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Washington University in St. Louis closed out Women’s History Month with a bang.
The WashU Supplier Diversity and Institutional Equity Office featured more than 50 women entrepreneurs during its Women & Diverse-Owned Business Marketplace on March 30, 2023, at the Eric P. Newman Education Center.
“In the vendor community, we are creating bonds, learning and helping each other grow,” Tommy Wong Select Founder Mellarie Thomas said. “Now I’m actually mentoring a couple of young ladies interested in business.”
Students, faculty, and community members supported the array of STL women business owners from fields including literature, health, music, real estate, horticulture, and physical therapy.
“We’re making sure diverse businesses, whether women-owned, LGBTQIA-owned, and so forth have visibility,” WashU Supplier Diversity Director Janelle Turner said.
Turner recently helped establish Coffee Stamp, a Latino-owned small business, on the WashU Brown school campus.
U.S. women-employer firms grew by 17% between 2012 and 2019. While women business owners constituted about 41% (11 million) of American businesses without paid employees, they made up 20% (1 million) of employer-based businesses, according to the National Women’s Business Council 2022 Report.
“Connection is so important,” Turner said.
“Think about how you can make purchasing decisions differently and support the community.”
As of 2019, Black women owned 3% of businesses with at least one employee other than the owner, despite being 14% of the American population. In comparison, Asian women constitute 6% of the US women population yet comprise 14% of women-owned businesses with at least one employee, according to the NWBC report.
After working with the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis to build her business plan, Britany Stamps previewed her LLC NakedTones, a bra insert, at the Marketplace.
“I saw a gap in inclusivity and color ranges,” Stamps said. “I had everything completed, but I held onto it because I was scared. But it is time; I’m ready.”
Stamps’ NakedTones officially launches on April 7.
“I want to excite people,” Stamps said. “We have alternatives other than crappy strapless bras. We have shade ranges where you don’t have to feel like you only have this band-aid color; we can be free.”
A health scare and the need to change a family member’s diet led Mellarie Thomas to launch Tommy Wong Select in May 2022. Thomas operates the seasonings and sauces business full-time, while her husband, Tyree Thomas, works part-time.
“My last job was IT, and I wasn’t utilizing all my talents,” Thomas said. “So, my husband and son encouraged me. Before I quit, we started this business. It’s Tyree’s sauce recipe. His mom had high blood pressure, so he started creating a healthier recipe.”
Thomas said they debuted the business at her alma mater Cardinal Ritter. Their 2023 aspiration is to get their products, such as ‘Sara-cha-cha’ and ‘Hold up it’s hot,’ into local chain grocers.
Thomas said St. Louis small business owners are communal, sharing information and exposure opportunities. Her business cards feature her and Tyree wearing another local Black woman entrepreneur’s @CoaliesCorner’s customized crochet headpieces.
Always captivated by gardening and crafting, Ashley Atkins pursued her dream of launching a jewelry brand called Three Olives & Co. She opened for business in 2020 with the concept of making earrings from dried flowers.
“I believe in restoration no matter where you are, so even with this dead flower, there is a restored beauty,” Atkins said. “My parents always were creative and supported me experimenting with jewelry.”
Atkins, an expectant mother with three children, said during her previous pregnancies, her husband stepped up to support her business.
“My husband, a professional wrestler, would do events for me too,” Atkins said.
“One day, he did amazing; he is very friendly, putting on the earrings and later women at other events would tell me, ‘I bought a pair from your husband!'”
For her next chapter, she said she hopes to expand into working with precious metals and opening a brick-and-mortar boutique.
“When I’m creating, I’m fulfilling my purpose,” Atkins said. “I feel pride when I see how beautiful people feel wearing a pair of my earrings.”
Another business owner referred Thomas to a digital marketplace called West Tenth. West Tenth is a business app that functions as a marketplace and focuses on platforming women to start and grow home-based businesses.
The app is still fresh in the region, according to Thomas, and she refers business owners, and prospective ones, to visit the site.
“I’m working with Amazon Black Business Accelerator,” Thomas said. “They give us a mentor as part of a free program and start you out with a $500 grant.”
“This [marketplace] is a direct example of how we are in, for and with St. Louis,” Associate Director of Operations at the Academy for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Trish Gomez said.
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