- On this episode of Curate, - You're listening to just a regular couple - Might be funnier than most people, but that's true.

I'm hilarious.

- We kind of wanna push the envelope to, to not just be thought of as a work wear brand.

Sure.

That's the history and roots of this company, but I think about like kind of timeless classic pieces.

- Welcome to Curate.

We've got a great episode in store for you.

I'm Heather Mazzoni.

- And I'm Jason Kypros.

First up we're spotlighting a podcast that has turned honest conversations into a cultural movement - And Then We... as a podcast with Married Comedy Couple, Kristen and Jared whose marriage love, conflict and growth aren't just discussed.

They're lived out loud.

- Yeah, because you know nothing says bravery like talking about marriage on the internet forever.

- What started as a candid dialogue between two partners quickly became a meteoric rise with millions listening, sharing and rethinking what real connection looks like.

- It's J-Rod - And Then We..., the podcast - Fast Girl podcast here, Virginia Beach.

- Be, be, be, be.

- Our podcast is the, And Then We... podcast.

- It's a relationship and culture podcast but through a comedic lens we try to make sure that you understand that your relationship is important and having a strong base is important, but also knowing what's going on in today's world is just as important and it affects your relationship the way you view things When you listen to us, you're listening to just a regular couple going about a day just like you would.

- I might be funny than most people but - Yeah, that's true.

That's true.

- I'm hilarious.

- I want y'all to give it up.

Start clapping right now.

Give all the energy to Kristen S - I'm actually a comedian.

Standup is like my niche and with standup you take everyday topics or whatever and you find a way to explain it but make it funny, make it relatable.

And I'm from Virginia Beach so if you don't know if somebody like spit outside it sludges to the point that y'all live here now.

So get to know your neighbors right now and you do that with literally anything.

Anything.

We talk about this podcast, we'll find a way to make it funny.

I started doing local shows like around Hampton Road the first time I went on the road with another comic I hosted for Angela Johnson at The Funny Bone.

She took a liking to me and brought me out on the road and that was the first time I like really traveled with like a headliner.

And then I started doing comedy festivals.

I've gone the run with Tone Bell, worked with Jay Pharoah, Ali Saddiq a number of times I worked with Tom Segura, Lonnie Love, I worked with Damon Wayans's Senior, I worked with Marlon Wayans and it's been fun.

And then this happened with the podcast and I was like, I don't wanna do a podcast.

I am a pure standup comedian.

And then I started doing it.

I was like, oh this sounds fun.

I'm having a good time, this is okay.

- I'm J-Rod author, producer, director and I'm engaged to this person over here.

Back in 2016 I was getting real heavy into podcasts.

So after about a year or two of like extensively pretty much studying podcasts, I decided I want to do a podcast but I had no idea what it would be.

I'm dating my wife and she's doing standup this entire time.

We realized that she was pregnant with our twins.

So during that time standup became a lot harder because she gotta stand up.

- He loves that.

- It gave a opportunity for me to not only be able to do a podcast but to allow her to get her comedy out as - Well.

Convince her to do a podcast.

- Right.

- I'm Chris and Seville, I'm a comedian and I'm a mom and I say I'm single.

That's it.

- You see, you see yo in the beginning my idea was let's interview some comedians.

That was really the engine that that started it.

It was like okay, we're going to talk to comedians about relationships after maybe like nine or 10 episodes in.

Not only did we want to speak to each other a little bit more, we had just had the twins.

It was just really hard to find babysitters to get out to the comedy club, to set everything up to interview people.

And what I knew early on was that consistency would be the key to our success.

So I said, no matter what we have to record every week.

And that's what we did.

I like creatives.

- Creatives - Like me - Too.

- I would say nine outta the 10 people that I've dated Me too or dealt with were creatives.

- Me too.

Wow, that's - Weird.

- Yeah, we ended up in an apartment, living room with kids running around that we, when we can only record was when they were asleep.

Wait her - Direction or anything?

- I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Wait, - That changed the entire landscape of the show and then COVID happened.

No it's not.

If you remember back in COVID we didn't have nothing.

We were looking for anything to keep us sane, you know, other voices because we weren't around people.

I attempted to do standup during the proposal.

Couple of months after COVID, our first clip on social media went viral.

- The clip that went viral was about the term Sneaky link.

- You had a sneaky link.

- If anything you was for a while.

What we are reacting like old people.

What is a sneaky link?

What does that mean?

We have no idea.

- I was your sneaky link - Basically.

- Can you really marry the sneaky link?

I - Did.

- Wow.

- Do you realize how many people were surprised?

Are you kidding me?

That's kind of what started like the real touring.

- We toured the country and we really started freeing the show.

I think we really started seeing the potential for this to really become something.

We also want to make our brand even better.

The topic structure changed and we really understood our place.

- When we were trying to find our footing, we realized that we were just having really true conversations in front of everybody.

I think it helped us in a way, we started building communication because we had to do the show every week.

Us learning each other and helping each other and having broad discussions was another reason that people were drawn to us.

'cause they were like, hey, we talk about those things too.

We're not giving advice and telling people what to do.

We're just giving examples of a conversation with clear communication and seeing where it goes.

I think our live show is almost is the podcast just times a thousand.

You gotta pop up a new move.

Like it's like a new release like sneakers.

Like you just gotta, we like to kind of just make people feel like they're sitting in the living room with us.

- It's our thank you.

- Yeah, - It's our thank you for listening to us.

You know, when we come into their city we want to make sure that they are getting an experience.

They're not just listening to us.

'cause you do that every week.

- When we got together, he had a son and I had a daughter and we were like, yeah this is great.

We've, we've done it, we've, we've, we've finished the family and then I got pregnant with identical twin boys.

- When we came into the relationship, we both had children and then we had some old children.

- We didn't mean to have like children.

Children, yeah.

- We didn't mean to do - That.

It was supposed to be child but, - And we had twins.

- Two of them came out as we got older, we just started noticing some milestones they may not have been hitting and we just went to talk to somebody about it just to see and found out that they were on the autism spectrum.

- The podcast became our way of being able to spend more time with our boys and that was especially important because they weren't even in school at the time.

So we were with them 24 7 with the help of the therapist that would come in and we had to leave for the weekend.

You know, our parents would, you know, be there to take over them and have a watchful eye.

But the podcast was really a godsend because like I said, it allowed us to have that time to really learn in how to really interact with them and you know, so they knew that we were there.

Yeah - And our big kids are cool too.

I mean, yeah, no, - We, we love them - But you know, they're also cool.

- Yeah, different too.

- Yeah, they're also cool.

Everybody just like, we all know what each other needs and we kind of just work off that.

- I think we're at a point now where we found our reason, you know, and I think that's hard for a lot of brands as well to know why you do what you do, not just for self, but what is it that you're giving to the people.

So I think now it's time to put a megaphone towards that because there are more people who need what we give, you know, and kind of have fun with everything.

Listening.

Thanks for listening.

- Our collaboration with Old Dominion's film program brings us the story about Union Overall Co.

- The Norfolk Shop on Colley Avenue creates handmade pieces that blend old school durability with modern design - And it's more than a clothing brand, - It's a tribute to Norfolk's Industrial past.

- I became interested in old things when I was a kid.

I was the weird kid that, you know, would beg my parents to stop at antique stores and junk stores just so I could go and find something like finding cool old vintage toys from the forties, fifties, sixties.

And that progressed throughout my life of like trying to find really unique things that are from the past.

Everything that you've here is a manifestation of the things that I like and I hope other people come in and feel the same way.

I had always wanted to own my own brand and I realized that if I don't do it now, I'm probably never going to do it.

So I jumped out on a ledge and took a leap of faith.

I've always been very particular about what I wear.

I started realizing that like the garments that I had had when I was younger were still here, but the new garments that I would buy would only last three, six months and then they had holes in them or they were falling apart.

And that was kind of eyeopening to me because why did something from the nineties tend to last a lot longer than something that I just bought three months ago.

I want to create those sort of legacy pieces that when you die your grandkids are gonna find it in your closet and be like, whoa, this is super cool.

What is this?

And it's still here.

I had a vision of owning a brand and making the stuff ourselves.

The more I dove into it, the more I realized there had to be manufacturers here in Norfolk making garments for the people who lived here.

You had dock workers, you had ship builders, you had train yard workers, the military, all these folks.

And we started doing our research at the SLO library, the Sergeant Memorial collections, seeing who was around, we found Union over and we liked the name founded in 1901 and the last bit that we could find about them was in the 1920s and we don't know if they necessarily went out of business if they were acquired.

It's really hard to find that kind of information.

But we do know nothing seems to exist in the business directories or the papers after, you know, say 19 22, 19 23, we opened in December and realized that three blocks from our current location union overall manufactured in what now is the mill building, which is apartments.

We had seen other brands be revived by individuals who had a passion for history and American heritage brands.

So we were like, well let's do the same thing.

Can I find something from a company that hasn't been around for on years?

Can I find a garment?

And I did.

I ended up with two union overall original pieces.

This whole area where we're located was kind of the textile district for Norfolk.

Back in the day you had knitting Mill Creek right across the way.

You had several other textile factories.

This whole area is kind of historical to what we're bringing back here.

The first item we actually produced was our Fort Norfolk duffle bag.

We had all of these military sea bags and we were like, wouldn't that be cool if we like cut the sea bag down, put our pattern over it, cut it out and make those into duffel bags.

So that's what we did.

We work on designs like I'll draw something and in the back we'll bring it to life.

We'll draft the pattern, make a sample, and then it once it's where we like it, we'll make it.

We want to source our fabrics as close to home as possible.

And that is like we can trace the entire chain from seed to garment.

It tells a story but it's also, it's sustainable.

I'm very passionate about using natural textiles.

We kind of wanna push the envelope to, to not just be thought of as a work wear brand.

I'm sure that's the history and roots of this company, but I think about like kind of timeless classic pieces.

What are things that can be staples in your wardrobe?

Old pieces can tell a story.

So I want to create new pieces that are around long enough to be able to inspire that same, all that same curiosity.

I would love for our clothing to be made that well, that it stands the test of time and people are finding it 90 years from now.

- Alright, - Good to go.

Union overall is a very old company with a new lease on life.

We want to do justice to the brand and bringing it forward into, into this century.

I don't know of any place that looks like this in Hampton Roads and that's kind of what I wanted.

But I also wanted to have the workspace where we cut and sew, manufacture design in the same space.

Union overall is the brand that makes clothing that really lasts.

- Welcome back to QA presents.

I am Kayda Plus and we are here in Colonial Williamsburg for the Virginia Black Film Festival.

Let's check it out.

- People don't understand how hard it is to make a film and if you add to that issues like racial discrimination and just bias in general, it's really hard for an independent filmmaker to find opportunities to really tell their story.

So what Virginia Black Film Festival is doing is we are highlighting narratives that we don't get a chance to see for a multitude of reasons.

And we're giving those filmmakers an opportunity to raise to the next level.

We have short films, feature films, narratives and documentaries.

In addition to that, we bring celebrities here every year.

Keith, David, we have Daphne Reed, Clifton Powell, Jesse Powell, and we get those celebrities an opportunity to discover everything that is great about Hampton Road, while at the same time we bring these filmmakers from all over the world to Hampton Roads so that they can discover talent here and we can create that synergy for us to elevate the community here.

Williamsburg has proven to be a fantastic place to have a film festival because you have the history, particularly as a black film festival because of the black history that exists here.

They have sponsored us, they have supported us in, in all types of logistical ways that make all the difference at the end of the day, right?

We highlight those businesses, we highlight black-owned businesses.

We have a sponsorship agreements with different companies that really support the event as we support them promotionally in 2024.

Our best in Fest is now on BET in 2025.

Our best in Fest got a distribution deal with Quiver Entertainment and they're going to theaters.

So 2026 best in Fest.

I'm sure they're gonna do really well.

And we want to continue to create these success stories for these independent filmmakers who are finding their way to the big screen.

- We have seen so many amazing films.

We have met so many super talented people.

I'm happy to say the Virginia Black Film Festival was a huge success.

We'll catch you on the next cur presents - From the station that takes you back in time through music Now, experience the shows, stories and moments that shaped our community.

Time.

Machine video unlocks, rare footage, forgotten favorites, and classic local broadcasts you haven't seen in decades.

Step inside and rediscover the past because our region's history deserves a rewind stream today on YouTube at WHRO Public Media - Time.

- Wow, what a performance by Karacell.

- The whole vibe was amazing and I love seeing the triggering on the drum pads.

We should start opening up these Curate Sessions to the public.

- Hey, you might be onto something.

- I'll get right on it.

Hey Greg, what's the capacity of the studio?

- Hey, she wasn't kidding.

Well, on that note, we'll see you next time on Curate.