Overview: Chef Dorian Southall, a seasoned culinary professional with over 25 years of experience in luxury hospitality, senior living, and boutique concepts, has spoken out against the predatory practices of some platforms that claim to support Black business. He has paid for exposure only to receive minimal engagement and no follow-up, and has been ghosted after supporting these platforms. Southall is calling for cultural accountability and transparency, fair practice, and platforms that treat partnerships like relationships, not transactions. He wants Black media to be a home, not a hustle, and a place where experience, craft, and commitment are celebrated.
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I have spent more than twenty-five years in high-end kitchens: opening hotels, launching restaurants, and leading culinary teams across luxury hospitality, senior living, and boutique concepts. I have built Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), coached crews, and shaped ideas that turned into places people gather to feel something. My work is rooted in culture, discipline, and joy. My story is real. My resume is real. My impact is real.
Yet somehow, in too many corners of Black community media, my value is treated like an optional add-on instead of a foundation.
Here is the uncomfortable truth. Some platforms that brand themselves as champions of Black business have become gatekeepers, preying on the very creators they claim to uplift. I have paid for exposure only to receive a basic story post, with no follow-up, no engagement, and no accountability. When I reached out to ask why the deliverables did not match the invoice, I got silence. No response. No explanation. No respect. I was ghosted after supporting a space that markets itself as community.
I have also reached out to magazines and platforms such as Cuisine Noir, Essence, Black Enterprise, Art Africa, and The Grio, hoping to share my work and my story. Despite multiple attempts across several months, I never received a response. Their silence revealed something more profound about how our creative ecosystem treats chefs and storytellers like me. Access is not always about excellence. Too often, it becomes about familiarity, visibility, or proximity. Meanwhile, those of us building real craft are left knocking on doors that stay closed while claiming to be open to the culture.
And let us talk about the media personalities who broadcast their love for Black owned businesses, then spend their money, their praise, and their loyalty everywhere except home. They will drop top dollar at other establishments, but tell me my prices are too high. That is not feedback. That is internalized devaluation dressed up as critique. Value versus perception. Skill versus clout. Experience versus ego.
This is not an attack on Black media. This is a call for cultural accountability.
If we are going to say we support Black creators, we cannot turn around and operate like predatory gatekeepers. We cannot pressure small businesses to pay for exposure, then fail to deliver real visibility. We cannot ghost the very people who keep the culture moving. We cannot claim community, then reward only those who fit a narrow mold.
Our ecosystem deserves better. Our entrepreneurs deserve better. Our storytellers deserve better.
Black media should be a home, not a hustle. A platform, not a pitfall. A place where experience, craft, and commitment are seen and celebrated. A place where value is recognized at the door, not negotiated down, because supporting each other is treated like charity rather than an investment.
Accountability is not divisive. It is necessary. If we want a thriving Black culinary and creative economy, we need transparency, fair practice, and platforms that treat partnerships like relationships, not transactions. We need gatekeepers who open gates, not ones who sell keys and disappear.
I am Chef Dorian Southall. I bring creativity, discipline, and storytelling to every plate and every project. My ask is simple. Honor the work. Honor the craft. Honor the culture. Because when we take care of our creators, our whole community eats.