Greater Washington DC Black Chamber of Commerce

To promote black business growth in the District of Columbia through the facilitation of business opportunities and education.

GWBCC Success Stories Rukaiyah Tyler, Realtor
"My business has allowed me to be a resource to my community and to connect with people I would have never met. For this, I will always be grateful."

Rukaiyah Tyler is a licensed Washington D.C. and Maryland real estate agent at Keller Williams Realty. She is managing partner of Synergy Properties Group. Rukaiyah was raised and still resides in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Her love for helping people coupled with her love for real estate drove her to become a licensed realtor in 2016. Rukaiyah bought her first property in 2010 at the age of 24 years old so she understand the needs and anxiety sometimes felt by first time homebuyers. Therefore, she specializes in helping and walking first time home buyers and first time home sellers through the process.
Her dedication to supreme service and providing education to her clients from first contact to well after they are in their new home has helped her become a Top 10 Individual Agent at Keller Williams Preferred Properties (KWPP) three years in a row (out of over 500 agents). In 2022, after her teams first year in business, they were named the #1 Team at KWPP, #2 Team in the Keller Williams MD/DC region and #8 for Prince George’s County. She has also been recognized by the Prince George’s County Association of Realtors ® since 2017 for being a Top Producing Agent, earning the Silver Award, Gold Award and Platinum Awards. In 2022, Rukaiyah, earned her Military Relocation Professional Certificate and the Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR®) designation. Her goal with Synergy Properties
Group’s is to help her clients build generational wealth one home at a time.
Rukaiyah came to GWBCC seeking assistance in lead generation for new customers and gaining more revenue. GWBCC connected her with our partners from Chase Bank at our Access to Capital series, along with other GWBCC members. GWBCC promoted Rukaiyah on our social media pages.

DCity Smokehouse - Melvin Hines Jr.
DCity Smokehouse is a Black owned business, serving smokehouse BBQ in DC space since 2013. They are located on Florida and North Capitol St. Backed by love and support, they are winning the hearts of DC locals and tourist alike.
They fire up the great smoked meats classics and signature sides. DCity has great brews on draft and bottles along with a full bar to go with their half smoke or DCity pit smoked wings. They offer party packages and full service catering.

SouthEast Restaurant Group (SERG, LLC) was formed by Melvin Hines, Jr. As an owner/ operator of SERG, LLC, Melvin has been able to bring his version of hospitality to Ward 5 through exciting concepts. Melvin has spent his professional career in the Accounting and Healthcare arena. After graduating from Morehouse College with a BA is Accounting, Melvin joined the nations leading healthcare insurance carrier, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association as an analyst. Melvin served in a variety of roles with increasing responsibility, including direct responsibility of managing over $800 million of federal government funding. Melvin also earned his Master’s of Business Administration from George Washington School of Business. After serving in the private sector for close to 20 years, Melvin decided to pivot and focus on hospitality. Thus SERG, LLC was born.
SouthEast Restaurant Group, LLC (S.E.R.G.) is a Washington, D.C.-based restaurant and catering team, developing hospitality concepts. We have over 40 years of combined restaurant, catering and business management experience. Our present ventures are Revive Events and Catering, which aims to manage, cater and serve our clients special events and DCity Smokehouse, a traditional BBQ taste in an unconventional setting. And The Wicked Bloom Social Club, a neighborhood tavern that serves as a community hub right in the center of the District. All of our hospitality concepts strive to serve well executed, exceptionally tasting, fare at a competitive price point. When our corporate and government clients engage us for catered events, Revive Events and Catering, offers a wide selection of Gourmet Signature Sandwiches & Salads, Creative Custom Desserts, and custom menu items. And for those ‘on-the-go’ customers that visit DCity Smokehouse, we offer the finest smoked meats. In the history of DCity Smokehouse, we have received favorable reviews in various social media publications, as well voted ‘Best Local Dish’ by the Washington Post, ‘Best Sandwich’ by the local Washington City Paper as well as one of America’s ‘Best New BBQ Joints’ by Thillist Additional positive feedback can be seen in Yelp reviews averaging over 4.5+ stars overall.

GWBCC’s Impact with DCity Smokehouse
GWBCC hosted a networking event at DCity Smokehouse and promoted the restaurant on our social media pages. GWBCC also provided Melvin and DCity Smokehouse with customer lead generation opportunities and insights to gain more revenue. GWBCC connected Melvin with our partners from Chase Bank for our Access to Capital series, along with other GWBCC members.