Welcome to restaurant influencers presented by entrepreneur my name is Shawn walf founder of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ media in life in the restaurant business and in the new Creator economy we learn through lessons and stories today I have a very special guest her
Name is Don Kelly you can find her at PR Maven 17 and she is the proud owner of the nourish spot which you can find at the nourish spot Don welcome to the show thank you so much Sean I am so appreciative of you being interested in my entrepreneurial Journey with the Nish
Spot I can’t tell you I’m so excited for the audience because it’s very rare that we get someone with a PR background that gets into restaurants you know this is a storytelling show and we’re grateful to toast our primary technology partner that sponsors this show that allows us
The stage the opportunity um to connect with restaurant tours all over the globe and the best storytellers all over the globe and what you’ve done is so different and so unique um and we’re excited to have you on so let’s let’s start with our favorite random question
Which is where in the world is your favorite Stadium stage or venue well my favorite stadium is right here here in New York City where I’m born and raised um and that would be the house that Babe Ruth built Yankee Stadium okay so we’re gonna go to Yankee
Stadium and the cool thing about this show for me is that I get to connect with people that love Hospitality that love storytelling and we say that they’re playing the game within the game so you don’t come to a podcast you don’t listen to a video you don’t read a Blog
Unless you’re a curious person so we have lots of curious people but we’re going to put on an incredible event event in Yankee Stadium and I’m going to put you on the pictures Mount I’m going to give you the mic and I’m going to say Don who are you and what do you
Believe who I am is a mother a daughter um an entrepreneur in New York city that um decided after 30 years of working in corporate Communications that I had the HSPA to open my own BS business and I jumped in afraid I jumped in afraid but I did what
You’re supposed to do when you don’t know everything I researched and I learned and I forgot the second question what do you believe what is what is the nurish spot belief the nourish spot believes that all individuals should have access to healthy food and beverage that can provide them um with the
Stamina the nutrients and the fuel they need to power their lives do you remember when you were doing research about owning your own restaurant if there was any anything that came across that gave you the gave you gave you the the idea that maybe you can do
It um honestly yes when I decided upon um becoming a food and beverage entrepreneur um I actually studied some of the Entre preneurs that I knew personally um one in particular was is a woman named Mo Branch um she actually works in a whole another industry she’s
In the health and beauty industry but she’s a black woman like me um that uh began uh her business after working with her dad um for many many years but then she and her sister jumped out on their own in a different Lane of business and
She wrote a book and so I read that book and it kind of gave me the confidence that if she could do it then I could potentially do it too if I um got the training the education and skills training I needed um to actually run a profitable business because as I
Mentioned earlier yes I worked in Corporate America for a very very long time but that was somebody else’s business somebody else’s Corporation right and I was just working on a a finite piece of it not the entire thing when you’re an entrepreneur and a founder of your own business every every
Hat belongs to you and so you have to learn about a balance sheet a profit and loss statement um you got to learn how to hire and you know sorry but fire um individuals you got to learn about setting your prices correctly so there’s so many things to learn that I was not
Aware of and so having the opportunity to read Moo’s book um follow some other people you know there’s a lot of good examples out in this world um follow some other examples and then like I said earlier take training you know get involved in the Goldman Sachs 10kb program uh take
The go to the uh Economic Development Corporation and take their business essential course right that that’s the one that made me dangerous that’s when I I realized that I could do this right um and then also I took another class with interise um it’s called StreetWise M MBA
So all of those courses um helped to embolden me right um and to strengthen my courage right that I could potentially you know become an entrepreneur and actually in Excel at it I appreciate you sharing that you know we say on the show all the time something my grandfather father taught
Me which is to stay curious to get involved and then to ask for help you know they’re such basic lessons but they’re so powerful because curious people can open up a book we can listen to a podcast we can watch a video but like you said you actually did the work
Do you do you know where where did you get the courage where did you learn that you actually have to raise your hand you actually have to go to the class you actually have to sign up you actually have to get involved do you remember when you were little girl when you
Learned how to do that or was that later on in life no actually I did learn it also from my grandfather and from my mother and I’m trying my best not to get emotional right now um my grandfather um I’m sitting in the house that my grandfather bought 81 years ago Um he was uh in the military and when he came home from World War II um the military actually riged on a promise um they had told all the uh soldiers that fought for this country that especially the ones coming back to New York City that they had established
A nice little settlement in leev levit town New York and when my grandfather got home um because of the nature of um you know racial tension back then in the 40s um they didn’t allow him to uh purchase a home with his GI bill in Lev toown so
He ended up buying a home in Jamaica Queens and before he passed away he taught me a lot I’m the oldest in my family and so one of the things that my grandfather always taught me was the early bird gets the worm right so um I always have gotten up early like early
I’m a early rise I get up before everybody and I’m usually before people have like you know open their eye I’ve been through the news I’ve been through I’ve been through my Instagram you know I’m I’m kind of set and ready for the day I’ve been through my prayers you
Know everything so that was one of the one things I got from my grandfather but the other thing is just who he was you know um he was a decorated military officer and so so for him to have the courage to fight for this country in a
Time when this country didn’t care for us and then to come back home and establish a home base for himself and my mom and to keep that going right for all these years so much so that when I came home from college I’m a Howard University graduate when I came home
From college and decided that I wanted to be a PR executive in New York City my grandfather opened this home to me and so before he died I purchased it from him and so I get my courage I know from my grandfather and also my mom um my mom
Raised three children and um she taught me about money right she taught me about being Frugal she taught me about asking for what I want um and she talking she taught me about um you know thinking and I don’t want to say highly of myself but
She always used to tell me if you don’t think you can who else is going to think you can so you have to first and foremost believe in yourself and when you believe in yourself that’ll come forth wherever you go right people will see it it’s kind of like a aura on you
And those are the things that have really um pushed me forward and then also I would say my late dad um my dad he was a different kind of guy right um but he was straightforward and um he was an electrician by trade and he pretty much
Taught himself how to do it um and so from my grandfather from my mom and my dad um I that’s where I got um all the attributes that Propel me forward and I do believe in myself I do believe that with the proper education and training
That I could do anything in this World um but I again I first have to believe that I can do it so I’m I’m grateful that you shared the story about your grandfather and about your family it it means so much to me it means so much to
The audience and I think you know it gets to the heart of why we do this show is because the restaurant business is a hard business Hospitality business is a hard business but it’s so important no matter where you are on Earth you know making a stranger a friend over food
Over drinks it’s it’s it’s it’s who we are you know it’s who we are and it connects us in our DNA and for me to hear you share these things that have been instilled in you but now you get to give them back to your community you
Know as as an entrepreneur as a businesswoman as a black businesswoman you get to give nourishment back to the community can you bring me back to the day the opening day opening day of business yes so one um I opened the business in conjunction with my then uh
25y old daughter and 26 year old son Jade and Owen Duncan um in fact Jade is the one that sat on the couch with me when we just started with Legal Zoom to establish ourselves and it took a little while it took about a year and a half um working
With you know crazy contractors and everything um to finally get the store open but we opened on September 9th 2017 and you know I’ve had some great days in my life but that is a day that I will never ever forget um we were able
To get all our family to come from all over the United States um we had all the elected officials from um Queens I don’t know if you know much about New York City but it’s a big place it is yeah and each burrow has their own
Set of um legislators right um we have the federal that you know go across they actually look at all of New York City um but we have our own set of Queens leg legislators and so all of the Queens legislators were there um many of the community leaders um in my neighborhood
Were there and then my friends like friends from um grade school friends from high school college and then friends I met along the way you know and working in different nonprofit and corporate environments so it was a day um it was it was a day that um I often
Um talk about right and every time our anniversary comes around I’m posting pictures from the first day you know um in in I think there sororities and fraternities in all um groups and in our in our particular case um we had all of the members of the Divine n the Deltas
The aka the aias like everybody was there and so um I’m proud and it all day long um was Commerce all day long we sold smoothies and salads you know even vendors um my tax man so here this this is the guy that was doing my taxes while
I was an employee at other places um and he was doing my taxes for like 20 years like he showed up okaying so um it was a day where people that said that they loved me people that said they were on my side actually got to demonstrate that that’s a beautiful
Thing can you share your social media Journey as someone that spent so long speaking on behalf of Corporations you you know head VP head of corporate character team global comms for Prudential you spoke on behalf of all of these incredible things that you know your company was doing and then you had
To have your own voice you know Don’s voice but then also the voice of your new business can you talk about can you talk about uh social media and how it played a part and and getting all those beautiful people in 17 to that to that
Event yes so I would tell you even though Sean I practiced PR for other organizations forever practicing it for myself was the hardest thing I ever did okay I felt like I felt like the media professionals were going to be like da you’re not supposed to be talking about yourself
You you we know you to be talking about credential or talking about your college or talking about ARP why are you calling us to talk about what like what is that and I would tell you that I had to really talk to myself really and tell myself that just like those companies
Needed you to tell their story you more so than ever need to tell this story because those companies had you know hundreds of years right every last single one of them had had been in existence at least like credential was over 135 years um your college had been
Here for about 25 or more you know arp’s been around forever so here I am a nent um you know new uh organization and so I’m like you you if you don’t tell it who is going to do it and so what I did first was I created a profile for the
Nourish spot I already had one for myself and just in the side I’ll make you laugh when social media first came to four right when they first presented itself I think the first thing was Twitter right and I was still working I was still working for that Financial
Services firm and I would tell you I was kicking and screaming I’m not doing that I’m not tweeting it what’s that bird what is that but I had young people on my team right one of the things I’ve always done to make sure I’ve had all the generations working with me okay and
So my team members were like no you have to get involved right you know um I was legendary in terms of my work already but now learning how to do social media would actually take it to another level right and so I have to I have to call
Out one of my young um mentees and former colleagues his name is Josh steran um Josh is the one that got me to get on Twitter and then I and then I became a beast okay um because I’m an overachiever and I like I like to learn like one of the
Things that I learned at one of my jobs one of my first jobs is learning is a lifelong journey right yes and so um I learned how to do that Twitter thing and I got really excellent at it and then all the other ones came you know Facebook and Instagram and again even
With Facebook I went on Kicking and Screaming too CA I like so did I so did I Kicking and Screaming yes because I was like what is that old people that I don’t talk to I’m like I don’t talk to them why should they know what’s going
On in my life but then I I became a shareholder and I became a shareholder in Facebook and I’m like okay I I if I’m GNA make money off the off the um platform at least I need to know how it works right and so um that’s why I
Jumped on to the Facebook um posting and I love it I really love posting on Facebook but my favorite of all is Instagram and Linkedin um because I believe that um they have been truly um beneficial to me um and the nourish spot in getting our messages out I would love
For you to talk specifically about LinkedIn and Instagram because those are you know we say social media and every single person that’s listening we all have subjective feelings when I say X or Twitter or Tik Tok we all think a certain thing but when I talk to
Business owners the reason why we do this show the reason why we create content is that we want business owners to tell their own story and the B2B space of what you can do and the opportunities that you create when you’re willing to speak out as a business owner on Instagram tag another
Brand that maybe you’re doing business with tag a local official tag another restaurant maybe you’re going to a community event tag a charity when you’re going to do these things you do such a great job on both platforms can you talk specifically about finding your voice on
Instagram well um thank you very much for that compliment um I don’t say it lightly I don’t say it lightly I you you you passed the test you pass the test you’re doing phenomenal work I I highly encourage anybody that’s listening to the show please go follow PR Maven 17 um
And connect with her because she’s doing phenomenal work thank you so much Sean so um one I gotta say I’ve had new partners tell me that that’s how they found us they found us through our social media and through Instagram and so the reason why I appreciate um the
Benefits of Instagram is because we all know a picture is worth a thousand words right so that’s the first thing um I’m able to use imagery and I love I I love to take pictures I always have and so um I and I want to document my journey so
What Instagram has allowed me to do both personally and professionally um is to document my journey so there will be no question um when I’m no longer here um about what I have been able to accomplish and the things that made me happy um as well as the benefits of what
Our business um brings to our community our Jamaica Queens community and and Beyond and so um Instagram how we’ve used Instagram is we make sure we um take pictures of our nourishers and that’s what we affectionally call our customers um we take pictures of them of course
With their um agreement you know we ask permission um and so we like to see them you know eating our food or drinking our smoothies and so um we ask to take pictures of them and we ask their names and what that does is that endear them
To us right um because now they’re like oh Miss Dawn you you put me on your page you know um and I re-shared it with my friends and now my friends are coming to the nourish spot so what it does is it creates Community right it creates
Community within a community and so um I enjoy that um another way is a way to show our menu right um it’s a way to immediately get our menu out um to people and show them in Dynamic fashion right we show ourselves making them right we show we show the people
Actually eating or drinking them so that’s another uh thing that um Instagram allows me to do and it allows me to lay out my narrative right tell whatever story that I need my customers or my potential Partners or my uh potential investors right um it allows
Me to lay out a story um in a narrative that people can follow along the way and we’ve been doing this consistently since we started right um we even we even put up if you go on to the nurish spot page you’ll see um post before we were open
Right we were showing all the things we went through to get to today um and Instagram has been so beneficial as I mentioned one of our strategic Partners is called aola formerly of Hudson um they told me that’s how they found me right um also
Um I now serve as a mentor for New York City Small Business Services as well as women um entrepreneurs women entrepreneurs NYC same thing that’s how they found us right um they found us on Instagram now LinkedIn LinkedIn is a different animal and I I actually started using LinkedIn
Um when I was working for credential um we leverage LinkedIn and I and I’m going to be I’m going to take a license here um and say I started credentials Communications area using LinkedIn um because I realized that LinkedIn put us right in front of the customers that we wanted right the the
Business customers as well as the individuals at that time that we knew needed insurance for their uh family right and so I would leverage LinkedIn any and every time that our um Executives would be speaking before Congress or um we put out you know we put out a new news release about some
New product right I leveraged LinkedIn um for that and it worked I mean it was phenomenal so of course I open my own business I immediately established a page for the nourish spot and I try my best because I’m doing I’m doing all the social media still
To um I’m doing my best to keep it all populated and up to date so that people can find us um and they can contact me through a myriad a myriad of ways um to get to us to get what they need and so you know we have new partners that
Contact us we have you know I have other entrepreneurs that reach out to me you know to ask me for help or for mentorship um uh you know we get to uh I’ve got catering catering clients from um LinkedIn so those two resources um have been um phenomenal and I um
Encourage any small business owner to make sure because there’s so much right we do have Tik Tok we have Facebook there’s a lot right and you and and I would never tell anybody to be an overachiever like me and try to be on all I I will I tell people that all the
Time come on the water’s warm come jump in the defense but I would say that if you have time pick at least three of them and use them um to tell your story to get in front of your potential customers and your current customers and make sure that
They know what’s going on with your business so I’m gonna ask you a favor I’m gonna need you to close your eyes and I’m gonna ask you a question okay so you’re going to close your eyes do you remember the days you prayed for the opportunities that you’re experiencing
Now yes I remember those days yes I remember bring us back so I lost my job in 2015 um my job was eliminated and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next and so I prayed a lot I wear my faith on my sleeve and I didn’t know what I wanted
To do I just knew that I didn’t want to put my life in the hands of anyone else to have the authority and privilege of cutting off my lifeline when they felt like it and so I had to figure out something that I could control and so I started praying I was
On my own health Journey so one day I saw a show about a new juice bar in Westchester and it it really peaked my interest and I started to tell God that’s what I want I want to do a juice bar I I could do that because I was I
Had already for got rid of my Bagels got rid of my carbonated sodas and I was like eating salads every day right and so I’m like and my community I knew my community needed it because there was no juice bar in like a and like a mile right or two miles right a
Long stretch um in New York called guy aru Boulevard it goes from Jamaica Avenue to the airport and there was not one juice bar on that strip and so I prayed to God to to help me figure it all out and it happened I mean he led me
To a place that said um DK upholstery that was that was the name of the venue the building in which now my bu my store my store is there and I would tell you DK that’s my name da Kelly upholstery what does upholstery mean Sean it means to make something over so that
Particular awning told the next stages of my life it said Dawn Kelly made over and the nourished spot is in that very building today right now my staff is over there operating the business and let me not lead this out it’s in my community in a community where my
Family enjoys an 81y year history so that’s one thing that I prayed for another thing that I prayed for is I listened a lot to podcast like you right I I I wanted to learn right I I I I wanted to know the right things I wanted
To learn the pitfalls and I wanted to learn it from the people that were actually doing the businesses right so there was one particular podcast called side hustle Pro um and I listened to it like a crazy person like every time there was a news show I was listening to
It right and I said to myself one day one day she’s going to contact me and I’m I’m going to tell my story well sure that happened this year this month okay so that’s another thing that I prayed for and then here’s another the Goldman Sachs 10ks SP program so I was initially
Introduced to that when I was an employee at credential Financial wow you know that’s big the big companies they support each other right and so there was a big dinner for the Goldman Sachs program um when they first initiated it years and years ago and I got to go to the
Dinner with my colleagues while in that seat now they didn’t know this but I’m telling you while in that seat I was so enamored with the program because at that time they were just working with women um outside the United States and they were giving them micro loans right to start
Businesses and I just was like wow this is amazing like kind of company does that and I’m like if I ever and I will tell you ever was like never right I I never thought I was going to own my own business I thought I was
Going to be a uh employee forever retire with the gold watch and you know go off into my life but I did tell myself if I ever become an entrepreneur oh I would love to be in that program well today I’m a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10
KB program so I would tell you prayer works if there’s anybody out there listening to me pray for what you want and then work towards it it’ll all come together that is so magical I’m so grateful that you shared all of those experiences that to be honest with you
That I know I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be having this conversation with you uh this is this is why we love what we do is that we’re able to connect with people that are doing the work you know you’re you’re doing the work you’re living in faith you’re doing the things
That we believe in the hospitality space you’re impacting your community but because of the world that we live in you can share this story on a stage like entrepreneur.com and this can go to hundreds of thousands millions of people which is the beautiful thing about the
World that we live in and and where we’re going can you can you share a little bit about where where are you when you dream now when you pray now what does it look like in the future oh my gosh my prayers I tell you I’m a
Little afraid of my prayers is now um so when I got to go back a little um in 2021 is when I graduated from the Goldman Sachs program and one of the things that we have to do to graduate is we have to have a growth plan right and
We have to get up in front of our class and we have to talk about what we hope um to achieve right in a year or two a year or two and I I I likened that to my prayers and my petitions to God about what I would would want um for the
Nourish spot and the things that I said is that I wanted the nourish spot to be in airports I wanted the nourish spot to be in stadiums um I wanted it to be in schools um and um and I wanted to do catering right those were like my big
Things well today I could tell you we’re Partners in airports um we have been a vendor for two years straight um at the US Open that’s amazing thank you so much um earlier this year uh my daughter and I had the extreme Fortune to meet Steve Cohen Steve Cohen is a billionaire in
New York City that owns the New York Mets and City Field um and he owns a hedge fund and I’m a member of the Queen’s Chamber of Commerce so that’s another thing I would like to say real quick people need to get involved in their community and
Get um get membershi right uh sign up with the chambers of commes of the world uh with the restaurant coalitions of the world I’m a board member of the New York City Hospitality Alliance right I get involved right because you won’t know what’s going on if you don’t get
Involved yes and so we went to uh City Field formerly Shay Stadium I’m an old lady so I know you’re not an old lady you’re young at heart come on now young at heart let’s go and so my daughter and I we went to City Field for a visioning
Event that they were having because every business we you know this we all are looking for ways in which to expand and grow and evolv and City Field is no different different and so while we were there for the event these two gentlemen walked in and they had TV cameras behind
Them now you know I said I’m a PR person so I see that’s what I’m talking I see a TV Camera I get excited right and so I I asked the president of the Queen’s Chamber of Commerce I’m like who’s those guys and why why are their cameras
Following them and so Tom GRE who’s the president of the chamber he said you don’t you don’t know who that is and I said tell me a name I may not know them by face but I know the players right so tell and so he said um that’s Steve
Cohen and that’s all I needed to hear I said wait wait wait Steve Cohen the man that owns this place Steve Cohen the Steve Co the man that owns the Mets okay um like I started hyperventilating I’m I’mma tell you honestly and so he said
Would you like me to introduce you and I said yes sir right now and so he walked my daughter Jade and I over to Steve and his um Chief of Staff right and there was a long line just imagine the man comes in it was a
Long line and so my daughter and I are kind of like the last on the line and the chief of staff was doing his b doing his job so he was trying to get people off that line right but I was hell big I there was no way you was no stopping you
No yes and so I got to meet Steve Cohen and the first thing I said to him was oh my god I’ve never met because I’m very authentic what you see is what you get I’m not changing for anybody okay and so I was so enamored I said oh my God I
Never met a billionaire before like oh my God right and so he started laughing right he started laughing and I said the first thing I want to know is can I take a picture with you I said because my friends are not going to believe this
And he said of course you know he it just to me it humanized him right and he said of course I would love to take a picture with you and I said and yesterday was my daughter’s birthday what a great birthday GI and so he you
Know he hugged us both and we took a picture and so then he’s like tell me more about you like what’s your name what you do and so I told him and so he said oh you own a a Smoothie Bar he said I drink a a blueberry smoothie every
Morning I can I tell you he couldn’t see me but my I was flipping inside I I had did like 35 flips when he when he said that because I felt like that was my end right that was my end and so I said to
Him well I on the nourish spot and I hope that you would come by one day and try our Blueberry Bliss because we have a smoothie that you know blueberries are the feature and so he said I think we could do one better and I
Said what what could that be he said we got to figure out something he said you got any more questions so I said I have two he said what are they I said one smart man like you I need you to be my Mentor I said you think we can work that
Out and he said I think we can so that number two come on and did number three listen you know you gotta shoot your shot right you don’t always get an opportunity to shoot your shot so you got to shoot your shot and so I said I got another question I
Said but I will tell you I’m very afraid to ask you right and he said why is that and I said to be real I said if you tell me no I don’t know how I’m GNA handle it and he said ask me and I said I would
Like to establish a nourish spot here at City Field and he said we’ll be in touch come on now would you believe that not only were they in touch that it took just three months for us to be engaged with the aramar organization that’s attached to City Field by we met him on
January 29th by March 13th I think it was we were debuting at City field with all of the rest of the new um businesses food and beverage businesses that were going to be showcased this particular season um at City fi so again prayer works and and I didn’t get
I want to say this you know this December January February those are some of the hardest months for entrepreneurs why because holiday season our customers lose their mind and go spend all their money in other places right yep so I have been rolling around in my bed in
January praying for dollars d o l l a r s I’m not joking with you praying looking for grants everything okay so for God to answer my prayer by introducing me by allowing me and my daughter to be introduced to a billionaire let me tell you something
When I left that stadium that day and I got outside to the to the parking lot I lost it I cried and cried and cried because I realize that a door that I never thought would open for me I tell you never ever ever ever thought that I
Would meet Steve Cohen come on right I never thought that and for me to meet him make his acquaintance and him to you know smooth the way for us to be a vendor at the taste of Queen cart um at City Field again Pinch Me moments and things
That I will never ever ever um forget that was magical magical you were supposed to be on this show for a reason Don so I’m so thankful that you shared that story with us and uh anybody that’s listening to this show if you’re watching your story matters and what we
Do on LinkedIn uh every Wednesday and every Friday at 10: a.m. Pacific Time 1 pm. eastern time is we host the LinkedIn audio event so you The Listener can come up on stage you can share your restaurant whether you’re in sales whether you’re in marketing if you’re a
Content creator it’s a chance for us to build community and we hope that you The Listener come on stage it’s also a chance for us to give a social shout out this week’s social shout out goes to Bailey wolf uh bayy wolf he works for Harvest he does SBA lending he helps
Business owners buy buildings um Bailey connected me to Don um anybody that knows me knows that I’m looking for the best storytellers on Earth and I’m so grateful that bayy connected me to Don so that we could share her story with our audience and with whoever whoever
Finds the show no matter where it is we’re going to put it everywhere we’re going to put it on Instagram Tik Tok LinkedIn entrepreneur.com uh don you are a gift can you tell me who would you like I need one person I need one person from the nourished family or from your
Life that you’d like to shout out you already got you already got a bunch of shout outs in because you’re you’re good at your job so um let’s give somebody that you haven’t given a shout out to um give them a little bit of love on entrepreneur well um for the nourish
Spot I would like to shout out a young man named Denzel Sancho he came to us as an intern the Nish spot is an internship training ground we actually work with nonprofit organizations and uh high schools in our community and in New York City um to provide internship opportunities to
Young people and so Denzel Sano came to us like five years ago six years ago as a 11th grader and today he’s a graduate of college and he’s my manager no way yes and I love it okay because we’ve created our own Talent Pipeline and so
The reason why I can sit here and talk to you um you know comfortably um from my home is because Denzel is running the store and I appreciate him um you know I don’t know what we would do without him and and uh you know and I just like the
Fact that we’re working with young people to give them opportunities you know to consider they they don’t have to stay in food right in food and beverage and Hospitality but to at least consider it um as a um vocation right for the rest of their lives so that’s a great
Shout out to Denzel um congratulations Before I Let You Go I’d love to learn a little bit about your smartphone storytelling so we believe that everyone that’s listening to the show you don’t need to have a PR team you are your own PR team we all have a device in our
Pocket so I just need to get a little of the inside of the Playbook of Don are you an iPhone or an Android User I’m an iPhone user okay which version do you get the latest version or do you just you you’re happy with what you got um I
Have the I think I have a 15 15 yeah I think what are they on 18 now or something uh I think we’re still on 15 okay so no I don’t have a I don’t have a 15 I have a 13 okay I have a 13 too so
We’re good do you do you always do a software update no I don’t some sometimes sometimes software updates they mess everything up so mess up my flow you not always do you prefer text or email I prefer text how many emails do you get a day I can’t count them are
You are you an inbox zero or do you do you have how many if we look at your phone right now how many how many emails would you I’m take I take the fifth I take the fair enough do you do you prefer phone calls or text
Messages um from family I prefer from calls everybody else I prefer text messages and then we’ll you know I will decide whether we need to go to the phone do you leave voicemails or do you not leave voicemails I actually like voice notes now you do okay fair enough
Uh what which how do you listen to music through my Apple music Apple music and so in my house through my Apple music and I I um cast it to my speakers right and in my car I listen to Sirius XM okay and uh do you prefer photos or
Videos oh wow I like them both I like them both you know I’m of the generation where we only had photos right um and you know I’m I still got photo albums and so I’m Al I’m always in um a debate with my Millennial children about photos
Right um because you know they’re like oh you take too many photos and I’m like uh they’re gonna know me when I’m when I’m not here okay maybe they won’t know you but you’re gonna be able to open up a photo album or my phone okay or go to
The cloud and you’re going to be able to tell my uh descendants that I was here and you’re going to be able to show them you’re going to be able to show showed them the receipts as well that’s funny yeah my my wife and I we joke we take
Photos all the time we have like I have obviously smartphone storytelling I have I have like 70,000 photos I have probably 20,000 videos all on my phone but um when our school our little girl she’s four years old my my son’s six and they tell us oh it’s photo day and I’m
Like we laugh every day it’s photo day every day it’s photo day and so there’s no special day for phot exactly and I’m definitely paying $35 for it either because our photos are better exactly and you know what else so now you make me feel better because I’m
Often having to pay for extra storage right I pay for extra storage that’s that’s a med that’s a media expense come on now okay so so listen it’s a Content expense let’s go you make me feel you make me feel real good right because now
I know that my expenses of my photo to for the storage I’m not I’m not the only one so that makes you’re good yeah we’re we’re part of an inner circle here we’re all smartphone storytellers so so it’s all good well Don it’s been an absolute
Pleasure we’re going to put links uh to your shop to the nourish spot to your handle at PR Maven 17 um we’re so grateful I can’t wait to come and visit uh we come to New York for lots of different things toast puts on conventions there restaurant
365 um one of my one of my closest friends Kyle and Sarah Mr ticktock he’s in New York so I’m going to have him stop by your shop y um is there any what is your favorite quote that you want to leave us with let me think about that for a
Second but I just want to say this I want to say thank you to Bailey too right because Bell’s my guy okay I met biley when the small business administration named the nourish spot the 2019 micro business of the Year wow and that’s when I met bar and we have been
Connected like this ever since and so one of the things that we talked about earlier is you know the people you know it’s so important to network with others and keep the people close to you that that try that are out here trying to help you right because you and I would
Not know each other if he didn’t introduce us so I would first say um thank you to Bailey now back to the question that you asked me I forgot excuse me quote I need a quote Oh okay quote let me see um I’mma use my own quote okay yeah and
My quote is do it afraid I love that do it afraid it’s Don Kelly the nourished spot Jamaica Queens if you’re there you know but follow her online we are so grateful for your time we’re grateful for the gifts that you’ve shared with us the incredible stories uh don you’re awesome
If you guys want to get in touch with me it’s shanp walf wnp w l c h EF um hit me on Instagram that’s the quickest way but I’m available weirdly available on all the platforms um we we care about you we care about your story no matter where
You are on earth uh Rising tide lifts All Ships as always stay curious get involved and don’t be afraid to ask for help we’ll catch you guys next week thank you SE yeah
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