We were lucky to catch up with Genelle Brooks-Petty recently and have shared our conversation below.
Genelle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
I am a fourth generation Leimert Park resident who along with my husband, Julian Petty, decided to grow our family in this community during a pivotal time in its redevelopment. Instead of watching the community that I know and love be moved as a byproduct of gentrification, I have joined forces with so many other community members to contribute to the reimagining and development of our neighborhood. We are building businesses and organizations that hold space for the existing residents while enhancing their community experience.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Though I have lived in several cities (Chicago, Washington, DC, New York, and New Orleans/Baton Rouge) Los Angeles is home. When my husband (a native New Yorker) and I decided to purchase a home for our growing family, we found the right fit minutes from my childhood home. The energy and love I received from the people of this place fueled my entrepreneurial spirit and my interest in social impact work.
Serving as the founder and principal designer of BPC Interior Design, my office is in Leimert Park as well. I look at design as an opportunity to shift outcomes and it was important to base my practice in a place that needs the power of design as more than a luxury. I aim to build community through design and believe we are providing a service that helps people live and work better. To that end I am also engaged (through Executive Board and committee leadership) in advocacy work. I am a board member of the Black Owned & Operated Community Land Trust (BOO CLT), and Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE-LA). I also participate in efforts to promote equity in architecture through membership in the Sothern California Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects, (SoCal NOMA), L.A. Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA-LA) and Association for Women in Architecture and Design (AWA+D).
Having a brewing interest in being engaged with the growth of our underserved community my husband, Julian and I decided to be involved with the commercial development of our neighborhood. Marrying my love for ice cream and his love for hip-hop, All Chill-a hip-hop ice cream shop was born in late 2020. We have developed the business rooted in three tenets: culture, community and cream. The shop, which opens Thursday-Sunday 12-7 serving house-made artisanal ice cream, sorbet and vegan cremes and rotating exhibits of hip-hop memorabilia, has been embraced by the community and beyond. We host other local businesses with the goal of helping build awareness and patronage of their products. This is a family business with me, my husband, our girls (aged 8 and 10), and a small crew of family and friends to run the shop and our events.
I am a proud graduate of Howard University’s School of Business and hold a Master of Interior Architecture from the UCLA/Cal Poly Pomona joint study program.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Our ice cream shop, ALL Chill, is a big lesson in resilience. It took almost three years to get our doors open. We decided to open during the COVID-19 lockdown. We had to convince our landlord to let us lease the place. We had delays with getting the permit to renovate. We had issues with our building that were revealed during construction. We had major construction delays and through every push back we pushed harder to build and grow and get the door to our first retail store open. That meant a lot of sleepless nights, conversations with my daughters to explain why I worked so much, and time in my design studio, with my family and friends, as well as rejuvenating moments sacrificed to come to the day that we could fully open our doors to the public to offer our kind of joy to a community that needs more of it.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
We keep in touch with our clients through social media (Instagram, Facebook @allchillinc), direct e-mails, and being in the community in and out of our store. We partner with other organizations, we open our doors, we serve scoops all through L.A. and we do it consistently in celebration of our community. We represent a resurgence in self-determination in our community and that with a high-quality product, resonate with our customers.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.allchillinc.com
- Instagram: @allchillinc
- Facebook: facebook.com/allchillinc
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/all-chill-los-angeles?osq=All+chill+Ice+Cream
Image Credits
All Chill, Inc