place that I wouldn't have gone anyway, I wouldn't have done or gone on my own, then I probably wouldn't go if the event is somewhere, cuz like I said, I get invited to a lot of events. If it's an event that I probably wouldn't have seen and gone to myself, I probably wouldn't go. If it's not a topic related to my blog, if it's not something I would normally go to on my own, then I won't go. I mean, you know, I am not a big scotch and whiskey drinker, but my husband is, and there are some similarities to tasting wine and these events. Yeah. And these events were at restaurants and I really like, and there was gonna be food. So I'm like, I love those restaurants. One was, she said, but would

Orion Brown (21:34):

There be food? Oh I'm there

Nadeen White (21:36):

From there. And one was a new restaurant in Atlanta that I've been meaning to try. So this was a good way to try it out. So that was another reason I went to one of these other events and so interesting. Yeah. You know, I could be doing something I'm not gonna lie, whether it's virtually or in person. And even with my wine society, I have to say, no, you know, I'm not gonna do that event or that virtual event tonight because I just did one last week and this isn't really a topic that I'm highly interested in. But like two weeks ago I did it did one because it was on Spain, the Rioja region. And I'm interested in learning more that, but let's say next week it might be on Chile and not like I don't wanna learn more about Chilean wine, but right now that's not like, you know, a top priority for me and I'd have to probably study and look that up more versus I'm like more familiar with Spain and RHA cuz I've been to Spain.

Nadeen White (22:26):

So, you know, you just kind of have to, I have a, a very sharp to do list and I am a, um, I'm a maniac with that. Like with my phone, I have this to do list and I'm like constantly checking things off. I'm also a night owl. So I will be on my computer and the TV might be on the background, like the late show tonight, show whatever. But that's when I'm like, even if I'm not doing something like I feel be so even if I'm editing pictures for my blog, uploading pictures to my blog, sending ideas to my VA for reals. So even if I'm just sitting there eating my, which is terrible, I'm not gonna suggest this to everyone. That's terrible. But even if I'm eating dinner or lunch, I'm even like editing pictures, sending stuff to my VA. I have my computer on my, up doing that.

Nadeen White (23:11):

Um, I'm trying to actually schedule just me time. And that's why I went for a walk just now, because I've been on the computer and a board meeting for like two hours all day. And I was like, Nadine, you need to just shut it down, get some fresh air, you know, before I came and do this. And so, um, sometimes I actually have to stop and schedule me for me. That could be a walk. It could be going to the spa. It could be meeting up with a friend for dinner, but it's a shame that sometimes I have to schedule that for myself. Like yeah.

Orion Brown (23:41):

You know? Well, I mean, and that's, it's interesting cuz I can, I can totally relate. And Saha say you, your Saha cue say your to-do list is aggressive. <laugh> shots fired

Nadeen White (23:50):

She's with me, which was so funny. My cousin came with me on that press trip and she was like, oh, I'm just gonna relax. This is vacation. And then she's like, wait a minute. This is like that's work. Yeah. And she didn't realize it. I said, I'm glad that she can tell my family member us who kind of make fun of like influencers or bloggers because she was taking pictures of me. We had this itinerary we had to stick to and she realized that it's like work if people don't realize that. Um, yeah. We're actually, yes, it's huge and great opportunities what we get to do, but it is work when you have to get up, you have to be certain places. You have to take the pictures, you have to create the content. So I'm glad that she was able to like see that since I get made fun of in my family all the time.

Orion Brown (24:31):

<laugh> you know, so this is where, um, Black families stop shaming people for not having traditional jobs or traditional passions. Because I mean, I think so here's the funny, you know, on the one hand you're like, okay, like I went to, when I went to business school, people were like, but you got a job. Like why are you going back to school to not? And it's like, I'm investing in myself, I'm reinvesting in myself. Um, and so there's something to be said, I'm gonna get serious. But there's something to be said for, we have to recognize that if we don't see it, we have a tendency to condition ourselves that we don't belong there. Right. Like Black people on the ski slopes, my ex-husband Jamaican could ski his ass off. Good

Nadeen White (25:12):

For

Orion Brown (25:13):

This dude. This dude was on, you know, the short skis, like the speed skis, right. He's on the short skis going backwards down to bunny hill. Cause I'm over there. Like he's like, I got you. I still, I told you I'm abysmal. I'm abysmal at ski. Um, but those were things that I was like, we don't do that. And I had to stop and listen and go, what do you mean we don't do that. We can do everyth when we

Nadeen White (25:35):

Want to. Exactly. That's what I posted with my ski video the other day. Like we do everything, anything we wanna do, we do. It's like, yeah, I hear you. Because with medicine, that was the same thing. When people, my, I was starting the book, they were like, why you're a doctor? And I was like, right.

Orion Brown (25:49):

You've made it

Nadeen White (25:50):

Have more than one passion. Like you can do more than one thing in life. Like you don't have to just have one passion. And mm-hmm <affirmative> I hate that. Yeah. Because honestly it really is a passion and I enjoy what I do. So it's not like, it doesn't really feel like typical work cuz I enjoy it. So, um <affirmative> and thank goodness. Like I said, I'm fortunate to have my job cuz that's still my in main form of income is my job at the hospital. Um, that I'm able to do those night shifts and then have time off to be able to still travel and work on my blood because that's what keeps me actually staying when I have to go back and do like the night shifts. It's like, okay, I'm gonna do these three shifts. But then I get to like travel next week. You know? So that's the greatest balance for me in my life right now. So,

Orion Brown (26:38):

And you, you, you, you hit on something that I know our audience, a BlackTravelBox loves travel is my self care. Mm-hmm <affirmative> it is the way in which I care for myself. And there's so many different levels between just experiencing something new, experiencing and connecting with what God made, experiencing and connecting with myself, experiencing and connecting with other people. Which so we get so frustrated by the atmosphere that's around us, that we miss out on the benefit of just like sharing a laugh with somebody.

Nadeen White (27:13):

Of course, you know?

Orion Brown (27:14):

Yes. And, and somebody you don't know cause it's cool. Like when you say, oh, you know, it's your, your spouse or whoever. That's great. But when you're in another country and the other person can't speak the language and you both see a baby fall on their butt and you like, okay, he right. So we gonna laugh at

Nadeen White (27:27):

Him, laugh. <laugh> we check?

Orion Brown (27:30):

We, we like, OK, that was hilarious. I know

Nadeen White (27:33):

Know,

Orion Brown (27:33):

But those are important moments when you break bread with people, when you have a glass of wine with people and, and you're like getting every third word from each other, cause you don't quite get it.

Nadeen White (27:42):

Right. Right.

Orion Brown (27:43):

But having that connection and being like, I'm a human being, you're a human being. All, all we are are the, the people inside of us right now. Yes. As opposed to,

Nadeen White (27:51):

I

Orion Brown (27:52):

Love the stuff that we got going on all around the globe. I was gonna say America, but we've, we've got it in a lot of different places. So there's something really beautiful about getting that connection. It's such a great recharge.

Nadeen White (28:03):

It's is, I mean, I love, love talking to other people and you know, we did that, my cousin and I, every driveway that we had in whistle, we were like, where you from? What are you doing? <laugh> like, why are you here? You know, that was your,

Orion Brown (28:16):

My story.

Nadeen White (28:16):

<laugh> yeah. Like it's just so awesome. So yeah. I feel the most alive when I'm traveling. I mean, when I'm live traveling, exploring, I do a lot on my own, you know, I do a lot of solo travel. Um, and so I still that's when I feel the most alive. And so yeah, that is, that is it for me.

Orion Brown (28:36):

Cause you're in you, you're just in you and in your flow. I love that. I love that.

Nadeen White (28:41):

She said we were part, she was, she was more nosy than I am.

Orion Brown (28:46):

I'm not mad at it. Look, I have I, some of my, I went to South Africa. Oh my God. Now it's been like 12 years ago. Um, I need to go back. I was supposed, I told myself, I'll go back in six, see how it goes, see how it goes. Y'all I gotta get back. But I, you talking to cab drivers and bus drivers and the people around us is like, you, it just changes your perspective on life. And it doesn't matter where you go. Obviously South Africa has a very rich and intense history,

Nadeen White (29:17):

Interest history. Yeah.

Orion Brown (29:18):

But even with that, like I, I found talking to people who were as a people, resilient and forgiving. Yeah. And releasing of things now don't get me, don't get me wrong. People got issues, people

Nadeen White (29:30):

Issues,

Orion Brown (29:31):

Stuff. But you talk to them and you're like, okay, we're 14 years out of apartheid. And you're like, okay. So that's over now. Let's move forward. I'm like you saw mature. Y'all

Nadeen White (29:41):

Going to therapy. No, I know. That's it's, it's very interesting. Like you said, I've been there and my husband's going there next month. I was supposed to go with him cuz we've been, um, twice together, but he's going back. And like you said, I mean the history there and actually being there and learning we're about it. And I had the same kind of experience in Cuba, like going to Cuba and actually talking to Cuba about how they feel about Americans. Cuz we only know our side, you know, but

Orion Brown (30:08):

They ain't our side. That's they side that's that's that's them, them, them, them, people that, that make the stories up.

Nadeen White (30:14):

Right. That's exactly right. Yeah. And to go and you learn

Orion Brown (30:17):

That,

Nadeen White (30:18):

Talk to them and see what's happening. Like when is exact, but just was hysterical to me is like, you know, as Americans, you have this idea, like we're not going to Cuba. Nobody's in Cuba. Nobody goes to Cuba.

Orion Brown (30:28):

Everybody's in Cuba. We're the only damn people not there. Right.

Nadeen White (30:31):

Exactly. There was like all these huge tour buses of people from Canada, Germany, like all the and Russia.

Orion Brown (30:38):

Yeah. Australia, Australians are everywhere. Y'all I mean, right. I, I, I would, I'm not gonna liken them to like, uh, uh, stuff that we don't want, but they're kinda like ants we'll say ants. Uh, cause they just show up and then when they show up it's once you see one it's like 15 more of 'em every time.

Nadeen White (30:56):

Right. Right. The

Orion Brown (30:58):

Australians are intense.

Nadeen White (30:59):

They are everywhere. But it was just so funny to see like we like cuz we are just so kind of pompous in that way, you know? And I was like, what is this? Like everybody else isn't Cub. But we're the only ones that aren't here. Like they have booming tourism and you know, all these things. And so just to talk to, to them and just learn so much about the country and what was going on from being there. I was like blown away. I said, but Americans are a trip. Like, you know, we just go by what we've been told about the country and not really understanding the real dynamics at play, you know? So, um,

Orion Brown (31:34):

It it's deep and you get down there, you go to museums and you hear about the Cuban missile crisis from the people in Cuba. Yes. And you hear about babe. Okay. By the way I swam in the babe dig y'all it is beautiful. If you haven't been gorgeous,

Nadeen White (31:46):

We went in the water, but we didn't swim it. But yeah. It's so beautiful there.

Orion Brown (31:50):

I mean, I, I cute swim. I cute swam it. I'm not out here trying to Trya anything. And now that I got my COVID weight, I probably could just float. But that's beside the point. It's it's beautiful though. It's absolutely gorgeous is. Yeah. And you know, one of the fallacies that I found hilarious was like this idea of, oh, they're driving these old 1950s cars because they don't have any new cars now. Number one, there's PIOs driving all over the place. Right. Cause they cause other other countries make cars. Y'all exactly.

Nadeen White (32:21):

Do you know? They

Orion Brown (32:22):

Right. They're saying, um, and, and all of like the 1950s cars, which are absolutely gorgeous. And if y'all haven't done the tours, go do the tours, go get the photo. Cuz it's you feel like a celebrity. I'm not even gonna lie. I get full on. I'm not even Luci ball. I'm Ricky, Ricardo up in that bitch. I am like, no, it's so beautiful. It's just, oh they got the top down. It's

Nadeen White (32:47):

It's amazing all the different colors,

Orion Brown (32:49):

But they making bank on that. Like we, we, we were talking about, oh, they have these beat up cars and they're just like repairing the parts. Like, like I remember being taught that through like public schooling that like, you know, it's just this broken down place. And while there are spots, it's spots, the flave is up in there. The flave the girls be fly. I'm not even gonna lie

Nadeen White (33:08):

Ladies. They had so culture dancing, music everywhere. Like even in those areas, it was totally not what is depicted in the us. Not at

Orion Brown (33:20):

All.

Nadeen White (33:21):

I agree. Yeah. It was, it was eye opening. I loved it. I had wanted to go back and it was like, you know, who got elected and all that kind of made it worse. And then COVID, it was like, oh,

Orion Brown (33:33):

You know, when you got, you got a, you got a bowl of popcorn and then somebody throw a Cheeto in there and it gets the rest of, and it just bruises the whole thing that

Nadeen White (33:41):

Popcorn. Yes, totally.

Orion Brown (33:44):

That our popcorn up y'all

Nadeen White (33:47):

I know, but it's yeah. I just say the same thing. If you have an opportunity to go, I tell people to go. It was a great experience. I that, yeah. One of our favorites actually we spent like eight days there and um, had a driver take us around the country. So I mean, when we went to like, uh, we were in Havana obviously, and then we went to like the be pigs area and then went to Trinidad and that other city Sango and then Sango, I think was the other place. Yeah.

Orion Brown (34:16):

Oh my gosh. And it's so like each one of places have such a, the Island's not big.

Nadeen White (34:24):

Right. But each of

Orion Brown (34:24):

Those cities, those towns have a very different flavor and a very different feel. Mm-hmm

Nadeen White (34:29):

<affirmative> absolutely.

Orion Brown (34:30):

And so distinct and it's so beautiful. And it's so like uniquely Cuba, like, you know, you're in Cuba, but it's like a different side of it. Oh yeah.

Nadeen White (34:38):

No, it, it is, it is definitely like, like I said, one of our top three in terms of places, my husband and I have been to definitely.

Orion Brown (34:46):

Okay. So, so that's on the vacation list. That's the, we can couple it out. So what are your number one and two or what are the other two on your top three?

Nadeen White (34:54):

The other two. I usually tell people definitely Thailand and South Africa. Yeah. South Africa, a place like would live. I mean, I would definitely live there. There's there's there's few places I would live like there's I actually

Orion Brown (35:08):

Went into getting a visa when I went down there. I was like, I don't even know if I wanna come back. And then they were like, oh, we don't let strangers in like that. And I like, right, you're right. You're right. I just, I invited myself over to your house. And then I was like, I'm just gonna bring my luggage and stay. Right. I love that.

Nadeen White (35:24):

No, I looked into property there recently because I, I mean, it's a place I would buy property and

Orion Brown (35:29):

In a second, yes.

Nadeen White (35:31):

Yeah, no, I, you know, um, there's people from my husband's job who have had, um, assignments there and I was like, can't you just get like a one year assignment pair. So we could at least like live there for some time because girl,

Orion Brown (35:43):

You just in it for Stellan Bosch don't lie. You just wanna stay up

Nadeen White (35:46):

In. I would live there. I would live shoot if I could. I would. I would. I mean, yeah, it's definitely, like I said, he's been a few times I've been twice. Um, but it's just gorgeous and I love the people. I love how the history of what they're trying to build and fight for. Um, oh, body camp. Ask what place? Uh, South Africa. Yeah. That's that's my favorite. That's a place I could totally live and yeah, I could do Johannesburg or Cape town. I mean, I've been to Durban. Uh, I felt was okay. My husband went back to Durban after we went together and he had a better appreciation for it. But in terms of where I would live, I would live in either Johannesburg or Cape town.

Orion Brown (36:27):

I, you know, it's funny that you would say that about Durban. Like I, I think about like for instance, Johannesburg is like their New York in my mind. Yeah. Of course. Mind you is much cleaner. But um, but to me, like, I'm like, it's got that energy that I honestly, I like more of the laid back, like Cape town, energy, just like the chill. So to me, Cape town is like the LA, but like Malibu LA, right?

Nadeen White (36:49):

Not like right.

Orion Brown (36:50):

Yeah. Or maybe even Santa Monica a little bit, but not, we are not Venice beach. It's not Venice beach at all. Right, right. Um,

Nadeen White (36:56):

<laugh> right. You. Yeah. It is definitely like the city, like New York. Yeah. Yes,

Orion Brown (37:02):

Totally. Yes. But then Durban I'm like the only city that comes to mind for Durban to me is Cincinnati. Like it just

Nadeen White (37:11):

Cincinnati. I've never I'm if that's what he would think of. I, oh my gosh. Somebody had told me where we were going. It's like, oh, with the, you know, it's on the ocean and the Indian ocean. And you're that whole stretch is gonna remind you of south beach. And I got there and I was like, what? This is not

Orion Brown (37:32):

<laugh> wait let's, let's take it to the TikTok things where it's like LA It's all, it's all offkey <laugh> oh,

Nadeen White (37:42):

Right. This is not look like south beach ma no BA

Orion Brown (37:45):

<laugh> who's

Nadeen White (37:46):

South

Orion Brown (37:47):

Beach where I love that. So actually speaking of beaches, one of the things, so I went to Kenya in 2016. Oh no. We spent some time along the coast and I'm that nobody told us Africa had great beaches. Now mind you Africa's a little continent and we could probably extrapolate this. Right.

Nadeen White (38:07):

But

Orion Brown (38:08):

I got there and I was like, why am I not hearing about this all the time?

Nadeen White (38:12):

I that's true. That is true. Like, yeah, we do a very poor job. I think of, um, you know, in terms of the advertisement of, I think, I think for the past couple years, it's gotten better in terms of the advertising and the marketing in terms of Africa, but you're right. I mean, years ago, I, for me growing up, my parents visited and I have something in here from when they went. I remember growing up, my parents visited Africa and they went on like safari and Kenya and they came back with all these like amazing stories. So I'd always wanted to go to Africa. Mm-hmm <affirmative> my mother went to South Africa, you know? And so she was a, she was a big traveler. Um, so it's always been a place to me that was like, just magnificent in my mind, you know, in the place I wanted to go to.

Nadeen White (38:58):

But I think in general, like, no, like people just looked at it like third world hit like no real cities, no real nice places to it's terrible. It really is terrible. But I really think that's how the marketing or just how it was here in schools and things like that. But for me growing up and my family's Jamaican anyway, and yeah, that's how people thought of the islands. I mean, I came here to America to go to school from Jamaica and people thought that I lived in a hut. They thought I lived like on a beach and that I lived in a hut and that I had no education. Meanwhile, they threw me in the schools are

Orion Brown (39:35):

Insanely good in Jamaica, insanely.

Nadeen White (39:38):

They put me in the fifth grade and my mother was like determined to get me into sixth grade because she's like, she's already learned all this in school. And of course it was like a all white town neighborhood and they didn't wanna advance me. And there was one teacher that was like, yes, she's her ages for fifth grade here. But a waste of her time, she needs to be in the sixth grade. And so they pushed me ahead to the sixth grade, but they didn't wanna do that. Cuz they was like, how could this little Black girl from Jamaica already know all this, you know, for a 10 year old,

Orion Brown (40:08):

Because when you educate your children, they get education. Oh

Nadeen White (40:12):

They're like, how can, how can Jamaica be? How could someone from Jamaica be educated?

Orion Brown (40:16):

It is free. Knowledge is free. My mother-in-law was a English teacher and wait. And to this day, we'll stop in the middle of a conversation and explain to you the path, like the English version of the so, you know, like when we say for, we, it means for us, it's like, I know I thought that I thought that, um, but it's the, the, we don't get to see that. We don't get to see the beaches in Africa. We don't get to see the education system we don't get to. And this is where I, I refuse to say, we don't do that anymore.

Nadeen White (40:49):

Right. Right. You know?

Orion Brown (40:50):

Yeah. We don't skip grades. You need to be in your class. You need to do we. Yes we do. We skip grades. Right. We skip grades and we, and we lean up and we, we dust them. We dust them. Yes. Oh my gosh. Yes. I love it. I'm trying to keep my, my eye on the time. Cause I know you were in high demand girl, but oh my gosh, this has been

Nadeen White (41:10):

Wine. We can talk about some wine if you want to. So when you went to Sonoma, you went to three sticks cuz that that's on my list for next time.

Orion Brown (41:18):

Yes. Okay. So three sticks, um, get the private tour spurge for it. Um, a few things and, and y'all take notes cuz I really, really enjoyed this. Now I'm gonna say this with all the honesty in the world. I like to sometimes travel with my white friends because they expose me to things that I wouldn't have known about no joke. And if we get into trouble, I have them talk, stop it. So <laugh> it's and it's happened more than once. Um, I'm like, here you go handle the nasty man who was wondering why we're here. Um, but we went to three and I was, I had never been on such an intimate wine experience. So, so they have this thing called the Adobe, you guys. And it's literally like, I don't wanna say it's ancient, but it's an old Adobe home that they have the whole inside of it is it's like every architecture digest, magazine

Nadeen White (42:16):

Kind

Orion Brown (42:16):

Of space, but it has this older feel to it because it's made out of the Adobe shout out to the indigenous peoples. It is like personal air conditioning all the time. It's like the perfect temperature, which is great for wine. They have a beautiful dining room with buying China and all the stuff and it's not massive. It feels really, it feels really intimate and they sit, you know, they sit you down with your menu and they, you do your tastings and your flights and they have a beautiful garden out back. I wanna have an event there. I'm just gonna put that out there. Jesus, take the wheel, be my event planner. Uh, cause it's gorgeous. The art is beautiful. The vibes are beautiful. The wine is amazing. Um, and I mentioned the cast inata um, rose is just, I never liked rose until I started drinking that. And now I've gotten a little bit of a pallet for it, like an interesting, but it's, it's just so yummy.

Nadeen White (43:07):

Uh, well I will tell people, I spent a week in Sonoma county working with, uh, Sonoma county last fall. So just to plug my block, cuz if anybody is going to Sonoma, I have a whole guide on Sonoma county and there's actually, um, I love it. So I went to fog Cret vineyard, which is Black owned. So the one of the owners is a Black woman. Um, so that was a beautiful, beautiful experience there. And um, so if you wanna go to like a Black owned vineyard and it's like a full estate vineyard. Um, and so

Orion Brown (43:40):

You said fall Cret.

Nadeen White (43:41):

Oh, fog Cret. So F fog, fog, CRE vineyard,

Orion Brown (43:45):

Look, I was over there looking so we were supposed to have an event and then COVID started hitting back up and I was like, I'm not about to be the wanna get y'all sick Uhhuh <affirmative> but I was looking for, I was looking for exactly that. So I I'm gonna hit your blog.

Nadeen White (43:57):

Yes, please do. Yeah,

Orion Brown (44:00):

That sounds amazing. And like, just thinking about, I think, you know, as a community, we tend to talk about things like the women on the wine train in Napa, but Napa's got its own issues. Napa white people. Don't like Napa, I've just, I'm not even gonna lie. They're like you, if you're in Sonoma and you're like, oh, we're gonna go taste wine in Napa. They're like, Mmm.

Nadeen White (44:21):

I know people say that, but you know, um, and so speaking of rose also have a blog post on Rose's because what I think some people that, of course don't <laugh> of course I do. Yes, of course I do. Actually it's on, so I have two things. I have a blog poster on rose so people can learn it's rose 1 0 1. So people can learn more about rose because I think, um, some people that don't like rose, it depends on what type of rose mm-hmm <affirmative> you have tried because rose can be made from all different types of RALS. So you may have had a pin on more rose and then decided you don't like rose, but maybe you need to have a rose from made from Cabernet. So, or from mal Beck. So roses can be made from all.

Orion Brown (44:59):

Y'all see you talking French to us. Right. Y see she so sophisticated. That's why she's a,

Nadeen White (45:05):

And depending on where it's made, if you provide rose or maybe it's a Napa rose. So I just, that blog post kind of goes over all of that. And for you to kind of pay attention when you're ordering a rose, where it's from and what Al it's made from what kind of help you decide if you actually really like, or don't like rose and I have a list of Black own roses on my blog also. So if you wanna support that part Black owned, um, roses, you can look at that, but, um, where did

Orion Brown (45:33):

We find your blog at?

Nadeen White (45:35):

Where did we find your blog? It's sophisticated life.com.

Orion Brown (45:38):

Boom.

Nadeen White (45:39):

And so you'll find it there. Um, but you know, people say that about Napa, that they feel like sonno county is like more laid back. Uh, it's definitely more spread out. It's very like rural there's like downtown on Sonoma, but then, which is where cor 1 0 3 is. And that's um, a black

Orion Brown (45:57):

Yes. Lloyd is dope. Yes.

Nadeen White (45:59):

Yes. He's awesome.

Orion Brown (46:00):

He was the dopest Black dude I've met in a very long time. Yes. We did a virtual wine tasting with him. So we were supposed to have an event in Sonoma. We were gonna have him come in and do a tasting. Right. And you know, like I said, I put the kabosh on that. They were like, we had a thousand cases yesterday. I'm like DE's. Um, but he did a virtual tasting y'all he used to be a, I banker private. Like he was out here, private equity, sharking it. And he's the quietest dude. He's like, so soft spoken. And then he is like, I don't take no shit. And I'm like, what? <laugh>

Nadeen White (46:38):

Yeah. He did a tasting with me, just me and him when I went out there.

Orion Brown (46:42):

Oh, just amazing.

Nadeen White (46:43):

I was like, oh my God, he's so great. But now I still really enjoy Napa. I, I have never had actually a bad experience. I don't really find, I haven't had like that up. The feeling I've been there several times. I'm going back in may. Um, so I do suggest people go and just try and, and see have the, see what happens and have their own experience, get recommendations and see what you like go to. Yeah. And that's why I was gonna say too. So people will just kind of go cold to some of these places. I definitely recommend going to the wineries based on the wine that you like, if you like Pinot noir, go to wineries that make that if you like Cabernet, go to wineries that make that. So don't just go out to these places cold and not do any kind of research, um,

Orion Brown (47:26):

Go based on, unless they're like your husband and they're like, it tastes like wine. Yes, exactly. Then you can go anywhere.

Nadeen White (47:33):

I know. So yeah. I have a whole wine section on my blog for people who wanna kind of do some research before they, they head to any of these different wine regions. So, um, yeah, but I, I plan to go back out for there's African American Victor's association is having a symposium in may to celebrate their 20 year anniversary. So I'm planning to go there in may. So I'm excited about that. Cause

Orion Brown (47:58):

I love that.

Nadeen White (47:59):

Yeah. Cause I write about all these Black owned wineries and winemakers, so it'll be great. I've met a lot of them, but I'll still get to meet some more. So

Orion Brown (48:10):

I need that in my life. I was, I've been stalking, I've been stalking and trying to put that together. So I'm so glad we got a chance to talk about this. Yeah. And share it with people again, you know, I am personally trying to switch over my luxury purchases because one, we never really get to see luxury coming from us. Right. Not because we don't make it. It's just that we don't have enough access for cation, for people to know about it. So actively looking for when I was going waste that money anyway, or spend that money anyway. You know what I mean?

Nadeen White (48:41):

Yeah.

Orion Brown (48:42):

I think sometimes we get into the argument of well, but there's no Black grocery stores and yes, there should be. And especially in different areas like areas, we should be owning all the businesses in the gentrified areas and should have all the apartments. It should be a blended family. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. But, um, but I do really love and I'm passionate about like, if I'm gonna have opulence in my life, it's gonna be Black as hell.

Nadeen White (49:03):

My cousin said, how many people say Sy? I mean,

Orion Brown (49:07):

You know, she out here articulating and stuff, she a doctor, y'all she a doctor she know worse, you know,

Nadeen White (49:16):

Too funny.

Orion Brown (49:17):

I'm so Black and I love it. You are an absolute gem. And I know you're in high demand. So I, so, so appreciate you kicking it with me and you, you know, you know, we already friends, like that's just that's happening. That's just happening. Oh. So this has been so much fun. I want to, I wanted to plug, uh, a quick plug for Black Travel Alliance. Can you just tell people what it is and why it

Nadeen White (49:41):

Is? Absolutely. Yes. So I'm a founding member and board member of the Black Travel Alliance. And we were founded the summer of 2020. I can't believe it's been two years. Um, and so we're Black travel content creators, which are bloggers, bloggers, freelancers, digital nomads. And, um, we came together to try and increase diversity of the travel industry. And so we, uh, work with brands and DMO and, um, supply kind of opportunities for travel and Black travel content creators. Um, so we have what webinars we work with the brands and DMO, um, press trips. Um, we do things like wavelength, where we actually have networking opportunities for the content creators to meet with, um, different travel brands. Um, so we've done a lot. Um, we have different committees that do all types of things. We have, obviously we're on social media and we post a lot about job opportunities.

Nadeen White (50:34):

So you can see those on our Instagram Black Travel Alliance. Um, and we have a website and you can join for free blacktravelalliance.org. And we send out newsletters every week with all the different opportunities that are going on and, you know, tell you about our events. I just hosted an event last week with D Sutton. Who's a TV correspondent, a, a travel correspondent, a Black female travel correspondent. And she kind of talked about how to get featured on TV. So that was really amazing. Um, so yeah, we do a lot of different stuff and like I said, it's free to do so if you're in the travel space and you wanna up your game, um, yeah, it's free to join and you'll get our newsletters and it's blacktravelalliance.org.

Orion Brown (51:18):

And the, the thing that's really powerful, y'all I, when I pitch my company BlackTravelBox, and by the way, black travel box, personal care product company for travelers of color, we got Black, I girls all over the site, unapologetic. Everybody else can come along, but we there's a power in seeing us. Yes, absolutely. When I, whenever I pitch the business and I'm pitching to investors and we're still early on when we get our life, right though, we going, we gonna partner with y'all, we're gonna do some like legit campaigns. Yes. Cause that's the other thing people love to throw bone of, of exposure. And it's like, you know, we are at a fledgling place so we can match with other fledgling, like content creators and things like that. Yeah. But you know, when it comes to the scale and the reach that you have, like if you pay me, like I totally get it. I totally totally get it. So I, I endeavor to luxury spend from the business with you guys, uh, very, very soon.

Nadeen White (52:11):

That's awesome. Yeah.

Orion Brown (52:12):

But I pitched, I pitched and talked about I'm like, so especially for crowds that don't look like us. I'm like, when was the last time you sat on a flight and picked up the magazine and saw a brown or a Black person in it that wasn't a flight attendant.

Nadeen White (52:25):

That's exactly. Or service. That's the kind of stuff we work on. Exactly. Yeah. They need to get it together. We spend a lot of money. We've hundred, nine,

Orion Brown (52:33):

6 billion.

Nadeen White (52:34):

Yeah.

Orion Brown (52:35):

Hundred, 9.6 billion. There

Nadeen White (52:37):

You go. There you go. Exactly. You know, the numbers, just

Orion Brown (52:41):

Leave your travel. Y'all we all got jobs. You know, how many of us and wait, here's the side note. I don't wanna say this is trifling. I would say it's, it's, uh, you know, it's us stress catching ourselves, but it's like, as soon as we get a business trip, we're like, well, let me tack on a couple extra days on the end of it. So it's not even including all the business trips that's

Nadeen White (52:58):

And sometimes we take

Orion Brown (52:59):

Jobs just so we can travel.

Nadeen White (53:00):

We do. We do. Yes. Yeah. Love it. That's exactly the stuff that we work on. So yeah. We've had a, we've had huge success in the short time and none of us how to run a nonprofit, nonprofit, we've just been doing it. Just like, I don't know. We just came together and decided to do it. And we've had huge success in two years. So

Orion Brown (53:21):

That's what purpose looks like. Y'all take a look at that. That's what purpose looks like when you slow in something that's bigger than you.

Nadeen White (53:29):

That's what purpose looks like. Oh, of it was commented. Yeah. Um, no, thank you. It's been, it's been challenging, but yeah. I'm proud of us for sure.

Orion Brown (53:38):

I love it. I love to see it. And I talk about y'all all the time. I big up you. We had the, um, travel retail, uh, travel retail. I can't think of the full name of the organization, but I was up at like 6 45 in the morning doing on a panel for them. And I was like, oh, you need to talk to a Dean. I need to connect you guys because you need to see. Cause we were on a DEI panel and

Nadeen White (53:59):

God, the

Orion Brown (54:00):

D I was only D <laugh> On the panel. And, and, but we were having conversations around like equity versus equality and all of that stuff. And I was like, you need to tap into the creators. Mm.

Nadeen White (54:14):

You

Orion Brown (54:14):

Need to, I need to see more Black faces in the airports, on, on the retail signs and all of that stuff. Because when we see ourselves, we buy

Nadeen White (54:22):

Yep. That's then

Orion Brown (54:23):

You want our money. I want you to want my money as much as you want everybody else's.

Nadeen White (54:27):

Yep. You're absolutely right. That's what, and the studies show that the studies absolutely show that we're gonna spend money where we see each other. Yep.

Orion Brown (54:37):

I love it, girl. You are the best. You're

Nadeen White (54:39):

Gonna insane.

Orion Brown (54:42):

I'm so here for, we're gonna have so many more conversations about line, um, what? That we just gotta text each other or what?

Nadeen White (54:48):

Yes, absolutely.

Orion Brown (54:50):

Yes. We were having brunch in Atlanta. So your homework assignment is to actually go, uh, see your, see your town. So when I go through the Atlanta, you can be like, I know this great place.

Nadeen White (55:00):

Yes. Oh. Brunch is like institution here. So yes, yes. A lot traces.

Orion Brown (55:05):

Look, I'm here for we'll save up the calories for the biscuits now.

Nadeen White (55:09):

Yeah. They have like gold crusted, waffles and stuff here in like, they don't play, they don't play

Orion Brown (55:15):

Boi. I, I am so, okay. Bougie, brunch. We're doing bougie. Brunch,

Nadeen White (55:19):

Bougie. Brunch. Yes.

Orion Brown (55:20):

We will find a time on our calendars that work and we will do Booie brunch. And then we'll we'll

Nadeen White (55:25):

Next year in Denver.

Orion Brown (55:27):

Yes. Come to Denver. Come to Denver. Thank you guys. Thank everybody in chat.

Nadeen White (55:32):

Y'all

Orion Brown (55:33):

Have been coming through. I love it. I love to see it. If you haven't gotten a chance yet, definitely check out the sophisticated life. Do

Nadeen White (55:41):

Yes. Song. Absolutely. Or

Orion Brown (55:43):

The blacktravelalliance.org.

Nadeen White (55:46):

Yep. You guys. And

Orion Brown (55:47):

If you're so interested, check out theblacktravelbox.com and make sure that you're following us. We are here to serve the culture and we about to do some big things. Y'all so I'm really excited. Oh, NA God bless you.

Nadeen White (55:59):

Love you. You're the best. Love it.

Orion Brown (56:02):

Have a wonderful evening. And thank you for coming. You gotta come back again.

Nadeen White (56:06):

Yes, absolutely. Thanks for having me.

Orion Brown (56:09):

Good.

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