I woke up one Sunday morning, groggy and scrolling through Shopify like I normally do. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a few new orders, some returning customers, a couple of names that looked familiar. Then I saw it: Taraji. P. Henson.

At first, I laughed. Ain’t no way, I thought. Must be another Taraji out there ordering on a Sunday morning. But the address? California. The email? Verified. The order? Real.

That’s when it hit me. Taraji P. Henson, Golden Globe winner and someone whose performances had been background during my adolescence (think BET re-runs of Baby Boy all day and night) just placed an order for my seasoning.

Let me take you back.

Before I was known as Uncle Dibbz, I was a DJ. A real one. High school turned into college gigs, which turned into tour dates, and before I knew it, I was performing across the world. Music took me places. But every time I came back home, the first thing I did wasn’t rest, it was cook.

Seafood boils. Chicken wings. Ribeye steaks. Late night house parties that turned into cookouts. I lived for the vibe, people dancing, laughing, eating, and making memories.

But when the world shut down in 2020, my bookings dried up overnight. No clubs. No tours. No plan B. For a while, I was stuck like the rest of us, wondering what came next.

The one thing I always said I wanted to do? Make my own seasoning. So I did. I took that lockdown time and turned it into lab time. Researching ingredients, testing blends, watching my five-year-old niece give her stamp of approval (the most honest food critic in the game). Once she signed off, I launched.

It started slow. A few friends bought some. Then strangers. Then I couldn’t keep up. I had to hire help. Eventually, I packed up and moved to Houston, Texas to take this thing full time.

And the blessings started to roll in.

• Atlanta United FC named us the official seasoning partner of their team.
• Featured in Essence Magazine.
• I dropped a cookbook.
• I hosted sold out dinner events.
• I appeared as a judge on a cooking show.
• Built a following of 100K+ on YouTube, 500K+ on TikTok, and 100K on Instagram.

Now here we are, five years later.

I call this celebration Dibbz Day—every June 5 and 6, I take a moment to appreciate how far this journey has come. Not just the orders or the shoutouts, but the grind behind the scenes: the late nights labeling jars, the burnout, the growing pains, the lessons.

If there’s one thing I’d tell anyone trying to build something from scratch, it’s this: your pivot might be hiding in plain sight. What you do for fun? What you naturally share with others? That might just be your next business.

Five years ago, I thought I lost everything. Turns out, I was finally building something that would last.

And if Taraji likes it? I must be doing something right.

- Uncle Dibbz