The Hilltop Glove Podcast | Cheryse Terry
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[00:00:00] DJ And?: Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Hilltop Glove Podcast. Today we have the pleasure of interviewing Miss Charise. Terry Charise is a photographer, mother and a vintage cafe owner. She's a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, where she is on the owner of Archive Charlotte, a vintage enthusiast cafe geared towards providing vintage photography, rare publications, H B C U, yearbooks vintage inspired posters and first edition books for the c.

[00:00:28] DJ And?: They also host an array of community engaging events such as coffee tastings, monthly book clubs, and wellness events. Her childhood was destroyed in a fire leaving her with only five pictures of her younger self. This law sparked an interest in archival documentary work. Most of her work is focused on capturing the homeless.

[00:00:48] DJ And?: She quotes, those are my people, and I know a lot of them may not have access to a cell phone or photo. Her debut exhibition, black Gaze Representation [00:01:00] Identity Expression showcased at the Light Factory in Charlotte back in January, featuring her and five other photographers all mentored by Mr. Titus Brooks Higgins.

[00:01:10] DJ And?: There she learned how to produce film images in the Dark Room for the first time ever. How you doing today, Ms. 

[00:01:17] Cheryse Terry: Oh, wow. That's a beautiful introduction. I'm doing well, how about yourself? Oh, excellent. Thank you. iTalk. You iTalk. You . I love that now. I stalked you. I love it. . Yeah, Tam's always at her ninja work.

[00:01:29] Cheryse Terry: I love it. Tamaya. Done. Thank you. 

[00:01:32] DJ And?: Excellent, excellent. Well, I, I will start off by of course, we ask how you're doing today. It's a beautiful Saturday. I wanna make sure everything is going well with you before we begin. Yes, 

[00:01:41] Cheryse Terry: everything's going well. I'm excited. 

[00:01:43] DJ And?: Excellent, excellent. So just straight off the top, we always ask everybody this, just if you could just give us our audience a little bit of your background and a little bit of history of your childhood and what it was like growing up in Charlotte.

[00:01:55] Cheryse Terry: You honestly said a lot of it. Good. But I'll just add to it that, you know, [00:02:00] me being a Charlotte 10 west side Charlotte. my entire life, my experience was very unique. Yeah. Growing up, you know, here in Charlotte with older parents allowed me the opportunity to be around different types of people, especially growing up in the church.

[00:02:13] Cheryse Terry: Yeah. Be around different people of all ages. And that's where you first learn your manners, how to public speak your interests, honestly. You kind of learn who you are. So I had a very humble upbringing. , you know, didn't have the luxuries of life materialistically, but it was full of love. So I think that really informed who I, who I am now, who I, who I look to become actually.

[00:02:33] DJ And?: Excellent. Excellent, excellent. Could you explain a little bit about your passion then, compared to where it is now and that evolution that you've had as a human? 

[00:02:44] Cheryse Terry: I really can't say that I identified a passion in my younger years. I know I just had an interest in just anything creative. I collage shoe boxes cause I didn't have a dollhouse , so I would take like a JCPenney catalog and cut out the Christmas trees and, [00:03:00] and glue that inside.

[00:03:01] Cheryse Terry: My Barbie, we have a Christmas. Okay. , you, this is, this was before American girl dog came to Charlotte. Yeah. I dream of having me a damn bit baby. And so I was, went out for my Barbies and stuff like that. So yeah, I think I've, I don't think I identified a passion, but I've always had an interest in creativity.

[00:03:20] Cheryse Terry: I taught myself how to sew and illustrate and just evolved in so many ways. And now arrived to this. I've always. Was interested in vintage. I had a vintage clothing line, a little boutique, I guess online boutique back in 2012 called Vintage Dreams. Okay. And I sold clothes outta my house and online and stuff.

[00:03:38] Cheryse Terry: So I think the vintage portion is the one that has evolved, but has been remained consistent in my life. Well, I love your 

[00:03:45] Ta-Myia: style. I can definitely say that I love your style. You're all aesthetic. Like I said, I stalked you , and I love the fact that you're a creative, so you use like multimedia and the way you express yourself.

[00:03:55] Ta-Myia: So, as a creative person, can you tell us how important it is to have documentation and [00:04:00] representation around you and in your 

[00:04:01] Cheryse Terry: community? It's ex, it's, it's literally what has driven us. I'm afraid that we gonna face a. , you know what slavery was like when we didn't have any relics to document, because everything is digital.

[00:04:12] Cheryse Terry: Mm-hmm. . So I was telling a friend now that like, you know, God forbid you passed today and no one had your passcode to your phone. All the things you documented on your life, no one has access to your iCloud. Right. Only thing we left is your social media stuff. Yeah. Not the intimate stuff that you wanna see, or the stuff that's unfiltered that you want your kids to pass down to you.

[00:04:30] Cheryse Terry: So I'm afraid that we're headed towards that way. So that's what archive is, is like, I, I, although, like you stated, you know, a lot of my memories was lost in a fire. And it is important for us still to have physical memories around us. Even if, I don't know if any of you have children, but mm-hmm.

[00:04:47] Cheryse Terry: I print out my pictures still on Shutterfly. Yes. And you'll be surprised at how your kids like love physical pictures of themselves. We be last year and they, you know, they. , they actually respond differently to physical pictures. So it's important for us to [00:05:00] document our work and our journeys, even our journaling, going back, looking at journals, reading my journals from four years ago.

[00:05:05] Cheryse Terry: Yeah. Kinda seeing how far I've come in my thoughts. Mm-hmm. um, In my interests, it's, it is important to kind of plan what's next for you. Now, have 

[00:05:12] Ta-Myia: you instilled this and your kids to document and archive the things that they're doing 

[00:05:17] Cheryse Terry: now? Absolutely. My daughter is, oh, they have their little disposable camera.

[00:05:22] Cheryse Terry: So today I wanted to take a selfie in her room and little, you know, my daughter's 17. There was a little picture on her mirror, huh? Her boyfriend kitchen kiss. I like what the hell she documented though. 

[00:05:32] Ta-Myia: Obviously that means something to her.

[00:05:34] Cheryse Terry: I love it. Yes, they do. Their report cards and stuff, I have a plastic bag in my basement, which is crazy cause I need to pull it out and, and put it, scrapbook it all. But their kindergarten report cards and letters they wrote me and, you know, all that type of stuff, so. Oh, okay. They see me practicing archiving.

[00:05:51] Cheryse Terry: So they, they have developed their own practice as, 

[00:05:55] Ta-Myia: Yeah, that's pretty cool. I was just about to ask you, do you scrapbook and have yearbooks and one [00:06:00] more thing, are you a hoarder? Because you said like a creative, you know, we, we just 

[00:06:04] Cheryse Terry: things she said. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Harder. Absolutely. Yeah. A 

[00:06:09] Ta-Myia: okay.

[00:06:09] Ta-Myia: So I don't feel, 

[00:06:10] Cheryse Terry: yeah, its like I was just recently telling my husband like, Our house is, I know people are like, oh, you know, it's started have big house stuff. And I did at first, like me, my house is near century modern, it's vintage. We renovated and all the things, and it was cool. And I was like, all this space will be nice.

[00:06:24] Cheryse Terry: It's gonna be minimalist. Oh, bullshit. , the basement and the garage is full of my thrift fines and vintage fines, and that's why I'm headed to now vintage market. Wow. So, yes. I, I feel like I, I, but I feel like it all makes sense. One day, you know, at the Cherise. Yes, the Cherise Museum, 

[00:06:41] DJ And?: because I was trying to figure out, I went by your shop, my brother took me by the coffee shop and okay.

[00:06:46] DJ And?: I was trying to figure out like, where do you keep this 

[00:06:48] Cheryse Terry: stuff 

[00:06:48] DJ And?: at and how did it get in here and et cetera. And now that you said that you hoard, it makes sense because oh yeah, some of this stuff was so dope, right? But at the same time, I'm like, how do you collect everything and [00:07:00] where do you source it? 

[00:07:01] Cheryse Terry: Oh, it's three.

[00:07:02] Cheryse Terry: It's, it's three times the amount in my house. Mm-hmm. , like when my friends first came to check out archive before it opened, they look around like they, you one trick pony. My house looks exactly the same with my bookshelves being black. And I was, it's being displayed the same way. Wow. I got my office full of stuff and everything.

[00:07:16] Cheryse Terry: I'm, I'm constantly sourcing. Now that archive is here, it'll be supply surpris of the people from the community or people have heard about archive on different publications and like podcasts, like. have reached out to me and mailed me stuff Wow. Me. Like it's One lady said she has 1400 jet magazines that she went to.

[00:07:35] Cheryse Terry: Wow. Relinquish to me. Yeah. So relinquish, it's, it's Stop . I use it right. Google. No, no, no. You use it correct. Use it, correct. Wait a minute. No, I don't think I did . It did. 

[00:07:48] Ta-Myia: Do you remember the first 

[00:07:49] Cheryse Terry: thing you've archived? Yeah. No. I mean, it was closed. It gotta be. Yeah, it's relinquish. She gave, yeah, she given it up.

[00:07:56] Cheryse Terry: Yeah, she given it up. It was, it was clothes. I mean, I still [00:08:00] have pieces from high school that I've thrifted, so it was started off with clothes. Mm-hmm. . . 

[00:08:04] DJ And?: That's amazing. No, that is cuz I, I'll tell you man, I've always been taught like, and that that's interest. Interesting. The point you made about us losing that ability to have things held physically to help document where we are, where we came from, and the importance of it.

[00:08:20] DJ And?: Because you are right. We are going into an extremely digitized world and mm-hmm. , if literally, if the power went out tomorrow, . Mm-hmm. , we're s o l for the most part. You, you wouldn't be able to tell who did what, where, went, et cetera, all that good stuff. The credit system would fall down and everything would start back from, from like stone.

[00:08:39] DJ And?: From stone ages, basically. Absolutely. Yeah. Mm-hmm. . And I know being black and being in America, not that it makes much of a difference. Always tease. It doesn't matter really who you are, but being able to. History to hold onto and know your story and where you came from is, is vitally important to be able to create a new path or move forward in life.

[00:08:58] DJ And?: So for sure, I agree with you [00:09:00] totally on that, but how would we, how do we get folks in this day and age digitize? Everything's minimalistic. to agree and move along with something like 

[00:09:08] Cheryse Terry: that. And that's what I'm working through now. Coming up to try to develop a software mm-hmm. that will have like a, a shared drive amongst your family members to upload pictures and you know, get smart access.

[00:09:21] Cheryse Terry: So smart to to your family members. Cause even think about it, we can go to your grandma house again, I dunno who taking no pictures up outta. take pictures. Like only time they see the pictures. If somebody died, they had to pull it for the Aries. Mm-hmm. . Yep. But then when Grandma died, who devised the pictures who have access to your personal history?

[00:09:37] Cheryse Terry: So encouraging the community creating processes to where they would be able to scan it in mm-hmm. and have a software that they give everybody access to it. 

[00:09:45] Ta-Myia: That's so smart. Cuz like, me being a photographer, I feel like I, I have a archive of everybody's life and history and it's like, it's, I feel a lot of pressure.

[00:09:53] Ta-Myia: Like it's all on me, like, you know, and then my drive crash and I'm like, dang, I just lost 10 years, [00:10:00] 15 years of my life and I'm the only one that had access to all these photos. So it's. Yeah, you're solving that problem and, 

[00:10:06] Cheryse Terry: and how we take pictures too, because mm-hmm. , and I don't know about y'all. When I was young, my mom used to gimme a disposable camera to go on the field trips with Yeah.

[00:10:13] Cheryse Terry: But we, it would just be random. We just wanted to make sure we capture the time. But now everything is so curated. It's like, well, we have a real depiction of what our life was like where. , everything being so curated. Right. 

[00:10:24] Ta-Myia: Good. Talking about curating ny can you talk about talk to us about the black gays and the representation identity expression show.

[00:10:31] Ta-Myia: What was that like in developing that and learning under Mr. Titus Brooks 

[00:10:36] Cheryse Terry: Heins? Yes. Mr. Titus was with his travels and all like, he was very informative. How document, how documentary photography was supposed to be, and more importantly, the relationships you have to develop in order to get those authentic images.

[00:10:51] Cheryse Terry: Mm-hmm. I was that, I mean, I, prior to that show, I had just bought a camera that year. Mm-hmm. , so I didn't even think I was gonna be selected amongst those [00:11:00] photographers. A lot of those guys are from here and I mean, they taught me how to use a camera, so there's no way I thought I was gonna be chosen to be in the group with them, but I was.

[00:11:09] Cheryse Terry: he kind of like made us understand that it was important to see the humanity in people and them to feel the connection with you and understand you might visit somebody months before you ever take one shot of them. Because in order to capture somebody or document someone in a vulnerable state, they have to be vulnerable with you.

[00:11:27] Cheryse Terry: Yeah. So if me deciding to document babies for a road before archive was even thought of, and before I even knew archive was gonna be on babies for a. , I've always had a connection to the side of town for one, because I'm from over here. Mm-hmm. . But for two, this is the historically black part of Charlotte.

[00:11:42] Cheryse Terry: Yeah. Kinda like I stated, like the unhoused people over here don't have access to photography, don't have access to you know, being documented and, and if they are, it's people coming for exploitation, you know, for the news and stuff to say what's going on in the area. So I kinda wanna capture them in their own habitat and just [00:12:00] naturally and to, so they can be seen.

[00:12:01] Cheryse Terry: So even. In my cafe, I have people of the community hanging in here from that project. Mm-hmm. And they bring their friends in here, like I told you I was on the wall. So, so it's very rewarding for them to see themselves in this space and know, like themselves are in love and accepted just how they are in the community.

[00:12:19] Cheryse Terry: Is 

[00:12:20] DJ And?: it just out of naivety, I must ask, is it un, like, is it kind of uner. To get in people's interpersonal space and for, you know, and take documentation of them. How do you get over that, 

[00:12:33] Cheryse Terry: that skill? No, not really because like the language is like, I feel like, and people, I've been asked this before, but it's because I'm from here.

[00:12:42] Cheryse Terry: I know the language, I know the culture. I'm am this. Yeah. So I don't, I don't feel the difference. I don't feel a barrier. I don't feel, you know, I don't feel. Contrast. Mm-hmm. And they know that, they know that it's natural. I'm like, what y'all got going on out here? You know, like, y'all hanging out. You ain't doing no work.

[00:12:56] Cheryse Terry: All this stuff. , take a look. How you wanna take a picture of me [00:13:00] for? But damn, I can't get . See, that's what I, 

[00:13:02] DJ And?: yeah. Like, but I speak the language. Yeah. 

[00:13:06] Cheryse Terry: I speak the language. They like, for real? What you gonna, I'm like, because y'all ain't took no pictures and y'all deserve y'all. All right. Y'all deserve for real.

[00:13:13] Cheryse Terry: You think so? So by the end of my sessions, y'all said they're gonna get each other like the girl down there, take pictures. I thought I was gonna face some resistance and I didn't. They were like very embracing to what I was doing. And now that I have a business over here, there's so much respect. Some of those people who I've taken pictures of don't have anything to give me, but a pick up trash from outside of my door without asking.

[00:13:33] Cheryse Terry: So just stop by and say, Hey, I'm just proud of you. Don't bother me. Just like that's don't show. That's real love. Yeah. So it's a level of pride that came with it. Mm-hmm. , 

[00:13:41] Ta-Myia: that's amazing. I wanna hear more about Archive Charlotte, cuz I haven't visited, so I need to make my way up there. Mm-hmm. . So can you tell us about you know, being an entrepreneur and tell us about your journey and everything about what you guys have going on.

[00:13:53] Cheryse Terry: Well, I guess the business and the entrepreneur part is extremely new to me. I've always been a, a creative, I [00:14:00] also, I actually went by the name, she's in the mood one time. Cause whatever I felt I did , it was like, oh, this can make me some money and like always monetizing my hobbies. Yeah, which just is drastically different.

[00:14:10] Cheryse Terry: Keeping up with the staff and pars and like running the cafe and making sure like the money balances at the end of the month is drastically different from the creative process. Yeah. I'm going that. And that has been a challenge. Mm-hmm. , but I will say, you know how they say the beauty is in the, in the the, the, the progress.

[00:14:27] Cheryse Terry: Mm-hmm. . Yeah. And it was all summer. I was here building it up, you know, our crowd was able to crowdfund 40 K and 40 days by the community and investors. Yeah. So I put the call out. And needed the capital to open. It felt like it was something that community need about it with should I offer like a t-shirt in exchange?

[00:14:43] Cheryse Terry: But I was like, no, I, I feel like I've planted a seed in my community and I'm gonna see if it'll come back. And it did. And continues to. So I first inquired about this space. Originally it was gonna be just a bookstore and an invented. , my consultant with the broker over here that had the vision for [00:15:00] this strip cuz archive is, is in the strip.

[00:15:02] Cheryse Terry: Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Could be a coffee. Should have a coffee in here because it's a bank right here that's gonna be a bank. A bakery. Yes. And so I'm like, I don't know anything about coffee or beverage. Like I never worked in food or beverage. Yeah. And I was referred to a local roaster here who mentored me. And then I, I engaged the right staff, which is black creatives.

[00:15:19] Cheryse Terry: Mm-hmm. in the culinary industry here. That gave an opportunity to, and it has panned. . So I followed my dreams, but, you know, my biggest revenue stream wasn't even something I set out to do. Like, I, I, I still don't own a coffee maker in my house. I don't know much. I dunno. girl. Wow. I 

[00:15:35] DJ And?: don't, the coffee's good, by the way.

[00:15:36] DJ And?: Yeah. 

[00:15:37] Cheryse Terry: It's, it's delicious. It is. It's delicious. Yep. I have the espresso. It's like, yes. So I always say I really don't believe in a singular genius. I took the best of everybody in the city and engaged them and paid them properly. And this came. I like that you're 

[00:15:50] Ta-Myia: always a learner. I can tell 

[00:15:52] Cheryse Terry: you're always learning all the time.

[00:15:54] Cheryse Terry: You can't listen once a day. You know it all. You don't know nothing. Mm-hmm. 

[00:15:58] Ta-Myia: So can you tell us about the [00:16:00] impact for the community? Are they looking to, you know, help you fundraise more do more events, stuff like 

[00:16:06] Cheryse Terry: that? Yeah. So I think the community feels invested in archives because a lot of people donated.

[00:16:12] Cheryse Terry: I met a guy last week that it was his first time in, I opened in August, but last week was his first time being with his family and the level of pride that he had when he come in, like I was one of the donors. I'm like, okay, so people actually feel like embarrassed cause whether it was $5 or thousand dollars, , you know, their personal money went into me, me building this.

[00:16:30] Cheryse Terry: So that's very intimate. I have events here. Archive can be rented out for events. A lot of local photographers, he launched a book. He had his event in here and that was very successful. I have applied for some grant. A lot of secretary Marshall for by Secret Service wasn't here. So a lot of the local politicians have embraced archive and take all their meetings.

[00:16:49] Cheryse Terry: So I feel like it's really like giving Davis score a role, a facelift, and showing what they thought couldn't be done is actually being done. That's, wow. I'm proud of you. No, 

[00:16:58] DJ And?: you have definitely drunk [00:17:00] the mold over there. You have definitely 

[00:17:01] Cheryse Terry: broken the mold. Thank you. Thank you. 

[00:17:03] Ta-Myia: Yes, ma'am. How do you manage everything?

[00:17:05] Ta-Myia: Because you know you're still a mom, so how do you manage your life? 

[00:17:10] Cheryse Terry: I have an assistant, skinny J, my assistant. I love it. I've known him since high school and he's very like stern and. . So he, he approached me like, I'm gonna be the event coordinator. I'm like, okay. At the time I didn't know, like, ok, ok, have

[00:17:22] Cheryse Terry: I actually needed him to kind be, because you know, when you open something, . It's something that the city don't have. Mm-hmm. , you know, people wanna do body painting in here. Right. You gotta set and all. Yes. Like, damn, I love my poop. But you can't bake a, the middle

[00:17:38] Cheryse Terry: cha Yeah. Heel your shockers by balancing a Turkey in your head. Power to you. Like, damn. 

[00:17:44] Skip: I'm glad you said that though. Cause I think about that all the time. That promise, there's nothing wrong. And I'll put it like the, and this is the, one of the things I noticed when I went into into the to the book to the coffee shop for the first time.

[00:17:56] Skip: Uhhuh . You could tell you're somebody that's for [00:18:00] the culture, but mm-hmm. , you have a balance. With it. . Yes. 

[00:18:06] Cheryse Terry: So was I in here when you 

[00:18:08] Skip: came? No. Now the, I've been twice. Mm-hmm. and the staff. I know. I think every time I've went, Alma was there. Alma's amazing. 

[00:18:16] Cheryse Terry: Alma awesome. Yeah. Alma is amazing. Y'all looking at her right now.

[00:18:18] Cheryse Terry: She is amazing. 

[00:18:19] DJ And?: Yeah. Yep. She's she's awesome. Yeah, she's awesome. 

[00:18:21] Skip: And but with the way it's designed, the way it's laid out, it's for the culture, but it's done in a clean. Professional way. Mm-hmm. , it's 

[00:18:32] DJ And?: not messy, not brash. It's not 

[00:18:35] Cheryse Terry: bra. I was looking at the pictures. I was 

[00:18:36] Ta-Myia: like, 

[00:18:37] Cheryse Terry: business. 

[00:18:37] DJ And?: We can repeat that that one more time.

[00:18:40] DJ And?: Its not, it's not. Yes, 

[00:18:41] Cheryse Terry: yes. Allowed to say this. Christian

[00:18:44] Cheryse Terry: freedom of speech, not nigga is not nigga bitch, but yeah. Yeah. And that's the thing. And I made, I made sure and vet because. You know, like me, even down to me hiring a CPA to do my account work, I wanted to make sure that not, not only did I get archives, but I was able to sustain [00:19:00] archive and thank you archive was able to be scale.

[00:19:02] Cheryse Terry: You know, and if you start off a certain way, that's how things would be. You set the tone, so, Down to highlight Ahma is a, a Starbucks employee. We learned 

[00:19:10] DJ And?: that. Like what I told her, I can tell she pulled in during that special shot. Like a professional . , 

[00:19:15] Cheryse Terry: yes. But even that, it's like a culture difference to what I'm trying to create at Archive.

[00:19:19] Cheryse Terry: Mm-hmm. , you know, it's very machined at Starbucks. It's very like robotic, but here I'm like, I'ma like you are able, , you know, personal brand. Mm-hmm. like out there. Y'all able to call her by name. Yeah. And all the archive is great. She herself is great. So like trying to make sure that she's being developed.

[00:19:36] Cheryse Terry: She wants her own cafe one day, making sure she understand what her people want and just the needs of what our community is or whatever. So yeah, that, that every part of the business. Has been strategic for sure to make sure it ain't negative . And, 

[00:19:48] DJ And?: and I like that because for our podcast, teaching people the ropes and showing them the ropes, how to po, how to positively and properly do business, especially for something to [00:20:00] create longevity, it's good for them to hear what you're saying.

[00:20:03] DJ And?: I remember when back in college, we played intramural sports and we used to always talk about having what we. Our little brother teams where we just have all our friends on our little basketball teams. It would never do. Because the problem was we didn't have it set up in a, in a proper format, meaning homeboy teams are cool, but like you said, it can't be running a nigger business.

[00:20:24] DJ And?: We gotta have proper plays. You gotta have people come showing up for practice and you gotta put for that work so that you can at least do well. Right. Structure, structure important. Yeah. And so, mm-hmm. , when it comes to business, if you want it to, Over a period of time when you want it to grow and to continue to move, you have to have that structure.

[00:20:41] DJ And?: So the fact that you're saying those little things, you're saying like bringing in a CPA to make sure your books are balanced, right? And so that you can move forward with business property, you know, what your outcomes are gonna look like, or what your outlook's gonna look like a year from now, two years from now, having those plans in place.

[00:20:54] DJ And?: A lot of folks, especially millennials and young folks growing up, Trying to push business. We don't get that [00:21:00] information. Mm-hmm. , we just jump out here. Okay, we have this, this together where it's gonna make it work. I e we're gonna hustle and instead of making it a hustle, we need to learn how to make it a business.

[00:21:10] DJ And?: And, and that's something that's, I think we need to continue to reiterate. And that's why it's nice to see how your business operates and the functionality along with the culture and the form of it is just beautiful. Yeah. 

[00:21:22] Ta-Myia: Workflow is important. Yes. Yes. Thank you. 

[00:21:25] Cheryse Terry: Do you have a support system? Absolutely.

[00:21:27] Cheryse Terry: So I'm blessed to have the two investors that I've decided on for my business. One of them is a business attorney. Doesn't have several business that he's invested in. Huh? And have a corporate background. Tough. So, I mean, I had a author, I'm sure I wouldn't, I ain't gonna name drop, but I have two authors who are New York Times best seller, well over, over millions of followers that reached out to me first about being invested.

[00:21:48] Cheryse Terry: Yeah. And although, you know, they're great. and that would've been, you know, okay choice. I needed someone on my team that knew the business part. Yeah, yeah. Or we could gain the following, we could gain, you know, the, the, the author [00:22:00] community or whatever. But I needed somebody who knew the business to cut out a lot of mistakes.

[00:22:04] Cheryse Terry: from the beginning. Mm-hmm. , which they have, they smart save me so much of time and, and mistakes. The heartache, the wisdom. They Yes, yes. And just being realistic about the business. Like, truth be told, I haven't even paid myself yet from archive. Like all the money from my staff, my sales taxes have to reinvest back into smart business.

[00:22:21] Cheryse Terry: So it's not for the faint of heart, like the numbers are there, but not for myself, for the business. . You gotta be willing to do it. And it's, it's not a, it's not a like, cloudy type of, you know, I'm a business owner, you know, the entrepreneurs and I'm not about to go nowhere. Having you pay a package to teach you how to be a guru or none of that shit, like, I'm the of it.

[00:22:40] Cheryse Terry: No masterclass. You won't, no masterclass for me. , 

[00:22:44] Ta-Myia: talk about your the sacrifice though. What sacrifices have you 

[00:22:47] Cheryse Terry: made? Of time for one. I mean, damn missing my eight year olds, her, her first softball game. My daughter's who chili her games, I mean, just a lot of sacrifices. I always said, like, you know, as creative, I was [00:23:00] early in my life.

[00:23:01] Cheryse Terry: A lot of people used to say, you can move to New York, you can do this, Shar, you so crazy. You can do this. But I never wanted my children to sacrifice for my success. Mm-hmm. , you know, people are like, oh, I got a PhD and I'm a mom. Mm-hmm. , you gotta always think to yourself, with all those plaques on the wall, what do the kids have to sacrifice for these ladies that have all these accomplishments?

[00:23:19] Cheryse Terry: And I was never willing to. My time and accessibility as a mother for my own personal success. But now I feel like was the time. Cause I have a daughter that's going into college next year, a daughter going into eighth grade, and a smaller daughter who, you know, her dad gets her every seven days on, seven days off.

[00:23:36] Cheryse Terry: He's engaging, has twins. So she's able to, I'm able to like, you know, dog it out for seven days and when she come back, kind of fully be present. Mm-hmm. . So I've sacrificed a lot of my. Personal finances. You know, me and my friend girls can't just sit around and shoot the shit and play tongue like we used to.

[00:23:51] Cheryse Terry: Right. Like, have to constantly strategize what's next and just keep, keep the business afloat. I was just 

[00:23:57] Ta-Myia: about to ask you that. Do you have a community of women behind [00:24:00] you supporting 

[00:24:00] Cheryse Terry: you two? Oh, absolutely. Like. . I can't do nothing with that. Like the men in my life, top tier. But the women in my life, like black women come through like my, even my homegirl that's in corporate, she's at Wells Fargo and by the time archive opened, she was like, listen, I've worked at retail before.

[00:24:18] Cheryse Terry: The supply closet. People don't like working for people who supply closet missed. But she was dragging in shells, I mean, willing to put up her own money for it. The girl, like very true. The Alma Kenya. , I'm on her days off. She'll notice like something in her spirit will feel something wrong. Cherice, you know, you could do it.

[00:24:34] Cheryse Terry: I'm proud of you. Keep going. I mean, mind you, she's somebody who I gave opportunity to, but she's constantly pouring into me and praying for me and Kenya. Making sure the organization and archive's like stuff that you don't need, you can't even pay for. Yeah. Yeah. The women in my life are, are.

[00:24:50] Cheryse Terry: Beautiful. And it, it's so important to me, especially not having a mom. Mm-hmm. having an extra love from your friend, girls and the the women around you. Aw man. It's a blessing. [00:25:00] Mm. Do you 

[00:25:01] Ta-Myia: have any events coming up? Because I definitely wanna attend. 

[00:25:03] Cheryse Terry: Yeah, so I'm, I'm planning a book club again. I know the lady's mad at me cause we have one good first book club.

[00:25:09] Cheryse Terry: We've watched the documentary of Tony Morrison. We've reading the Blues, said I was gonna send out the questions and it's been a month's been crazy. So in December, the end of December, we'll have a book club meeting. . I have a concealed carry class that will be here December 4th. Cause I'm, I am I promote Carrie.

[00:25:26] Cheryse Terry: Thank you. I take me a nine millimeter. I don't play the game. And I feel like our community need to be informed about firearms. Know the safety of firearm to be legit with it. Mm-hmm. . So yes, so I have a firearm class here. And it's a lot of events that's, that will be at the top of the year. Oh, that is so dope.

[00:25:43] Cheryse Terry: So just stay tuned now. We gonna post some on our website next week, so just stay tuned with. 

[00:25:48] DJ And?: Man. Well, I, I do want you to if you could for our audience, cause I know they're gonna be listening to this, they're gonna hear all this good information from you. Okay. Are there, are there one or two things that you could [00:26:00] harp on when it comes to, and, and I like how you put in that you invest a lot of your time and the time is the most important thing.

[00:26:09] DJ And?: And I, I know I was listening to this really big shot investor. You know, made really good money. Hi. Him and his wife. Those two put most of the effort into it. He always talked about, man, I wish I could have more time with my children. Mm-hmm. , is there, is there anything that you would do differently? And if not, why wouldn't you do it differently when it comes to creating and spending that time with the business?

[00:26:36] Cheryse Terry: No. I feel like I. um, Created a balance for myself all summer, which the kids was outta school sometime they came and th it with me putting it together, like physically putting it together, collaging the bathroom and all this stuff. But I Oh, they helped you with the collage in the bathroom? Yeah.

[00:26:52] Skip: Ooh. And you know, I'm gonna say this, you know, that was my, that's like my favorite part. And I know people are like, oh, I don't like, you know. No. It's like the favorite part of the business is the [00:27:00] bathroom . 

[00:27:01] DJ And?: But I love the bathroom. 

[00:27:03] Skip: Yeah. It is awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't do 

[00:27:06] Cheryse Terry: amazing job. You don't, people that don't de design the bathroom is missing a design opportunity.

[00:27:11] Cheryse Terry: Like there's a place that people gotta go. So yeah, that's, you missing a design opportunity when you don't. Designed the bathroom. So I used the collage suitcases like that. Mm-hmm. with the ads and stuff. And so I knew like I, I wanted to do gallery wall, but you see that everywhere still in the floor frame.

[00:27:27] Cheryse Terry: So I'm like, what would be a breath taker? Cause everything else is so black and white, so minimal. Yeah. And so um, I knew I had to do that. It 

[00:27:34] DJ And?: just catches you. Go 

[00:27:35] Cheryse Terry: ahead. My. , thank you. Thank you, thank you. But to answer your question, no. I was strategic about my hiring. Of course, it's a new business, so I actually need to be president.

[00:27:44] Cheryse Terry: Meeting people, kind of setting the standard for my expectations of archives. Mm-hmm. . However, I did staff accordingly so that I can be present for my kids. My daughter actually works here in the evening, so she, her school's up the street, she walk here. and she works every day in the evenings.

[00:27:59] Cheryse Terry: [00:28:00] Like I said, my baby girl, she's gone seven days on, seven days off her school's up the street. So when she comes, she actually works on the weekend. Wow. So, no, I, I made sure to know that I balanced time because girl, you sound like the motherhood . You 

[00:28:12] DJ And?: got them kids, got them babies working, come get on 

[00:28:14] Cheryse Terry: this fall, eight years old.

[00:28:16] Cheryse Terry: She works the day, you know, like, wow. She know what to do. , she know what to do. Like I don't, I don't, I don't help her. She know how to greet people. Hey, how you doing? What can we get for you today? Yeah, that's amazing. She love it. Yeah, she love. One day we went home and she said She said, you know what I like most about the working mom?

[00:28:33] Cheryse Terry: I said, what? She said, I'd just love to see the smile on a piece of people's faces. I said, okay, well, when you are the successor and you talking to your team, make sure that they know when you were eight years old that you said, yeah, that the most important part of you is the smile on the people's faces.

[00:28:45] Cheryse Terry: Yeah. So you can always keep your values. Yeah. She was like, okay. But yeah, so that, that's, that's cool to kind of be a teen mom. Yeah. And have Kaylee when I was 15 and be able to hire her as, Man. 

[00:28:56] Ta-Myia: Are there any collaborations you want to do in the future with [00:29:00] anybody? Like a field that you haven't tapped into yet?

[00:29:02] Cheryse Terry: No. I'm in conversation with the c e O of, of Ebony that 

[00:29:06] DJ And?: name drop. All right. Okay. All Sorry about that either. 

[00:29:09] Cheryse Terry: So I, I would love to like do an official collaboration with, I know Dalen out there at Jet. . So I would actually love to do official collaboration or kind of talk them into possibly doing print once a year of archive collaboration.

[00:29:22] Cheryse Terry: So just the og tycoons and publications. I would, I would love to do collaborations with Essence, you know? Mm-hmm. Yeah, 

[00:29:29] DJ And?: I think that's something that would work for them, and that would be right at the alley. I, I think that's something that would work. 

[00:29:33] Ta-Myia: Well tag them on the post 

[00:29:35] Cheryse Terry: tag. Sure. H B C U I would love to have an.

[00:29:38] Cheryse Terry: my future plans is to have a arch archive in every city that A H B C U is in. So just, you know, collaborations with HBCUs would be amazing. Agree. You about 

[00:29:46] DJ And?: to blow this thing out the blue, right? I ain't, I'm 

[00:29:48] Ta-Myia: proud of you. I'm not even going. I can't say that again. I'm proud 

[00:29:50] Cheryse Terry: of you. Like, yes. Thank you.

[00:29:52] Cheryse Terry: Thank 

[00:29:53] Ta-Myia: you so much. So can you tell everybody how they can find you on social media, website, everything? 

[00:29:58] Cheryse Terry: Yes. So our [00:30:00] website is archive clt.com. and my personal Instagram is c h e r y s e t e r r y, Charice Terry. And our archive Instagram is archive underscore c l t. Also your 

[00:30:14] Ta-Myia: hours of operation if anyone wants 

[00:30:16] Cheryse Terry: to stop by.

[00:30:16] Cheryse Terry: I'm open every day. Actually. I'm open every day from the weekdays is eight to six and the weekends is nine to. 

[00:30:23] DJ And?: Okay, dope. Dope. Definitely a place they're gonna want to go and get you a good cup of coffee or other beverage even. Little pastry. But man, just going in there absolutely for the vibes, man.

[00:30:34] DJ And?: It just makes you feel better when you walk in that place. , and I know my brother was big on it. He's like, yo, you need to leave Columbia and go visit these other places, . And so we were up there. I mean, he'd be talking trash to me, Mo he's the older brother, that's what he's supposed to do. He beat me up.

[00:30:48] DJ And?: Mm-hmm. . He was like, yo, we're gonna ride over here and you're gonna come here. Because I mean, I, I, I recently got married and her family, they have, they a lot of family in Charlotte. And the one thing I don't do when I miss Charlotte, I thought, this is always weird. I was like, man, I [00:31:00] don't go to enough black business.

[00:31:01] DJ And?: It's, yeah, man. So I'm like, yo, let me, let me get myself right. So he took me over there and I was like, this experience bar none was one of the best experiences I've had in a, in a local business in a while. 

[00:31:13] Cheryse Terry: Thank you so much. I stay all the time. Like black. Us being black, black, black Being black is enough to get you through the door for black businesses.

[00:31:20] Cheryse Terry: Cause we're curious and we, you know, naturally wanna support each other. Yeah. But being black is not enough to keep, to keep people coming. Indeed. And I tell my staff, it's like black people, we, we, by default, they're gonna come mm-hmm. , but that's not, that's, that's not gonna make sure that they're a customer.

[00:31:34] Cheryse Terry: Like their experience there will take them from curious to customer. Yes. 

[00:31:37] DJ And?: Yes. Yes. Mm-hmm. . And you do have to offer a great experience. I know this is a big call, Anderson. . It's to make sure that your business is proper, that is working correctly. Yes. That you have all your ducks in row, because it's not just about getting black people in there, it's about it being a business generally for anybody.

[00:31:54] DJ And?: Yeah. That they can trust a product, that there's no issues with them, that they don't put you on a different [00:32:00] status. Do you know what I mean? Like when they see you and they see Starbucks, boom, I'm gonna choose archive. Hmm. 

[00:32:06] Cheryse Terry: Absolutely. Mm. Absolutely. I agree. 

[00:32:08] Skip: And I think the other thing too that I noticed too, and this is something I always harp on, and I always will, and I hopefully I won't have to harp on it forever, but the way your staff treats everybody, it's the same.

[00:32:22] Skip: You know, we have a problem in our culture when it comes down to us doing business, whether or not it's a storefront, whether or not it's us providing a service. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. , we have difficulty, some of us have difficulty with maintaining. A consistent level of customer service. Right. Based off of, yeah.

[00:32:40] Skip: Where we see people at, correct. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . Whether or not we see it, them as well, I need to do a really good job with this person cuz this person's gonna open a door for me. Whereas I just need to just give them what they need and they can go throughout their business. Mm-hmm. and, and I, and that's one of the things that I sensed just from going in there, [00:33:00] just from, like I said, just from interactions with the staff there you can tell, like it can be a stranger can come in, it can be their best.

[00:33:06] Skip: and it can be somebody they never seen, but they've always treated, they always treat everybody at that same high level, and you could tell that's a culture that you've instilled in place. Yes, and that is huge. 

[00:33:17] Cheryse Terry: Thank you. Well, when I hire everyone here and, and this is my motto, no one will work for me more than five years.

[00:33:23] Cheryse Terry: Five years you out the door. Wow. I wanna make sure I hire people that had a aspirations of entrepreneurship because when people see some, your job is just the job, then that's how they're gonna treat it. Mm-hmm. , but I made sure I had a team of people that inspire, aspire to be entrepreneurs, and then more specifically have their own cafe.

[00:33:43] Cheryse Terry: So this supported them, the opportunity to be, to have their business, to own their own business while they're here. Kind of make your customers and just see what it's like to like run the show. I'm not in particular, I'm, I mean, I come from a corporate background. I work at Bank of America for a while.

[00:33:58] Cheryse Terry: I did Wells Fargo for Ari while, and [00:34:00] although I could not stand that structure, like I, I'm just, I'm not cut for that . I'm not cut for it. J tell I can't live with, can't. No. . . Yeah. No. However, like I do respect how the structure was built and how customer experience was always the most important part of the business.

[00:34:15] Cheryse Terry: Yeah. So, me. You know, being able to develop people and kind of like even in our meetings, I show my team numbers. Wow. You know? Mm-hmm. , why we can't do certain stuff, why certain stuff can't be like, I'm not a gatekeeper of information. Mm-hmm. , especially when I know this is an industry that they're interested in, right?

[00:34:32] Cheryse Terry: Mm-hmm. . So I made sure everyone I hire had aspirations of entrepreneurship. Cause it's a different level of drive that come along with it. And that's what Umer, AHMA King and, and the other staff. , 

[00:34:42] DJ And?: so Dope. Dope. Well, it's about that time we're gonna have to wrap up, but before we do wrap up, I know we had a little bit of shameless promotion.

[00:34:52] DJ And?: Is there anything else you would like to add? before we, 

[00:34:55] Cheryse Terry: no, I just think I wanna thank everybody for supporting archive [00:35:00] thus far. And, you know, trusting, trusting us to be, you know, a pioneer in this type of space and help it, they'll grow with us. I'm, I'm just grateful to be chosen for the job, but it's not a one person show.

[00:35:14] Cheryse Terry: I need everybody's support and participation to grow and. Sustained. They have longevity. 

[00:35:19] DJ And?: I appreciate that humbleness, man. And maybe that's why everything's working so well. Mm-hmm. , like, like I said, it feeds down from the top. So what you're doing looks correct. I don't see anything wrong with it at the moment.

[00:35:29] DJ And?: If there is, I'll come and let you know. , but , anything looks good. So I do wanna let everybody know in our audience and our our audience and those who listen to our podcast. That we want to thank of course Miss Cherri Terry, for joining us today. We appreciate your time and your energy. We appreciate your business.

[00:35:45] DJ And?: We will be back to see you again. We appreciate Alma and also 

[00:35:49] Cheryse Terry: hold.

[00:35:50] Cheryse Terry: Yeah. What's, 

[00:35:52] Skip: what's going on? What's, what's good 

[00:35:55] Cheryse Terry: working girl? I

[00:35:57] Cheryse Terry: about you for? [00:36:00] Aw 

[00:36:00] DJ And?: man. She's such a sweetheart, 

[00:36:02] Cheryse Terry: man. Yeah, she's a good fit man. I'm. Well, I 

[00:36:05] DJ And?: just wanna sign off DJ and what? Skip Tamaya. Thank you so much Ms. Terry. Thank you so much. Thank y'all. Everybody have a good Saturday. Y'all be blessed 

[00:36:13] Cheryse Terry: out. You too. Peace. Thank you. Y'all have a good one.

[00:36:16] Cheryse Terry: Thank.