- 5 weeks ago
What happens when culture, creativity, and commerce collide? Tune in for a chat with Shelley Worrell, founder of I AM caribBEING™, where she'll be sharing her Afro-Caribbean perspective as an entrepreneur in tourism, media, and culture. Get inspired by her journey as she discusses the unique opportunities in this field.
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00:00We're going to jump right into an amazing chat and my good girl Nakia is going to host it and I'm just excited about the things that happen on this stage because while all these amazing things are happening with other brands, this is where small homegrown brands are actually cultivated, they're supported and they're given the opportunity to have showcased all over the world.
00:20And so today we're going to talk about Real Talk with Shelly Rorrell about how she Caribbean and so we're going to bring Nakia up to moderate this Real Talk panel and then we'll get through some amazing other things today.
00:32So give it up for Nakia coming to the stage.
00:43There you go.
00:45Hello, hello, hello, beautiful people.
00:48Hello, welcome to Essence.
00:51We are so excited to have you all.
00:53Thank you all for joining us here at the SoCo Market.
00:56I will be your first moderator today.
00:59My name is Nakia Dafe.
01:01I am the co-founder of Brand Savior Media and Marketing.
01:04We are an Atlanta-based PR and communications consultancy that helps entrepreneurs really elevate and tell their brand.
01:11I am so excited to be here and thank you so much to the New Voices family for having this important experience where we're celebrating entrepreneurship, community, and the brilliance of black women and men shaping culture from the inside out.
01:26So today's first conversation is all about the power of place, identity, and tourism.
01:32Not just the kind that bring people to destinations, but the kind that starts from within.
01:38And I couldn't think of a better person to explore this with than Shelly Rorrell.
01:42She is the founder of Caribbean and the visionary behind Little Caribbean NYC.
01:47Let's welcome her to the stage.
01:50Yes, yes, yes.
01:54And I actually had the pleasure of meeting Shelly a couple of months ago, and we were just talking backstage, and I'm like, you have such a just calming aura, but she's from Trinidad.
02:04So she said, nothing's calm about me.
02:08But before we go into our conversation, I want to give this woman her flowers because she has the receipts.
02:15The receipts are receding, okay?
02:17She is an award-winning cultural entrepreneur born in NYC and raged between Brooklyn and the Caribbean.
02:24She created I Am Caribbean, spearheaded the designation and development of Little Caribbean, and recently served as the head of Caribbean Partnerships for the U.S. Department of Commerce.
02:35Since 2012, she's produced 500-plus immersive experiences in partnership with top corporations and cultural institutions, including Diageo, Vox Media,
02:46Humana, Humana, Chase Sapphire, DoorDash, the James Beard Foundation, Google Arts and Culture, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Brooklyn Museum, and others.
02:59The receipts are receding, like I said.
03:01Her multi-platform and cross-cultural activations have been featured by Black Enterprise, NBC, the National Geographic, among others.
03:11And she has personally been profiled on the New York Times and Good Morning America.
03:16Welcome, Shelly.
03:17Thank you, Nakia.
03:18So excited to have this conversation with you.
03:21All right.
03:23So, Shelly, let's dive into your origin story first.
03:27I've been doing a lot of research on you.
03:29I know sort of the how Iron Caribbean started.
03:34It actually started as a film festival, which I was, like, very intrigued.
03:37But one of the things I saw throughout your conversations and your interviews is that culture is your superpower.
03:43So, let's start with how, you know, Caribbean came to light.
03:47Tell us a little bit about your vision and what sparked that.
03:49Yeah.
03:50So, good morning, everyone.
03:52So, really, the vision started when I was working in tech.
03:55So, I used to work at Google.
03:57And I remember my manager at the time, she asked me a very critical question.
04:01Or she asked the entire team.
04:02She said, share your favorite piece of YouTube content because I was actually working at YouTube.
04:08And for me, it was, like, this ridiculous Caribbean cartoon called Santana.
04:13And I was really embarrassed to share Santana as my favorite because I didn't think that anyone would really understand the cultural context.
04:22And so, from there, given that I was working in TV and film, I really sort of wanted to create a space where our stories could be told.
04:30And that's really how Caribbean came to be, right?
04:33And that's why it started off as a film festival because it was really about cultural storytelling, representation.
04:40You know, people are now talking about equity and inclusion.
04:43But really, by default, like, that was the inspiration of us really founding this organization and platform.
04:49It was so that our stories really could show up, just like, you know, we have this wonderful space here at Essence.
04:55I thought that Caribbean, as well as Afro-Latino, and the whole global black storytelling experience was something that I wanted to contribute to.
05:06And that's how the organization started over 10 years ago.
05:11I love that.
05:12And then just the authenticity of you being able to show up in those spaces and really bring that Caribbean flair to life.
05:19I love all the different things that you've done over the years.
05:23So, that's amazing.
05:24Now, one thing I want to kind of touch on is community before tourism because you and I kind of spoke a little bit about that.
05:30And your belief is that tourism starts with community.
05:33So, how do you engage the local ecosystem, especially with, you know, in New York, you know, from the block associations that you partner with to business owners before actually inviting the entire world into the ecosystem?
05:46Yeah.
05:46So, really, our tourism, anything that we do that's related to tourism is really about Little Caribbean.
05:52So, there's now a Little Caribbean.
05:54It's the first and only one in the world, which is in Brooklyn, in Flatbush, which is where I was born and raised, and I still reside.
06:00So, I think, like, before we get into the tourism piece, it was really about putting Flatbush and putting Little Caribbean on the map officially.
06:08So, if you pull up, like, Google Maps, for example, or Apple Maps, and you type in Little Caribbean, you'll see that there is an official designation.
06:17And we were able to work with the city of New York as well as some other stakeholders to have that designated.
06:23But then once we launched Little Caribbean, I was kind of like, so we have a space for ourselves.
06:29So, what, right?
06:30Like, what is next, right?
06:32So, you have this neighborhood.
06:35And so, the first thing that we did is we started to do these walking tours.
06:40And believe it or not, the first walking tour that we did, 80 people showed up, right?
06:44They were like, it was a really multicultural group.
06:47And one of the things that I learned on those early tours is that everyone wanted to know where the best jerk chicken is, where the best roti is, and also, like, how do you eat it, right?
06:57Like, so, for example, if I'm having roti, there's a very specific way that I have it.
07:02Like, there has to be a lot of pepper sauce.
07:04There has to be tamarind, right?
07:05And I may drink something very specific with it.
07:08So, from there, we just continue to engage people around the neighborhood, working with the businesses.
07:15A lot of them didn't get it at first.
07:17But when they start seeing the money, when they start seeing the media and the exposure, then they started to really, in fact, just yesterday, one of the main legacy businesses in the neighborhood, they were just emailing me, being like, hey, Shelly, can we have the schedule for the next two months?
07:33Right?
07:34Like, what do you have coming up in terms of tours, in terms of media, in terms of activations?
07:39So, first and foremost, we work with the businesses, right?
07:43Because what I say all the time is there's no Little Caribbean without, if I can't get roti or doubles or jerk chicken or Haitian food or Dominican food, there is no Little Caribbean.
07:53Like, when you go to Little Italy, you go there to have the food.
07:57So, first and foremost, we work with the businesses, but then, of course, we have also engaged with elected officials, with community boards, and a number of different stakeholders.
08:09We also are officially working with the city of New York.
08:12They actually just wrapped a three-year project with them.
08:16So, for us, I think that the primary stakeholder and our first and foremost partners are the small businesses.
08:23Yeah.
08:24Absolutely.
08:25One of the things I love when I was looking up is the passport.
08:28So, you have the best of.
08:30And I love that, you know, someone you're able to really kind of divert and refer to this sort of guide to kind of figure out, like, what's the best of what Brooklyn and Caribbean has to offer.
08:42So, I love that.
08:42I feel like that's so creative.
08:45Making culture as a destination.
08:47So, you just talked about getting Flatbush officially recognized as Little Caribbean.
08:51I know that was a major milestone.
08:54So, what did that process teach you about placemaking and the power of partnerships, both on the public and the private side?
09:01Yeah.
09:02I think first and foremost, it's that our history and our neighborhoods matter, especially as we're, you know, in Brooklyn.
09:08But also, I would say throughout sort of black America, you know, black neighborhoods are really facing a really disproportionate rate of gentrification and displacement.
09:20So, I think it's really important that we have inward sort of, like, we look at ourselves and our neighborhoods and really seek to preserve what's there and what has been there.
09:31You know, in many cases, in our case specifically, like I said, we have a number of legacy businesses.
09:37One great example is Allen's Bakery.
09:41That's now the third going on fourth generation family-owned bakery, right?
09:46And so, what is my neighborhood if I can't go there to get a beef patty or I can't go get a hard dough bread or currants rolls?
09:53And I'm sure that we have examples of that right here in New Orleans, right?
09:57And if you look across, like, black cities across America.
10:00So, really, the important thing for me is about preservation first and foremost.
10:06We actually won an award in preservation excellence last year from New York State.
10:13So, I think that that's sort of, like, the most salient example that I can share.
10:18I love that.
10:19I love that.
10:19I feel like gentrification has impacted so much of our communities.
10:23I lived in New York, Washington Heights, nine, ten years ago, and it started to take place.
10:29Moved back to Atlanta.
10:31Atlanta's not the same.
10:32They're pushing a lot of us out.
10:33So, I love how you're saying, like, the power of preservation is so important, especially, you know, in our communities where so much change and evolution is happening.
10:43So, I want to switch gears to commerce as culture.
10:47You just recently talked about the National Geographic tours, which I'm, like, so excited for you to dig into, the healthy walking tours.
10:56You've also launched the night markets and retail experiences again.
10:59Like you said, putting the businesses and the entrepreneurs at heart that really spotlight those black and Caribbean-owned businesses.
11:06What have been some of the most tangible outcomes you've seen for those entrepreneurs specifically?
11:12Yeah, I think the first, first and foremost, they've gotten a lot more exposure and foot traffic through a lot of the press.
11:20So, from influencers to platforms like National Geographic, we were just recently, as of this year, we're voted the coolest neighborhood in New York City, ranking in the top 30 in the world by time out, right?
11:34And so, that benefits the entire neighborhood, right?
11:38It doesn't only benefit, like, me or Caribbean, because they're actually coming to the entire neighborhood to experience it, right?
11:46So, I would say, like, A, it's, like, exposure, and then, of course, that leads to foot traffic, and then that ties back to revenue.
11:53Like, businesses are making more money.
11:55So, I can give you a concrete example.
11:57As part of our tour, sometimes we do outreach to the Divine Nine.
12:01So, we had the Deltas come through last year to do a tour, and one business reported making, like, $5,000 in one hour, right?
12:10So, they see these surges when we bring the tours to the neighborhood, right?
12:15And during, like, off-peak times.
12:18So, those are some ways that the businesses have benefited, right?
12:22And, of course, then we take them to larger platforms.
12:25Like, we've taken them to Smorgasburg, right?
12:27Now, we've launched this night market.
12:29There's some businesses that don't have a brick and mortar, right?
12:33And they're being carried in our shop.
12:34We have over 40 small artists and businesses, very similar to what you'll see out here on the floor, that now have a platform for commerce.
12:43Right now, we're working on a really special project with Carnival Cruise Line, and they're asking us to curate a Caribbean gift shop.
12:51So, a lot of the businesses that are already featured in our marketplace are now going to be able to be offered on Carnival Cruise Lines starting this fall.
13:02So, those are really, you know, some concrete ways that we've been supporting small businesses.
13:06You just keep showing a receipt, Shelly.
13:08I used to love Smorgasburg, but I love how you're able to really tap into that because, obviously, I think when people initially think about Brooklyn, they think about Williamsburg, right?
13:18And how much that has changed and grown.
13:21So, I'm like, flat butch over Williamsburg.
13:23I love to hear it.
13:25Let's talk a little bit about scaling culture globally and sustainably.
13:29So, we talked a little bit about, you know, communities in Toronto to Washington Heights.
13:34You know, they're now building their own cultural districts.
13:37Atlanta is doing the same.
13:39What sort of lessons from Little Caribbean are helping shape those global efforts?
13:43And how do we make sure culture doesn't get diluted as it does grow?
13:47Because we know as things start to scale and people, you know, you get attention, other sort of external factors start to come in.
13:55So, I wonder what your perspective is on that.
13:57Yeah, I mean, one of the things that, you know, our work has been seen as is a model for community and economic development as well as placemaking.
14:05That's why the city of New York decided to invest over the last three years into the work that we're doing.
14:11So much so that, you know, our friends in Washington Heights, they hit me up like about four or five years ago.
14:19And they're like, I love what you guys are doing in Brooklyn and we want to do the same thing.
14:23We want to create a little Dominican Republic here in Washington Heights.
14:26And, you know, I was very reluctant because I'm not Dominican.
14:31As Nikia said, I'm Trinidadian and I'm also from Brooklyn and I'm very, very, very rooted in Brooklyn.
14:37So, I was like, you know, I'm not from like Manhattan.
14:39I'm also not Dominican.
14:41And, you know, I'm not really interested.
14:42But they just kept, they were like stalking me.
14:44I was in the Caribbean at the time, sort of on a sabbatical.
14:47And finally, one of my mentors said, they said, you know what, Shelly, I think you should do it.
14:52And so I met with them and I was like, look, if you raise X amount of dollars, then I'll help you do it.
14:57And they were able to do that.
14:59And we were able to help them launch the very first and only little Dominican Republic in Washington Heights.
15:05And then, of course, we have our colleagues as well in Toronto who, they launch a little Jamaica.
15:14They're always engaging with us as well.
15:16And then now as well in Queens, there's a little Guyana as well.
15:22I would argue that that's little Indo-Caribbean because there are a lot of Indo-Caribbean Trinidadians that also live in that neighborhood.
15:28But again, it depends on who's advocating.
15:32So for me, I look at myself as a very pan-Caribbean person, right, or pan-African.
15:37So I really wasn't interested in making a little Trinidad or a little West Indies.
15:42I really wanted to be very inclusive of everyone.
15:45And so I'm really happy that the work is really being seen and celebrated.
15:49And people now see that, you know what, like I can actually make my neighborhood into a destination.
15:53I can preserve what's here, whether that's the people, the businesses.
15:58And I think the next sort of like goal for us is to start looking at black home ownership.
16:03Because at one point, Brooklyn was the largest black city in America.
16:07And as of the last census, those numbers went down in double digits.
16:12So I think it's really important for us to look at sort of like home ownership and retention.
16:17I've personally been involved with two of my friends moving to the neighborhood and not only moving, but buying in the neighborhood.
16:23And I think that's something that I'd like to see more of in Brooklyn, but also in elsewhere, you know, across, you know, black cities in America.
16:33I love it.
16:34I think I got two things from that.
16:36One, the importance of cooperative economics.
16:39You know, it's so much power and partnership and really trying to keep our dollar within the community.
16:45I think it's a matter of being intentional in that space.
16:47And partnerships, we are only able to elevate if we're doing it collectively and helping each other simultaneously.
16:54So I love that perspective.
16:57Before we wrap, Shelly, I wanted to just give any sort of advice you want to give to black emerging creatives or founders who really want to build like a cultural venture, such as I Am Caribbean.
17:10Being one that not only tells our story, but really creates real economic opportunity and impact as what you've really been kind of reiterating today.
17:19Yeah.
17:19I mean, I think it's about starting where you are, right?
17:22Looking at the assets.
17:23Our community has tremendous power, right?
17:26In place, right?
17:27Meaning when I say place, I mean the locations.
17:30So I think really just looking around you and seeing that there's a lot of strength, beauty, and also opportunity in that.
17:38And then, of course, not being afraid to sort of, you know, start storytelling around it.
17:45Believe it or not, you know, the Little Caribbean social media beyond sort of it being a place.
17:51You know, during the pandemic, I decided I really wanted to double down on my neighborhood, right?
17:55Like, and make sure that we were taken care of that, you know, and what I was doing is I was just walking around the neighborhood just storytelling.
18:03If I was on a dollar van or if I was just walking down Flatbush on Ocean Avenue, I would just go live, right?
18:08And people love that.
18:09And we saw so much traction on social media during the pandemic, right?
18:15And people just being like, look, now I want to be on the community board.
18:18How can I get involved, right?
18:19How can I volunteer?
18:20So I think that you could just start with where your own neighborhood, your own communities, and, of course, you know, supporting local businesses, right?
18:30And, you know, just reaching out.
18:32Like, if you have someone that's doing work that you like and you admire, reach out to them and see if you could spend some time with them.
18:40You know, I still personally check our general info email box, and I can't tell you how many student interviews that I've done.
18:48Sometimes now I do pass it on to my team, but for the most part, I do try to make myself as available as I can for everyone.
18:56So I think reaching out, like, not being afraid to, like, reach out is also another thing that I would say and just kind of, like, look at home.
19:04Like, there's so much beauty in home.
19:06I love that.
19:07I mean, I feel like you touched on so many amazing tidbits in terms of really keeping things within the community, insular, but also, again, that economic power and doing things together and the power of partnership.
19:19Shelly, where can they find more information on I Am Caribbean and Little Caribbean?
19:25Where can they find information on it?
19:27So on our website, we're in the process of relaunching Little Caribbean NYC, but it's littlecaribbean.nyc, or you could just put, you know, Google search Little Caribbean.
19:37There's plenty of, you know, press and just materials, even videos about our walking tours.
19:44Of course, we're on all social media platforms, at littlecaribbean.nyc and at I Am Caribbean.
19:50Well, this has been amazing.
19:52I hope you all have enjoyed this, because I have.
19:55Thank you so much, Shelly.
19:56Thank you to the New Voices family again.
20:00Be sure to tag New Voices family if you've actually recorded this.
20:04And I Am Caribbean as today's gems.
20:07I think there was a lot of gems that were dropped here.
20:09And most importantly, go out and support a local black-owned business.
20:13You guys enjoy Essence.
20:15Thank you all for tuning in.