WHO WE ARE

Founders Justina & Max are a husband and wife duo who share the same business acumen. Since starting their first business back in early 2013, they have worked collaboratively going from strength to strength.

My Cultural Experience has grown out of their own varied experiences and is built on the important fundamentals of inclusion, respect for other’s values and responsibility for our own actions.

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February 2012. Max picks Justina up from a South London prison where she works as an Offender Manager. Feeling despondent and deflated, Justina confides in Max. She just can’t do this anymore. She feels like she’s not helping – it all feels like a system where people are statistics, and nothing ever changes. Justina feels there is so much more she could be doing for herself and those in need. There and then, she resolves to quit so they can embark on their own journey of real change.

In early 2020, the world changed us all. Being stuck at home, we all tried to keep our families occupied. Exercise, decluttering, board games & quizzes were the order of the day! It was also at this time that the George Floyd incident sparked racial tension all over the globe. There were worldwide demonstrations and much debate on social media about what had happened. Having planned a quiz night for friends and family via Zoom, it got founders Justina and Max thinking. The result was the creation of Excellence – The Black Edition.

Justina and Max then began to reflect on their past life experience and their portfolio of businesses. How could they continue to drive societal change and make a meaningful difference? One night, inspiration arrives in the early hours. Justina wakes Max up and excitedly tells him about an idea. A concept that will bring all of their businesses together while creating real change. So, this is where My Cultural Experience was born…

Justina has a long history of working within the criminal justice system, youth work and community leadership. 

Referred to a local youth organisation by her school, Justina was given a mentor who saw the good in her. The mentor managed to move Justina, aged 16 with a baby, to permanent accommodation.

At 18, Justina was given a fantastic opportunity to go back to the youth project and become a youth mentor. The role involved looking after other young people and supporting positive change. It was here she was offered a full time paid job and her journey begins.

Over the next 3 years, Justina was headhunted by the Race Equality Foundation to become a ‘strengthening families facilitator’.

She then changed roles and now was ‘lead youth coordinator’, working in schools delivering a programme she created. 

At 21 Justina plucked up the courage to apply for a probation officer role, and was successful.

So now, Justina is experienced within the drugs and alcohol team, housing, offender management, youth work and community leadership.

And more recently, Justina set up the DACC ‘Dartford African Caribbean Community.’ This is a support group for black & mixed race people trying to navigate their way through Dartford which has recently become more cosmopolitan.

“It would be fair to say that I had a troubled past, and the only way I knew to survive as a 14 year old girl with no home structure was petty crime but I knew even back then, I was better than this!“

Max also grew up in the same area as Justina. He also experienced a similar upbringing. And unfortunately, petty crime was a means of survival. Emerging on the other side in his 20s, Max worked in retail. Max already had an eye for business, and looking at ways to move forward.

So in 2012, the founders took a leap of faith and quit their 9 to 5. With the little savings they had, they opened up Rock it Wild, a ladies clothing line. With Max’s retail experience and connections, they set up an online clothing store. And they also had a Saturday pitch at the famous Roman Road market.

Rock it Wild was a means of paying the bills but it wasn’t the founders dream, so they went on to their next venture….

So, Max’s Caribbean Kitchen was established in 2014. It went from a small shop in Hackney to a food van to a large restaurant in Bexleyheath. And now, it’s got a great home in Dartford. 

“I chose to take on young people to offer opportunity of gaining experience as being a father figure to some of the young men who have worked with us. We are a family business, so when you come through my door, you are family”