Q1: How did you get started on creating your brand? Did you experience an a-ha moment that inspired your brand?

“I discovered beeswax after burning paraffin candles. This led me to discover a long-standing reciprocal relationship between humans and the honey bee. The reminder our relation to nature paired with the patient, meditative process of traditional candlemaking inspired me deeply.”

Q2: What are some of the best resources you utilized or discovered for starting and growing a business?

“How I source beeswax was one of the first discoveries of how to grow my business in a sustainable and ethical way. After purchasing 'beeswax' online from random sources, I started looking for local beeswax. I quickly found out that most online sources blend beeswax to cut costs. When sourcing beeswax locally, I was able to meet the beekeeper and the Honey bees and know that what I was getting was 100% pure. With online vs. locally sourced, the difference in quality is unmistakable. My customers often note that they can tell the difference, too.”

Q3: What would you say to the future generation of Black makers, artisans, or designers who feel unsure about starting their own business?

“Invest in yourself. Do it. Try it. Explore it. Whatever creativity you've got inside. Also, we’ve got to remember that nature is our teacher. Return to a spot in nature again and again, give a gift, ask questions. The rest will show itself.”

Q4: What would you say is your greatest accomplishment as a small business owner?

“I think my greatest accomplishment is staying in my own lane. I strive to create candles that feel true to who I am, without rising to an imposed expectation.”

Q1: How did you get started on creating your brand? Did you experience an a-ha moment that inspired your brand?

“I got started creating my unique pieces to fulfill a personal need for home furnishings that were functional, had character, and were created using vintage objects that would otherwise be thrown away and added to landfill. My ‘a-ha’ moment came when friends, and visitors to my home, admired my pieces and asked that I make some for them.”

Q2: What is one of the biggest challenges you've faced while starting or growing your business?

“Actually, ‘starting’ was the biggest challenge...WHERE do I start? HOW do I start? I discovered that I just had to ‘start’ and take it one small step at a time, not succumbing to intimidation but allowing curiosity to lead the way.”

Q3: What are some of the best resources you utilized or discovered for starting and growing a business?

“Although I've never owned a business before, I've spent most of my adulthood in a career in retail and design, where I've been exposed to relevant business and marketing practices. I've always helped to build the business and image of luxury brands, so why not put some of those learnings into my own small business? Doing lots of research along the way, taking note of what other small but successful, black-owned businesses are doing, how they're doing it, and just talking to small business owners is an incredible resource. Not being afraid to experiment with various business and selling models also continues to be a great way to learn what works for me.”

Q4: What would you say to the future generation of Black makers, artisans, or designers who feel unsure about starting their own business?

“Ask yourself ‘what makes me feel unsure,’ and answer honestly. Is it the money to get started? Start small, with whatever you have on hand, or obtain a small loan to get started. Is it that you lack motivation? Find what really makes you passionate. Imagine how it may fill a need or niche in the market. I like to say, ‘THINK BIG!...but start small.’”

Q5: What would you say is your greatest accomplishment as a small business owner?

“I feel a sense of great accomplishment every time I repurpose an object of the past, transforming it into a whimsical and functional piece that strikes a chord in someone who needs to have it in their life.”

Q1: How did you get started on creating your brand? Did you experience an a-ha moment that inspired your brand?

“We both share an appreciation for our Southern roots and wanted to preserve the flavors of our childhood. My Low Country upbringing and Chef background paired with my partner, the Soulful Crooner, Anthony Hamilton, it just made sense.”

Q2: What is one of the biggest challenges you've faced while starting or growing your business?

“One of the biggest challenges has been Marketing and more capital.”

Q3: What would you say to the future generation of Black makers, artisans, or designers who feel unsure about starting their own business?

“I encourage everyone to just start! There may already be a similar concept, but it isn’t you! Don’t be afraid to jump or to even fail. ‘Nothing beats a failure but a try.’”

Q4: What would you say is your greatest accomplishment as a small business owner?

“Greatest accomplishment is creating products for generations to come to enjoy.”

Q1: How did you get started on creating your brand? Did you experience an a-ha moment that inspired your brand?

“I went to Morocco in 2014 for a vacation. As I experienced the Souks in the 100-degree heat of August, I was so enthralled with the colors, textures, and craftsmanship I spent almost the whole trip shopping. I packed a suitcase full of textiles. I sold my goods at local pop-ups and quickly sold out! Spirited Cloth was born. Spirited Cloth has expanded collaboration with a cooperative in Ethiopia to ensure fair wages and safe working conditions, creating employment for the most marginalized people to manufacture a New Table linen collection launching in Spring 2023.”

Q2: What is one of the biggest challenges you've faced while starting or growing your business?

“I sell artisanal luxury, which can be pricey. Educating consumers on the value of hand-made products. The importance of fair trade, sustainability, and operating with integrity.”

Q3: What are some of the best resources you utilized or discovered for starting and growing a business?

“Editorial acknowledgment really gave my business the push I needed for my online store as well as colleagues and friends who get the word out through social media and support everything I do.”

Q4: What would you say to the future generation of Black makers, artisans, or designers who feel unsure about starting their own business?

“Do what you love and serve the highest good of all involved!”

Q5: What would you say is your greatest accomplishment as a small business owner?

“Always looking forward! Never giving up on my passion.”

📷 Maya Porrino

Q1: How did you get started on creating your brand? Did you experience an a-ha moment that inspired your brand?

“I learned to knit in 2008 as a way to connect with my patient, who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. After discovering a stash of yarn and knitting materials in the client's home, I asked her for lessons, as I hadn't practiced since primary school in South Africa. My client's mind went smoothly into it, and we started spending our days knitting together. She gifted me my first set of knitting needles, and I have been knitting ever since. My A-ha moment came when I started selling my knitwear at different markets. The energy I was receiving from other makers made me so happy and left me motivated. I knew right then that I could do this business.”

Q2: What is one of the biggest challenges you've faced while starting or growing your business?

“Learning something new is always challenging, but once you move past that stage of fear, the mind opens up, and I’m able to learn easily. It takes time, but every year I evolve. Another challenge is time because every piece is a pattern I design and write as I knit. So working full time and making time for knitting has been tough.”

Q3: What are some of the best resources you utilized or discovered for starting and growing a business?

“The lady that helped me create my website was amazing, she opened my eyes to how to navigate my business online. I also live in an area where I get supported by the community, and it is truly inspiring to watch them run their businesses.”

Q4: What would you say to the future generation of Black makers, artisans, or designers who feel unsure about starting their own business?

“From someone who grew up with a mother who had businesses from when I was young, and one of them was the day she left my cousins and me at a market to sell clothes (it was her side business). That makes me laugh every time I am selling at markets because she was teaching me about business. So, to anyone that thinks they won’t be able to make it, just try it. If you fail, it’s okay. It’s not pretty, but at the end of the day, you are creating something that makes you happy, and that is yours.”

Q5: What would you say is your greatest accomplishment as a small business owner?

“Being picked as a knitter to know and support by Martha Stewart was a true miracle.”

Q1: How did you get started on creating your brand? Did you experience an a-ha moment that inspired your brand?

“I've been making ceramics since my freshman year of college (which is 13 years ago now!), but I didn't start selling my work until 2018 after a friend asked me to make cups for her coffee shop, and I dont think I really found my voice until the summer of 2020 when I began experimenting with color and glaze. I don't think I ever had one great a-ha moment that inspired my brand because, in a lot of ways, my work is an extension of my own curiosity. My brand is my practice. I do, however, enjoy frequent, tiny a-ha moment's that propel me forward toward new ideas and designs. I'm most inspired by the opportunity to learn and make something new.”

Q2: What is one of the biggest challenges you've faced while starting or growing your business?

“The biggest challenge of starting, growing, and maintaining my business is the business part! Managing the back end - the receipts, the paperwork, the tax deadlines - that stuff never seems to get easier for me! And I am perpetually behind on my emails. But I am very blessed to work with an extremely generous and intelligent bookkeeper who keeps all of that nice and tidy for me so that I can focus on my strengths. Learning to delegate over the past 4 years has been life-changing for me.”

Q3: What are some of the best resources you utilized or discovered for starting and growing a business?

“I think the greatest resource for a person running a business is other people who are running businesses. I was extremely lucky to work for two small businesses before I made the leap to running TA full-time, and I cannot even begin to adequately express the gratitude I have for them and everything they taught me about what it really means to run a small business. Similarly, I have a wonderful web of friendships with folks across the country who run creative businesses, and they teach me so much! We answer each other's questions, lend an ear when things get tough, and celebrate each other's wins. It's incredible, honestly. People are everything.”

Q4: What would you say to the future generation of Black makers, artisans, or designers who feel unsure about starting their own business?

“My advice is to go for it! We need your voices and your perspective! Do plenty of research and identify your resources (physical space, free time, money), accept that you will make mistakes, set a comfortable, realistic pace, and always show up for yourself. I've had to make a lot of personal sacrifices over the years for the sake of running my business, but there isn't a single day that I regret trying. Self-employment has taught me so much about who I am and what I'm capable of - it's one of the greatest gifts I've ever given myself.”

Q1: How did you get started on creating your brand? Did you experience an a-ha moment that inspired your brand?

"This brand was created to address the skin issues of our 5 children with eczema. In a search for natural products that work we found cold processes soap, and our journey began from there."

Q2: What is one of the biggest challenges you've faced while starting or growing your business?

"One of the biggest challenges that we face is work-life balance. When we started this business, we had 6 children under 16 years old. How do you find time for everyone and everything? I'd like to be able to tell you that we solved all the problems, but it's always a work in progress."

Q3: What are some of the best resources you utilized or discovered for starting and growing a business?

"One of the resources that really helped us while growing this business is joining a business network for our specific industry. We are members of the Indie Business Network, but there are many others. We have had the opportunity to learn from other businesses' successes and failures."

Q4: What would you say to the future generation of Black makers, artisans, or designers who feel unsure about starting their own business?

"I would tell future generations who want to start their own business to do their research first. Information can be empowering and give you the confidence that you will need to start. That being said, you'll never know enough, and you'll never have enough resources. You will just have to take that first step in spite of all of the obstacles. Be scared but do it anyway."

Q5: What would you say is your greatest accomplishment as a small business owner?

"Our greatest accomplishment will always be our children, but our business is the tool that we use to accomplish some of the goals that we have for our family. We have shown our children that they can chase dreams and find success. Your business belongs to you. You can keep it small or grow it as large as you are comfortable with. The only expectations that matter are your own."

Q1: How did you get started on creating your brand? Did you experience an a-ha moment that inspired your brand?

"My story began with the hope for healing. When my daughter was 16 years old, she was diagnosed with pityriasis rosea, covering her body with painful skin rashes. No treatment worked. That is when I discovered the power of ancient medicine and healed her skin with shea-goat milk and calendula flowers, an anti-inflammatory remedy. Inspired by my daughter’s transformative skin recovery, The Mahogany Exchange provides a collection of organic, refillable skincare products curated to repair and revive the skin with intention. This prevented her from depending on harsh topical steroids, which leads to other side effects such as skin discoloration and irritation."

Q2: What is one of the biggest challenges you've faced while starting or growing your business?

"One of my biggest challenges while starting a business is time management. As a new business owner, we tend to wear so many hats that it can be easy to get burnt out and overwhelmed from juggling multiple roles within our business. Implementing a realistic to-do list and setting in place obtainable actionable items, in turn, can create organization that will allow for a more work-life balance."

Q3: What are some of the best resources you utilized or discovered for starting and growing a business?

"The Mahogany Exchange offers environmentally conscious skincare in which we utilize the earth as a healing source to provide non-chemical products that directly address underlining causes of skin disorders."

Q4: What would you say to the future generation of Black makers, artisans, or designers who feel unsure about starting their own business?

"Black-owned businesses now have the opportunity to impact a broader reach and offer economic growth to support our own underserved communities. Being a minority small business owner comes with many unique benefits, such as minority funding, supplier diversity programs, and access to extra training! Be consistent and grow!"

Q5: What would you say is your greatest accomplishment as a small business owner?

"My greatest achievement as a small business owner is the transformative impact and outreach we've contributed towards the community. Within 2 years, we have been able to accomplish partnering with our local group home Vision and Pathways, contributing to sponsorships with various organizations! It's the GIVE BACK for US!"

Q1: How did you get started on creating your brand? Did you experience an a-ha moment that inspired your brand?

"I started Frances Grey (named after my great-grandmother, and whose signature is my company's logo) because I love hats and personally could not find women's hats in any stores that would fit my head. My solution was to purchase hats in the men’s section. My a-ha moment was the realization that if I am having this problem, others may as well. So, I decided to create a custom line of hats to fit all head sizes and personalized to create the look and feel that my customers have come to love!"

Q2: What is one of the biggest challenges you've faced while starting or growing your business?

"Understanding that to grow, I cannot be and do all things by myself. I am learning how to ask for help in areas where I am not an expert and how to delegate tasks so that my time is used efficiently."

Q3: What are some of the best resources you utilized or discovered for starting and growing a business?

"The best resources I utilize are attending networking events (what good is a business if no one knows about it). Honing my skills by taking workshops, reading, and staying on top of changes within the industry…basically never stop learning."

Q4: What would you say to the future generation of Black makers, artisans, or designers who feel unsure about starting their own business?

"Representation matters! It’s important for people to see others that look like them succeeding in their craft. It is truly inspiring! If you are thinking of starting a business, do your research on the industry you are looking to get into. If available, take classes and/or do an internship. Don’t worry about having it all together. Once you take that first step, everything will fall into place. Trust the process!"

Q5: What would you say is your greatest accomplishment as a small business owner?

"Seeing my business grow year after year. My Frances Grey line carried by Nordstrom and being able to showcase my designs among talented artisans at high-end markets and trade shows."