There is a certain electricity that fills a room when the right people are gathered in the right place for the right reasons. Last Friday evening at Live! by Loews Arlington, that electricity was undeniable.
The North Central Texas Regional Certification Agency (NCTRCA) transformed the venue into something equal parts runway, gallery and boardroom for its signature event — A Night at the MET Gala: Momentum. Excellence. Transformation. — and if you were not there, you missed something worth talking about long after the evening ended.
The blue carpet was alive with local media capturing the presence of entrepreneurs, executives, community advocates and certified small business owners who came dressed, came ready and came with purpose. Three-time Emmy-nominated producer and podcast host Laterras R. Whitfield served as Live Blue Carpet Host, setting a tone that made clear from the outset — this was not just a gala. It was a statement.
Mikki Taylor Took the Mic — and Took No Prisoners
DW had the privilege of sitting down with this year’s keynote speaker, the legendary Mikki Taylor — acclaimed author, cultural storyteller, producer and longtime Editor-at-Large of ESSENCE Magazine — and what she had to say landed with the weight of something many in the room had felt for years but had not always had the language to articulate.
“We have to stop just celebrating Black business and start being intentional about how we support it,” Taylor said.
In a month the calendar designates as Black Business Month, Taylor’s message cut through the noise of hashtags, repost campaigns and performative patronage. She was not there simply to inspire applause. She was there to challenge a room full of some of North Texas’s most influential leaders to do something considerably harder — be consistent, be communal and be committed.
Not a Transaction. A Relationship.
One of the most compelling threads woven throughout Taylor’s keynote was a call to return to something older and more rooted — the way Black communities have historically shown up for one another, not out of obligation, but out of love and collective survival.
She reminded the audience that Black economic power was not always built on algorithms and app-based discovery. It was built on trust networks, word of mouth, shared tables and intentional community. The barbershop that sent customers to the accountant next door. The church mothers who only bought their Sunday hats from the shop on MLK Boulevard. The contractor who understood that when he got the bid, he brought his people along with him.
“We used to be each other’s ecosystem,” Taylor said. “We need to get back to that.”
Her point was direct: stop being transactional. Stop treating Black-owned businesses like a checkbox to mark during August and forget in September. The goal is not to find Black businesses when it is convenient — it is to build with them consistently, strategically and relationally.
It was the kind of message that did not just resonate in the room. It reverberated.
True to its Met Gala inspiration, the evening was as visually compelling as it was substantive. A Curated Art Gallery and Silent Art Auction featured original works by local and regional North Texas artists, each piece reflecting the event’s three pillars of Momentum, Excellence and Transformation. It served as a living reminder that Black creativity and Black commerce have always walked hand in hand.
The night also featured a performance by Troy Terrell Bell — opera singer, actor, educator and creative artistic director whose career spans more than four decades in theater, music and community arts. His presence elevated the evening into something that felt less like a networking event and more like a genuine cultural moment.
NCTRCA: More Than a Certification Agency
For those still getting acquainted with the organization behind the evening, NCTRCA — the North Central Texas Regional Certification Agency — is a local governmental entity and 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has been doing the quiet, critical work of connecting small businesses to real contracting opportunities since 1989.
With more than 30,000 certification applications reviewed and a network of over 5,000 certified vendors across 16 North Texas counties, NCTRCA is the infrastructure that makes small business inclusion in public-sector contracting possible. Its member entities include major cities, school districts, transit authorities and healthcare systems, all committed to ensuring small businesses have a fair seat at the table.
DW readers were first introduced to NCTRCA Executive Director Angela Alexander earlier this year, when she sat down with us to discuss what certification really means for Black entrepreneurs and why getting in the room — and staying in the room — matters. Last Friday’s gala was proof that her vision for the organization is very much in motion.
The event’s guiding philosophy — Proximity Is Key: Be In The Room — is not simply a tagline. It is a mandate. And NCTRCA is building rooms worth being in.
It also bears noting who helped make the evening possible. NCTRCA’s sponsors and partners for A Night at the MET Gala included Dallas County, DFW International Airport, Parkland Health and Hospital System, the North Texas Tollway Authority, Dallas College, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, Gorrondona and Associates, The Rio Group, The Burrell Group and BridgeWorks.
These are not simply logos on a banner. These are institutions making a public commitment to the small business ecosystem that NCTRCA has spent decades cultivating. That is what intentional support looks like at scale.
The Takeaway
Black Business Month is not a sale. It is not a social media moment. And if Mikki Taylor’s keynote taught us anything last Friday night, it is that the most meaningful thing we can do for Black business is to show up for it the way previous generations showed up for each other — with loyalty, with intention and with the long game in mind.
NCTRCA gave North Texas a room worth being in. What happens next depends on all of us — in the everyday decisions we make about who we hire, who we contract, who we refer and who we bring along.
Be intentional. Build the ecosystem. And stay in the room.
