Suite Life SoCal Magazine Spring 2021 Issue by suitelifesocal

C O N C I E R G E

M A G A Z I N E

Suite Life SoCal

DREAM CHASERS

SPRING 2021

MENTAL HEALTH & WELLNESS

AND THEIR AMAZING JOURNEYS AFTER FOSTER CARE

ISSUE

AABLI

Celebrating

YEARS OF

PREPARING AFRICAN AMERICANS FOR BOARD LEADERSHIP

margo wade BLACK BEAUTY AND WELLNESS ladrew FOUNDATION

BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

Leveling the Playing Field

APR/MAY/JUN $6.95 US

FOUNDER of the

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH IS ON THE MIND OF COUNCILMAN

MARK

RIDLEY-THOMAS

Something suite coming soon from C O N C I E R G E

M A G A Z I N E

Suite Life SoCal

You could be here. Stay tuned at suitelifesocal.com @suitelifesocal

Suite Life SoCal

49 COVER FEATURE

Margo Wade LaDrew FOUNDER of the BLACK BEAUTY AND WELLNESS FOUNDATION STORY BY ASHLEY YANCEY PHOTOGRAPHY BY KAI BYRD

Contents 16

IN EVERY ISSUE

16 FACES WE LOVE

23 LIFE & STYLE

From the Publisher

Talmadge Spicer: The Coach, the Entrepreneur & Everything in Between

Michael R. Moore’s love for life and raw emotion fuels his photography.

From the Editor

Talmadge Spicer's path to coaching and helping others to have the guts to follow their guts.

STORY BY KALAISHA TOTTY SELF-PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL R. MOORE

Contributors

STORY BY KAMEA TAYLOR PHOTOS COURTESY OF TALMADGE SPICER

u24

The Suite List

u16

Featuring Event, Media

Nefertiti Mitchell: There's no love like self-love

and Marketing Professionals

Ghettoff owner Nefertiti Mitchell is passionate about erasing the stigma on intimacy and shame.

The Face Behind The Camera: Meet Dion Demetries Fashion Stylist and Costume Designer in Film & Television Guilds sheds light on the representation disparity in Hollywood’s unions while seeking to make the path to membership more seamless for Black artists who come after him.

STORY BY KALAISHA TOTTY

STORY BY SUITE LIFE SOCAL

u18

u28

Leve Ross: Dream Chaser

PLUSH Vodka Founder & Owner Malcolm Hale Making a Mark in the Spirits & Wine Industry Black small businesses are making waves in industries and markets traditionally dominated by White corporations. Brooklyn native Malcolm Hale’s luxury liquor brand, Plush Vodka, has recently entered the Southern California market and is making waves in the heavily corporatized liquor industry.

Surviving the foster care system, gang life, and juvenile detention to become a Hollywood actor seemed like an impossibility for Leve Ross until, well, he did just that. Now his work will premiere at the July 2021 Nehemiah Film Festival. STORY BY MISCHA TOLAND PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL ROUD

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Michael R. Moore: Life, Love & Photography

SPRING 2021 | SUITELIFESOCAL.COM

STORY BY QUINCI LEGARDYE

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44 34

76 82

33 SUITETALK

“I'm Not on YouTube, Just To Be on YouTube.”

Anthony Trucks: Shifting Pain into Passion

For many who decide to take matters into their own hands and manage home repairs and upgrades on their own, YouTube has served as a popular learning resource to get the job done. Local Inglewood hardware tool aficionado and inventor of the Picture Hanging Tool, Dillon Bruno, noticed the lack of diversity however in the home repair space and decided to do something about it.

The right amount of pain can produce the right amount of power if we understand pain’s purpose. Former NFL player Anthony Trucks not only understands this phenomenon, but he also developed an entire program and platform to teach others to understand it as well. STORY BY MISCHA DUFFIE PHOTOS COURTESY OF ANTHONY TRUCKS

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STORY BY ASHLEY YANCEY

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49 HEALTH & WELLNESS

Black motherhood through the experience of a foster care parent turned adoptive parent.

COVER FEATURE

u38 Poets of the Southland A quick look at poetry in Southern California and how it empowers the soul. Also, a closer look at a few of SoCal’s acclaimed talented poets and their influences. STORY BY EDDIE TRUJILLO GRIJALVA

u42 The New Black-owned Bookstore on the Block By While many spent much of 2020 doing what they could just to maintain their sanity, local Angeleno and Inglewood-native Asha Grant decided there was no time like the present to pursue her most ambitious goal yet-breaking ground on The Salt Eaters, Inglewood’s newest independent, Black womanowned bookstore prioritizing books by and about Black women and girls, femmes, and non-binary folks. STORY BY ASHLEY YANCEY

u44

Digital Health: Growing Realities in the Aftermath of the Pandemic An attempt to define Digital Health and a look at its history. What it means for the people of Southern California and the future of healthcare in the age of pandemic. STORY BY EDDIE TRUJILLO GRIJALVA PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL ROUD

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65 BLACK N BEAUTY MAGAZINE A Special Supplement Edition in partnership with the Black Beauty & Wellness Foundation Kai EL’ Zabar, Executive Editor Margo Wade LaDrew, Publisher Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Kamala’s Power, Pearls & Pantsuits Jackie's On The Reef: Escape To Negril Your Man's Health

75 SUITECAUSES

The Insight of Black Motherhood & Their Children

STORY BY KAMEA TAYLOR PHOTOGRAPHY BY BOBBY QUILLARD

Where Mental Health and Beauty Collide: How the Black Beauty & Wellness Foundation is Transforming the Beautyshop Experience By providing specialized mental health training and advocacy programs to Black stylists, Margo Wade-LaDrew is on a mission to transform how the Black beauty salon experience can better support Black women, one hairstyle at a time. The founder of the Black Beauty & Wellness Foundation, Wade-LaDrew saw a unique opportunity to make sure Black women are getting the mental health support they so desperately need. STORY BY ASHLEY YANCEY PHOTOGRAPHY BY KAI BYRD

u50 Ridley-Thomas Highlights Behavioral Health in South Central Los Angeles Rather than dealing with trauma on the back end, in the context of an emergency room scenario, we seek to do proactive work, preventive work in terms of counseling and other intervention strategies deployed through the Department of Public Health. STORY BY QUINCI LEGARDYE

u58

African American Board Leadership Institute: Celebrating 10 Years of Building Black Representation in American Governance For the last ten years, Yvette Chappell-Ingram and Virgil Roberts have turned their more than 25 years of board experience into a curriculum and certification program that has landed more than 200 Black professionals on boards. At the same time, they systematically work to disrupt and dismantle the implicit bias that keeps Blacks off boards. STORY BY MISCHA DUFFIE PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEROY HAMILTON

u76

81 SUITEBIZ Blockchain Technology: Leveling the Playing Field Cryptocurrency is more than just a "fly by night" investment strategy. Blockchain technology is making digital currency the preferred way of doing business. STORY BY DONELL MOORE

u82 Do you Speak Crypto? Hear are some terms that you are sure to hear over and over again. u84 SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

from the publisher

Hopeful for things to come Welcome to our Spring issue! It is incredibly good to say that we made it through. However, we are not lost on the fact that many have not or have been deeply affected by the repercussions of the pandemic. This brings us to why we chose to explore the rising need to address our mental health and wellbeing. Our cover feature, Margo Wade LaDrew, through her growing connections to salons and barbershops, has worked tirelessly to help provide the tools to stylists and barbers that may help identify the early signs of mental challenges in their clients. We invite you to read Wade LaDrew's journey from personal experiences to her work as founder of Black Beauty and Wellness Foundation. We are also proud to announce the launching of our collaboration with Wade LaDrew as the publisher of Black N Beauty magazine that is inserted as a special supplement edition to Suite Life SoCal, featuring articles and resources for Black beauty and wellness. We are excited for the many opportunities of connections, outreach, and stories to come. In addition to mental health, we are delighted to spotlight the amazing talents and journeys of what the Nehemiah Project LA (NPLA) calls Dream Chasers regarding individuals who grow out of the foster care system. Through our collaboration with NPLA, we learned about Anthony Trucks, Leve Ross, and Nefertiti Austin's remarkable stories. There is a lot more in this robust issue, like peeling back the mystifying intrigue of cryptocurrency. We were fortunate enough to have a local expert, Donell Moore, for some insight on Blockchain Technology and how it levels the playing eld. That's a must-read on page 82. There is so much more. Please dig in and see for yourself. Stay tuned with us because we have some suite stuff in store. Please follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @suitelifesocal. Don't miss a beat. Stay Suite!

Sarah 8

SPRING 2021 | SUITELIFESOCAL.COM

Sarah R. Harris Publisher-in-Chief

@suitelifesocal

#suitelifesocal

from the Editor

Suite words and images greet Spring 2021 Happy Spring, 2021! I am always excited to welcome the Spring season. With the same enthusiasm, I welcome our readers to experience Suite Life SoCal magazine. This edition is especially dear to my heart because we highlight our foster youth present and past. As a former Social Worker Supervisor, I know rst hand the impact that the system has on our youth. More importantly, I know how important it is to have people who selessly give of their time, energy, and material resources to make a difference in a child’s life. In this issue, Suite Life SoCal introduces you to some Southern Californians who have given selessly and/or have been the recipient of such giving. As I reect on their stories, I am reminded of our mission. Stories like Anthony Truck’s and Nefertiti Austin’s are the reason we labor to publish quarterly. Organizations like the Nehemiah Project LA and the African American Board Leadership Institute are the reason we continue to expand our reach. H o n e s t l y, c o n n e c t i n g w i t h a m a z i n g S o u t h e r n Californians and sharing their stories with you is extremely gratifying. Hoping you enjoy the written and visual stories within these pages as much as I have. Happy reading and enjoy the Suite Life. Love & Light,

Angela

SPRING 2021 | SUITELIFESOCAL.COM

Angela R. Jackson, MS Managing Editor @ajgrateful2be authorangelarena.com

@_angelarena

Contributors

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@suitelifesocal , #suitelifesocal Suite Life SoCal Magazine is published quarterly. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of the contents in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Letters to the publisher are welcome. Email submissions to suitelifesocal@gmail.com. © 2021 Suite Media

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faces we love

Talmadge Spicer The Coach, The Entrepreneur, & Everything In Between STORY BY KAMEA TAYLOR

hrough many struggles, Talmadge Spicer has endured and overcome many things within his life that have brought him to his true passion: coaching. Spicer is a life coach, entrepreneur, and a man of goals and aspirations to aid in his clients’ growth and success. He has touched and inspired many to take a chance and utilize opportunities that will propel his clients’ lives. Spicer is a man of many achievements and one of very few capable of achieving such a role. In times of self-destructive habits, the essentiality of a friend and a mentor can be found within a coach’s purpose. The partnership created from coaching allows one to counsel and encourage clientele from all walks of life. Pushing the limits and boundaries grants individuals the opportunity to confront their fears and transform into their aspired person. Spicer’s own challenges are what compelled him to become a personal coach. Initially, Spicer never recognized his potential after graduating college in 2014 with a bachelor's degree in marketing. With no desire to work a 9 to 5, entrepreneurship, and eventually discovering coaching, seemed more fullling and rewarding as he “became more aware that his mindset had to shift,” pushing himself to make those difcult decisions to reach his potential. Such yearning and revelation for those aspirations encouraged his desire to nd and bring the best out in others as he had done for himself. By utilizing social platforms like Instagram and Tik Tok, he started investing in his brand and his business to propel his career and reach the people in need of guidance and life tips. Spicer has reached tens of thousands of people, catching their attention with what he describes as his “stream of consciousness” content, allowing his creative ability to ow naturally. Imagine looking inside your brain and being mindful of every thought, every picture that your mind sees. Aware of the power of this type of mindfulness, he uses this type of content to grab others’ attention. Spicer has trained himself to have a higher consciousness, allowing him to be of greater service to his clients. 16

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Spicer also nds it essential to devote his time and efforts as a coach to Black women, understanding that they are habitually vulnerable to the overlapping expectations society bestowed upon them. How often do we hear of the Black woman who is so strong that she cannot show signs of weakness? This vulnerable woman would be a woman without feelings. Spicer denes life as a “feeling process,” specifying it as problematic of hindering Black women from gaining autonomy over their lives. He chooses to serve as the listening ear and the condant that many of them lack, exclaiming such practices to aid in “overcoming self-doubt.” This need to motivate and empower his clientele through his coaching career is also apparent in his recent novel, Have the Guts to Follow Your Guts: Why Playing It Safe Is The Biggest Risk of All (2020). Spicer’s work comprises an insightful story about his personal development and economic endurances. It contains a lesson of entitlement to push oneself to live the life one desires despite those oppositions. His eyeopening and inspirational work only solidies Spicer’s expertise and ability to channel and magnify his clients’ authenticity and capacity. Talmadge Spicer’s coaching proves to be essential for sustaining a life in which you are thrilled and empowered to get out and conquer the world. Though COVID has caused many sudden changes and disturbances in many lives, he remains positive and delighted to see what the future beholds for his clients and career. From more one-on-one sessions, group sessions, webinars, and workshops, the public can expect a gradual rise in Spicer’s business and even more support for those seeking his guidance. His efforts will continue to focus on his clients and encourage them to “lean into their opportunity and have the guts to tell your story.” +

LOS ANGELES, CA

“Lean into [your] opportunity and have the guts to tell your story.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF TALMADGE SPICER

@mycoachtspice

SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

faces we love

Nefertiti Mitchell

GHETTOFF BOUTIQUE OWNER IS PASSIONATE ABOUT ERASING THE STIGMA ON INTIMACY. STORY BY KALAISHA TOTTY

The packaging is discreet to ensure privacy. Each table has ex. It’s a natural part of being human. It’s a a scannable code to purchase items and read more about the taboo subject and heavily linked to shame, products, another way Mitchell makes shopping personal and even in today’s world. With the topic so hushjudgment-free. Mitchell has several years of experience hush, it’s hard to start the conversation about sexual working in retail, so she knew exactly how she wanted clients to exploration and having heightened experiences. That’s why feel when designing her boutique. Nefertiti Mitchell launched Ghettoff, a tasteful, discrete, and Clients can book an appointment online to shop personal approach to new sexual experiences and education. privately for an allotted time. They can also Nestled on a busy street in opt to have a one-on-one consultation with Inglewood, CA, is a world of play. Though you “I was on my own Mitchell to discuss what they’re looking for, may have visited or seen a “sex” shop on a any interests, and answer questions they shopping strip before, Ghettoff is far from a journey trying to ﬁnd may have. “This is your time to be as safe or novelty. Walking into the boutique, you how people are having as adventurous as you want to be,” she said. would think it was a spa or other personal Mitchell’s boutique began from her this amazing sex, care service. That is until you see the items own experience with sex and shame. sitting on the tables around the shop. and I wasn’t... “Starting from a young age, I was sexually “I was very intentional about having I thought, ‘what’s molested by a family member,” Mitchell said. everything be within eye level,” said “I had to get over it myself, and that played a Mitchell, who goes by Nef. “While our wrong with me?’” role in my intimate life because I didn't like appointments are one-on-one and you have some things and wanted different things.” the whole shop to yourself, the display She thinks back to hearing her parents removes any judgments clients may feel and other people talk about sex negatively. Often left out were coming into an adult shop.” You can choose from curbside conversations about intimacy. “By the time you’re with your pickup or home delivery if purchasing makes you anxious. 18

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INGLEWOOD, CA

@shopghettoff

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NEFERTITI MITCHELL | GHETTOFF

ghettoff.com

partner, no one knows what to expect,” she said. “You’re left in bed guring out what to do. Shame comes when we’re told [that] we don’t talk about these things.” Ghettoff is a haven that nurtures the curiosity for intimate experiences and exploring new things. “I was on my own journey trying to nd how people are having this amazing sex, and I wasn’t,” she said. “I thought, ‘what’s wrong with me?’ You want to nd the things that will give you this experience. I wanted to inform people about their bodies and what to use and what’s out there.” A bar cart sits in her ofce where clients are offered wine, sangria, cognac, and even Cuban cigars. Ghettoff provides the full, relaxed experience with various options, from vanilla to more adventurous items. There’s something for everyone. Lingerie, toys, bondage items, sex throw blankets, and that’s just to name a few. There’s even a paint kit with a canvas that creates a painting as you and your partner share some together time. “In this climate of COVID, reconnecting is critical,” Mitchell emphasized. It’s become difcult for couples to have intimate time together when everyone is at home or experiencing burnout from the new normal of everyday life. “We want to help people increase their experiences, solo or partner play,” Mitchell shared.

Ghettoff started online and offered home parties, but it was a challenge providing the ideal experience without her full inventory. “It was tedious to lug all these products, and I don't know what they’re into, so it’s hard to gauge,” Mitchell said. “Sometimes at home, you have the phone ringing, the partners coming home, the kids coming home. If you’re in a place where the focus is on you, there aren’t disruptions.” That’s what pushed her to open a physical shop.“You’re coming here, and we can have wine and talk about what you want, and we can show you some things,” she said. “We hope next time you can bring your partners, and it opens the communication.” Ghettoff still offers private parties; you can rent out the boutique for your gathering. Mitchell has exciting plans for the boutique, including classes like toy maintenance and brands giving product demos. Ensuring a comfortable client experience is at the heart of Mitchell’s mission with Ghettoff. To show her gratitude, Ghettoff is hosting a client appreciation event in April. “We’ll have music, bartenders, caterers,” she said. “We want to show them we are thankful for their support.” You can shop online at ghettoff.com or visit the shop in Inglewood, CA. + SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

faces we love

Leve Ross Dream Chaser Why youth that age out of the foster care system need the Nehemiah Project LA

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STORY BY MISCHA TOLAND PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL ROUD

n the winter 2021 issue of Suite Life SoCal, contributors writers, Sheila McKinnon and Michele Ervin, highlighted the life-changing work of Bishop Ed Smith, pastor of Zoe Christian Fellowship, and his team from the Nehemiah Project LA—an organization designed to build awareness of the challenges at-risk foster youth face exiting foster care. McKinnon and Ervin’s story also introduced us to the Nehemiah Film Festival, which opens the annual Zoe Purpose Conference this July, and to Dream Chasers—youth who have aged out of the foster care system. Meet Dream Chaser Leve Nathaniel Ross. Born in Los Angeles, Ross was placed into the foster care system at age 3 when his father was stabbed to death, and his mother was deemed unt to care for him due to her drug addiction. Ross’s treatment in foster care opened the gateway to trouble. By the ages of 10 to 12, Ross found himself hopelessly involved with gangs which led to the only place he considered safe as a teenager: juvenile detention. Now a married father of three sons, Ross, 34, holds an associate degree from Victor Valley College, a bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts and Dance from Cal State Los Angeles, and a master’s degree in Acting from University Southern California. As a Dream Chaser, Ross was hand-selected by Bishop Smith to be a voice for youth’s needs. Ross, a developing actor, is attracted to roles that add value to our culture and has already co-starred in a couple of television shows. To bring awareness to Dream Chasers’ experiences and creativity, the festival includes a category for lms produced, written, acted, and directed exclusively by them. Within this select category is the spoken word. Ross’s new spoken-word piece, “You Hold the Key,” will premiere at the festival. Grateful, Ross says, “I hope it helps people to access their unique agency.” Having never had a good representation of a man in his life, Ross says that coming across a man like Bishop Smith committed to self-renewal and God was what he needed. Of the foster care system that didn’t properly care for him, Ross says, “My motto has been to alter, in a positive way, what once held me captive.” Ross concluded our conversation by speaking to the erroneous notion that when youth make it out of the foster care system, they are “ne” and don’t need help. “The truth is we do.” To support and take part in the Nehemiah Film Festival coming July 15-24, 2021, visit www.nehemiahlmfestival.com. +

LOS ANGELES, CA

“My motto has been to alter, in a positive way, what once held me captive.” @leveross @leve.ross Leve Ross

leveross.com

SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

Life & Style

Through the Lens of

Michael R. Moore “You shoot Black people differently”

P L U S

Costume Designer

Dion Demetries The Face Behind the Camera

PLUSH Vodka Founder

Malcolm Hale

Serving Up the Perfect Mix

Life & Style

SPRING 2021 | SUITELIFESOCAL.COM

HOLLYWOOD, CA

Michael R. Moore Life, Love & Photography STORY BY KALAISHA TOTTY | SELF-PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL R. MOORE

“I do my best to make everyone shine in their best light. I want the layout to be outstanding. I try to make people look alive, not just a photo.” @michaelrmoore616

love for life and humanity; that’s how Michael R. Moore would describe himself. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Moore’s core ideals include believing in and giving to people.

Moore captures the world through photos, though when he rst experienced photography, he didn’t know what photography was. Moore was six years old when he rst crossed paths with a photographer. “A classmate had a father, Mr. Johnson, who was a photographer. I didn’t know what a photographer was, but he took pictures and showed us,” Moore said. “I asked, ‘how do you do that?’ and he said it was magic.” Moore was a shy child, but this “magic” urged him to learn more. He begged his mother for a camera, and Mr. Johnson took Moore under his wing. He taught Moore everything he knew. “I learned to see and feel and to capture what I see and feel,” Moore said. At 15, Moore went to school for photography. He hated how technical it was. Moore wanted to give up, but his mother encouraged him to keep at it. “I’m glad I listened to her,” he said. “I learned the basics and broke the rules.” Moore doesn’t label himself any one type of photographer. He walks around with a camera and shoots what interests him. Starting at 18, Moore worked in different elds in the arts throughout his career. He’s worked for the Dallas Morning News, in galleries, and with art theaters in Los Angeles. When Moore moved to Los Angeles, he wanted to work in photography. But with limited connections, he worked any jobs he could. After shufing around the arts division, he found himself employed at the Philharmonic Hollywood Bowl. “It was glorious,” Moore said. “These jobs allowed me to learn the city.” But photography meant the most to Moore. “I came here for photographs, so I typed up my resignation letter,” he said. But he never got the chance to hand it in. That day he walked into the ofce, letter in hand, when his boss told him their division was being phased out. Moore had the sign he needed to move toward his aspirations. SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

Life & Style

Shortly after, he was walking down the street and saw a man hanging photographs in the window. With one conversation, the gentleman offered Moore a job managing the gallery. He stayed for ve years. “I believe photography has been my lifeline, and creativity is my lifeblood,” he said. “I’ve tried other avenues of creativity, but photography has always been the lifeline.” Moore’s photography is different, people have noted. “‘You shoot Black people differently,’ I get this a lot,” Moore said. “I do my best to make everyone shine in their best light. I want the layout to be outstanding. I try to make people look alive, not just a photo.” Moore’s brand of photography has opened many doors. He’s worked with Danny Glover, Paula Kelly, and Oscar de la Renta, to name a few. “I moved to Los Angeles to shoot Black Hollywood, new and old school,” he said. He remembers a friend telling him a celebrity client was interested in his work, but couldn’t tell me who it was. They sent a car for Moore and they drove to the valley and arrived at a condo complex. “I walked into the complex and it’s Bryshere Y. Gray from Empire! I told him I wanted to kick his ass,” he said, laughing. “He looked at me and said, ‘Cookie did it for you.’ At this point, Empire was into the second episode. In the rst episode, Cookie beat Hakeem [Gray’s character] with a broom.” His relationship with Gray blossomed into a friendship; he wanted Moore to be his photographer when he was in LA. 26

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Moore photographed other celebrities, but earlier in their careers. He has big names for his dream projects, including the Obamas and Halle Berry. He hopes to one day land in French and L’Uomo Vogue. Moore is still that shy six-year-old at heart, but the last three years have brought forth a new rened, Moore. His images were featured in this year’s Culture LA’s African American Heritage Month calendar and cultural guide. He also has a cover dropping soon, but couldn’t share more details. “I want to shout from the mountain tops,” he said. “I see a future; I have a future. I envision conquering the world. Conquering looks like being free to create whatever I want anywhere I want.” Moore explained. He’s been lying low since COVID-19 hit, but he’s excited to break out and shoot again. “I’m excited about the things I have lined up,” he said. “Don’t talk your dreams away; my grandmother used to tell me,” Moore explained. Moore receives emails from aspiring artists regularly. He encourages them to only compete with themselves. “I’m happy when I kick my own ass,” he said. Moore wants to be a resource for beginners or anyone looking to build upon their craft. “I believe in passing it on,” he said. “Just like when I learned at six years old.” +

SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2020

Life & Style

The Face Behind The Camera:

Meet Dion Demetries Fashion Stylist and Costume Designer in Film & Television Guilds sheds light on the representation disparity in Hollywood’s unions while seeking to make the path to membership more seamless for Black artists who come after him. STORY BY SUITE LIFE SOCAL

IMDb

arraynow.com @diondemetries

Dion Demetries

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PHOTOS COURTESY SUBTLE TIYES / STOCK PHOTO BY NORIKKO | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

elf-described as an Aesthetic Engineer™, hometown Angeleno Dion Demetries has been breaking barriers as a costume designer, fashion stylist, and creative director for over 12 years now. When Suite Life SoCal asked what some of his career objectives were, Demetries stated that his most purposeful goal is to contribute to Black representation in entertainment and pop culture. Specically, he desires to create 3-dimensional characters through wardrobe, tell stories of aspiration via fashion, and invoke critical thought about marginalized communities through storytelling. Growing up in the 90s, a booming decade for Black television, lm, and music, Demetries knew from a very early age that he yearned to be a part of bringing joy to others, through artistic expression, the same way sitcoms did for him and his large family. What struck him most from the iconic moving images of lms, like Boomerang and Hoodlum, were the costumes that immediately gave audiences context clues about who the characters were before they uttered a single line. While on a summer break from studying International Business at Pepperdine University, Demetries landed a position as an assistant in the costume department on Season 2 of the critically acclaimed Kerry Washington-led ABC drama, Scandal. That experience would forever change the trajectory of his career. Only months after Scandal, Demetries was booked as the costume designer for a SAG-AFTRA short lm entitled Civilianaire Boys’ Club, executive produced by Anna Paquin and Steven Moyer of Trueblood fame. From there, he continued to grow his fashion styling business with projects such as the “Skydive” video for OTown, creative direction for the spiritual apparel line Heaven Simone, GQ magazine x Nieman Marcus NBA All-Star red carpet for actor Mack Wilds, and a People magazine maternity feature and announcement for actress Danielle Harris. Demetries’ hustle allowed him to fulll a decade-long dream of studying in Paris. He then took a break from Los Angeles and moved to the global capital of fashion after receiving an acceptance letter from a prestigious French business school. His graduate studies in Luxury Brand Management broadened his knowledge and savoir-faire of the multi-billion-dollar fashion industry. With new credentials & experience from Hermès and Veuve Clicquot in tow, Dion returned home to Los Angeles on a mission to create a foundation for a full-time career in Europe, but opportunities in Hollywood began to sprout exponentially.

HOLLYWOOD, CA | Pictured: Left: Dion on set at Grownžish wardrobe department. Right: Appearing on billboards broadly, Dion’s work was seen in New York’s Time Square Below: Dion making ﬁnishing adjustment to DJ Zedd’s jacket for Paper magazine photo shoot. Photo Credit: Nick Walker @nickwalkerstudio

An epiphany dawned on Demetries while on set shooting season 8 of Shark Tank: “Why are there fewer and fewer members of the crew that look like me on higher budgeted/larger productions on which I join?” The disproportionate representation of Black lmmakers and below-the-line talent, even on lms and shows led by Black actors, became a harrowing realization of the number of doors that still need to open. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) is a partnership of unions and guilds that protect motion picture professionals’ rights. As of 2020, the Directors Guild of America consisted of 18,000 members, yet only 5% were African American. The Costume Designers Guild, Local 892 membership body, includes a dismal 2% of Black men. Demetries knew he was climbing an uphill battle to become their latest member, but the purpose was much larger than himself. After years of consistent work in the entertainment eld, in 2019, Demetries earned acceptance into both the Guild and the Motion Picture Costumers Union, Local 705. With new doors opened in 2019, he served as costume supervisor of Lionsgate feature lm, Born A Champion, starring Dennis Quaid. In the same year, he worked as costume designer of the SAG-AFTRA short lm Take My Heart, an ofcial selection of the 2021 Pan-African Film Festival in Los Angeles. Demetries climb to acclaim does not end there. Vogue magazine selected him as one of the best-dressed attendees of Paris Fashion Week January 2020, a great honor for any stylist. According to Demetries, this was a “career-high.” Additionally, in 2020 Demetries styled German Songwriter/Producer/DJ Zedd for the artwork of his new single, “Inside Out,” that illuminated billboards on the Sunset Strip and New York City’s Times Square on New Year’s Day 2021. To round out 2020, he joined the Guild’s diversity committee and serves as an advocate for Black lmmakers in predominantly white spaces. Now that he’s gotten his foot in the door, Demetries is positioning himself to kick the door wide open for others to come. +

Life & Style

PLUSH Vodka Founder & Owner

Malcolm Hale Making A Mark in the Spirits & Wine Industry

STORY BY QUINCI LEGARDYE PHOTOS COURTESY OF MALCOLM HALE | PLUSH VODKA

plushvodka plushvodka.com

SPRING 2021 | SUITELIFESOCAL.COM

SAN DIEGO, CA

lack small businesses are making waves in industries and markets traditionally dominated by white corporations. Brooklyn native Malcolm Hale’s luxury liquor brand PLUSH Vodka has recently entered the Southern California market and is making waves in the heavily corporatized liquor industry. Hale founded PLUSH Vodka in April 2015. PLUSH Vodka is distilled in Florida and currently available in sixteen markets, including Bermuda and Jamaica. PLUSH values itself on its smooth feel and its distillation process. PLUSH Pure Spirit Vodka is distilled eight times; in comparison, most vodkas are distilled four to six times. According to Hale, the idea of founding the company came from drinking avored vodka that was a little harsh while out with friends. Hale discovered a need for a smoother avored vodka. PLUSH’s rst offering, PLUSH Premium Plum Vodka, was inspired by plum-based drinks in the far East, such as Japanese plum wine. “I wanted to create something a lot smoother on your palette for the customers to enjoy,” Hale said. “I had the idea and basically [thought] it's a tough market, and it's hard. How would I be able to do that without major funding? For me, I'm always up for the challenge.” Hale invested tens of thousands of dollars from his savings for PLUSH Vodka, some of which came out of prots from his previous car rental business. His investment started him off on a different foot than small business owners who seek funds from banks that have disproportionately denied loans for Black businesses. The liquor industry is explicitly tough to break into for Black business people. The majority of spirits companies are mostly owned by white people, despite Black drinkers being the largest consumers of spirits, specically vodka, gin, bourbon, brandy, and cognac. Black-owned spirits brands founded by celebrities have become more common, but smaller brands also carve a place in the liquor industry. Pleasantly, PLUSH Vodka has grown during the pandemic, thanks to the company prioritizing the vodka’s placement in liquor stores years ago, at the start of the business. In-store liquor purchases became an unexpected boom for Plush Vodka at a time when other liquor businesses may have struggled due to bars, breweries, and event spaces being closed. “I would say we grew double last year during the pandemic. There were some challenges like we couldn't do instore promotions anymore. We couldn't do as many events that we were doing. We were doing multiple high-end events that helped us with the branding and connections, but we couldn't do those things anymore. [Our placement] in liquor stores, it was the best thing that ever happened to us,” says Hale. PLUSH Vodka also entered the Southern California market during the pandemic, one of the biggest markets in the U.S. liquor industry.

“The culture just ts the Plush lifestyle, which represents luxury and living the high life, the beaches, and high-end events. We just launched in Southern California a couple of months ago, and it's been a great success. We started in San Diego, and then we're going to start expanding out to LA in the next couple of months.” Hale’s advice to aspiring business owners across multiple industries is to stay consistent with their company’s activities and releases. “You can have the biggest budget, you can have the best product, but if you're not consistent with it, there is no way you're going to be successful. I had days where I didn't know how I would cover this bill or get over this hurdle, but I just stayed consistent and kept going. The best thing you could do in any business is to make sure you have a business plan to continue looking at your goals and see where you are and adjust. Every market is different, and you're going to have to make some changes, but making sure your plan is tight, and you follow it, that's the main thing.” When considering his legacy and PLUSH Vodka’s stance in the industry, Hale believes that his success has helped build a foothold for Black ownership in the liquor industry. “I think PLUSH Vodka is progressing in this market during the pandemic and growing substantially; it’s big for our community. It gives inspiration to other aspiring owners of liquor brands in our community, which we need more Black owners. We're the largest consumer, largest consumers of liquor, but we own less than 1% of the brands, that needs to change. I think we're making our name in the industry enough that people are going to respect us and respect African-Americans in this industry a lot more.” +

SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

SPRING 2020 | SUITELIFESOCAL.COM

Suite

talk

Anthony Shifting Trucks Pain into

Passion

NEFERTITI AUSTIN BLACK MOTHERHOOD & THEIR CHILDREN, AN AUTHOR’S INSIGHTS

POETS OF THE SOUTHLAND OSHEA & MELANIE LUJA AND MATT SEDILLO

THE SALT EATERS

DILLON BRUNO

ASHA GRANT LAUNCHES DREAM BOOKSTORE

TOOL TIME YOUTUBE SENSATION

Suitetalk

Anthony Trucks

////////// @anthonytrucks anthonytrucks.com

SPRING 2021 | SUITELIFESOCAL.COM

From the foster care system to the NFL, Anthony Trucks makes an astounding revelation that helps others make powerful mind shifts to personal fulﬁllment. STORY BY MISCHA DUFFIE PHOTOS COURTESY OF ANTHONY TRUCKS

or many, the journey to becoming a certied coach or a motivational speaker starts with an internet search of high prole, well-established coaches or motivational speakers and concludes with paying a one-time or monthly fee once accepted into the well-established speaker’s program. Some have spent thousands of dollars or are willing to pay to “ideally” be the next Lisa Nichols or Les Brown. There are exceptions, though. There are those who, to their surprise and on their terms, become a conduit of empowerment no one saw coming. In February of this year, I sat down for a virtual interview with one such exception in former NFL player turned Transformational Identity Shift, Coach Anthony Trucks. From his fully loaded in-home studio with neon lights and a radio station style microphone set up, Trucks, 37, appears on the Zoom screen fully clothed in the joy he says is his source of fuel. According to my watch, it is 8 a.m., but for Trucks, it is the third hour of a day that already included reading, exercising, working out, and seeing his children off to school. Instantly, I sense he is the message he brings. And when it comes to messages, he has many—sharing with audiences that they are responsible for their life—reminding people that they have more capacity than they acknowledge —emphasizing that it’s more important to fall in love with the day than it is to fall in love with the destination. This is the premise behind the empowerment work Trucks does by way of his Identity Shift and Trust Your Hustle programs and his Shift Starter daily podcast. Realizing that motivation means different things to different people, I asked Trucks why motivation is important. He replied, “Motivation gives your brain a shove when it

doesn’t move. We don’t always feel it. We don’t always have it. Sometimes I don’t feel it. But there’s this concept called ‘borrowing joy’ where you essentially go around those who are always joyful. There you can borrow the joy you need, but don’t have. Before you know it, yours eventually returns.” The highly sought-after Anthony Trucks makes this statement from a place of conviction that the young Anthony Trucks knew not. Having spent eleven horric years in the foster care system where he endured unacceptable trauma before being placed with and adopted by a white family with a lot of love to give, Trucks had a strained relationship with joy. Whether it was at three years old when he and his three siblings were taken from their mother, or seventeen when he found himself on the wrong side of the law, or nineteen when he met his biological father who claimed he did not know Trucks existed, or 2011 when Trucks found himself in the belly of the beast called depression, or 2008 when—after just three short years with the NFL—he sustained a careerending shoulder injury, joy kept escaping Trucks’ grasp. But with some soul searching and the help of Stephen Covey’s bestselling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Trucks developed a new lease on life. “The seven habits gave me clarity on how to improve myself. They helped me decode people and conversations.” Improving himself meant healing himself, and healing himself started with forgiveness. “Forgiveness was big. I had to forgive a lot of people. I was feeling anger. I felt like people were intentionally trying to hurt me.” Decoding people and conversations meant coming to the awareness that those who hurt Trucks had not hurt him intentionally, nor had they withheld an apology maliciously. From a sacred space, Trucks recalled, “The truth is I realized that they didn’t have the tools and without the right tools, I then realized that they needed more compassion than anger.” SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

Suitetalk Compassion came up again when I inquired of Trucks what the foster care system can do differently to protect children currently in its care adequately. “They can listen more. They can train people better. Teaching anybody serving, to be patient past the point of logic” is what Trucks believes will make a difference when overseeing the fragile lives of vulnerable children. As a social worker myself who spent more than two decades working with young people from many backgrounds, I understand rsthand the impact of trauma. However, I was astounded by Trucks’ reply as I wanted to know how the disappointment from his NFL experience differed from other disappointments he experienced in life. To put Trucks’ answer in perspective, he was initially drafted in 2006 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from the University of Oregon. He was released from the Buccaneers to the Washington Redskins. The Redskins then released him to the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he was injured. So, in three years, Trucks played for three teams. His answer, therefore, to my question was: “The disappointment was totally the same.” “Really?” “The NFL reminded me so much of foster care.” “Wow. How so?” “I never had any say-so about the trades. I was never given any advance notice when I was going to be released. A decision is made, you are notied, and you are moved on.” “Just like foster care . . .” “Yes. Just like foster care. The releases were triggering. They had a familiar feeling.” Never in a million years would I have suspected such a correlation. But just as a million thoughts invaded my mind, they were quieted by Trucks’ revelation that he eventually learned he was not dened by trades, triggers, or familiar feelings. Instead, he is characterized by an identity that reshaped his entire life when he decided to make the shift; he now makes six gures teaching others to do what empowered him. Through his Make Shift Happen membership program, Trucks promises clients a “powerful shift experience that will grow their mindset and cause them to have a more productive life in just 90 days.” With access to resources and support through the program’s app along with regular Q&A sessions facilitated by the program creator himself, Trucks guarantees that clarity will come for others just as it came for him. Clarity and a shift in mindset are also what Trucks wishes for children and youth in the foster care system. His advice: “Find that person you will let in.” As a means of enlightenment, he said, “We [foster youth] put up a lot of walls to keep people out, but in doing so, we also keep out some great humans with a lot of love.” Love makes life better. And because he knows intimately what being in an unloving environment feels like, Trucks does not take for granted the loving environment he and his wife, Christina, get to create for their three children every day. Trucks lit up like the morning sun peeking through last night’s darkness as he reected upon having the relationship with his children that he never had with his biological father. Like motivators the world over, Anthony Trucks is a glowing example of what it means to nd purposefulness in pain and empower others with those ndings. Follow Trucks online at anthonytrucks.com and catch him at the Nehemiah Film Festival in July. + 36

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Suitetalk

THE INSIGHT OF

Black

Motherhood & Their Children STORY BY KAMEA TAYLOR PHOTOGRAPHY BY BOBBY QUILLARD

@iamnefertitiaustin

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LOS ANGELES, CA

Nefertiti Austin is a woman of many talents and many stories. Her experience as a writer and a mother is portrayed in her brilliant memoir about her remarkable journey to parenthood, tackling sexism and racism along the way. Her determination and high-spirit have motivated others like her to reclaim Black motherhood from institutionalized whiteness and follow the desire to become a foster parent. Her work has and will continue to be timeless, and her children will forever be the reason for the love and inﬂuence within her own life.

lack motherhood narratives are habitually shunned in the shadows in a world where motherhood is overwhelmingly perceived as white. Black women have spent generations birthing and raising their sons and daughters, preparing them for the world’s harsh realities. Yet when reecting on those diverse experiences, we dene them as more limited than we realize. Mothers are commonly concerned with baby names, building their village, and ensuring their child’s youth’s fulllment. However, raising a Black child comes with considerably more challenges, especially as a single Black foster mom in America. Like many others, Austin often drowned in overcomplicated stereotypes that ostracized her experience. Within her recent work, her journey as an adoptive mother allows her peers to understand that motherhood is a unique path that has many impediments. Motherhood So White: A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting in America (2019) is the direct result of the self-determination and will that compelled Austin to share her personal experience about her desire to raise a Black child, the adoption process, and the many discouragements that arose along the way. In becoming one of the very few novels containing essential information and guidance for potential adoptive parents, her courage to write a brilliant book inspired by her hardships was heartwarming and enlightening for readers. Austin also helped usher others in the adopting and fostering process as a former Certied PS-MAPP Trainer, sympathizing with those who were still trying to understand parenthood. Overall, she proves to be one who wanted to give Black adoptive mothers a voice while educating her white counterparts about the profuse deprivation that is also experienced rsthand. Though her peers doubted she could raise a Black son and probed about why she wanted to raise a “crack baby,” statements of this kind were demonstrated to be testimonies that such stereotypes did not prevail. Her bold choice to raise a Black son was birthed from pushing back against the criticism of unwanted Black children in the foster care system. Within this responsibility, she prioritized and educated her children about how racism hinders the progressions of Black people in America and the expectations that they must overcome. This only creates transparency and prepares her children for the world beyond their home, describing it as “essential to the Black child’s success.” Throughout the many shared celebrations and critiques of Austin’s choice to become a mother, her adoptive children have inspired her to push herself. She makes those tough decisions that determine her children’s success and competence and persists in having the necessary conversations that her children will appreciate as they age. In normalizing the discussion of adoption to educate them and surrounding her children with Black men and women that are role models, she dismantles the idea that “Black boys get loved, and Black girls get raised,” as she explained it. She has only proved everyone in her path wrong of their false assumptions and opinions by constantly pouring into them and being the best mother she knows how to be. Nefertiti Austin’s memoir and background reveal themselves to be a necessary story to help others realize that they are not alone in the journey of motherhood. Her work is one of her most signicant accomplishments alongside many others, but this unique story also encourages Black foster mothers to take the leap of faith of their own and believe in themselves as she once did. + SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

According to experts around the world, and pimps or anyone selling human beings for a prot is thriving during the Coronavirus pandemic, according to experts from around the world.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the nation to shut down, FCI had to cancel all scheduled outreaches and fundraisers. While uncertainty loomed over the nation and with no clear answers in sight, I, along with my team, had to make the necessary decision to continue "forging ahead"—to meet the needs of the many voiceless victims impacted by human trafficking. While there is a movement to educate and raise awareness, much work still needs to be done. Many people think human trafficking is not happening here in the U.S. or how extensive the sex trafficking epidemic has become. Human trafficking is rapidly becoming an enemy that is hidden in plain sight. Over 14 years ago, FCI recognized that anti-trafficking resources were often devoted to either minors or sent outside the U.S., leaving limited funding available to support adult survivors of trafficking domestically. FCI was founded to provide trauma-informed, supportive services in a nurturing environment to transition-age youth between the ages of 18-24 who have been exploited and to provide education to those at risk of exploitation. FCI focuses its efforts on areas in and around Los Angeles where a large number of victims are identified, including South Los Angeles, Inglewood, Compton, Lynwood, Willowbrook, Long Beach, Orange, and San Bernardino Counties.

With many of the girls coming out of the foster care system, creating a safe place to heal and receive trauma-informed care is our number one priority. According to national data, children of color account for over 50% of all fostered youth, and at least half of them will experience homelessness—no family or community. When you don't have anywhere to go, where do you go? You go to the streets, which has become a breeding zone for pimps and traffickers. Sitting at Greyhound bus depot or a bare table at a McDonald's restaurant lobby, a pimp can easily spot a young, teenage runaway and is quick to offer her a warm place to sleep and something to eat. It isn't long before the victim will hear, "You owe me." With no other option in sight, these girls—most targeted anywhere from 12 to 14 years of age—are forced into "the life" where they will remain for an average of seven years. The recent pandemic has birthed a new concern. Traffickers have expanded their enterprise to the internet for the sole purpose of advertising, recruiting, and exploiting children for grooming. FCI is committed to "Trusting God and doing good (Psalm 37:3)." As our nation slowly recovers from the pandemic, we will continue the fight against human trafficking. Will you join us? For more information, visit us at www.fci-la.org.

"Forgotten Children, Inc. gave me the strength and empowerment to ght for what I lost. God has made my family whole again. Our family is stronger now more than ever." ~Victoria, a former client/resident.

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Suitetalk

“There’s nothing a poet loves more than the truth!” — Father Amde of The Watts Prophets

Poets of the Poets of the Poets of the Southland

STORY BY EDDIE TRUJILLO GRIJALVA

Southland Southland

he people of this world have been using poetry to convey empowering messages to the masses for at least a millennia. The oldest known poem on Earth is “The Epic of Sundiata, “ a story of the Malinke people. The poem, created in the 11th century, passed down orally, and later recorded in writing, is about Sudiata Kaita, a warrior and hero of the Malinke people.

For centuries, people have been expressing their loves and hates, hopes and dreams, their cries for justice and equality, disillusionment with governments, and the ongoing struggle with oppression into the medium of poetry. During the past weeks, I’ve had the honor to read many works and speak with some of SoCal’s nest men and women of words. SoCal has so many Black and Brown poets with something to say. It was a tremendous task to try and listen to enough and feel what they’re trying to convey through this work of the soul. Nevertheless, the cream rises to the top, as do the poetic stylings of the duo behind Still Waters Network and production company, Oshea and Melanie Luja aka Food4Thought and Queen Socks. I caught one of their performances online at the historic World Stage in Leimert Park; my attention was caught by the most condent little girl named Love-their daughter--who let loose with a powerful rendition of “Black History,” her poem. Then, Food4Thought and Queen Socks walked on stage and started speaking. Before I knew it, I was lost in their performance, rst swaying, then swimming in their words. They then gave their respects to Father Amde, a member of the legendary Watts Prophets---true pioneers of not just poetry, but hip-hop. 42

SPRING 2021 | SUITELIFESOCAL.COM

LOS ANGELES, CA I loved how their spoken word style oscillates between straight poetry to a hip-hop feel, especially their hooks, which had me nodding my head to the beat and singing and speaking along with their poems. If poetry has a more fantastic future, Still Waters will be part of it.

poetry one of the most powerful art forms in the world. It’s also why I found the next poet in my adventure of words.

Being gracious enough to allow me an interview, they informed me that Still Waters was born in 2007 during a game night of chess and dominoes. Since then, Still Waters has grown into a mega-production that highlights local artists and honors the elders. Many poets inspired them along the way, but The Watts Prophets has a noticeable inuence on the duo. They informed me that The Watts Prophets 1971 album entitled, “Rappin’ Black in a White World,” was the rst to use the word “Rap” in its title and composition. The music industry later co-opted the term “Rap” to name this new, upand-coming music genre.

I heard there was a Mexican-American poet in SoCal who, let’s just say, was an aggressive truth-teller, fearless. At poetr y readings and reviews, this name kept popping up even during the interview with Still Waters. I also found his name in my notes without realizing I put it there. I realized if we’re truth-telling here, he had to be mentioned. So, fate did its thing, and before I knew it, I was on the phone with Mr. Matt Sedillo—a man described as the “stone-cold best political poet in America.”

Oshea and Melanie are adamant in connecting the generations, seeing the value in their elders; they are grateful for the inspiration and guidance they’ve received from them. The Watts Prophets are their “jengas” (wise African teachers); thus, they seemed dedicated to giving them the recognition the poetry pioneers rightly deserve. The Watts Prophets hadn’t been on stage together in quite some time. Thanks to Still Waters, they were reunited onstage February 24th, 2012. Using the moment to recognize giants of years passed, on whose shoulders they stand.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF OSHEA AND MELANIE LUJA | MATT SEDILLO INSTRAGRAM

I asked about the Amanda Gorman inauguration poem. They both agreed it was a dening moment for poetry. They were also beaming for Gorman, the national youth poet laureate and LA native. I also inquired about how COVID-19 has affected their work. They looked at it as a blessing. Melanie mentioned, “it’s helped us really focus on our writing, publishing, and production work.” Oshea said, “it’s allowed us to really go through our archives and reimagine our brand.” Finally, I asked how poetry has been empowering in their own lives? Melanie mentioned how “It has given us a platform to speak our truth, to live our purpose, and empower others.” Through a host of books, albums, plays, and school curriculum, this dynamic husband and wife team continue to give back to a global community. This creative unit is the recipient of the 2015 and 2017 Village Award from the Villagers Hall of Fame Foundation. Additionally, in 2017 they released their book, “Internal Balance: Would You Marry You?,” a thought-provoking selfhelp relationship guide. With this release, Oshea and Melanie have brought another level of philosophical truths into a synergy designed to balance a person’s universe, internally and externally. Additionally, as life coaches, Oshea and Melanie expand their inuence beyond words and paper at their regular healing retreats throughout the country. Food4Thought left me with a quote from Father Amde of The Watts Prophets, which sums up the kind of people and artists they are: “There’s nothing a poet loves more than the truth!” And if you ask this poetry lover, that’s what makes

He told me at the age of 7, he wanted to become President, but his father informed him that Mexicans couldn’t be President, so Sedillo thought he’d be a writer of helpful stories of the human spirit. Mind you, he was 7 years old. According to him, he didn’t take writing seriously until his 20s. Then at a May Day celebration in 2008, a friend took him to an open mic night. He performed and decided right there to become a political poet. His aggressive speaking and writing style got him noticed in a big way. His rst book of poetry, “Mowing Leaves of Grass,” published by FlowerSong Press, was described as “A big brown middle nger to America.” The book is full of history, seen through Mexican eyes. This makes much of America nervous, so they call him controversial, but the truth is truth, and it is never a poet’s job to compromise their own reality. Father Amde’s quote is more than appropriate here, “There’s nothing a poet loves more than the truth!” If poetry is truth, then there will always be those who attack it. Both poetry and truth are empowering, and if that is true, no man or woman of words should ever be afraid to tell it. Quite the opposite; in fact, they should feel it’s their job to expose the truth. + SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

Suitetalk

The New Black-owned Bookstore on the Block Why The Salt Eaters Bookshop is the Book Store You Didn't Know Existed but is Everything You Needed STORY BY ASHLEY YANCEY

hile many spent much of 2020 doing what they could just to maintain their sanity, local Angeleno and Inglewood-native Asha Grant decided there was no time like the present to pursue her most ambitious goal yet, breaking ground on The Salt Eaters. The Salt Eaters is Inglewood’s newest independent, Black woman-owned bookstore prioritizing books by and about Black women and girls, femmes, and non-binary folks. Named in tribute after the book by the late Toni Cade Bambara, both the novel, and author, a Black feminist scholar and writer, made a meaningful impact on Grant’s life. “I feel that as I’ve grown older, the meaning has changed,” the former educator and social media marketer shared with the LA Times. “It’s about interdependency and community.” Located in downtown Inglewood at none other than 302 East Queen Street, 27-year old Grant is well underway with renovations, posting regular updates on the bookstore’s Instagram page. While plans to open the storefront have been stalled due to COVID and won’t open until later in 2021, the bookstore’s e-commerce site has been busier than ever since it launched late last year. Originally from Inglewood, Grant attended Spelman College in Atlanta before moving to NYC. Finally, in 2019 she returned to Los Angeles, where her love of books and reading began. D e b b i e A l l e n’ s “Dancing in the Wings,” Sandra Cisneros’ “The House on Mango Street,” and Veronica Chambers’ “Marisol and Magdalena” are some of her childhood favorites. Still, she remembers the challenge of it was to nd books and stories about Black children. “As a little girl, I wanted to have a bookstore, but I didn’t think 44

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that other people would be interested in going to a store catering to Black women,” Grant told the LA Times. “But now I know people are as invested in our stories as I am.” It was back in 2019 when Grant began her current foray into the Los Angeles’ book scene by launching the LA chapter of the Free Black Women’s Library, the Black feminist mobile bookswap that features books of all genres written by Black women. Initially founded in Brooklyn by OlaRonke Akinmowo, Grant got involved when she found herself living in Harlem. Once she got the Library up and running in Los Angeles with Akinmowo’s blessing, she quickly realized how much hard work went into growing the library. “I literally spent all [2019] lugging tubs and tubs of donated books and craft materials in my car to different community spaces across the city and built an amazingly loyal community of volunteers and folks who are passionate about uplifting our work and our stories,” she shared with Forbes. The volunteers and community members Grant met during this time helped her see a need for a more permanent solution that would embrace and cater to Black women. With no investors or signicant startup cash insight, Grant turned to GoFundMe.

Current titles on sale at thesalteatersbooks.com

INGLEWOOD, CA

“As a little girl, I wanted to have a bookstore, but I didn’t think that other people would be interested in going to a store catering to Black women...But now I know people are as invested in our stories as I am.”

Her campaign goal to raise $65,000 was met within a week, garnering more than 1.5 thousand shares and 1.8 thousand donors. Grant recalls even writer/professor Roxane Gay sharing the link among her 750,000 followers, writing, “The Salt Eaters is a Black woman-owned bookstore... and they need your help to get off the ground.” With the fundraising goals met, Grant has broken ground on renovations, and from the looks of the bookstore’s Instagram page, she has been careful to create a space that will be inclusive, honoring the community that she considers herself to be a part of and will serve.

PHOTO OF ASHA GRANT BY GABRIELLA ANGOTTI-JONES / LOS ANGELES TIMES

“I want the physical shop to help facilitate a moment of pause and reection and afrmation for folks through literature. Pleasure reading is a really great self-care practice that I think gets overlooked in the larger wellness conversation,” Grant explained to Forbes. “I imagine it being a place for storytime events, community meetings, book clubs, craft, and movie nights. I’ll, of course, host library book swaps there, probably monthly or every other month, but it will be our home base.” In addition to offering books for sale and open space to host events, Grant also has plans to install a few fullystocked desks full of working supplies, including writing utensils, notebooks, paper, and printer access, and make them available for a semester-length rental period. “When people come into the store and ask, what is this, I want to be able to point to the community and say this all comes from us,” Grant shared with the LA Times. “Like everyone else, I’ve been noticing how many of our treasured small businesses are shutting down. This has been a cause of great concern for me and for folks in our communities who rely on these spaces. I was motivated to start this so that there are still places for us to go when this pandemic ends, specically for those who need them the most,” Grant said to Jr. High magazine. “I feel like that’s Black women, specically trans women; it’s Black non-binary people, queer people. I want to make sure that our community has a specic place for them to go when this thing is over. A place where they can feel really afrmed and know it was made for their safety, love, and afrmation in mind.” + SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

Suitetalk

“I'm Not on YouTube, Just To Be on YouTube.” How Dillon Bruno is Empowering the Inglewood Community, One Tool Tutorial at a Time STORY BY ASHLEY YANCEY PHOTOS COURTESY OF DILLON BRUNO | CALIBER8 TOOLS

@Caliber8Tools @Caliber8Tools @caliber8.tools @exactacpicturehanging exactac.com 46

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s the sun shines brighter and the weather warms, spring cleaning isn’t restricted to just cleaning our closets and sweeping out garages; many of us are also taking inventory of the necessary minor repairs needed around our homes. For many who decide to take matters into their own hands and manage the upgrades on their own, YouTube has served as a popular learning resource to get the job done. Local Inglewood hardware tool acionado and inventor of the Picture Hanging Tool, Dillon Bruno, noticed the lack of diversity in the home repair space and decided to do something about it.

Suite Life CONCIERGE MAGAZINE

SoCal

Join us online at suitelifesocal.com to view our magazine online for additional content and have an opportunity to add your voice to the conversation.

“People need practical information that they can use in their lives that’s not just hanging pictures,” Bruno explained, referencing his invention. “Everybody's not going to be an inventor or innovator [so I thought] how can I market this tool, as well as give back to the community?” During the second half of 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, Bruno created Caliber8 Tools on YouTube, a channel dedicated to educating the community on how to use various tools and complete small repairs. With tutorials running the gamut, including cutting circles in drywall, bending sheet metal without breaking it, nding studs in walls, and when to use a compressor, Bruno’s videos offer a straightforward, often humorous approach, all created with his community in mind. “I wanted to give back because when I look around, I see a shortage of [Black people] in the trades, you know? I see everybody else, but I don't see us, so I was like, okay, how can I help?” Through various comments on his channel and feedback from those who’ve reached out, Bruno is feeling the love. “I've been getting a very positive response.” While off to a humble start, Caliber8’s growth has been consistent and steady. As a one-person show who creates, edits, produces, and markets all of the original content, Bruno is optimistic about the future and what’s to come. “At some point, I want to come up with home improvement courses and basic beginner courses to help people x stuff around the house,” he revealed. “Maybe even some automotive courses as well! I’m not on YouTube just to be on YouTube.” +

Visit us today. and Follow us @suitelifesocal

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Health&

Wellness

margo wade ladrew FOUNDER of the BLACK BEAUTY AND WELLNESS FOUNDATION

MARK RIDLEY-THOMAS

CARLA BALLOU discusses

Highlights Behavioral Health in South Central Los Angeles

Digital Health: Growing Realities in the Aftermath of the Pandemic

HEALTH & WELLNESS

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LOS ANGELES, CA

Where Mental Health and Beauty Collide HOW THE BLACK BEAUTY & WELLNESS FOUNDATION IS TRANSFORMING THE BEAUTYSHOP EXPERIENCE STORY BY ASHLEY YANCEY PHOTOGRAHY BY KAI BYRD

t is no secret that the Black hair care industry has commanded the nation’s attention. Raking in several billion dollars over in the last few years, Black women have proven time and time again that self-care is a priority they are all too willing to invest in. While $127 million was spent on grooming aids and $465 million on skincare as recently as 2017, it does not compare to what hair care raked in when $2.51 billion dollars was spent on hair care alone in 2018! Over the years, much of that has been spent in local hair salons where Black beauticians have had the critical task of not only perfecting the latest hairstyles for their clients, but also carefully curating a safe haven for Black women to share their successes, vent their frustrations, and ultimately, nd a release. For Margo Wade LaDrew, Black Beauty & Wellness Foundation founder, she saw a unique opportunity to take these venting sessions to the next level. By providing specialized mental health training and advocacy programs to Black stylists, Wade LaDrew— a former model and executive at Johnson Publishing Company—is on a mission to transform how the Black beauty salon experience can better support Black women, one hairstyle at a time. Established to empower African American women with the knowledge to choose healthier lifestyles, the Black Beauty & Wellness Foundation is amplifying the unique role beauty shops play in Black culture—as trusted places where women exchange information and set cultural norms, including those related to health behaviors. “My ultimate goal is to turn beauty shops into resource centers and be able to offer programs for women for their mind, body, and soul. I want to connect them to the resources in their community,” shared Wade LaDrew. “We can train shop owners and stylists to become advocates so that they can be able to provide resources to their community because they actually have a space, a storefront. People listen to their stylists.” SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

HEALTH & WELLNESS “We have partnered with the California Black Women's Health Project and Charles Drew University where collaboratively we have developed a [local] program called Mindful Beauty where we are training stylists to learn the signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety,” raved Wade LaDrew. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the Mindful Beauty pilot program churned out 12 new mental health trained stylists from 10 local salons in 2020. Energized by this promising rollout, Wade LaDrew is looking forward to launching the program statewide and beyond in 2021 to be nationally recognized as Stylists Mentally Mobilized. “Our goal is to expand this and train more stylists in California and then take it regionally. We would love by the end of the year to have up to 100 stylists trained in California!” With an ofcial launch event for Stylists Mentally Mobilized planned for May 2021, Wade LaDrew is holding nothing back and has tapped the critically acclaimed actress Sheryl Lee Ralph to serve as an ambassador. In addition, she is also recruiting an army of stylists and barbers to help spread the word nationally that mental health for Black women is essential. “We now have the opportunity to help stylists build [their] capacity and to be able to become champions for their own communities!” Wade LaDrew understands how challenging it can be for women to reach out and ask for help, which is why it's critical that stylists know which signs to look for when a troubled woman sits in their chair. “I'm listening to buzzwords, you know, and you have to ask questions for them to be open to tell you if they want help, or to just listen.” According to Johns Hopkins, “Women are at least twice as likely to experience an episode of major depression as men…and, compared to their Caucasian counterparts, African American women are only half as likely to seek help.” Wade LaDrew was barely 7 years old when she rst realized her own mother, a hairstylist herself, was facing a severe mental health crisis. “A lot of women had babies young back then. They were getting married at 17 and then having three or four babies back-to-back. I really feel like it was postpartum depression,” says Wade LaDrew. After several years of instability, including multiple hospital stays due to mental health issues, her mother was diagnosed with a severe case of schizophrenia. As one of America's most marginalized demographics due to being both women and Black, the unique challenges Black women face have come at a high cost. “Being that Black women are the ones who are leading everything now politically, we create more jobs as we're entrepreneurs, we're mothers, and heads of households,” Wade LaDrew explains. “So, you're taking care of everybody and everything and juggling so much that we forget to take care of our mental, physical and emotional state spiritually because we feel like a lot of times we can't. And I think it's subconscious [that we feel] we don't deserve.” Wade LaDrew isn’t lying. Despite being more educated and holding more college degrees than any other demographic, Black women only earn $0.62 for every dollar White men take home. When it comes to being business owners, they are the fastest-growing demographic of entrepreneurs in America while also carrying the heavy burden of running their households and businesses. When it comes to reproductive and maternal health, Black women face disproportionate illness and death---they are 3x as likely to suffer from broids and die from childbirth than White women. Finally, it has been documented that due to Black women’s leadership in several local high-stakes elections, a Democratic candidate was able to win the 2020 Presidential election, yet they have minimal representation in Congress. Out of 435 members of the House of Representatives, a mere 24 are Black women. The Senate numbers are even worse---there are none now that Kamala Harris serves as the newly elected Vice President. PICTURED:

Wade LaDrew shares photos of her mother, Virginia Dare Wade that reveals how special their bond was and the immense impact she had on Wade LaDrew’s life.

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LOS ANGELES, CA

“

We now have

the opportunity to help stylists

build [their] capacity and to be able to become champions for their own communities!”

SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

HEALTH & WELLNESS

PICTURED ABOVE:

Advertisements from her time as a model.

“

My ultimate goal is to turn beauty shops into resource centers and be able to o er programs for women for their mind, body, and soul...

People listen to their stylists.” 54

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LOS ANGELES, CA For Wade LaDrew, much of her progress with the Black Beauty & Wellness Foundation feels like a full-circle moment, as she’s spent the last few decades working with some of the largest Black beauty brands in the nation. To put it bluntly, she is no novice to the beauty industry. She fondly remembers her start, which began with an interview with thee Mr. Johnson, the CEO and publishing magnate of Johnson Publishing Company, who lamented, “Why should I hire you? You’re like a little gypsy?” Wade LaDrew, quick and matter-of-factly, responded, “Well, Mr. Johnson, I’m 25. I know what I want to do.” And that she did. Within a few short years, she had risen through the ranks to become an executive who was reporting to the CEO himself. In the years since, Wade LaDrew has seen herself transition between various roles at other beauty brands, including Dark & Lovely, Bronner Brothers, Worlds of Curls, Let’s Jam, and Posner’s Cosmetics. However, with each additional step, the pressure increased until one day, she felt her mental health was at stake. It was at that moment she realized she needed to get help. “By going to the psychiatrists, talking, and realizing that just because I cried, I wasn’t weak, I learned it was a sign of strength to be able to release it and to talk about it,” Wade LaDrew reected. “And so now I talk to women about things---I don’t hide. It has really helped me come out of my shell and let people know that they’re not alone.” She continued. “Because we’re focused so much on everybody else, we forget to take care of ourselves. We make 85% of the household decisions when it comes to everything we purchase, to the health, to everything! And so, I said, women are the CEOs of the family. That’s why I started this organization.”

PICTURED ABOVE: Program Ambassador Sheryl Lee Ralph (left) joined on-air KJLH radio personality, Adai Lamar (center), and Wade LaDrew for their Beauty-n-Black Run/Walk event. BELOW: More program events.

For more information, please visit blackbeautyshop.org.

Currently, the salon and barbershop training that Stylists Mentally Mobilized offers is extensive and customized. Salon screenings and education are the primary offerings, where Wade LaDrew and her team execute health screenings as well as circulate health educational materials and information on preventative options for a healthier lifestyle directly inside salons and barbershops. In addition, stylists and barbers are also empowered with the necessary resources and tools to recommend follow-up appointments and access to care. There is also a Beauty-N-Motion 5K to build awareness and fundraise as well as a “My Beauty Bag” program that provides a shining light of self-esteem, comfort, and hope to women who are dealing with a chronic illness domestic violence or living in shelters. Finally, there is also a resource center component that helps transform salons and barbershops into hybrid local community health resource centers. Reecting on the progress she has made throughout the years that has led her to where she is today brings tears to Wade LaDrew’s eyes. “We have so much on us anyway; it’s like a foot is always on your neck. You have to have that unit of support to survive because sometimes we don’t have the nances to even go to the next step. If you have someone there that can give you that support and is cheering you on, yes, you can do it, and you can gure it out.” By bringing resources to her community, providing health screenings to Black women, and creating this mental health network, Wade LaDrew is undoubtedly making an impact that will last generations to come. +

SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

SAVE THE DATE

The Community's Voice on Mental Illness through Education, Support and Advocacy. PRESENTS

Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month

Celebration July 25, 2021 namiurbanla.org @namiurbanla

For more information, contact Sabra Diogioes-Waddy, Splendid Affairs, Inc. at (818) 605-7405 or sabra@splendidaffairsinc.com

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Mark Ridley-Thomas Highlights

Behavioral Health in South Central Los Angeles

STORY BY QUINCI LEGARDYE

n his more than 3 decades as a public servant, former LA County Supervisor Mark RidleyThomas has worked to improve the lives of Southern California’s Black communities. Now representing Los Angeles City Council District 10, Councilman Ridley-Thomas is facing the completion of a career-long goal of providing the state’s rst behavioral health center offering fully integrated health services. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Medical Campus will house a range of health services for patients’ bodies and minds. The benets go beyond the typical physical healthcare offered in hospitals and include centers for mental health and substance abuse, psychiatric care for the homeless population, re-entry services including job training, family justice and well-being, and special needs such as autism. The Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science will also remain housed on the campus. The Mark Ridley-Thomas Behavioral Health 58

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Center is explicitly set to include a wide range of mental health and substance abuse services. As a result, these services are administered by both the Los Angeles Department of Health Services and private partners, such as a sobering center run by Exodus Recovery Inc.

“if you build it, they will come.” The MRT Behavior Health Center’s opening comes at a time when the prevalence of depression and anxiety has increased across the country due to the pandemic. Scientic research has found that depressive symptoms have become more common during the pandemic, with people who have experienced job loss, loss of income or isolation due to social distancing reporting more depressive symptoms. The pandemic has also led to more people seeking behavioral health care for the rst time. Thanks to Ridley-Thomas’ conviction, the behavioral health center is opening up just in time.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF COUNCILMAN MARK RIDLEY-THOMAS

WILLOWBROOK, CA

“

Ridley-Thomas says, “When I rst took ofce in 2008 [as a Los Angeles County Supervisor], it was one of my top priorities to lean in and make sure that the MLK Medical Campus was restored to full vitality. Today, a little better than a decade later, we've invested more than $1 billion in that campus, and it has been transformed into a comprehensive center of wellness. And there sits the behavioral health center established for the purpose of fullling a vision to create a one-stop option for individuals seeking a variety of mental and physical health services. So big investment, big vision, and we anticipate great patient outcomes.” While the medical campus has been in development for years, Ridley-Thomas noted that the pandemic emphasized the need for more accessible health services, mainly mental health services. “With the initial rollout of COVID testing, we saw disparities, and now we see disparities with vaccinations. So, we have to push harder to make sure that the notion of healthcare being a right, not a privilege, is real rather than rhetoric. So we had to push on the Department of Public Health on the one hand. We had to push with respect to our nonprots, clinics, faith-based institutions, and medical centers to make sure that persons of color are getting what they need and deserve.” Ridley-Thomas says that the integrated health services provided by the MRT Behavioral Health Center will provide a much-needed resource for preventive care to improve patient outcomes before health issues get to the point of needing an emergency room visit. He mentioned the well-known maxim, “if you build it, they will come.” “The Behavioral Health Center adds to the number of resources that persons in the Southeast quadrant of the County of Los Angeles, arguably the most medically

It was one of my top priorities to lean in and make sure that the MLK Medical Campus was restored to full vitality.”

challenged area of the County in terms of health maladies from cancer to diabetes, and asthma, to name a few of health challenges located in that area. Add to it, the issue of the violence vortex, wherein we put in place the trauma prevention and intervention center. Rather than dealing with trauma on the back end, in the context of an emergency room scenario, we seek to do proactive work, preventive work in terms of counseling and other intervention strategies deployed through the Department of Public Health,” said Ridley-Thomas.

Looking Beyond In addition to the main MLK campus, community clinics afliated with the medical center will also offer integrated health services to the community, thanks to a state law passed in 2019. “The whole idea there was to make sure that this model of the hospital, its essence, its brand of clinical care could be expanded into a clinic setting. So, Crenshaw near Adams is where the rst such clinic is being explored. Crenshaw and Adams is quite a bit away from 120th and Wilmington. It just shows how much growth and expansion is being undertaken under the MLK community hospital brand,” said RidleyThomas. As for the center that has been a long-running project barring his name, Ridley-Thomas is honored. “It’s a high honor, a lot of praise, and I'm as proud and humbled as I can possibly be by what has happened on that campus, which relatively few believed could happen. So for it to be there, presenting itself as it does, is in some ways miraculous. It displays what hard work and goodwill will result in and the people of that community deserve nothing less. Hallelujah!” + SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

HEALTH & WELLNESS

One of the beautifully remodeled reception rooms at the Mark Ridley-Thomas Behavioral Health Center.

Mental Health Resources Government Agencies

Nonprot Programs

Apps

CalHope

NAMI Urban Los Angeles

Sanvello | sanvello.com

The CalHOPE warm line connects callers to other people who have persevered through struggles with stress, anxiety, depression–emotions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The peer counselors listen with compassion, provide non-judgmental support and guide you to additional resources that can give hope and help them cope.

NAMI Urban Los Angeles (NULA) was founded in 2003 and is the urban afﬁliate of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. NAMI is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to educating, advocating, supporting, and building better lives for the millions of individuals & families affected by mental illness. Ÿ (323) 294-7814 Ÿ @namiurbanla Ÿ @namiurbanlosangeles Ÿ namiurbanla.org

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Hotline: (833) 317-HOPE (4673) calhope@dhcs.ca.gov calhope.org

Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH), with a budget of approaching $3 billion, is the largest county-operated mental health department in the United States, with a missionto optimize the hope, wellbeing and life trajectory of Los Angeles County’s most vulnerable through access to care and resources that promote not only independence and personal recovery but also connectedness and community reintegration. Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

pio@dmh.lacounty.gov (213) 738-3700 24/7 Helpline: (800) 854-7771 @LACDMH dmh.lacounty.gov

OurHouse Grief Support Center Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

(888) 417-1444 @ourhousegrief ourhouse-grief.org

El Centro De Ayuda Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

(323) 526-9301 info@elcentrodeayuda.org @centro_ayuda elcentrodeayuda.org

Each Mind Matters Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

info@eachmindmatters.org @EachMindMatters eachmindmatters.org

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

May is Mental Health Month

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation. SAMHSA's mission is to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America's communities.

Mental Health America

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

800-487-4889 Hotline: 800-662-HELP (4357) Facebook.com/samhsa Twitter.com/samhsagov samhsa.gov SPRING 2021 | SUITELIFESOCAL.COM

Mental Health America (MHA) is the nation's leading community-based nonproﬁt dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness and to promoting the overall mental health of all. (703) 684 7722 Campaign: “Tools 2 Thrive 2021” @mentalhealtham @mentalhealthamerica mhanational.org

Offering self care, peer support, coaching, and therapy.

Happify | happify.com Used to provide solutions to improve mental health and create positive habits.

Shine | theshineapp.com Geared towards BIPOC can create a daily self-care routine, meditations, reﬂections, connections & journaling.

Events WE RISE 2021 | May 1-21 WE RISE is an initiative of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health that encourages wellbeing and healing through art, connection, community engagement, and creative expression. Taking place during mental health awareness month (May), WE RISE includes Art Rise, featuring a series of outdoor art installations in greater Downtown Los Angeles; Community Pop-Ups across all Los Angeles County neighborhoods; and a robust Digital Experience, offering a vital line up of original programs that can be enjoyed at home. Ÿ werise.la Ÿ info@werise.la Ÿ @whywerise

NAMI Walks | May 22 This spring, all roads lead to NAMIWalks Your Way: A United Day of Hope with the destination as always being Mental Health for All. Many events will coincide on May 22, 2021 and October 9, 2021. Ÿ namiwalks.org

Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month Celebration | July 25 For more information, contact Sabra Diogioes-Waddy, Splendid Affairs, Inc. at (818) 605-7405 or sabra@splendidaffairsinc.com

NAMICon | July 27-28 Hosted by: National Alliance on Mental Illness Details: Resources, research updates, and programming event. Stay tuned for more details. Ÿ nami.org Ÿ @namicommunicate

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Digital Health Growing Realities in the Aftermath of the Pandemic STORY BY EDDIE TRUJILLO GRIJALVA PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL ROUD

Dening the phrase “Digital Health” is tricky business. The denition varies depending on what region you live in or the kind of government you live under. Chris Bain, a professor in the eld, summed it up in a simple oneline denition. He said it took some time, but he nally came up with this: “The use of digital tools and intervention in wellness and healthcare.” If you asked many people, most would imagine some version of telehealth or seeing a doctor through Zoom. Digital medicine is so much more. It is drones dropping off blood donations in remote African villages; it’s being able to tell the nutritional value of the food on your plate just by taking a picture of it. It’s devices that describe the world to the blind, and AI (Articial intelligence) analyzing massive amounts of data so it can predict disease and provide us tremendous insight into their behaviors. Telehealth or Zoom visits with a healthcare professional are only a facet of a much larger gem, albeit a very important one and the one that we’ll highlight. After hearing all the “Back to the Future” details, the telemedicine aspect seems a little mundane but is no less critical. It may be the most important for no tool or machine we ever build could replace a doctor looking their patient in the eye and asking what’s wrong. Though many worry about their health data out on the internet, it’s no secret data trafcking is big business. In the end, it will be up to us, the people, if we want to participate in or even have a society of this nature. We must have conversations about whether these programs are fair and impartial. Will they leave people behind? There are already an estimated 30 million Americans in rural regions who live in Medical deserts. Will these people nally be empowered by digital medicine to make health decisions based on health needs and not on nancial factors or a shortage of facilities in their area? These questions must be answered if equitable programs are to exist. 62

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People have many questions about digital health. I was interested in the subject but needed to consult an expert. So, I spoke to a woman with 30 years of experience and an MBA in healthcare management, Carla Ballou. She worked at UC San Diego in 2011 on implementing telemedicine programs into SoCal medical facilities by making them nancially feasible for medical experts and insurance companies. Today the coverage of telemedicine appointments by insurance companies is commonplace thanks to this work. Though, when I asked Ms. Ballou when telemedicine came into the picture in SoCal, she informed me as to how long the concept has existed. Ballou mentioned NASA studied it in the 1950s. It was during Project Mercury, running from 1958 to 1963 when NASA rst started researching physiological monitoring of their Astronauts from a distance. However, the concept was developed much earlier. At nih.gov, there are examples of old articles in “The Lancet” from 1879 about how using the telephone can reduce unnecessary doctor visits. And in 1925, the cover of “Science and Invention Magazine” imagined a doctor diagnosing a patient by radio. So, the idea has been around for a while. Even though, in the present era, it seems like our newest greatest enemy, COVID-19, has rushed the world into implementing it fulltime in a 24/7 sink or swim operation. It was one of the rst things Ballou mentioned, “COVID has literally changed the way we look at medicine.” It shows, with the fast-tracking of experimental therapies and vaccines by the FDA and the medical world embracing “the future is now” mentality. We are living the future, as we speak, with every doctor’s appointment. As the world attempts to adjust to the pandemic, many people have experienced telemedicine appointments on Zoom. Now, when I spoke with Ballou, I expected she would support the expansion of telemedicine because she was familiar with the process through her work. She is a telemedicine advocate, but for a much more personal reason. Our interview was delayed a couple of days, I assumed, for work reasons. To my surprise, Ms. Ballou informed me that she recently had a profound experience with telemedicine that caused this delay. She just had a doctor’s appointment via telemedicine. She explained, to an observant doctor, her symptoms and her doctor told her that it was a serious matter and she required immediate medical assistance. It turned out she was having a stroke, and her life was saved by this appointment. She said she was grateful to the doctors and the telemedicine system. I am thankful for her bravery and vulnerability to let this be known and, in turn, empower people with knowledge that may save more lives. The saving of lives is the most signicant purpose for medicine. In this endeavor, digital medicine is proven. It will, with no doubt, have its problems to be worked out, but for its life-saving capabilities alone, it should be supported to its full realization—for the need is dire and the future is now. +

“COVID has literally changed the way we look at medicine.”

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Scauses uite

AABLI

AFRICAN AMERICAN BOARD LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

Celebrating

Years

of building Black representation on America’s governing boards

SuiteCauses

“

It’s rewarding to

hear people say,

‘I’m so happy you created an environment for Black people.’”

African American Board Leadership Institute STORY BY MISCHA DUFFIE PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEROY HAMILTON

ave you ever had the experience of meeting someone for the rst time only to feel like it was not the rst time? From the moment I saw their face and heard their voice, there was something pleasantly familiar about them. This was my experience the morning I hit the ADMIT button on Zoom to begin my interview with the founders of the African American Board Leadership Institute (AABLI). Behind the black placeholder boxes appeared Yvette ChappellIngram’s and Virgil Roberts’ faces with smiles so warm that they melted away any sense of nervousness I may have had. The fact that I get to share our rich conversation about AABLI’s 10th Anniversary, challenges faced along the way, what they are most proud of, and what they forecast the next ten years to look like, is my honor. 76

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LOS ANGELES, CA

In the beginning... A self-proclaimed servant leader, Chappell-Ingram answered the call of service at Travelers Rest Baptist Church and First AME Church of Los Angeles. Over time, her volunteering began to include assignments outside of the church. “I was always volunteering. I realized it met a need, and I felt that I had tapped into something.” With his own upbringing on his mind, Roberts nodded in agreement as Chappell-Ingram spoke of her afnity for volunteering. “Mom was always volunteering,” Roberts declared. “In fact, she was the rst Black woman to become PTA president at May Henning Elementary School in Ventura Unied School District. Mom and Dad taught us, ‘If we love our people, then we have to serve them.’” Working hard and serving has always been two sides of the same coin as far as these AABLI founders are concerned, which is why both have lives and careers punctuated by these noble principles. Consequently, it is no surprise that service would be the uniting force of their connection. As former president of the California Legislative Black Caucus Foundation, part of Chappell-Ingram’s role was hosting “Meet the Funder” sessions to put funders in the room with community-based organizations. With insight she knew would be benecial to her audience, Chappell-Ingram invited Roberts, managing partner and founder of the Bobbitt & Roberts Law Firm, to speak. After several visits, intuition convinced Roberts and Chappell-Ingram that there was more for them to do together. The two began meeting monthly to solve problems intrinsically associated with empowering the Black community. These meetings went on for one year consistently. With a landscape of need that stretched as far as the eye could see, the plan from the start was never to be everything to everybody.

“It was more of a hope.” Instead, Roberts and Chappell-Ingram deliberately and methodically paired their experience, sense of agency, and more than twenty-ve years of experience serving on boards together to shepherd the important and necessary cause of preparing Blacks to be on business boards. “We didn’t know supply or demand at the time. When we started, it was a one-day program at no cost to participants,” shared Chappell-Ingram. “It was more of a hope,” Roberts continued. “The rst class was friends and relatives that we recruited. Over time, we built a reputation as word of mouth spread.” SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

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“I have completed several board training programs over the years, and I commend AABLI for the targeted focus to support African Americans serving boards. The staff and faculty operate at such a high level of excellence, caring, and compassion at AABLI. You created a safe space for everyone's light to shine! It was so inspiring to learn from a brilliant faculty and to be in a cohort of the best and brightest. AABLI, I am an ambassador and champion for you! I'm already working to connect you to other organizations because this should be a national program!” — Kelly Redmond (Class 10)

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEROY HAMILTON

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LOS ANGELES, CA

Ten years later, African American Board Leadership Institute has 708 alumni from seventeen different classes, with approximately 250 alum currently serving on boards. From addressing the stumbling blocks grantees experience as it relates to getting on boards, to making sure participants understand the signicance of board placement, to teaching the soft skills needed to be successful once on a board, AABLI takes pride in knowing that no one else is doing the generalized board training they have mastered and are continuously developing.

Then came COVID... The truth of this was illuminated, in 2020, when COVID19 initially shut things down as a prelude to eventually dictating that we do life and business differently. Like schools across the country, the in-person classes that AABLI was known for ceased. Uncertainty loomed, but not without possibility, quickly making its presence known as Chappell-Ingram recalls, “March came, and we asked ourselves do we even have a future. Three weeks later, we had forty other people registered. Twenty had already been registered. Twenty-ve percent of new participants were out of state.” “They were as far as Maine, Texas, and Canada,” Roberts inserts. Happily, one year later, AABLI is still reaping the benets of the pandemic pivot. Virtual classes continue to attract a more extensive country-wide participation base, distinctively different from the exclusive Los Angeles participation base pre-COVID.

“I’m so happy you created an environment for Black people.” Notwithstanding the reported success with program growth and board placements, I was curious about the most challenging hurdle AABLI has faced in closing the disparity gap where an equitable representation of Blacks on boards or Blacks leading boards is concerned. Almost simultaneously, the pair replied, “Implicit bias,” with Roberts elaborating. “Boards tend to be made up of likeminded individuals collegiately. Adding somebody, I don’t know with a different lived experience is a psychological impediment.” At the forefront of AABLI’s work is helping organizations dispel this misguided perception and see the win-win of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Why? Because,

since board placement allows an individual to help make decisions about how resources get dispersed and how funds are allocated in the community, the organization, according to Roberts, gets the Black perspective of needs they otherwise would not get if someone Black is not at the table—and they need the Black view. In the last few minutes of our conversation, we looked back over the previous ten years with a round of questions. What task took more effort than you thought it would? “Helping with placement. Assisting alum and nonprots with placements,” answered Chappell-Ingram. What makes you most proud? “The reputation we’ve developed as a training organization and the relationships that have been forged,” answered Roberts. “It’s rewarding to hear people say, ‘I’m so happy you created an environment for Black people.’” What is taking longer than you perhaps thought it would? “We’ve spent most of our time developing a quality program. We have a great team that has expanded,” answered Chappell-Ingram. What do you say to CEOs of other races who say there are not enough “qualied” Black men and women for board appointments? “Contact AABLI. I have even said this to headhunters.”

The next ten years... As excited about the future of AABLI as its founders are, I had to know what the next ten years will bring. They both were resolute that AABLI is about passing the baton to the next generation and making AABLI a national organization. Roberts expounded a bit further by adding, “It looks like working with white organizations to help them understand the inherent advantage of diversity and transforming board leadership across the country.” There is absolutely no doubt in mind that AABLI’s next ten years are as promising as projected. It is not because Chappell-Ingram has a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from California State University, Northridge; or because Roberts has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from University of California, Los Angeles, and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. But rather because these two extraordinary leaders embody the commitment, poise, vision, love, and thoughtfulness substantive change requires. +

The African American Board Leadership Institute is committed to strengthening and diversifying leadership in nonproﬁt, public, and private organizations. In addition to their Board Leadership Program, AABLI offers Pathways to the Corporate Boardroom, Public Boards and Commissions Training, and their Educational Leadership Series as well as networking opportunities. Learn more about AABLI at aabli.org. SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

AA A f ric an A me ri c an B

LI B oa r d L ea d e r s hip I ns t it u t e

DO YOU KNOW

THE POWER OF YOUR VOICE?

They do! The African American Board Leadership Institute (AABLI) is the foremost educational organization of board governance for leaders to have an impact in the communities that they serve. AABLI was established in 2011 to develop a pipeline of qualiﬁed African American candidates for membership on governing boards and is the only organization in the country created to exclusively train and assist with the placement of African Americans on all types of governing boards and commissions. AABLI offers:

§ § § §

A rigorous board governance certiﬁcate program, Board placement assistance, Transformative growth, aligning talented leaders with dynamic organizations, and Access to its community of talented professionals and distinguished alumni network

Learn how to use your voice - visit aabli.org today!

Suite Biz Let’s Talk

Crypto currency

Blockchain Technology Leveling the Playing Field So what’s a Hash? Learn some of the most common crypto terminology

SuiteBiz | FINANCE

“

When you think of wine, we (Roots & Vines Wine) want you to think of #blackgirlmagic. We want to have such a presence that you don't think of a French man when you think about wine; you think of a Black woman.”

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Blockchain Technology Leveling the Playing Field

fter six years of learning and investing in cryptocurrency (a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange; wherein transaction records are stored on a ledger existing in the form of a computerized database using strong cryptography to secure transaction records, to control the creation of additional coins, and to verify the transfer of coin ownership.) I discovered that the real benet behind cryptocurrency isn't the fact that I realized signicant prots and enhanced my nancial portfolio; instead, it is the life-changing services of blockchain technology that make cryptocurrency possible. Allow me to explain. Blockchain technology is "a system of recording information in a way that makes it difcult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system. A block is essentially a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of computer systems on the blockchain." The current and potential use cases for blockchain technology are compelling and potentially life-changing. It gives us the power in business to work around what we've known throughout history as middle-men of necessity, providing savings and efciency on levels never imagined. Even deeper, it solves the issue of trust and business. And that's huge. Believe it or not, the best way to broker trust between people is to create a system where they don't have to trust each other! A trustless protocol means that the participants do not need to know or trust each other or a third party for the protocol to function. Blockchain is the trustless protocol that levels the playing eld. So how does it level the playing eld? How many times have we heard of discrimination in lending practices? In some communities, this is far too often, leading to generational poverty and deprivation. These welldocumented discriminatory lending practices are just one representation of tactics used by institutional racist hierarchies that movements like Black Lives Matter are working to

BY DONELL MOORE

destroy. There can't be discrimination in Blockchain technology; no one is in charge, and every user adds value to the technology. Imagine using blockchain technology to sell your home. This type of technology connects the buyer directly to the seller and saves time and money. There is no need for a lender or an escrow company because each party is their own bank. The buyer can obtain a loan based on their cryptocurrency prole. In a real sense, the seller can determine the buyer's eligibility, and the buyer can qualify the seller. You might be saying all this sounds great, but how do I know I can trust this blockchain technology? Perhaps you've heard of Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a part of the rst generation of cryptocurrency to utilize blockchain technology. Bitcoin perfected blockchain and is paving the way for adopting trustless protocols, providing the security and efciency in business that all people desire. Anything that deals with brokering trust can benet from Blockchain technology because it answers the questions, "Did you do what you said? Are you who you say you are? Can I verify that?" This technology is too big to fail. Mahatma Gandhi said, "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they ght you, then you win." Blockchain Technology will win. Digital money has been around since the early 1990s. But not until blockchain technology has the world gured out how to perfect the reality of digital money. Many naysayers are now retracting their statements and are investing heavily in cryptocurrency. Thus the need for this article. There are more than 100 million crypto users worldwide. Blockchain technology value is proven. Former skeptic Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary recanted his stance on Bitcoin and declared that crypto is "here to stay," revealing he has invested 3% of his portfolio in crypto. As of January 2021, there are more than 4,000 cryptocurrencies. Some of these have smaller market caps, but others like Litecoin, Tezos, and Bitcoin have shown signicant trading volume and have dedicated communities contributing to their technology. There is a worldwide community of cryptocurrency investors who are for the rst time experiencing nancial freedom because, for the rst time, the playing eld is level. +

I write this article with a sense of urgency. My six years of studying and investing have helped manifest financial freedom that I wasn't sure I would ever achieve. Now that I understand blockchain technology's power, I will share it with you in a series of articles in Suite Life SoCal Magazine. For regular posts on cryptocurrency, please find me on Instagram @plannedprofit. For individual consultation, you can give me a call at (310) 256-0234. Or reach me by email at admin@absoluteconsultingllc.com. SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

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Do you Speak Crypto? Address A blockchain address is a unique combination of numbers and letters that identifies accounts on a blockchain network. Altcoin An altcoin is an “alternative coin,” or any cryptocurrency launched after Bitcoin. Bitcoin Bitcoin is a blockchain network with a native cryptocurrency (bitcoin). It is the first blockchain and cryptocurrency, hence its dominant presence within the broader crypto ecosystem. Blockchain A blockchain is a public ledger of transactions that is maintained and verified by a decentralized, peer-topeer network of computers that adhere to a consensus mechanism to confirm data. Each computer in a blockchain network maintains its own copy of the shared record, making it nearly impossible for a single computer to alter any past transactions or for malicious actors to overwhelm the network. Block Explorer A block explorer is a software interface that enables users to access realtime blockchain information like transactions, blocks, addresses, nodes, and balances on a particuar network. Cryptocurrency Cryptocurrency is a digital asset that circulates on the internet as a medium of exchange. It employs blockchain t e c h n o l o g y a n d i s s e c u re d b y advanced cryptography.

Cryptocurrency Wallet Cryptocurrency wallets come in a variety of forms, their most basic function is to store a user’s private and public keys and interact with various blockchains enabling users to send and receive digital currency and monitor their cryptocurrency balances. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Decentralized finance (DeFi) is a major growth sector in blockchain that offers peer-to-peer financial services and technologies built on Ethereum. DeFi exchanges, loans, investments, and tokens are significantly more transparent, permissionless, trustless, and interoperable than traditional financial services, and trend towards decentralized governance organizational methods that foster equitable stakeholder ownership. Ethereum Ethereum launched in 2015 as a decentralized, blockchain-based global supercomputer to serve as the foundation for an ecosystem of interoperable, decentralized applications (dApps) powered by token economies and automated smart contracts. Exchange Cryptocurrency exchanges are platforms upon which digital assets can be bought, sold, and traded for fiat currency or other digital assets. Fiat Currency A fiat currency is any type of government-issued currency that is used as legal tender by a specific nation or region’s citizens and government. Most modern paper currencies are fiat currencies, like the EU euro, Japanese yen, and US Dollar.

SPRING 2021 | SUITELIFESOCAL.COM

Hear are some terms that you are sure to hear over and over again.

Gas The fees associated with transacting and executing smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain are referred to as gas. Hash Hash functions are algorithms that take data of any size and convert it into a fixed-length hexadecimal number, or hash. Hash functions are one-way functions and cannot be inverted to reveal the data input to create the hash. Know Your Customer (KYC) Know Your Customer (KYC) is the compliance process instituted by regulators for businesses to verify the identity and level of risk of their customers. This process normally requires users to provide official identity verification using a passport, driver’s license, or similar documents. KYC regulation requires financial firms to collect personal data on their customers and ensure the legitimacy of the person or client to whom they may provide services. Mining M i n i n g i s t h e p ro c e s s o f u s i n g computing power to verify and record blockchain transactions. Mining also results in the creation of new coins, which miners earn as a reward for their efforts. Mining is utilized in Proof-ofWork (PoW) blockchains. Seed Phrase A seed phrase, also referred to as a “recovery phrase' is a 12, 18, or 24-word code that is used as a backup access mechanism when a user loses access to a cryptocurrency wallet or associated private key. The seed phrase matches i n f o r m a t i o n s t o re d i n s i d e t h e a corresponding wallet that can unlock the private key needed to regain access.

Smart Contract Smart contracts are computer programs that run within a blockchain protocol that automatically execute based on preset conditions. They execute a predefined set of terms automatically in a trackable and irreversible manner without the need for a third party. Stablecoin A stablecoin is a digital currency created with the intent of holding a stable value. The value of most existing stablecoins is tied directly to a predetermined fiat currency or tangible commodity which is pegged 1:1 to the US dollar. Staking Staking is the process through which a blockchain network user 'stakes' or locks their cryptocurrency assets on a network as part of the consensus mechanism, thus ensuring the security and functionality of the chain. Token A crypto token is a blockchain-based unit of value that organizations or projects can customize and develop for use within existing blockchain ecosystems. Crypto tokens can be programmable, transparent, permissionless, and trustless. They can also serve many functions on the platforms for which they are built, including being used as collateral in decentralized financial (DeFi) applications, accessing platformspecific services, voting on DeFi protocols and even taking part in games.

Source: Cryptopedia

SUITELIFESOCAL.COM | SPRING 2021

Suite eSSEntials

Webex Meetings The

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Suite List by Cisco

An Industry Listing Guide featuring

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DÉCOR

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Wade & Associates Margo Wade LaDrew (310) 674-6700 margo.wadeassociates@gmail.com FB: margo.ladrew

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CATERING

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GoToWebinar

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For more reviews on Webex Meetings, ON24 and GoToWebinar, visit tru

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