Illustration: Jonell Joshua Across New York, this pandemic has forced small businesses — many of which were already operating on tight margins and paying staggeringly high rents — to face the possibility of closure. This has been especially true, statistics show, for Black-owned businesses, which lack easy access to loans, and seem to be benefiting less from federal stimulus programs , and whose communities are suffering disproportionately from the virus itself.
Photo: Courtesy of subject Ali Wright and Jamila McGill, co-owners: We spent months just sitting in the shop watching Netflix on our projectors. Then, a couple of days after Blackout Tuesday, we suddenly started seeing ourselves on all of these online lists of Black-owned businesses. And then Shonda Rhimes tweeted us out. She wrote, “I just ordered so much tea. My favorite discovery of the day is @BrooklynTeaNYC.” We freaked out.
Trinity Mouzon Wofford, co-founder: After the news about George Floyd came out, we said we were going to donate 100 percent of our profits to the NAACP for a week. Almost immediately, we saw a massive uptick in our sales — they increased tenfold and stayed that way for weeks. We sold out. All of those orders were, for the most part, people shopping presale. In the month of June, we did more revenue than we did all of last year. And we ended up donating over $10,000.
Illustration: Jonell Joshua Photo: Courtesy of subject Noëlle Santos, owner: For the first two weeks after my store was forced to close in March, I did nothing. I was mourning my store. I put my head down for five years to build this business. I sacrificed everything and then, ten months into the dream, it was snatched away from me.
I’m an anomaly — especially in the Bronx. My financial success is very recent. I’m still working out the logistics with my accountant on how we can give some of the money back to organizations. But that’s coming up next. This movement has everyone’s attention right now. I’m interested to know how much of this is just symbolic and how much will be permanent.
Illustration: Jonell Joshua Photo: ABCNEWS Lisa Logan, owner: Nails have always been my safety blanket. Never in my life have I not been able to do nails. Even in the worst recessions, people want their nails done. I believed my industry could withstand anything. This was the first time I’ve ever been told, “No, under no circumstances can you be doing nails.” Frankly, it’s been snatched from under me. My talent and passion for nails allowed me to put my daughter through college.
Photo: Courtesy of the subjects Theresa and Corinna Williams, co-owners: “Recently, we were featured on Beyoncé’s Black Parade Route, which was welcome, of course, but a challenge, too — there was a massive uptick in online orders. Now we have a divide-and-conquer strategy: Teresa is focusing more on working with our staff on laundry, and Corinna is running back and forth from the post office to send out, you know, our microfiber laundry balls and our coconut-based stain-remover sticks.
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