Falayn Ferrell
Managing Partner 鈥� Operations
Black Restaurant Week, LLC
Chairwoman of the Board of Directors
Feed the Soul Foundation
Falayn Ferrell is managing partner of operations for Black Restaurant Week, LLC and chairwoman of the board of directors of Feed the Soul Foundation.
A native Houstonian, Ferrell earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Florida A&M University. After graduation, she relocated to the New York tri-state area to work for a leading Fortune 500 company. She quickly realized that her passion lay in helping small businesses with brand management, and she was most inspired by helping nonprofit organizations achieve their vision.
In 2015, she founded Fade Media, a Houston digital marketing firm, with Derek Robinson. The firm develops brand identities, websites, and marketing collateral and builds strategies for small businesses and nonprofits. The American Marketing Association awarded Fade Media a Crystal Award in 2016 for its work in design and branding.
That same year, Ferrell partnered with Warren Luckett and Robinson to organize Black Restaurant Week in Houston. The annual national awareness campaign supports more than 1,700 Black-owned culinary businesses across the United States, Toronto, and Vancouver through its restaurant weeks, culinary events, and website directory. The campaign generates more than 188 million impressions annually for the Black culinary industry, and it and its participants have been featured in outlets including Good Morning America, The New York Times, Essence, and Bloomberg. Black Restaurant Week received a second Crystal Award from the American Marketing Association in 2021 for its work in special events marketing.
In 2020, Black Restaurant Week established Feed the Soul Foundation to support sustainability and growth among minority culinary businesses. Since then, the foundation has provided more than $1.9 million in business development and financial support to Black- owned and Latin-owned businesses across the U.S.