Trunetta Atwater & Crystal Brown: The Power Of Networking

Written and Photographed By: Olivia Bell

“My connection with Trunetta really sparked all of this,” Crystal Brown, owner of Crystal’s Zen and Juice, said.

Crystal’s Zen and Juice, a juice bar and art lounge located in Jaxon Station, began after Crystal noticed a need in Jackson for clean food, alternative diet options, and a space to create art. After her own journey of battling PTSD and undiagnosable health complications and discovering holistic healing methods that helped mitigate the symptoms she was experiencing, she became passionate about creating a place where others could experience that same kind of healing. A simple connection Crystal had with Trunetta Atwater, owner of Trunetta Atwater Photography, was a huge reason that all of this was possible.

“I became certified as a sound healing facilitator and started facilitating different group sessions in collaboration with yoga studios. That’s actually how Trunetta and I met. We had some mutual friends on Facebook and one of our mutual friends inboxed us together. She said ‘I don’t know why but I think you all need to connect.’ And we did,” Crystal said. “Trunetta hosted a women’s retreat in her backyard and she invited me to come do a sound meditation session there. At that session I told her my vision for Zen and Juice, to have a menu with clean food with vegan options for people, and also just a space for people to just be and create and to have mindfulness sessions. To have it as a collective of all the things that helped me heal.”

After their first meeting, Crystal and Trunetta also discovered their shared passion for cultivating the art scene in Jackson for black creatives and artists and decided to keep in touch.

“I saw a need to nurture the art scene here in Jackson. I know it was already in movement and in motion when I was here, but for me, the black community needed it. Because all I ever heard from people I was connected to was that there wasn’t a place for us black creatives. That’s where Trunetta and I really clicked. She was a creative. I was a creative,” Crystal said.

From their one mutual friend and a shared passion for what they wanted their community to look like, Crystal and Trunetta realized how much stronger they could be if they worked together to make this vision a reality. This sparked an entire business idea: Soul Collective.

The idea for Soul Collective was to create an entrepreneurship incubator where black business owners could come together and work toward building their own business while helping support the businesses around them. Trunetta, as a long-time business owner, wanted to use her knowledge about business to give other budding entrepreneurs an opportunity for success.

“When I started Soul Collective, we started this program with conversations of how can we be a resource to black entrepreneurs in our city? And Crystal’s someone I thought about because we’ve had that conversation a couple times about what she wanted to do, what she had dreams of, but she didn’t think they were accessible in Jackson,” Trunetta said. 

After Crystal moved back to Jackson from Nashville, she became part of the first Soul Collective cohort and they opened the brick and mortar location of her shop in Jaxon Station, where Trunetta also has her photography studio. Since then, Jaxon Station has been home to many other black owned businesses that have been a part of Soul Collective.

“Entrepreneurship is lonely and I’m a firm believer that everyone should at some point in their life follow their dreams. I’ve been able to follow mine so it’s like, how can I help my fellow sister do the same?” Trunetta said. 

From her experience, whether you’re someone who is just starting out or owned a business for years, Trunetta has clearly seen why it’s so important to have support as a business owner. When you’re working this closely with someone else, you are both bound to learn something.

“It’s helped sharpen me as a leader. I’m on this journey because it was something I wanted to do. I wanted to help,” Trunetta said. “I think from Crystal’s perspective, she says all the time that she appreciates the opportunity. To know that I can position myself to help others have an opportunity, that’s fulfilling.”

Trunetta explained how they each took a chance on one another, and after a year of having the shop open, their relationship and the way that they have done business together is a testament to why networking is so powerful.

“I still have a lot to learn and a lot to grow in, but I think had I not met Trunetta and had I not been connected with theCO, this wouldn’t be here right now,” Crystal said.

“We have to realize that in community we’re there to lift each other up and to elevate each other, so there’s a sense of trust that has to be built. And she and I have done that,” Trunetta said.