CONVERSATIONS W/ JOSE • 5 min read

Can You Outsource Culture?

Hiring representation is not the same thing as living inside a community.

By Conrad Edwards
Published: May 2026

Culture is not an accessory you bring into the house when the house itself never changes.

Conrad and Jose got into a layered conversation about Todd Chrisley, his biracial granddaughter Chloe, and the idea of bringing Black influence into a child’s life through a Black nanny and therapist.

Conrad understood the surface-level intention. If a child is being raised around mostly white adults, bringing in Black support can look like a thoughtful decision.

But he challenged the deeper logic.

To Conrad, hiring Black professionals did not automatically equal giving Chloe a lived Black experience. If the goal is cultural grounding, then community matters. Neighborhoods matter. Daily exposure matters. Being around Black families, Black businesses, Black schools, Black events, and Black everyday life matters.

Jose saw the bind. He argued that a white grandfather in that situation would be criticized either way. If he moved into a Black neighborhood, people might call it performative. If he hired Black professionals, people might call it artificial.

That tension made the conversation more complicated.

Conrad’s point was not that help is bad. It was that culture cannot be reduced to staffing. Representation matters, but it cannot replace immersion.

Speaker Check

Conrad: Critiques the idea of hiring culture into a child’s life instead of building real community connection.

Jose: Points out that the situation can become a lose-lose no matter what a white guardian chooses.