0:00

This episode is brought to you

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by the Virtual Excellence Academy. I

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interviewed the founder, Hannah Dixon, back

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on episode 237. And

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in addition to just being one of my

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all time favorite humans, Hannah has

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So register now at

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themavarickshow.com/virtual. And now here's

1:04

a clip of what's

1:06

coming up on today's

1:09

episode. My

1:12

traveling experiences over the years have

1:14

allowed me to be able to

1:16

explore what it means to have

1:18

grace, to have compassion,

1:20

to have understanding as a human

1:22

being in this life, what

1:25

it means to have shared lived

1:27

experiences as well. And

1:30

just to be open, I'm

1:33

expecting to expect

1:35

the unexpected because

1:38

I know that everyone has a

1:41

completely different walk in life. And

1:43

traveling to me, that's what it's about.

1:45

It's about learning about

1:48

those experiences, meeting people

1:50

from all walks of life,

1:52

hearing their stories, learning

1:54

about how they move and how they

1:57

navigate through this journey in

1:59

life. and learning from

2:01

it as well. This

2:18

is a lab shell where you'll

2:20

need today's most interesting location and

2:22

event into entrepreneurs and world travelers.

2:25

Hey everybody, it's Matt Bowles. Welcome

2:34

to The Maverick Show. I just want

2:36

to start off by letting you know

2:39

that I have narrowed down and compiled

2:41

my top 10 smartphone

2:43

apps that I use while

2:45

traveling the world as a

2:48

full-time digital nomad. I

2:50

have put them together for you in

2:52

a list with descriptions of what the

2:54

app does, how I use

2:56

it during my travels, along with a

2:58

direct link so that you too can

3:00

download the app onto your phone. Now,

3:03

a lot of these apps I had

3:05

no idea about until I ran

3:08

into other digital nomads that showed

3:10

me how to use them and

3:12

they have been game changers. So

3:15

if you would like to get

3:17

my top 10 essential apps for

3:19

digital nomads, you can go to

3:22

themaverickshow.com slash

3:24

apps. This is completely

3:26

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3:28

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3:35

list if you have

3:37

not already subscribed and

3:39

then you can check

3:41

them out. So just

3:43

go to themaverickshow.com/apps. And

3:47

now let's get into the

3:49

episode. My

3:52

guest today is Anita Moreau. She

3:55

is an archaeologist, museum

3:57

curator, world traveler, and

3:59

artist. and the founder

4:01

and CEO of Black

4:03

Travel Summit. Born

4:05

and raised in London to

4:07

a Seychelles mother and

4:09

a Haitian father, she has

4:11

had an affinity for travel, history

4:13

and cultural heritage from a young

4:16

age. Anita has made it her

4:18

goal to encourage black travelers to

4:20

travel outside their comfort zones safely

4:22

and under budget, as

4:25

well as to create opportunities for black

4:27

entrepreneurs to grow their business and travel

4:29

more and to

4:31

educate the public on the

4:33

global black diaspora. Anita,

4:35

welcome to the show. Thank you

4:38

so much, Matt, for having me. It's such a

4:40

pleasure to be here today. I am so excited

4:42

to have you here for so many reasons.

4:44

First of all, I think we know like

4:46

50 people in common. Second

4:48

of all, I am super excited

4:50

this year to be attending my

4:53

first black travel summit and we are

4:55

gonna get into exactly what people are

4:57

gonna expect from that, but let's just

5:00

start off by setting the scene and

5:02

talking about where we are recording this

5:04

from today. Unfortunately, we are

5:06

not in person. I am actually

5:08

in the Blue Ridge Mountains of

5:11

Asheville, North Carolina today, and where

5:13

are you? I am in

5:15

downtown Miami in Florida. Amazing,

5:18

as you know, I grew up in

5:20

South Florida for a number of years

5:22

of my youth, so I have a

5:24

lot of fond memories and love for

5:26

South Florida. I

5:29

wanna start off with your

5:31

background, and before we even do

5:34

your story, I would love if

5:36

you could share a little bit

5:38

about your parents' story and maybe

5:40

start with your mother's experience growing

5:43

up in the Seychelles and then talk

5:45

about your father's experience growing up in

5:47

Haiti and what eventually led them to

5:49

London and how that

5:51

journey was for them. So my mother was

5:54

born and raised part of her

5:56

life in Victoria, Mahay, that's

5:59

the main island. the largest islands

6:01

in the Seychelles. Seychelles is made up

6:03

of over 115 islands, that's in Archipelago,

6:07

but her parents were from Ladig, which is one

6:09

of the other main islands. She left

6:13

at the age of seven, and in fact

6:15

her mother left before her. She was an

6:18

au pair. She spoke, I think, maybe

6:20

four or five languages and traveled

6:22

around Europe quite often. At

6:25

the age of seven, my grandmother was in

6:27

the process of bringing my uncle over. He

6:30

was younger than my mother and

6:32

almost didn't bring my mother. It was

6:35

my great-grandmother who was like, no, you

6:37

need to keep her children together. Family

6:39

is important. And so then she ended

6:41

up going over to London at the

6:43

age of seven. Obviously going over, she

6:45

didn't know much English. She spoke

6:47

more French than anything, but she

6:49

made her way and would go

6:52

back and forth to the Seychelles often. In

6:55

her late teens, she

6:58

ended up coming to the States

7:01

to stay with her father. Her father

7:03

lived here, and that's where she

7:06

met my father. And my father was born

7:08

in Haiti, but spent

7:10

a lot of time in

7:12

the Bahamas. And that was

7:14

common back then. You know, people would travel

7:16

back and forth between Haiti and Bahamas. We

7:18

spent a lot of time in Bahamas and

7:21

then migrated to Miami, Florida as a young

7:23

child as well. I believe he was around

7:26

six or seven when he

7:28

migrated here as well. So

7:30

he grew up in Miami. He's a Miami

7:32

guy. Fast forward, they meet, right?

7:34

My father is in the army

7:36

and they meet at a family

7:38

reunion. One of her close

7:41

friends was my father's sister and

7:43

they hit it off from there. They moved to

7:45

the Bahamas for a few months and then they

7:48

ended up moving to London for some time. They

7:50

got married, they had me. And

7:52

then my father came back to Miami because he was

7:55

just done with the cold and

7:57

everything and wanted to pursue his career.

8:00

in modeling and some other things as well.

8:02

And that's just kind of how they

8:04

got started and had me. Well,

8:07

I want to talk about both London

8:09

and Miami. I think those are two

8:11

really interesting cities to start with. And

8:13

maybe let's start with London. For

8:15

people that have not spent

8:17

much time in London, can

8:19

you share a little bit

8:21

about the diversity of the

8:23

Black diaspora dynamics in the

8:25

city of London and just

8:27

sort of explain that landscape

8:30

for folks that haven't spent much time in London?

8:32

It is super diverse. It's so

8:34

diverse. Some people may know about

8:37

the wind rush generation, right? It's

8:39

during the 60s when a lot

8:42

of people from the Caribbean, particularly

8:44

Jamaica, parts of Trinidad and Tobago,

8:46

et cetera, and other islands

8:48

as well migrated to the UK

8:50

for work. And they would migrate,

8:53

of course, to more metropolitan areas

8:55

like London, Manchester, Birmingham,

8:57

et cetera. So

8:59

there's that population, a Caribbean

9:01

influence. And that definitely

9:04

influenced a lot of what British culture

9:06

is today. There are

9:08

also a large variety of

9:11

West African, East African,

9:14

South African, of course, Central, and North

9:16

African as well. And I know sometimes

9:19

when we think of North African, we

9:21

think primarily of Egypt,

9:23

of Morocco, of Libya, et

9:25

cetera. And I think

9:27

it's important to realize that there

9:30

are also African individuals,

9:32

or people of African descent, or

9:34

indigenous folks that are in these

9:37

areas, like in Morocco, right? You

9:39

have people of the Berba. You

9:41

have people of the Tuareg that

9:44

are based in Mali but travel

9:46

constantly, right? You have the Nubians

9:48

in Egypt. There's so many just

9:50

different ethnicities and groups

9:52

that just kind of come

9:55

together in this place. And it's the same thing with

9:57

other places throughout Europe as well.

9:59

we were talking about the francophone

10:02

population are heavily present in Paris

10:04

as well. So if you've

10:06

been to Paris, then London is not far off.

10:09

Yeah, 100%. My last trip to Paris

10:11

was amazing because I had just spent

10:14

a whole bunch of time in Senegal,

10:16

and I was going to

10:18

Paris and I was seeking out this

10:20

time on purpose, the Senegalese immigrant

10:22

section of the city. And it was

10:25

really, really amazing to go there right

10:27

after having been in Senegal. It

10:29

was just really, really lovely. Can you

10:31

share a little bit now about your

10:34

experience? And when you think all

10:36

the way back as a kid, coming

10:38

up in London

10:40

and navigating your East

10:43

African heritage, your Caribbean heritage, and then

10:45

there you are as a kid in

10:47

London, what was that experience like for

10:50

you? Amazing because in

10:53

London, there's a huge

10:55

shared cultural heritage there in

10:57

the UK. And it

10:59

doesn't matter if your parents are

11:01

from China, or from Turkey, or

11:04

from South Africa.

11:06

If you are born and raised

11:08

in London, particularly certain parts of

11:10

London, you will grow up saying

11:13

things like, wagwan, right?

11:17

Even though wagwan is we know where

11:19

it's from, the New York City,

11:21

Jamaica, the influence from the Windrush generation,

11:23

but there's a huge shared cultural heritage

11:25

there. And that's what I love so

11:27

much about London. However, through my experience,

11:29

and I can't speak for anyone else,

11:32

because of that shared cultural heritage, and

11:34

it's such a beautiful thing, sometimes it's

11:36

easy to really understand your identity

11:40

if it's not strong in the

11:42

home. Now, because my mother had

11:44

migrated to London very young, and

11:46

because my grandmother, her mother passed

11:49

away very young, it was hard for

11:51

her to share some of those traits,

11:54

those customs, those traditions, etc. with me. It's only

11:56

when I became a little bit older, and I

11:58

started to think about it. to learn

12:01

them from myself that I grew

12:03

a deeper connection with the Seychelles.

12:05

But before then, in my

12:08

mind, I was just a black

12:10

person living in London and I

12:13

felt more connected to

12:15

the Caribbean groups, although

12:17

I really didn't know much

12:20

about Haiti growing up because of being

12:22

in London and my family being over here

12:24

and not really flying over here until a

12:26

little bit later. But it was

12:28

still a great experience. It's

12:30

interesting because as I mentioned as

12:33

well, racism exists everywhere. In London,

12:35

in my experience, it was quite

12:37

subtle until you went, of course,

12:39

outside of the city and it

12:41

wasn't until I moved here that I

12:43

truly felt and even just

12:45

traveling here, I truly felt like my

12:47

blackness. Can you talk a

12:50

little bit more about that? And particularly

12:52

when you think back to the age

12:54

that you were, when you started coming

12:56

to the United States, what were your

12:59

observations and reflections on the dynamics of

13:01

blackness in the US versus the UK?

13:04

Well, first of all, and

13:06

this is me coming to Miami, no other

13:08

part of the United States as you know,

13:10

of course, as I've aged,

13:12

I've realized that different parts

13:14

of the country operates differently like

13:17

New York, for example. But this is coming to Miami

13:19

and knowing what I know now about Miami,

13:22

some of the populations are

13:24

quite separated. So the black

13:26

groups usually stay with the black

13:28

groups, particularly the African Americans. The

13:30

Caribbean Americans kind of say to

13:32

themselves, like up in maybe Broward,

13:34

I think Miramar, the Cuban

13:36

population tends to say to themselves,

13:39

and perhaps you might get some

13:41

Venezuelans, Nicaraguan in there as well.

13:44

And then the white populations, you don't really

13:46

see in Miami, they're more so up in

13:48

like Broward or their

13:50

transplants from other parts of the country. So

13:53

my blackness was

13:56

super transparent from a young

13:58

age. And as I mentioned, I've been coming. to

14:00

this country from the age of seven years old, but

14:02

I didn't really start paying attention to

14:04

the differences around me until a

14:06

little bit later in life in

14:08

my teens. So seeing

14:11

that separation, because in London, I

14:13

had a friend from Egypt,

14:15

a friend from Ireland, a

14:17

friend from Nigeria, a friend from

14:19

Jamaica, a friend from Turkey, and

14:21

we all were just in the

14:24

same group, and now seeing the

14:26

separation and the way that people

14:28

would treat me because of my blackness.

14:31

Like, I would get comments like, oh,

14:33

you're pretty for a black girl. So

14:35

that's when it really started hitting me like,

14:37

oh, I'm black. That's

14:40

it. I'm here in this place and

14:42

I'm black. And it's been a great

14:44

experience living here in Miami because it has developed,

14:47

it has evolved over the years. It's

14:49

not all negative experiences. There are very positive

14:51

experiences as well, but that's

14:53

definitely one of my

14:56

first experiences in realizing how

14:59

blackness is treated differently here. I also want

15:01

to ask about some of your

15:03

experiences traveling around Europe and also

15:05

starting back in those teenage years.

15:07

Can you talk about your trip

15:09

to Mallorca in Spain and share

15:12

a little bit about the impact

15:14

that that trip had on you?

15:16

So my first trip to Palma de

15:18

Mallorca, I was 16 years old. It

15:21

was actually our first family holiday

15:23

my mother and my two younger

15:26

brothers had together. And this

15:28

is right before we went to the station for my

15:30

first time. It was a great experience. We

15:32

didn't feel like it was much different from

15:34

being in the UK because there were a lot

15:36

of English folks, a lot of English folks, right? It's

15:39

a very common place for English people

15:41

to vacate to a holiday. Great

15:44

weather, palm trees. A

15:46

lot of East

15:48

African and West African

15:51

merchants walking up and

15:53

down the streets, which is obviously something

15:55

new for me. The only black people

15:57

I think I remember seeing were those

15:59

merchants. And then, of course,

16:02

happening upon, I think, my first

16:04

and not direct, but more so

16:06

indirect experience of being Black in

16:08

Europe when I came upon a

16:10

graffiti on a wall that said,

16:12

White Europe. Basically, everyone else to

16:15

an F off. That was an experience for

16:17

me. And that wasn't, I recall,

16:19

a few years later, there was

16:21

that incident with, I remember

16:24

his name, but he was a race car

16:26

driver. He was biracial. His father was Black

16:28

British. His mother was English. And he had

16:30

an incident in Spain where they were throwing

16:33

bananas at him. I was like, oh, okay.

16:35

You know, this is just a

16:38

thing that people who look

16:40

different experience in certain parts of

16:42

Europe. And I'm a very

16:45

understanding and compassionate individual. I'm

16:47

also knowing and intelligent

16:49

enough to know that one

16:51

experience shouldn't determine future

16:54

experiences and shouldn't deter

16:56

me from going back to a place because

16:58

of that. So I have been to

17:00

Spain since then. I haven't

17:02

had such experiences. I went to

17:04

Tenerife. I went to Gran Canaria. This

17:07

year I'm going to Ibiza. My uncle's getting

17:09

married there for God knows what reason, but

17:12

we're going to have a party, have a

17:14

good time. But yeah, that was definitely one

17:16

of the experiences that I had in Spain.

17:18

And of course, I've had experiences all

17:21

across Europe and the United States and

17:23

even in the UK where you just know

17:26

when you're not welcome. Well,

17:28

I want to talk a little bit

17:30

about your trajectory, your life,

17:32

your career path. I think the place

17:35

where I want to start is to

17:37

ask you about the role of Egypt

17:40

in your journey. We have had a number

17:42

of conversations about Egypt. I have spent probably

17:45

about a year in Egypt, mostly based in

17:47

Cairo, but I've traveled around the country. So

17:50

it has a super special place in my heart

17:52

and my journey as well. But can

17:54

you start maybe all the way back and

17:57

think about some of your earliest interests?

17:59

interest in Egypt and then maybe take

18:01

us on that journey in terms of

18:04

how that impacted your life trajectory. So

18:07

my love for Egypt

18:09

started when I was about 16 years old.

18:13

Being a young girl, I was interested in music

18:15

and media. I'm just going to do what's fun.

18:18

So I went on with media.

18:21

I ended up having to go through

18:23

college with the same course, with

18:26

the same area of study and

18:28

then into university. Now while

18:30

I was studying media in school,

18:32

in the secondary school, this is

18:34

college and then TV production in

18:37

university, at the age of 16,

18:39

I come across some documentaries and

18:41

I'm like, oh, you know what? I'm really

18:43

going to be into this TV production thing

18:45

because I just love the way that these

18:47

documentaries are made and I'm just so engrossed

18:49

every single time I watch them. But

18:51

it's not until halfway through university

18:54

that I'm like, I don't

18:56

actually enjoy this. What is

18:58

going on? And I'm looking at these documentaries

19:00

and I'm like, you know what? I love

19:02

the content and I knew I

19:05

loved the content before, but I thought I was super

19:07

fascinated about the science behind creating

19:10

this documentary as well. Sometimes

19:12

I was just interested in the content. And

19:16

so I had this love that

19:18

had grown from that for ancient

19:21

history, for prehistory as well, outside

19:24

of Egypt. But that is what ignited

19:26

my passion for Egypt and for traveling

19:28

and for exploring and for learning. And

19:30

so when I reached the age of

19:32

18 and I could

19:34

finally go out and solo travel, I

19:36

took one of my friends who was

19:38

half Egyptian and I was

19:41

like, you haven't been anywhere. Let's

19:43

go. Finally when we

19:45

stayed for two weeks, she decided to stay

19:47

for a year. And so

19:49

it gave me an opportunity to glide

19:51

back and forth. I ended up staying for a

19:53

month and a half with her at some point

19:56

as well the next year. But

19:58

I fell in love with Egypt. I

20:00

fell in love with Egypt. the people,

20:02

with the culture, with the language, with

20:04

the history, just with the idea with

20:07

what it means to be

20:09

Egyptian. And that's something

20:11

you only really learn when you're there.

20:13

The same way that you know that

20:16

there's certain things you can say in

20:18

Arabic that just cannot be translated into

20:20

English. So that started my

20:22

love for Egypt and that

20:24

grew and grew and grew to bring

20:27

me where I am today. Well,

20:29

let's talk about where you are

20:31

today. Can you share a little

20:33

bit about that love for Egypt

20:35

and how increasingly important Egypt has

20:37

become in your life, including getting

20:39

married in Egypt? Can

20:43

you share a little bit about that? Oh yeah,

20:45

it's actually a really great

20:47

story because as we talked

20:50

about as well, it inspired

20:52

my desire to learn more

20:54

about archaeology. Archaeology was

20:56

a super interesting field of study for

20:58

me, but I went into archaeology because

21:00

I like to do things with my

21:03

hands. I went into archaeology and

21:05

through that course, I

21:07

found myself falling deeper and

21:10

deeper in love with particularly,

21:12

and this is obviously something

21:14

personal, African diaspora stories. So

21:17

I would do more research on the origins

21:19

of certain groups and a lot of this

21:21

was done independently as well and found out

21:23

about Afro-Indigenous groups in Thailand still exists. There's

21:26

only about 600 of them

21:28

in Thailand. They're related to the Batek in

21:30

Malaysia and I think there are like tens

21:32

of thousands in Malaysia. They're related

21:34

to the acts of people in Philippines and

21:36

these are groups that a lot of people

21:38

just do not know about, but

21:40

they are the Afro-Indigenous folks of

21:43

these lands. They've been there for

21:45

tens of thousands of years.

21:47

They descend from this out

21:49

of Africa migration that started

21:51

and really just kind of

21:53

had people landing in Southeast

21:56

Asia and South Asia in

21:58

Australasia, etc. 60,

22:01

50,000 years ago and those people, a

22:03

lot of them are still alive today.

22:06

So that is also what

22:09

got me really interested about the

22:11

Nubians in Egypt. When

22:13

my husband and I got engaged, we

22:16

were like, okay, we want to do something that

22:18

is just so

22:21

unique because it's just who we are as

22:23

individuals. People often look at us and say,

22:26

you're black. Is it

22:28

archeologist? Hmm, interesting. And then they'll

22:31

look at him and say, filmmaker,

22:33

what are you guys doing? Are

22:36

you guys crazy? But we're making it work

22:38

and we're really just following our passion. So

22:40

we said, okay, we did our DNA

22:42

test. I had mine from a while ago,

22:44

but it updates every now and then. He

22:46

did his DNA test and we

22:48

found a place that kind of met in

22:51

the middle and Egypt was just one

22:53

of those places. And I said, you know

22:55

what? Let's go to

22:58

Aswan. Let's get married in

23:00

Aswan. In the South of Egypt, the

23:03

last time I went to Aswan, we

23:05

didn't get an opportunity and this was, oh my gosh,

23:07

almost 15 years ago now because

23:10

I had fell sick, we couldn't go to Abu Simbel.

23:12

I said, we're going to Aswan. The day

23:14

before we get married, we're going to go to Abu Simbel. And

23:17

then we're going to get married. We're going to have

23:19

Nubians drumming around us and we're going to

23:21

have a good time. And then we're going to go in honeymoon

23:24

in Sri Lanka and it's going to be a

23:26

great experience. So that's what happened. That

23:29

is amazing and huge shout

23:31

out to the Nubians. They

23:33

might be the

23:35

kindest, most

23:37

hospitable, most loving humans

23:40

on the planet of this earth

23:42

that I have ever encountered. I

23:44

mean, unbelievable. Yes, absolutely.

23:46

And it's crazy because even when

23:48

you speak to Egyptians

23:50

in Cairo and in Alexandria,

23:52

I've heard so many people

23:54

say the same thing. The

23:57

Nubians are the best Egyptians. And

24:00

I never really understood until I met

24:02

Nubia. And I was like, oh my

24:04

gosh, is this real? It

24:07

was totally amazing. I mean, I can remember

24:09

going to Nubia and staying along the Nile

24:11

there, you know, where

24:14

they have all the blue painted houses and

24:16

stuff. And they welcomed me into the place

24:18

where I was staying. I was like, wow,

24:20

that was a remarkably warm welcome. And then

24:22

they came back and they said, and now

24:24

I'm going to invite you into my personal

24:26

home so that you can meet my entire

24:28

family and then spend time with us. And

24:30

then they were going to give you more

24:32

tea and food and stuff like that. And

24:34

it was so much love and it was

24:37

so much warmth that it was so much hospitality.

24:39

I was like, I don't know that I've seen

24:41

this level anywhere in the world. I mean, it

24:43

was unbelievable. And to this day has a

24:46

permanent place in my heart. So special.

24:48

I agree. I'm right there with you,

24:51

Matt. Well, I want to also ask

24:53

you about your experience going back to

24:55

Haiti as an adult and reconnecting with

24:58

that part of your heritage. Can you

25:00

talk about that experience? It was

25:03

about eight years ago. I

25:06

had just had this conversation sit down with

25:08

my father and this was almost

25:10

immediately after I had moved here, probably a year

25:12

or two after I moved here at the end

25:14

of 2014. So

25:16

I was 25 in 2015. And

25:19

I said to my father, when was the last time you went

25:22

to Haiti? And he was like, I think I was 12. Bearing

25:25

in mind, my father is just over 20 years

25:27

older than me. And I'm like, that's

25:29

not good. We need to go

25:31

back to Haiti. And the look on

25:33

his face, he just never considered going

25:36

back or what it would be

25:38

like for him going back. And

25:40

so I said, let's just do it. And

25:42

I was that person that I was just

25:44

so bold that I started looking up tickets

25:47

on Spirit Airlines. And

25:49

I was like, let's do it. We're going

25:51

to apply into Port-au-Prince. And

25:53

we know your family is from the north in

25:55

Port-au-Prince. We're going to figure out how to get

25:58

there and we're going to have a good time. And

26:01

we went, we visited. It was almost

26:03

a culture shock for me because although

26:05

I've been around my family in Miami

26:08

and they're Haitian to the bone,

26:10

they're a true zone. This

26:13

was just all encompassing and

26:15

just feeling the amount of

26:18

love and just seeing the hustle and

26:20

seeing the way of life and how

26:22

it differs to when you're in a

26:24

place like Miami. It's almost similar to

26:26

like being in Jamaica and being in

26:29

London around people of Jamaican descent. It's

26:31

a different mentality you have to adopt

26:33

when you migrate somewhere else. So

26:35

I had a great time.

26:38

It was such a beautiful experience. I

26:40

met family members that I

26:43

didn't know I had. And that's quite a common

26:45

thing if you're Haitian or if you're

26:47

Caribbean, you're always meeting some

26:49

family member. But

26:52

this was definitely one of

26:54

those experiences where I just came

26:56

across so many people and even

26:58

people that would recognize my father. It was

27:00

a trip that was full of love and

27:03

memories and crying, of course memories

27:06

from my father. But

27:08

it was a great experience eating

27:10

the food, smelling the

27:12

air, visiting different parts

27:14

as well and seeing

27:17

the Haiti that you don't usually see on

27:19

TV. That was

27:21

a great experience. I

27:25

want to take just one minute out

27:27

to let you know that in addition

27:29

to hosting The Maverick Show, I am

27:31

also the co-founder of Maverick Investor Group,

27:34

a real estate brokerage that

27:36

helps you buy turnkey rental

27:38

properties in the best US

27:40

real estate markets from anywhere.

27:43

So these are single family homes,

27:45

sometimes two to four unit properties

27:48

and they're either brand new or

27:50

fully renovated and they already have

27:52

tenants and local property management in

27:54

place. So you get all

27:57

the benefits of owning the deeded real

27:59

estate that physically. house the

28:01

hard asset Without the

28:03

headaches of being the landlord or

28:05

the rehabber or needing to live

28:07

near the property So I

28:09

want to offer you a free consultation

28:11

if that sounds interesting to you to

28:13

learn more about it You can just

28:15

go to the maverick show.com Consult

28:19

and now back to the episode

28:24

Well, I also want to ask about

28:26

your experiences going

28:29

back to the Seychelles and

28:32

Spending time there. Can you share a

28:34

little bit about that? maybe starting with

28:36

your first trip to the Seychelles and

28:39

From there on how your connection

28:41

has been with the Seychelles first

28:44

time I went to

28:46

the Seychelles was a similar situation Where

28:49

I was questioning my mother. Why have we

28:51

never gone to the Seychelles? I always question

28:53

things growing up I'm like, what are we

28:55

doing? Like why are we not here? Why

28:57

didn't we go back? It

29:00

kind of happened the same way where we

29:02

need to get there It's been a long

29:04

time since you've been there I think the last

29:06

time she was in the Seychelles was probably when

29:08

she was 16 years old Right

29:11

before she migrated here to the

29:13

US. It was great. I mean

29:15

we went for two weeks We were there for

29:17

Christmas. I had met family members.

29:20

I had met before I was

29:22

able to establish relationships with those

29:24

family members that are still strong today

29:26

and just learn a little

29:28

bit more and I'm gonna

29:30

be honest with you I think Because

29:33

my mother is from the Seychelles and

29:35

because I had relationships with some cousins

29:37

and family members who also migrated to

29:39

London as well I was a little

29:41

familiar But I felt disconnected at

29:43

the same time and I think it goes

29:46

back to that Feeling

29:48

that sense of kind of what

29:50

is my identity? How should I

29:52

identify? Especially when you're not super

29:55

raised in that culture. So I almost

29:57

felt like an outcast I

30:00

didn't speak the language at the time. I

30:02

knew a little bit of the music, the

30:04

songs, but I didn't know many of them.

30:06

It was a humbling experience, as excited as

30:08

I was to go. I also felt out

30:11

of place. I challenged that.

30:13

What I did was, and

30:15

it was a while later, of course, I was 21 years

30:18

old, I went back with my friends and

30:21

I had a ball and I just

30:23

went out there, made friends

30:25

with people around my age and

30:28

really tried to immerse myself in that

30:30

culture. I went again,

30:32

actually just before completing my

30:34

master's in archaeology, because I

30:36

was doing my dissertation, I

30:39

called it, I called it, Loi

30:41

zienes ix questes questions, which means

30:43

the origin of expressions and based

30:45

it on the tangible and intangible

30:47

heritages and their similarities

30:49

between other African diaspora nations.

30:52

So that time I stayed for about

30:54

six weeks and that

30:56

is when I truly started. I

30:59

devoted myself to learning more about

31:01

my heritage, to learning

31:04

my language, to learning

31:06

about the foods, the

31:08

customs, et cetera. And

31:10

so I dug in deep. I

31:13

joined a sega dance troupe. The

31:15

sega is the traditional dance of

31:17

Seychelles. When I got back to

31:19

London, I made friends

31:21

and I found some people

31:23

that have a party in London,

31:26

ended up finding some cousins. It's

31:29

insane, but that kind of

31:31

set me on my journey to

31:33

truly love being from this place

31:36

or being able to call this

31:38

one of my homes. So

31:40

I have never been to the

31:42

Seychelles. It is super high on

31:44

my list. I've spent probably about

31:46

two and a half years on

31:48

the continent, but the Seychelles, I

31:50

have not yet been there. For

31:52

me and other people that have

31:55

not yet been to the Seychelles,

31:57

what are some of the highlights

31:59

or recommendations? patients that you might

32:01

put people onto that would like

32:03

to visit and experience the Seychelles.

32:05

I am biased because

32:08

I love the Seychelles but

32:10

like I mentioned before, my

32:13

family hail from Ladig.

32:16

So, I am always

32:18

going to recommend visiting

32:20

Ladig. You will

32:22

land from the Jetty

32:24

on the Catcocko, which is the ferry

32:27

that takes you to between islands. You

32:30

will get off and just the

32:32

smell of manure will

32:35

let you know that you

32:37

are somewhere that is largely

32:40

untouched and undeveloped

32:42

in a good way. There

32:44

are not many cars on the island. Everyone

32:47

gets around or majority of people

32:49

get around by foot or by

32:52

bicycle. It's such a beautiful, beautiful

32:55

island. The amount of foliage, it's

32:57

amazing. I love it. You can

33:00

literally ride around the island in

33:02

45 minutes. Although,

33:04

when I was younger, that probably would

33:06

have been a bit too simple for

33:08

me. Oh my gosh,

33:10

it's paradise. So, I always

33:13

recommend for people to visit Ladig. Obviously,

33:15

Mahe is beautiful as well. There are a lot

33:17

more people there. There are a lot more jobs

33:19

there. So, there's going to be

33:21

more opportunity to kind of immerse

33:23

yourself through visiting the

33:26

museum, visiting the archives. You

33:28

can definitely visit the botanical

33:31

gardens where the Cokodome is

33:33

and just be able to immerse yourself in

33:36

the culture and market as well. In the

33:38

market in Victoria, that's one of the best

33:40

ways. I want to ask

33:42

you also if you can share

33:45

a little bit more about your

33:47

passion for telling stories

33:49

of Afro-Indigenous people and the

33:51

global Black diaspora. If you

33:53

can share a little bit

33:56

about some of the research

33:58

and projects and exhibits that

34:00

you have been involved with? Going

34:03

back to what I

34:05

mentioned about the African indigenous populations,

34:07

particularly in Southeast Asia, in

34:09

South Asia, in parts of

34:11

the Middle East, even

34:14

in South America, it's

34:16

obviously African indigenous but then obviously

34:18

African diaspora, those who have migrated

34:21

ex-FATs, etc., etc. Just

34:23

the global black diaspora in general. I

34:26

have solo curated an exhibit

34:29

that exists and has

34:31

existed in some locations

34:33

called Hidden Residence. What

34:36

Hidden Residence does is it

34:38

intends to uncover some

34:41

of the least known

34:43

communities and groups of Afro-Indigenous

34:46

and African diaspora peoples

34:49

across the globe. The first installation

34:51

was of the Manik people and

34:54

they are indigenous to Thailand or what

34:56

is currently known as Thailand today. They

34:59

are closely related to the Batek

35:01

of Malaysia. In fact, before

35:04

the borders were crossed often and

35:07

even with the borders, they crossed

35:09

them often so they're definitely closely

35:11

related to that group as well

35:13

and they're also often called Arunasli

35:15

as well. Manik means human

35:18

or man, Batek is the same

35:20

and Arunasli also means original human

35:22

as well, so original human or

35:25

original man. I think

35:27

this really intrigued me because growing

35:30

up, I despised history but

35:34

I think later on in life I

35:36

realized that it wasn't that I despised

35:38

history, I didn't connect with the way

35:40

I was taught history and the individuals

35:42

that had taught me history. It

35:45

wasn't done in a way that I could

35:47

connect with. One of my teachers for Black

35:49

History Month every year I recall,

35:52

we just thrown an episode of Roots. So,

35:54

I didn't really have a good relationship in

35:56

the beginning with history. It's not

35:58

until I did my own independent. and

36:00

research that I realized there's a whole

36:03

world out there that is just not

36:05

talked about and particularly

36:07

indigenous community and

36:09

black community as well. And

36:12

it's for many reasons of course

36:14

but just being able to uncover

36:16

those groups and doing

36:19

so it's with difficulty just

36:21

because of the lack of

36:23

studies that exist on

36:25

some of these groups as well was a

36:27

challenge. For some reason, I just like to

36:29

challenge myself. Well,

36:32

I also want to ask about

36:34

the story of how all of

36:36

this background eventually led to you

36:38

founding the Black Travel Summit. Can

36:41

you give us a little bit

36:43

of the backstory of how that

36:45

came about? I had

36:47

recently joined Instagram back

36:50

in 2016, I was 26 years old. I

36:53

was traveling around a lot and obviously learning

36:55

how to use the platform and learning

36:58

about hashtags etc. And

37:01

then I came upon some hashtags

37:03

like Black Travel, Black Travel Movement

37:05

etc. And it intrigued me.

37:07

I was like, oh interesting, what's this? You

37:09

know there's like a whole group

37:12

of us out here just traveling

37:14

and doing things and sharing experiences

37:16

and words of wisdom and neat

37:18

tips and tricks for people who

37:21

do end up traveling thereafter to

37:23

whatever destination they have visited. And

37:26

I was just amazed and I would

37:28

sometimes find myself just looking at some

37:31

of the posts that have been posted

37:33

with those hashtags and just

37:36

seeing so many

37:38

amazing people traveling and

37:40

it didn't reflect how

37:42

I saw advertisements

37:44

on television or advertisements on billboards.

37:47

You know when you see promotions

37:49

about the next cruise or slide

37:51

to this country or that country,

37:53

it didn't reflect. It almost just

37:56

made me think, Okay,

37:58

this is just something else that we can do. Kind of

38:00

have to create our own paying

38:02

our. Own. Network our own communities

38:04

and just allow. Word of mouth to

38:07

be able to encourage. People in our

38:09

community times just take the stat. And.

38:11

Travel. So and twenty seventeen twenty

38:14

eighth seed I actually found is

38:16

a marketplace. Online. Where

38:19

I had some listings

38:21

of different. Groups. That

38:23

you can support. And co two

38:25

if you want to take a trip

38:28

or a group trip if you want

38:30

a solo travel six cetera and so

38:32

ends when seen ring feed it was

38:34

actually early twenty nineteen I started i

38:37

the a thing that shovel some it.

38:39

And then I incorporated at at

38:41

a lesser end of Twenty Nine

38:43

Feet in October. And to

38:45

stop it from there I actually started

38:48

planning and as an to take place

38:50

in early twenties when see and than

38:52

obviously we all know what happened so.

38:54

We. Tended said soon virtual

38:57

instead. We. Hosted office webinar

38:59

on Facebook for free. And.

39:02

We had almost six

39:04

thousand people. Tune in.

39:07

And. It was just like. Wow. This

39:09

is something. We. Continued that.

39:12

We. Had another virtual a van and we

39:14

would have. A. Biweekly virtual

39:16

lives on Instagram as well.

39:19

And with that virtual a

39:21

van. in fact before the

39:23

next major one day virtual

39:25

van. We. Had heard

39:27

from high it. And then

39:29

we also have some Royal Caribbean. And.

39:32

In that moment I was like. Oh

39:34

this is something. You. Know I

39:36

was is doing this for community. But.

39:39

Okay, this is where we're going. This is this direction we're going

39:41

in and I just got to be ready for it. Bearing.

39:43

In mind, I didn't know that know

39:46

madness was already around. I had no

39:48

clue. But then I found out about

39:50

it. through my. Journey of

39:52

course because people come to me as they have.

39:54

You been. Snow madness at the time it was

39:56

at a court was ecstasy fast and I was

39:58

like we'd witnesses Ozick. Oh snap, Any for

40:00

research or about this nature. I'm not

40:03

stepping on any toes this any. It

40:05

was great because. It. Turns out

40:07

that, while I wanted to do

40:09

eventually. Was to create a space

40:11

for a black trouble professionals most

40:14

seat whereas audacity candidates of the

40:16

time for just travelers similar. and

40:18

even then just kind of coming into this country and.

40:21

Learning. How people respond to

40:23

black people. Trying to get

40:25

this into our language and are branding

40:27

message as well. So. It's really

40:29

been a journey. Definitely. Been

40:32

an experience. Let's talk about

40:34

the up coming Black Travel Summit.

40:36

Twenty Twenty Four, I am going

40:38

to be there's you are going

40:40

to be there. Other Mavericks Oh

40:42

yes are going to be there.

40:44

When is it? Where is it

40:46

and what can people expect from

40:48

the event this year? It is

40:50

going to be taking place from October

40:52

tenth street the thirteenth. This year at

40:54

the Hyatt Centric lost our last visit.

40:57

Lot about is our both sponsor. We're

40:59

really excited to be in Fort Lauderdale

41:01

This yeah we've been trying to explore

41:03

options with where we're going to and

41:05

obviously being a travel conference it's our

41:07

goal to travel. So excited to be

41:09

info loaded. Other see we're excited to

41:12

be able to showcase some of the

41:14

black owned businesses and entrepreneurs the our

41:16

local as well and as going to

41:18

be a lot of activity going. On

41:20

for starting the weekend off for they

41:22

Get back in partnership with Stephen Tulloch

41:24

and his foundation where then moving into

41:27

Wavelength by Black Shovel allies such on

41:29

the line. is now an official partner

41:31

of Oz. We. Formed a strategic

41:33

ally that were extremely excited and proud

41:35

about this year and far the Yes

41:38

The com they will be hosting Wasteland

41:40

for Creators. That day which will

41:42

include landing sessions which will increase

41:44

speed. Networking with Francis was going to

41:46

be or some and. Is your content

41:49

creator That is the place to be. That.

41:51

Evening were going to be during

41:53

Off Pass Black Travel Film Festival.

41:56

Very excited about that, I think.

41:58

It's. Something that despite. of came

42:01

to mind actually from our Victor

42:03

Awards in previous years. The

42:05

Victor Awards, one of the categories was

42:07

Best Travel Short and that is

42:10

an idea from my husband, of course, being

42:12

a filmmaker and seeing all of this amazing

42:14

content out there. We just thought, you know

42:16

what? It makes sense because there's so much

42:19

amazing content out there made for different reasons.

42:21

Some for leisure, some for

42:24

marketing campaigns, some for partners,

42:26

etc. Why not create a

42:28

space where we can recognize, appreciate and

42:31

just kind of showcase all of this

42:33

talent. So really excited about that.

42:35

We move into the Friday and we're also

42:37

partnering with the Future of Black Tourists powered

42:40

by Cultural Heritage Economic Alliance. They will be

42:42

hosting their summit on the Friday.

42:44

It's called Future of Black Tourists and

42:46

E3 Leadership Conclave. Excited

42:48

about that. That's definitely going to be an

42:51

amazing space for the leaders, for

42:53

black leaders and industry professionals and

42:55

allies as well. Then we open

42:57

up, we have our Speaker Series on

42:59

a Saturday, which everyone is always excited about.

43:01

We're really excited about it. Going to be

43:03

sharing some data this year that I think

43:06

a lot of folks will be really interested

43:08

in hearing. We're going to have our Black

43:10

Travel Awards Gala that same night, which

43:13

is going to be awesome and obviously breakouts

43:15

in between the Speaker Series and the Black

43:17

Travel Awards Gala. The Gala is always very

43:19

well attended. In fact, we always sell out.

43:22

So get your tickets now.

43:25

Then the Sunday, we're also doing something new, a pitch

43:27

competition. We've been wanting to do it for some years

43:30

and we're finally doing it this

43:32

year. Really excited. One of the top prizes

43:34

is $5,000. So we're going to share that

43:37

with a very well-deserving entrepreneur this year.

43:39

Really excited about that. Then we

43:42

end off with our expo, which

43:44

we've had since the beginning,

43:46

showcasing black owned brands and

43:48

brands that cater to black

43:50

travelers, but more so to just to get

43:53

the word out there and be able to promote

43:55

those black travel professionals, those businesses and those

43:57

startups. So we've got a lot of tour

43:59

operators. That's going to be in the building this year as

44:01

well. And then we close out with our yacht

44:03

brunch, our yacht brunch and our closing

44:06

reception. Our yacht brunch is always well

44:08

attended as well. I mean, who doesn't

44:10

want to, when coming to Florida, close

44:12

out on the water, eating

44:14

good food and maybe having a drink. Don't

44:16

have to drink, but you know, it's going

44:19

to be a good experience. Amazing. I'm going to

44:21

be there. You are going to be there. It's

44:24

going to be an incredible crowd for listeners who

44:26

are hearing about this, maybe for the first time.

44:29

Who is Black Travel Summit

44:31

for? Who should attend? And

44:34

if any listeners of the Maverick show would

44:36

like to attend, is there a way that

44:38

they can get a special discount? Absolutely.

44:42

So the Black Travel

44:44

Summit is for everyone. We're not

44:47

exclusive. Our goal is

44:49

to support, empower and create opportunities with

44:51

and for the Black Travel community,

44:53

which is inclusive of all groups

44:55

who want to work with

44:57

Black Travel professionals. It is our goal

45:00

to highlight those Black Travel professionals, to

45:02

showcase the work they're doing and to

45:04

recognize them for their achievements, which is

45:06

why we have such events as the

45:09

Black Travel Awards Gala. So

45:11

if you are interested in coming

45:13

and supporting or maybe just building

45:15

relationships with Black Travel professionals, creators,

45:19

industry professionals, advisors, et cetera, you

45:21

name it, that is the place

45:23

to be. And all

45:25

you have to do is

45:27

be a loyalist to Matthew

45:29

Bold and you will get

45:31

a discount. And

45:34

then you can join us there. You are

45:36

going to be welcome and treated like royalty.

45:38

All right. We are going to put

45:40

a link in the show notes for

45:42

where you can get your tickets as

45:44

well as the discount code Maverick and

45:46

you type that in and it is

45:48

going to give you a special discount

45:50

just for being a listener of the

45:53

Maverick show, which we greatly appreciate. And

45:55

then you can come and hang out

45:57

with us in person. It is going

45:59

to be. an amazing time.

46:01

Anita, when you think back about all

46:03

the travel that you have done up

46:05

to this point, how would you say

46:07

that all that travel has impacted you

46:09

as a person? My traveling experiences

46:12

over the years have allowed me

46:14

to be able to explore what

46:16

it means to have grace, to

46:18

have compassion, to have understanding as

46:21

a human being in this

46:23

life, what it means to have shared

46:26

lived experiences as well.

46:29

And just to be open,

46:31

I'm expecting to

46:34

expect the unexpected because

46:38

I know that everyone has a completely

46:41

different walk in life. And

46:43

traveling to me, that's what it's about. It's

46:45

about learning about

46:47

those experiences, meeting people from

46:50

all walks of life, hearing their

46:52

stories, learning about how they

46:54

move and how they navigate

46:57

through this journey in life

46:59

and learning from it as

47:01

well because I believe that

47:03

you can always learn from

47:05

your conversations and I also

47:07

believe that true wisdom can also be

47:09

gained as well. So, I think traveling

47:11

has acted as the

47:14

biggest school in my

47:16

life and has allowed me to

47:18

mature in ways that I'm

47:20

not sure I would have if

47:22

it weren't for those experiences. Anita, what

47:25

tips would you give to black travelers

47:27

who might be at the earlier part

47:29

of their travel journey? Go with an

47:31

open mind. Do not

47:34

expect people to behave as you behave

47:36

or to think how you think. It's

47:39

almost like that saying when they say, when in Rome, do as the

47:41

Romans do. Go with the

47:43

intention to learn and

47:45

to immerse yourself in that

47:48

particular culture, to be

47:50

respectful of that culture as

47:52

well and to give because

47:55

a lot of the times when people travel

47:57

it may feel like they're going to be in the middle of

47:59

the journey. like there's no give it's

48:01

only take. They're going to

48:04

take this experience and

48:06

have a good time and not pay

48:08

attention to the people perhaps

48:10

down the road outside of the resort that

48:12

could be not living a great

48:14

life, right? When you travel,

48:17

it's important to give back to

48:19

the communities that

48:21

you are around, that

48:23

you're experiencing. Although a lot

48:25

of the times we don't like to think of it in

48:28

this way that we're taking

48:30

from as well. I think that's

48:32

important for any traveler having

48:34

the open mind and removing any

48:36

form of privilege that you

48:39

have, any form of entitlement that you

48:41

may feel even if you don't

48:43

know you have it just being

48:46

aware particularly for those coming from

48:48

the Western world. All right, Anita,

48:50

I think that is a great place

48:53

to end the main portion of this

48:55

interview and at this point, are you

48:57

ready to move in to the lightning

48:59

round? Let's do it. Let's

49:02

do it. All

49:04

right, what is one book

49:06

maybe that has significantly impacted you over

49:08

the years you'd most recommend that people

49:10

should read? It's called

49:12

Scrambled Eggs and

49:15

it is for

49:18

people, not necessarily just

49:20

for entrepreneurs but for people who want

49:22

to organize and take

49:24

control of their lives. It has taught me

49:26

and it took me a while to read it as

49:28

well but it was something that was gifted to me

49:30

during one of my fellowships and

49:32

it's taught me a lot. It's taught

49:35

me that my mind

49:37

is truly scrambled eggs and

49:40

sometimes we as entrepreneurs, we as

49:42

business owners, we as people who

49:45

want to just manifest

49:47

and manipulate our life in the way that

49:49

we want to. Sometimes it's hard

49:51

to maintain, just to be linear. We're

49:53

always like here and there and everywhere.

49:55

My husband says my mind is like

49:58

spaghetti. One minute I'm here. minute

50:00

I'm down the road and that

50:02

book has just kind of helped

50:04

me to keep it together a

50:06

little bit better and to just

50:09

be able to navigate not only

50:11

my business but my life a

50:13

little bit better and definitely in

50:16

a more calm and

50:18

mellow manner. All right. Who is one

50:20

person currently alive today that you've never

50:22

met that you would most love to

50:24

have dinner with? Just you and that

50:26

person for an evening of dinner and

50:28

conversation? Eildegrass Tyson. He

50:31

is just mind

50:34

blowing for me and when I

50:36

sat down and actually watched documentaries and just

50:38

listening and learning

50:40

and trying to digest everything,

50:43

I think he's an interesting

50:46

individual. I would definitely love to

50:48

sit down with him and have a chat and just

50:50

learn as much as I can

50:53

from him about what he knows of the

50:55

universe. That would be an

50:57

amazing conversation. All right. Anita, what is

50:59

one travel hack that you use that

51:01

you can recommend to people? Google

51:04

Flights, SkyScanner,

51:07

there's another tool I used to use quite

51:09

a bit called Travel Pirates which

51:12

I mean if you have no goal or

51:15

destination in mind and you just really kind

51:17

of open, Travel Pirates is definitely a great

51:19

hack as well to be able to find

51:21

something affordable as long as you are ready

51:24

to just pick it up and go. Those

51:26

are definitely some things. And then I've

51:29

also started using and patronizing this brand

51:31

called Be Essential. It's a black owned

51:33

brand and it's

51:35

travel coverings for toilet

51:38

seats, bed

51:40

coverings as well like disposable

51:42

bed coverings. It's

51:45

good for super hypochondriac people

51:47

like myself who don't want

51:49

to just be bringing all

51:52

the Lysol wipes and the sprays and stuff.

51:54

So that's definitely a great travel hack as

51:56

well. So there's a couple.

51:58

All right. Anita, knowing everything... that you

52:00

know now, if you could go back

52:02

in time and give one piece of advice

52:04

to your 18-year-old self, what would you say

52:06

to 18-year-old Anita? Patience.

52:09

I have patience. I

52:12

think sometimes, especially myself

52:15

and I'm speaking to myself, I

52:17

think sometimes we try to move so

52:19

quickly and get ahead and speed up

52:21

and we think that we're missing out

52:24

on something when it's

52:26

best to just let

52:28

it flow and come to you

52:30

because what is meant for you is

52:33

meant for you and nobody can take that away

52:35

from you. Alright. Of all

52:37

the places that you have now traveled,

52:39

what are three of your favorite destinations

52:42

you would most recommend other people should

52:44

definitely check out? So, I'm not going

52:46

to include the Seychelles even

52:49

though I would because I feel

52:51

like that's me being biased. So,

52:54

I'm going to include some other destinations.

52:56

So, Colombia is

52:58

one of them. Love, love,

53:00

love Medellin. Had a great

53:03

experience there. Cambodia is definitely just

53:05

one of those places as well

53:08

and Doha. I feel like

53:10

I still can't say Egypt either just because

53:12

of my relationship with the country but yeah,

53:17

Doha. I love Doha. Egypt

53:19

and Seychelles and they are up there, always going

53:21

to be up there but those three places outside

53:24

of those two countries. And what are

53:26

your top three bucket list destinations? These

53:28

are places you have not yet been

53:30

currently the highest on your list that

53:32

you would most love to see. I

53:35

want to go to Papua New Guinea, definitely

53:37

up there for me. I would

53:39

like to visit Sudan when the

53:41

time is right, of course and

53:44

I would like to visit

53:46

Singapore. Alright, we're going to

53:49

close this out with some

53:51

musical discussions. I first of

53:53

all want to ask you

53:55

about AfroBeats. You and I

53:57

are both big AfroBeat fans.

54:00

I want to ask if you can name your top

54:03

five Afrobeat artists that you want

54:05

to put people on to. But

54:07

before you do that, can you share a little

54:09

bit just about what Afrobeats means to you? Maybe

54:11

share a little bit about the scene in London

54:14

and what you love about the art

54:16

form just for people that may not

54:18

be super familiar with it. Oh my gosh,

54:20

Afrobeats to me is just, I don't

54:23

want to say it's everything but it's near enough. And

54:26

I remember my first interaction, I

54:29

guess, with somebody who was playing Afrobeats and was

54:31

one of my close friends at the age of

54:33

13 in London and she's Nigerian, right? So

54:36

just being introduced to, and I

54:38

can't remember the name of the song, but I

54:41

always remember the beat and I'm playing it in

54:43

my head right now and I'm not going to

54:45

hum it out loud. But if

54:47

I did, you would recognize it as well if

54:50

you're a big Afrobeat fan. It's

54:52

one of those things that almost kind of helped

54:54

me lean more into recognizing

54:57

myself as being half African because

54:59

there's a lot of people who

55:02

may not connect the Seychelles

55:04

to the mainland, even some people from

55:06

the Seychelles as well. So it definitely

55:08

allowed me to lean more into my

55:10

heritage a bit more. But Afrobeats

55:13

is just there. It's in the English

55:15

speaking countries, it's in the Francophone countries,

55:17

even in the Portuguese speaking countries in

55:19

Africa. But present, I mean,

55:22

even in the Seychelles, there's Afrobeats

55:24

and in Creole and it's, oh

55:27

my gosh, it's just, I don't

55:29

know, it's just a different type of energy.

55:31

I don't know how to explain it, it just makes you, you

55:34

don't even have to be from Africa. It

55:36

just moves through you and you feel

55:38

just This energy just coming over

55:40

you. I don't know, I Love it. Yeah,

55:42

it's amazing. I was in Ghana about a

55:44

year and a half ago for Dettie December

55:47

when they do the big Afrobeat festivals and

55:49

Accra and all that kind of stuff. And

55:51

I Mean, it was just absolutely magical. But

55:53

You and I have been, of course, exchanging

55:55

playlists and all this kind of stuff already

55:57

and talking about some of our favorite artists.

56:00

I'm curious and I would love for you to

56:02

put my audience on who are five of your

56:04

favorite Afro be artists. Thought I'd give it up

56:06

to sell Athlete He. Is he now?

56:08

you know. Sam's. Sees.

56:11

Commercial now bought. The talent

56:13

that she possesses is definitely

56:15

worth noting. Been. A

56:17

boy of course. again commercial but

56:19

like I mentioned, back connection. Between.

56:22

The. Uk and parts of Africa as well because

56:24

a lot of. Those. Folks are.

56:27

Either born in London or raised in London,

56:29

or have some sort connection with London. That.

56:31

Just kind of. Always. Helps

56:33

me to fellow be closer to as

56:35

well with kid. And then

56:38

this last one that I'm going

56:40

to recommend. He. Essentially.

56:43

Created his own genre and not

56:46

his own general because others have

56:48

adopted in hours while from Afrobeat

56:50

right. Where. It's called for

56:53

a swing. Were. Has elements

56:55

of afrobeat but then some ruby

56:57

and elements as well. Jay

57:00

Haas. I don't know if

57:02

you're familiar with Jay Haas, but he's from the

57:04

Uk. from London, actually around the corner from where

57:06

I was born and raised. And he's

57:08

just oh my gosh. He's. Amazing. Like

57:11

if you. Know. Him. They

57:13

you know what he's created by

57:15

the genre he's created. And you

57:17

can hear the Frb influences as well. So.

57:20

Those. Are my recommendation does the some of

57:22

my face. Amazing! I've received all schools

57:24

drawback to feel like who the as

57:26

well her folks in my be more

57:28

familiar with the newer stuff. It's really

57:30

amazing to go back and listen to

57:32

some of the precursors fella is Also

57:34

it's amazing. Just it when you go

57:36

to Lagos in Nigeria, just how enshrined

57:39

that has Have you been soon as

57:41

you're yeah I have not. Yeah, it's

57:43

amazing. Super super special place and Freddie!

57:45

But it isn't Afrobeat obviously. Lagos is

57:47

definitely the spots are I? I mean

57:49

you know we're going to close this

57:51

out by me asking you to name.

57:53

Your top. Five. hip

57:56

hop m c use of all time

57:58

but before you do that can you

58:00

share a little bit about what hip-hop

58:02

music means to you and why you

58:04

love hip-hop. I grew

58:07

up listening to, of

58:09

course, what my mother decided to play in the house.

58:12

So oftentimes when she was

58:15

cleaning the house and when I started cleaning

58:17

the house, we would put

58:19

on hip-hop, hip-hop, R&B,

58:21

soul music. Sometimes

58:24

it stemmed from the 80s, the 90s, sometimes

58:26

from the 70s. So

58:28

I grew up with old school

58:30

hip-hop in particular. So it definitely

58:32

holds a special place in my heart. It's something that

58:35

my husband and I share in common. Although

58:37

I will bow down to him because he's

58:40

definitely a much bigger hip-hop head than I

58:42

am. I'm more of a generalist. I love

58:44

many musical genres, but I love

58:47

hip-hop. It's definitely had an influence

58:49

on me. And because it's had

58:51

such an influence on the music scene in

58:53

London, it's influenced me

58:55

in other ways as well. Well, are

58:57

we going to break an exclusive

58:59

here on The Maverick Show? Do

59:01

your friends and your audience

59:04

and your fans and your team at

59:06

the Black Travel Summit, do they know

59:08

your top five or

59:10

are we breaking an exclusive here on the

59:12

show? They have not a clue. This

59:15

is exclusive. Exclusive? You

59:18

heard it first here on The

59:20

Maverick Show. Anita Morrell, who are

59:22

your top five? Biggie,

59:24

two-pack, busy

59:27

bone, Q-tip and

59:29

Snoop. And this is just from the

59:32

90s. And

59:34

I have to say even though it's late 90s,

59:36

early 2000s, I

59:39

have to say Eminem. He

59:41

was my guy. And

59:43

then I would do such an injustice

59:45

if I wasn't to mention anyone from

59:47

the UK, Cano. All

59:50

right, so we give you a couple honorable mentions.

59:52

And I greatly appreciate that your top five are

59:54

from the 90s. As you know, I was a

59:57

hip-hop DJ in the 90s, and so that is

59:59

all very, very important. near and dear

1:00:01

to my heart that is an amazing list. We

1:00:03

are gonna link all of that up in

1:00:05

the show notes along with everything else that

1:00:07

we have discussed on this episode. Anita at

1:00:10

this point I want you to let folks

1:00:12

know how they can find you, how they

1:00:14

can follow you, how they can learn more

1:00:16

about Black Travel Summit, how would you like

1:00:18

people to come into your world? Absolutely

1:00:20

you can find us on Instagram

1:00:22

at Black Travel Summit, you can

1:00:24

find us on Twitter at BLK

1:00:26

Travel Summit, you can find us

1:00:28

on Facebook at the

1:00:30

Black Travel Summit, you can

1:00:32

find us on LinkedIn at Black Travel

1:00:35

Summit as well pretty much anywhere at

1:00:37

Black Travel Summit. Google search

1:00:39

us you'll find our

1:00:41

website www.blacktravelsummit.com you can even

1:00:44

shoot us an email info at blacktravelsummit.com

1:00:46

and we're around we're pretty easy to

1:00:48

find. Well folks I want to encourage you

1:00:51

once again come through Anita

1:00:53

and I are gonna be there you can

1:00:55

hang out with us in person and meet

1:00:57

a whole bunch of other amazing people. We've

1:00:59

got a discount code for you it's gonna

1:01:01

be in the show notes just go to

1:01:04

themaverkshow.com go to the show notes for this

1:01:06

episode. You're gonna find direct links to everything

1:01:08

that we have discussed in this episode including

1:01:10

how to get your discounted tickets for the

1:01:13

Black Travel Summit. Anita

1:01:15

this was amazing thank you

1:01:17

so much for coming in the

1:01:19

show. Thank you for having me

1:01:21

I really enjoyed myself thanks Matt.

1:01:23

Alright good night everybody. Alright I

1:01:25

hope you enjoyed that episode just

1:01:27

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