Moët Father’s Day brunch (Photo credit: JS Photography)
The narrative in hip-hop is changing significantly as we see more Black men speaking about the importance of fatherhood and celebrating the presence of Black leadership.
With Atlanta commonly recognized as the apex of Black urban culture, Moët & Chandon key account manager Michael Gonzalez, also known as “Hezo,” maximized an opportunity to celebrate Father’s Day by hand-selecting some of the culture’s top influencers. Those selected are exemplary representatives of Black excellence in their business lives as well as their family lives.
“Father’s don’t get enough recognition in my eyes,” Gonzalez says. “It’s bigger than embodying the role of a provider to me. I wanted to take these influential father figures out of their work element and cater to them over a Moët & Chandon brunch and let them know that their hard work, long hours and days away from home don’t go unnoticed.
“We sipped champagne in gold goblets and had ‘guy talk’ on the state of the culture as a whole and what we are doing as mentors for our children to follow.”
Moët Father’s Day brunch (Photo credit: JS Photography)
The 2019 Father’s Day brunch was held in Atlanta and included entertainment promotions mogul Obie the Promoter, venue owner Biddy Barnes, Dishaun Stewart, DJ Infamous, international artist D. L. Warfield, viral comedian Funny Marco and multi-entertainment moguls Chubbie Baby, Chaka Zulu and Ray Daniels.
As fatherhood continues to become a celebrated narrative, we see cultural icons such as Jay-Z, Kevin Hart and Lebron James bragging on their milestones in fatherhood just as much as they brag on their career highlights.
Instead of the negative rhetoric we’ve heard for years about absentee fathers, our community is slowly returning to its authentic truth — something very different than the stories most of us were taught and some of us emulated growing up. We see leadership in the Black community being restored to the family unit, starting with the father being present in the home.
Viral comedian Funny Marco was one of the youngest fathers in the room. If you look closely at his social media page, in between his infamous videos he proudly shows off pictures of his beautiful 5-year-old daughter Millian Summers.
He says being around successful Black men that are just as proud of their families as they are of their career accolades is inspiring to him. “The brunch was amazing. Hezo put it together great, but really it was just great being around so many good fathers who have their business together and are proud of how they take care of their families has been life-changing for me,” he says.
In order for this new “his-tory” to be written, those of us who have the privilege of exemplary Black fathers in our day-to-day lives must celebrate and uplift those men not only on the second Sunday in June but also every day that we have the opportunity.
Kudos to Michael Gonzalez and Moët for being a crucial part of moving the culture forward this Father’s Day.
Dr. Christal D. Jordan Jennings is a journalist and professional entertainment publicist with several years of experience in celebrity marketing and branding. Jordan worked in the corporate PR sector before relocating to Atlanta, GA and founding Enchanted Branding and Public Relations in 2008. The company specializes in public relations strategy, media training/consultation, and crisis communication in service of notable celebrity talent such as TLC’s Chilli, Roy Jones Jr.,Kenan Thompson, and more. Further, Jordan serves as a journalist. She serves as editor-in-chief for Lenox & Parker, Sr. Editor with with Rolling Out and Sr. Features writer with Collider, where she specializes in stories that emphasize the importance of empowering women.
Jordan earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Organizational Communications and her Master of Arts in Mass Communications from the University of Oklahoma. Most recently, Jordan started a YouTube channel pulling from her own experiences with celebrity endorsement and strategic relationships. The channel, entitled From Christal with Love XO, boasts over 27k subscribers and works to celebrate love and relationships from a progressive lens. She is also the host of Fox 5 Atlanta’s bi-weekly segment on celebrity relationships. After twenty years of notable stellar contributions in journalism, public relations and literature, Christal received an honorary doctoral degree in Literary Studies from TIUA in June 2024.
