In March of 2020 there was a moment of widespread panic – it wasn’t just about public health, it was also economic. Would our economy survive a prolonged pandemic? A few years in the answer is clear – it did survive and it was able to because of the spirit and the resolve of our people. Hard working mom and pops working overtime to implement new revenue streams for the businesses, artists and creators finding new ways to collaborate and share their art with their fans and folks from every neighborhood in the country finding ways to adapt and carry on. We wanted to honor those stories by creating a space to share those stories and you’ll find some of the below.
Alia Kate
The pandemic changed a lot of things for Kantara. On the one hand, it brought my tour company, Kantara Tours, to an utter standstill. I had just launched the tour side of the business in 2019 and was gearing up to have a heavy travel season in 2020. By early March 2020, it was clear that there would be no travel for the foreseeable future. All my tours were canceled and Morocco had closed its borders. Luckily, Kantara Tours was the spin-off from Kantara Rugs, my fair trade Moroccan rug business and I had something that I could pivot to focus on while the world was hibernating. Read more>>
Rachel Trotta
Although COVID nudged my business model entirely online, the truth is that I had started to shift to remote personal training in 2016. At the time, I was a self-employed in-home personal trainer on the Upper West Side of New York City. I loved my clients, but I was also fully booked and worked long hours, dashing from apartment to apartment and not always feeling like I was being true to my vision for my business. This was partly because I wanted to make nutrition coaching one of my core offerings, and I had a dream of creating more holistic programs for my clients that addressed more than just workouts. I wanted my clients to feel that they had a plan not just for sessions, but for real life outside of our 60-minute time slots. Read more>>
Dr. Margaret Barrow
When COVID19 started, our focus was on direct to consumer, which meant that we were putting a lot of energy into going to events and our website. The pandemic forced us to look for new ways to chart our success. When the National Retail Federation and the Qurate Retail Group put out a call to highlight minority owned businesses, we completed the application on the day it was due. When they got back to us, stating that we were one of the small group of minority owned businesses that they were going to highlight we were absolutely delighted because at that point we were struggling financially. We were unable, like most people, to go out to events and sell our product and we were short on funds which is an understatement. The highlight put us in front of people we would not have had access to, and in so doing, we began to receive orders from corporations, like MasterCard and universities, like Harvard University. Read more>>
Eva Volf
Before Covid I primarily relied on my local galleries to sell paintings for me. When several venues had to temporarily close down I focused more on my online presence than ever before: studied SEO and built my own website evavolf.com , increased my social media presence by consistently creating video content and engaging with my followers on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. I also started working with several new online galleries. As a result 2020 was my best year in art sales, at some point I had barely any originals left and I’m a very prolific artist. Since then I realized that I get significantly more exposure, reach and sales by focusing on selling my art online. I still occasionally enter juried shows to stay in touch with my local art community and have recently signed with Signet Contemporary Art Gallery in London. Read more>>