LOVE DELIVERED!

I am always so emotional when I think about my team and the hard work they deliver daily, nothing is ever too great for them to conquer and they do it with grace and the sheer love of the work. We each know our strengths and weaknesses and exist as an interconnected circle connecting the dots as we go.

This past month has been full of moments where every person on the team has stepped up to accomplish things that other teams would have deemed impossible. We leaned on each other and miracles continued to pour in. It wasn’t easy and there were intense moments of uncertainty. In the end we pulled off an amazing month of accomplishments: from the announcement of our planned $25MM BrainTrust Fund, our $1 million equity investment into Listener Brands, Inc., the parent company of hair care brands CurlMix and 4COnly created by Founder and Chief Executive Officer Kimberly Lewis to my “Power of Freedom” panel at CannesCan Diversity Collective (CC:DC) InkWell Beach during Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity , BrainTrust becoming an official TikTok Shop Partner, onboarding new Founders to BrainTrust Founders Studio, and our weekend at Essence Festival.?

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We wrapped up June and kicked off July in New Orleans during the ESSENCE Festival of Culture? presented by Coca-Cola?. I am not new to Essence but this trip was a fantastic way to end the month centered on Love.??

BrainTrust Marketing Agency was hired to produce the Love Delivered Day Party hosted by Latham Thomas , Founder at Mama Glow and Lisa M. Price , Founder of Carol's Daughter Daughter. The Party was created with the purpose of celebrating Black mothers, birthing people and overall Black Maternal Health during the festival weekend. If you follow me regularly, you know I absolutely Love me some Lisa Price. She is an icon and a legend. I also just found out that we are sorority sisters - #EEYIP!??

The work Latham, Lisa and the entire team at Mama Glow and Carol’s Daughter pour into Love Delivered is really special. It was an honor to be their partner for this celebration of love and impact.?

From Debra Langford , Managing Director & Head of Black Wealth Initiatives, J.P. 摩根 Private Bank at JPMorgan Chase & Co. to New Orleans Mayor, LaToya Cantrell , the first woman to hold the office, and Johnny Wright, celebrity hair stylist or otherwise known as HOTUS (Hairstylist of the United States) and author of Natural & Curly Hair for Dummies the room was overflowing with love and support.?

About Love Delivered (from Mama Glow Foundation website):?

Love Delivered, is a new program from Carol’s Daughter and its founder, beauty pioneer Lisa Price in partnership with the Mama Glow Foundation and its founder, the world-renowned doula Latham Thomas.

Love Delivered brings increased awareness to the Black maternal health crisis and shines a light on ways that Black birthing people and families can be empowered before, during and after birth.

Did you know: Black mothers/birthing people are between 3 to 4 times more likely to die due to childbirth or childbirth related causes than their white counterparts– with 60% of these deaths classified as preventable.

For more information and to get involved, visit https://mamaglowfoundation.org/love-delivered/.?

Love continued to overflow as I made my way to the “Cultivating a Sustainable Ecosystem for Black & Brown Women Entrepreneurs hosted by Walker's Legacy Foundation and CEO Samantha Abrams .

Walker's Legacy Foundation is taking the initiative to raise economic prosperity and reduce economic inequality in the Black and Brown Women Entrepreneur communities worldwide.? The lunch was centered on gaining important knowledge through engaging dialogues, networking possibilities, and idea generation to strengthen the success of local Black and Brown Women Entrepreneurs.

“The Black Women’s experience is different from the Black experience and so the research shows that society essentially will only accept certain things from Black women entrepreneurs.”? - LaTanya White, Ph.D., M.B.A. 2x author, TEDx Speaker, and entrepreneurship educator.

For more information on Walker’s Legacy Foundation visit: https://www.walkerslegacy.org/

I wrapped up my love weekend at the 4th Annual Women in Harmony Awards Luncheon: "A Celebration of Courage" hosted by the National Urban League , the nation’s largest historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization.?

“This event (Essence Festival of Culture) has a $300MM economic impact on this city (New Orleans) and some $45MM in tax revenues are generated by this event. This event has become the largest live in person event in the United States, I did not say Black event, I said event in the United States. Some close to 400,000 - 500,000 people.” - MARC MORIAL , President and CEO of the National Urban League?

To get involved with National Urban League, visit https://nul.org/

My ultimate LOVE moments throughout the weekend were connecting with our BrainTrust Founders Studio founders showcasing their brands, speaking on stages and representing the beauty of their brilliance.? This is my love language: supporting our community, celebrating our culture and creating moments of impact.

In light of the SCOTUS news this week, I’m more committed than ever to our BrainTrust Founders Studio and BrainTrust Fund thesis: Supporting and funding business successes that move markets and help Black founders and funders attract more resources.?

To learn more about BrainTrust Founders Studio and BrainTrust Fund visit: https://braintrustfoundersstudio.com/

As we dive into July, let us continue to be held together by Love!?