“That first date consisted of music, food and exploration,” he mentioned. “After that, every other date kind of followed that same formula.”

In June 2016, Mr. Thompson moved to New York. “He immediately was like, ‘What are we doing?’ And I was like, ‘We’re continuing a friendship,’” she mentioned. That fall, he mentioned he would begin relationship different individuals. “Tristan was definitely getting tired of me prolonging it, so he applied the pressure,” she mentioned. And it labored.

On Dec. 2, 2016, they’d their first kiss at a pal’s party. And on Dec. 31, 2016, proper earlier than the ball dropped at midnight, he requested her, “Will you be my girlfriend?” at Troy Liquor Bar in New York. At the primary minute of the brand new 12 months, she responded, “Of course.”

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They moved in collectively in an condominium in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, in March 2020. Currently, they’re staying in Mount Vernon, N.Y., with Mr. Thompson’s household, and in August, they plan on shifting to Los Angeles.

Both worth neighborhood and the celebration of Black tradition, and in January 2020, they began a bunch referred to as the Legacy Network. The group consists of eight individuals — 4 {couples}, all of whom are actually married — to talk about wellness, social justice and entrepreneurship.

In April 2021, the group had a summit at an Airbnb in Danbury, Conn., the place the members spoke about their objectives and their imaginative and prescient for the longer term.