We were lucky to catch up with Mel Alston recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Our mission has become the REBEL eco-system. REBEL stands for Relinquishing Erratic Behavior Enhancing Life. One of the prongs in our eco-system is the Cosmicality. Brand, which is our food service branch. It is the one of many that will come from the REBEL system. A system built exclusively for our young people who come from backgrounds of impoverishment and underserved communities. REBEL aims to prevent, reduce and combat juvenile recidivism. REBEL will help youth achieve their goals and aspirations through resources, advocating, opportunities, and mentorship. Our mission is to have a nationwide impact, become a standard model in removing the negative stigmas of traditional residential settings by redefining its very meaning through forward-looking strategies and practices. Our vision is that every youth will become substantive, contributing members in their community.

In the field I work in, our youth – not in its entirety – but enough to be alarmed are in a precarious position, where the choices that they make in their very near future can have an adverse projection that will overcast them into and throughout their adulthood. I have personally seen and witnessed, even to this day, the outcome of those choices made both positive and negative. I can’t have an idea planted in my mind and reaffirmed in the most meaningful of times, and willfully choose to NOT act on it.

With our mission we aim to be a difference maker to promote and create other avenues and views of possibilities for our youth. Reach one youth successfully and it has the ability to impact a whole generation and generations to come.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I stumbled into my industry, lol. It’s funny how the universe conspires for your greater good. In 2009, I just moved back from New York to the Washington DC area after college, and was in need of a job. The initial plan was to re-group and move to another city. I planned on staying two years tops and I was out, lol. I started actively working with young people in my community. Most of them come from impoverished backgrounds, and underserved communities. They are faced with immeasurable odds stacked against them on a daily basis. I began working with this particular community at both alternative high schools and middle schools in Washington D.C. In 2011, started working in Maryland with a government agency that works with young people who come in contact with the judicial system.

I never saw myself in this field, never had any inclination growing up to have any interest in it. However, discovering that I am naturally gifted in this field and connecting with young people, I found and saw purpose. I saw the effects of showing up in this space – authentically, and the positive effects and impact it can have on a young person’s life. When you find your purpose, life constantly affirms it and never lets you stray too far from it. I can’t think of a better purpose to aspire to inspire the younger generations, and to help them navigate, circumvent life lessons and pitfalls you have already learned.

What I’m most proud of is my dedication, perseverance, relentlessness, and most importantly being a student to be where I am today in my career. I’m thankful to be a high level director and manager in just a span of almost 13 years. Being one of the youngest in my field at the time and being blessed to not look my age, created a few challenges. Sometimes, I get mistaken for a youth, lol. Thankfully, it hasn’t happened in a couple years. Back then and sometimes even now, older staff don’t like my new and youthful approach to reaching the youth, or they thought I was too young to have the influence that I had with the youth. You have to make a choice to either fall in line with a system that is outdated or choose to remain authentic to self no matter what obstacles lie ahead.

Needless to say, I didn’t move away. Even when in doubt over the years, I have had my purpose constantly reaffirmed through the letters youth wrote, their parents showing their gratitude for being there and working with their children, seeing the youth and young adults in the community and the joy and proudness they have to update me on what is going on in their life – (new job, off probation, better relationship with family, playing sports, passing grades at school, having their own children). I’ve had my purpose re-affirmed in the most opportune times where my soul needed some reassurance and re-alignment in the mist of trials and tribulations, and that’s how I know all things conspire for your greater good. Over the course of my career, I’ve had different coworkers tell me that I’m gifted in this field, with one even joking “you know if you had your own program, I would come work for you!” Those constant affirmations and the lack of rehabilitation I continue to see in this field led me to in fact create my own program which is currently a work in progress now. As the late and great, Nipsey Hussle says, “Find your purpose or you wastin’ air.”

I’m proud to be on this mission of seeing this REBEL eco-system built in its entirety and the lives and hearts that we can help along the way.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I’ve known Monet Wright for more than half of my life. We played in the AAU basketball circuit together, even played on the same team for a period of time when we were in our adolescent and teen years. Monet is my business partner and the Creative Marketing Director for the Cosmicality. Brand.

We reconnected organically during the pandemic, 2020. We were in the midst of the pandemic and adjusting to the “new normals” that we, globally, had no control over. We were talking and I shared what the company was all about, the essence of it and its mission. Monet believed in the concept and gave her creative input. She is a gifted creative designer, a creative genius, and we have collaborated ever since then into what is now, the Cosmicality. Brand.

In this click-baiting, popcorn, microwave era that we have been in on at least a social level as a society, Monet’s genuine friendship, authenticity, and the person she is, is a breath of fresh air and a rare gem. You don’t take those people or friendships for granted. I don’t believe that the Cosmicality. Brand can get this degree of notoriety and sustainment without her. She is an integral piece to this company.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The road to success is not based on how you want it and or see it. If a smooth ride to success is what you are looking for, it’s like searching for a unicorn or seeing Big Foot in person. Getting out of your own way and “Trusting the Process” is a lesson that I’ve had to learn over the past few years.

Quick backstory: to get into each particular situation; however relevant, we would be here all day, lol. Let me some it up quickly to get to the lesson that was learned.

I started writing the REBEL eco-system in 2014 off and on. In 2014 and in 2015, I sustained back to back work injuries, the latter putting me out of work for over a year. So now we fast forward to 2016. If you know about work injuries, worker’s compensation, and state govt jobs, you know that it’s an uphill battle to receive compensation as the bills continue to pour in, on time and on schedule. A friend suggested I turn my cooking skills into a side hustle to pay my bills, which I took as a necessary means of survival through my worker’s compensation case which ended in 2017. However, fast forward to 2019, and I had developed the business and now had an organic clientele base and was steadily growing. Clients weren’t just in the DMV area, but we had reached states like Florida, Texas, Georgia (ATL), and New York. Now the thought process was to grow and scale turn this side hustle into a business and create and provide job opportunities to the young people in our community that REBEL aimed to service. It was all coming together.

2020 comes and behold March Madness, the NCAA Basketball Tournament, was being hosted in ATL. Can you see the wheels turning and the many ideas coming down to, that is where this company needs to be? That was the idea. I planned and planned, and planned some more. The marketing strategy was going to work with the low expectations of reaching 100-200 people to the high expectations that were wasn’t going to be a cap of reaching people. The strategy was to reach successfully people who came in town for the event, and have them organically spread word about our business when they returned to their home state. After all, an organic clientele base was the origin when the business began and had proven to be successful. It was calculated that the outreach would extend to at least 30 states, if not more.

Then Covid-19 hits sweep the entire nation and world. March Madness is canceled. The world has shut down. As crushed as I was, I wallowed in it for about a month. I was crushed that a plan I worked diligently at was gone, just like that. What do you do? It’s out of my control. Do you just give up and continue to wallow in self-pity? Or do you adjust to the new norms and trust the process? Stubbornly, I trusted the process and adjusted to the new norms in society. What is the other alternative? This idea/concept, this eco-system was and is bigger than me. I would be doing a disservice to our targeted youth if just accepted defeat.

Fast forward from 2020 – present 2023, there have been many personal situations, work situations, and times where “life just be life-ing.” Most things are out of my control, just like when the pandemic hit. You have to trust the process and get out of your own way. You have to challenge yourself and re-invent your thinking or purview to stay present. You have to “Believe. Do Not Doubt.” a daily reminder I have tattooed on me. You have to believe that all things in the universe conspire for your greater good. A pivotal lesson from one of my favorite books, The Alchemist. You have to know that your service, your concept, your idea is not meant to serve you, but it serves others. You can’t be bigger than that ideology. If you do sooner or later, you will fail. Always be a student.

Trusting the process, even in its hard times, has led to great results. It has me here at your publication, telling you about my business and our eco-system. It has us going through a re-brand process that is stronger in marketing, recipes, and concepts. We are in a soft launch right now with our private clientele. However, a full relaunch will take place Spring 2024. Through hard work and dedication, I believe that we are in a better position than we were before if I continued to wallow in defeat back in 2020. It has us developing better ideas and business to add to our eco-system.

Being a Student. Trusting the Process. Dedication and Perseverance. Believing that All Things Conspire for Your Greater Good. Having Faith. These were the lessons learned. Moving out of your own way is the biggest lesson to unlearn. In most cases, your business and idea/concept is bigger than you and you are not bigger than the people you service.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @_cosmicality._
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/BrownBoxSpecial

Image Credits
Ena Rochelle Photography Imagine That Studios Cosmicality.