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.

Stefani Pollack

The Bake Fest was created because of COVID. Because live events were being cancelled, bakers needed a virtual space to connect, learn, and grow. Even though live events are back, we’ve found that our attendees love the ability to continue to come together from the comfort of their homes. Read more>>

Hsiang-Ting Yen.

Before Covid, my revenue was heavily relied on traveling for in-state and out-of-state craft shows, I was always on the road, I used to be out of town for shows almost every month, and even every other weeks during the holiday seasons. All the shows were cancelled when Covid hit in 2020, and I had to pivot my business model from trade shows to custom focused with local clienteles, so I decided to move my home studio to downtown Raleigh in the midst of pandemic. Read more>>

Samantha Friedman

Prior to covid, we were operating two brick and mortar fitness studios with a full staff, at least 20 people deep, and a schedule to accommodate every member. We had vendors for everything from cleaning to equipment maintenance and also ran retail shops out of both studios for items like fitness apparel, accessories and energy bars. Read more>>

Melanie Mfuh

The outbreak of the pandemic posed and still poses some extent of threats to the growth of my business. On the other hand, it has been somewhat a blessing in disguise because it made me adapt to and birthed better means of scaling my business. At the time when COVID-19 struck, my main focus was to continue the business instead of quitting. There was a serious shortage of masks and I thought to myself, “Why not create fashionable masks for everyone?” Read more>>

Angie Miller.

So I’ve been renting a suite and running my business since 2016. The first couple years I worked a second job to stay afloat until I built a clientele. When Covid started we had to close our salon for 8 weeks. We were lucky in the fact that our landlord did not charge us rent while we were unable to work and we had a place to come back to when restrictions were lifted. When we reopened the industry made some big changes. Read more>>