BITE THE POWER™️ and KJ KEARNEY DAY!
The turn-up will not be televised but it will be posted on YouTube!
BITE THE POWER™️.
After a full year of planning, it’s finally time to unleash the beast: BITE THE POWER™️, the world’s FIRST traveling Black food story showcase, is here! The inaugural showcase starts on July 29th—in Charleston, South Carolina—at the Camden Room at the Charleston Visitor’s Center (375 Meeting Street). I could easily write 1000+ words about this but I’ll save all that for my eventual book on the subject. For now, I want to make sure you know what you’re getting into before registering to attend…
ABOUT BITE THE POWER™️.
Instead of waiting for legacy publications and storytelling events to make space for us, I decided to take matters into my own hands. At each BITE THE POWER™️ stop, I have curated a list of three presenters who are coming to present a unique food story of their choosing.
The catch?
They only get 16 slides to tell their food (or beverage) story. Slides are timed to move at 30 second increments so none of the presentations will last longer than 8 minutes (get it? ATE minutes!). If you can’t attend, don’t worry, we’ll be recording each presentation and putting them on YouTube after the entire tour ends. With that being said, if you are able to get a ticket, allow me to introduce you to the presenters you’ll get to see in Charleston:
🧁 Cheryl Day — The co-founder of Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice is also a lauded cookbook author and the owner of one of the best bakeries that ever existed (long live Back In the Day Bakery).
🧑🏽🏫 Angell Troxler — This former public school teacher turned food influencer is now the new Education Outreach Administrator for one of the largest food festivals on the East Coast of the United States, Charleston Wine + Food Festival.
🍷 Femi Oyediran — An award winning sommelier and vinyl record enthusiast, also happens to co-own Graft—aka one of the best wine bars in Charleston, South Carolina.
TICKETS!
Thanks to support from the Charleston Visitor’s Bureau, the first 40 tickets for this event are absolutely free! I wanted to make sure the room was filled with smiling faces so shoutout to Kourtney, and the entire team at the CVB, who helped make this possible. If you’d like to register for a ticket, do so via Eventbrite right now! If all the tickets are gone by the time you read this, just stand by—we may be able make more seats available!
LINK: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bite-the-powertm-charleston-tickets-945996249247?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=
WHAT’S NEXT?
After Charleston, we’re headed to the Kingdom of Brooklyn! On tap to speak we have a veteran spirits maker, a fashion designer turned vegan restaurant owner, and an expert in the nuance of Caribbean cuisine and culture all gracing us with a Black food story of their choosing.
This Brooklyn stop is being supported by the ACE Hotel in Brooklyn, which is great seeing as this is were we’re hosting the event! Stay tuned to your inbox and my Instagram account to get the details on whose speaking and how you can get tickets to the second stop on this BITE THE POWER™️ tour.
KJ KEARNEY DAY!
On Monday, June 9th, I was surprised by my good friend—Kenya Dunn—with a celebration of my recent James Beard Award for Best Social Media Account. I knew that she was planning something—she told me as much—but what I had in my mind and what I was presented with was so far a part, I might as well been on Mars!
To start things off, my mayor, the Honorable Reggie Burgess—the City of North Charleston’s first Black mayor—presented me with a proclamation for KJ KEARNEY DAY! If you want to celebrate this auspicious occasion next year, it’s on June 8th. Just so you know.
All photos were captured by Trenise Elmore of Your World on Film.
If that wasn’t enough, Senator Deon Tedder who is a fellow South Carolina State University alum, my Frat Brother, and my current state Senator, presented me with a special recognition from the SC Senate! No lie, I have kept both of those documents on me since receiving them. I’ll get them framed eventually but it feels really good to be able to look in my book bag and see those folders.
I thought there was gonna be some drinks and a few friends in the place. I had no clue that Kenya was going to pull out all these stops! In addition to the aforementioned presentations, Alyssa Maute Smith, the Executive Director of the Charleston Wine + Food Festival, was also in attendance and made a presentation on my behalf. Y’all know I’m a crier but I was so overwhelmed by all the love, I didn’t have time to formulate tears in the moment (those came after the fact). For those of you who were not invited, don’t blame me—I didn’t put this event on! 🤣 But on a more serious note, let this serve as your invitation to celebrate me however you see fit. I’ll take gifts and random acts of kindness, for this James Beard Award, until Kwanzaa.
That’s it for today! I normally drop these on Fridays but because I knew the launch of BITE THE POWER™️ tickets was coming, I decided to spare your inbox and send ONE newsletter instead of two within days of each other.
As always, if you see any typos: tell ya Mama!
Love, KJ
I live far away so can’t attend in person, but I am so looking forward to viewing virtually. Congratulations!