Collective Drift: Celebrating International Women, Culture, and Travel - (ep 11) Love, travel and balance with Nicole Gates, owner of Lil Greenhouse Grill

(ep 11) Love, travel and balance with Nicole Gates, owner of Lil Greenhouse Grill

07/07/20 • 37 min

Collective Drift: Celebrating International Women, Culture, and Travel

(ep 11) Love, travel and balance with Nicole Gates, owner of Lil Greenhouse Grill

Make sure you get our latest episodes: https://www.collectivedrift.com/stayintouch

I had such a fun conversation with Nicole Gates, co-owner of Lil Greenhouse Grill restaurant in the heart of Historic Overtown, Miami, FL. Just this January Oprah Winfrey recently visited Nicole’s restaurant and listed it as one of her favorite restaurants for Weight Watchers, so she must be doing something right.

Nicole is a proud Black woman, she has an amazing soul food restaurant, she is a daughter, a mom, a media executive, and has lived internationally as an army brat. In this conversation Nicole allowed me to get all up in her business. So we talked about everything including her love life, owning a restaurant, and travel.

Nicole talks about the process her and her son's father Karim Bryant went through to become owners of and keep Lil Greenhouse Grill. Yes, I said her father’s son, no they aren’t in a relationship anymore and yes, I did make sure to talk to her about that. So, you’ll hear how she’s managing that in the dating world.

Although marriage wasn’t in the cards for Nicole and Karim she has learned about love from her mother and step-father. Her mother taught her “if it doesn’t feel right then let it go”. But also through watching her parents' marriage she learned that true commitment, and the importance of making good decisions and sacrifices together are key to relationships.

This episode is sponsored by the Southeast Park West Overtown CRA. Lil Greenhouse Grill is a grantee of the CRA more info is available in their 2018 Annual Report: http://www.miamicra.com/seopwcra/pages/annual.html

Stay in touch with Nicole and Lil Greenhouse Grill

Lil Greenhouse Grill

1300 NW 3rd Ave Miami, FL 33136

(786) 277-3582

[email protected]

https://www.lilgreenhousegrill.com/

http://instagram.com/lilgreenhousegrill

https://www.instagram.com/nikkigeewiz/

Where to find Erica and Collective Drift:

https://www.collectivedrift.com

https://www.instagram.com/collectivedrift/

https://www.youtube.com/collectivedrift

https://www.facebook.com/collectivedrift

Southeast Overtown/Park West CRA

http://experienceovertown.com/

https://instagram.com/miamicra

Mentioned in this episode:

The Bahamas https://www.bahamas.com/

Italy http://www.italia.it/en/home.html

(ep 11) Love, travel and balance with Nicole Gates, owner of Lil Greenhouse Grill

Make sure you get our latest episodes: https://www.collectivedrift.com/stayintouch

Stay in touch with Nicole and Lil Greenhouse Grill

Lil Greenhouse Grill

1300 NW 3rd Ave Miami, FL 33136

(786) 277-3582

[email protected]

https://www.lilgreenhousegrill.com/

http://instagram.com/lilgreenhousegrill

https://www.instagram.com/nikkigeewiz/

Where to find Erica and Collective Drift:

https://www.collectivedrift.com

https://www.instagram.com/collectivedrift/

https://www.youtube.com/collectivedrift

https://www.facebook.com/collectivedrift

Southeast Overtown/Park West CRA

http://experienceovertown.com/

https://instagram.com/miamicra

Mentioned in this episode:

The Bahamas https://www.bahamas.com/

Italy http://www.italia.it/en/home.html

Previous Episode

(ep 10) What is wellness and how do I begin my wellness journey? An interview with wellness coach Nzingah Oniwosan

What is wellness and how do I begin my wellness journey? An interview with wellness coach Nzingah Oniwosan

What is wellness? How can women start their wellness journey during Covid-19? What is society’s outlook on wellness? Do western medicine and holistic wellness go together? How long will my wellness journey take? How can I remain consistent on my wellness journey?

“Make acceptable goals. Don’t try to climb Mount Kilimanjaro when you barely walk in your neighborhood!”

In this interview, we sat down with Nzingah Oniwosan, my wellness coach, and talked about various topics such as holistic wellness, tips on starting your wellness journey, Nzingah’s wellness journey, how she is learning more about Haitian wellness practices, her travel experiences, and her favorite wellness spots.

Nzingah is a holistic health consultant and alchemist under her brand “Yes Baby I Like it Raw”. She currently lives in South Florida and guides people on their wellness journey. In addition Nzingah also is a visual artist, a poet, and founder of a small business incubator in Haiti.

As a child, Nzingah was always fond of her Haitian culture. Her grandmother and parents did a great job of imbedding their knowledge and ways of her birth culture within her. Nzingah was taught to be unapologetic about who she was and the value of speaking Creole her native tongue. Her father and grandmother are both experts in Haitian herbs and this helped encourage Nzingah’s thirst for knowledge.

Continue reading https://www.collectivedrift.com/post/nzingah

So, what is a question Nzingah would ask other women?

“How are you loving yourself? Are you loving yourself like you’re loving everyone else?”

How does Nzingah define a woman?

“Sweet, sour,

Strong, vulnerable.

Made of stardust

And a little bit of heaven.

…we are complicated, I love it!”

Where to find Nzingah

https://www.yesbabyilikeitraw.com/?aff=7

https://www.instagram.com/yesbabyilikeitraw/

[email protected]

https://youtube.com/user/Nzingah

Where to find Erica and Collective Drift

www.collectivedrift.com

https://www.instagram.com/collectivedrift/

https://www.youtube.com/collectivedrift

Places mentioned in the interview

Ecuador: https://ecuador.travel/en/

Cap-Haitien: https://visithaiti.com/destinations/cap-haitien-city-guide/

Monterrey: https://www.visitmexico.com/en/destino/monterrey/

Florida beaches: https://www.visitflorida.com/en-us/florida-beaches.html

Gumbo Limbo: https://www.gumbolimbo.org/

Bassin Bleu waterfall: https://visithaiti.com/things-to-do/bassin-bleu/

Citadelle Laferri: https://visithaiti.com/destinations/citadelle-laferriere/

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Next Episode

(ep 12) Exploring Race and Femininity in Caribbean and Mexican Cultures with Perez Art Museum Miami’s Curator, María Elena Ortiz

Exploring Race and Femininity in Caribbean and Mexican Cultures with Perez Art Museum Miami’s Curator, María Elena Ortiz

Click HERE to make sure that you get our upcoming episodes!

What is it like being the only woman in the workplace? What is Classism vs. Racism like in Latin America? How does race impact art? Why should artists be funded by the government? What is it like being an Afro Latina in Mexico? How does surrounding yourself with a positive company affect you? What is it like to live in Mexico?

In this interview with María Elena Ortiz, a curator at the Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), we learned so much about Afro Caribbean art and culture. She shared her adventures around the English speaking Caribbean; growing up in a progressive Puerto Rican household; living in Mexico and Miami, and what it’s like for her to be a Black Puerto Rican woman in the art world.

This episode is sponsored by the Knight Foundation on behalf of PAMM’s Fund for African American Art. CLICK HERE to learn more.

Please note that this episode was recorded prior to the Coronavirus pandemic and the current fight for valuing Black lives in America and the world. However, it is timely as we had a great discussion on the dynamics of race in the Caribbean and art.

María Elena is originally from Puerto Rico, born in San Juan and raised in Carolina by her mother and father. She’s lived in Mexico City, Mexico and currently resides in Miami, FL, USA. María Elena has spent an extensive amount of time in the Caribbean Islands conducting research on Afro Caribbean Art for her book and PAMM exhibition both titled “The Other Side of Now”.

CLICK HERE to read more and to get all of the links for Maria's recommendations.

So, what is a question María Elena would ask other women?
“How do you feel today?”

How does María Elena define a woman?
“To be powerful, and to own our power and use it.”

Make a donation for Perez Art Museum Miami Fund for African American Art (All donations go towards an endowment for purchasing art from the African Diaspora):
https://pamm.org/artfund

Where to find Maria
https://instagram.com/contemporarychica/

Where to find Erica and Collective Drift
https://collectivedrift.com
https:/instagram.com/collectivedrift/
https://youtube.com/collectivedrift

Click HERE to make sure that you get our upcoming episodes! https://collectivedrift.com/stayintouch

The Collective Drift platform was created by Erica Knowles to celebrate all women, the beauty of their cultures, and international travel experiences.