The Bristol-based space, owned by Trojah Morgan, promotes community, female empowerment and more
By Samantha Bambino
The Times
If there’s one thing about modern day society that gets Trojah Morgan’s blood boiling, it’s the obsession with social media. This Bristol Borough resident, wife and mother of three is sick of attending events where everyone’s eyes are glued to their phones…even a Jay Z and Beyonce concert.
“Beyonce is up there giving you your whole entire life, and you’re over here scrolling Instagram,” she said. “Are you serious?”
In Morgan’s opinion, in-person interactions (and phone calls) are quickly becoming things of the past. To help counter this and promote the concept of being present in the moment, she’s boasting the slogan “socialize off of social media” at her all-new Elements Hookah Lounge, which officially opened its doors at 400 Market St., Bristol, on Dec. 22.
“My whole idea behind a hookah lounge is, hookah is communal. You rarely see a person doing hookah alone. It’s usually more than one person, so that gives you an opportunity to talk to the person that’s next to you,” Morgan said.
At Elements, which is open Thursday-Saturday from 6 p.m. to midnight, guests can relax in the intimate space of stretching couches and colorful, sequined pillows. The lounge is BYOB and offers a variety of hookah flavors. For those unfamiliar, Morgan explained that hookah is an assembled smoking pipe, with flavor coming through the tobacco, most of which is organic at Elements. Unlike the common belief, Morgan stressed that hookah does not get a user high.
“If that’s what you’re looking for, Elements is not the place for you,” she said. “But it does zen you out a little bit. It just relaxes you.”
So what sparked Morgan’s interest in hookah? It all started last year when she and her mother visited Dubai to celebrate her 30th birthday. In the middle of a desert, surrounded by camels and belly dancers, Morgan was first introduced to the communal nature of hookah. It was an experience she would never forget, and something she longed to bring home with her.
Still, the idea to open a lounge of her own wasn’t exactly an overnight thing. Neither was her move to Bristol two years ago. Originally from Newark, New Jersey, Morgan lived in Burlington for some time, working as a temporary financial analyst for Merrill Lynch in Pennington. Every day during her commute, she would get stuck in traffic at the Burlington-Bristol Bridge. And every day, she wondered what Bristol was all about.
Though she explored the area a handful of times, it wasn’t until Morgan’s temp job ended and she moved back to North Jersey that she and her husband longed for something different. They craved a balance between the bustle of the big city and serenity of the suburbs.
“I wanted a place where I could settle and raise my family and still get the best of both worlds,” she said. “That’s what attracted me to Bristol. There’s always something going on. You get the small town vibe but you also have access. Philadelphia is minutes away.”
After Morgan landed another temp job at Merrill Lynch, and with her Jenkintown-based mother wanting to be in her grandchildren’s everyday lives, the move was a no-brainer. Quickly, Morgan realized that although the area had a hookah wholesale on Bristol Pike, there were zero lounges. As a self-described entrepreneur, a vision of what she could potentially create began to take shape.
Prior to becoming a Bristol resident, Morgan founded a nonprofit organization for plus-size women and overweight teen girls. She conducted a number of workshops and motivational events about body acceptance, during which she discussed her weight loss surgery and how she dropped 100 pounds of her original 400 in two years. In addition, she wrote the book My Fat is Not a Flaw and, in 2013, started her own publishing company.
“I’ve always done things on my own. That’s just in me. My mom used to own a hair salon and several businesses growing up. Dad, the same thing. He’s actually a DJ and has been for over 20 years. So owning a business, multiple streams of income, has always been something that I’ve seen and gravitated towards,” Morgan said. “That kind of led me here. I’ve never had a location before, I never did anything in the hookah business. But I’m a hookah user in my personal time, so I kind of fell into this place.”
It was admittedly nerve-wracking for Morgan to introduce a brand new business in an area still somewhat foreign to her. But she saw a need and took a chance, which is so far paying off.
“The vape community is growing. Everytime I turn around, there’s people with the vape sticks somewhere around here, by the tattoo shops or the barber shops. It’s all in the same family, but hookah is like the tobacco side of the vape community. It’s become a culture,” she said. “You see vape shops popping up all over the place where you go in, you buy your vape stick and you can smoke there. And I wanted to provide that same thing. A safe environment.”
With Elements creating an early, steady buzz, Morgan is already looking to expand beyond just hookah. The lounge’s first year will see a slew of karaoke nights, paint and sip events and, on Jan. 19, a Girls and Goals Vision Board Party.
“I’m into things like that, female empowerment, just getting girls to follow their dreams, make realistic plans. That’s really at my core,” she said. “I want it to be a community space, kind of like a modern day Cheers with a hookah twist. I want to get to know people’s names when they walk through the door.”
For Morgan, it’s an honor and a thrill to be a part of what she called the “renaissance that is Bristol Borough.”
“I saw so many things changing just from the moment I visited. I didn’t even live here yet and I saw that something special was happening,” she said. “There’s not many African American-owned businesses in the area, but they’re growing. You have the daycare, you have the Healthy Plate Meal Preps. So it’s exciting to be a part of that community as well. You see the diversity here in the borough and it’s just encouraging.” ••
Visit facebook.com/ElementsHookahLounge for information.
Samantha Bambino can be reached at sbambino@newspapermediagroup.com
