Chef Alexander Smalls' Incredible Journey from Opera Singer to World Renowned Restaurateur

07/19/22 • 50 min

In the summer of 2020 AphroChic chatted on Instagram Live with Chef Alexander Smalls about his latest book, Meals, Music & Muses and his diverse journey through the worlds of music, food and business. Here we present the edited conversation, where we talked about his journey, which started in rural South Carolina and took him around the world as a celebrated opera singer before bringing him to New York as an equally renowned restaurateur. We talk with Alexander about his youth, his career on the stage and in the kitchen and the beautiful window that African American food traditions provide on our history, our culture and our diaspora.

Pre-order AphroChic: Celebrating the Legacy of the Black Family Home to explore more of Chef Alexander Smalls’ story and his Harlem home.

Pre-order AphroChic: Celebrating the Legacy of the Black Family Home to explore more of Chef Alexander Smalls’ story and his Harlem home.

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Economist Janelle Jones Discusses Black Women's Equal Pay Day

In the summer of 2020, AphroChic spoke with Janelle Jones on Instagram Live about Black Women's Equal Pay Day, economics, and racial inequality. Janelle is the first African American woman to serve as chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor and is currently the chief economist for Service Employees International Union. Here we present the edited conversation from two years ago in honor of Black Women's Equal Pay Day 2022, which takes place this year on September 21st. Black women are paid 58 cents for every dollar paid to white men and this day symbolically denotes how far into the year Black women must work to be paid what men were paid the previous year.
Janelle's article, "We Are The Economy: Building from the Ashes of COVID-19" is featured in Issue No. 4 of AphroChic Magazine.