This International Women’s Day, I want to showcase some amazing women of the DMV. These women all own small businesses, but all have so much power to do good!
Tomorrow is International Women’s Day and to celebrate, I have decided to only shop at women-owned businesses all day! You will be able to follow me throughout my day on Instagram stories @Danieminor13.
I was able to chat with all of the business owners about their businesses, advice for other women who want to start their own business and why International Women’s Day is important to them.
In no particular order, lets meet these leaders!
Meet the DMV Business Owners:
Sip City DC owners, Nikki Blank & Josie Gibbens
These two 20-somethings have created their version of Switchel. As it says on their bottle, it is nature’s sports drink and a cocktail mixer. Sip City’s mission is to help people drink mindfully they way they eat and exercise! I was able to chat with Nikki, and she told me when she and Josie moved from Boston and Nashville, they saw how accurate the saying “work hard, play hard” is in DC and wanted to give them a way to still let loose on the weekend, but in a much healthier way!
How they began Sip City:
So, I moved from Boston to D.C. in June, and Boston has Puritan drinking laws..which means you cannot make a sale on alcohol. So there is no such thing as a happy hour or a boozy brunch. You pay full price for every drink in Boston (omg!!). After college, I reassessed the drinking culture, and when I moved to D.C. I saw that people drank heavily from Friday afternoon to Sunday…but also doing it on the weekdays, too. I was not used to that, and neither was my body.
And that is sort of where the idea came from. There had to be a healthier way to [drink alcohol]. Our original mission formed around the drinking culture in D.C. and also the way people are drinking things all day and not thinking about what’s in them- whether it’s their coffee creamer or a sugary juice. We want people to re-think all of that!
What went from these two women brewing their own Switchel at home has turned into a business that is quickly become known all over D.C.
Do you have a piece of advice for other women who want to start a business?
Take a step back and think about why you are doing it. Make sure your idea is solid and that you have a support systems in place! Also, you have to make sure that you are passionate about everything.
If you are in a job that makes you unhappy, there is no reason at this age that you should be unhappy in a job, but it also doesn’t mean you have to go out to start something on your own.
What does International Women’s Day mean to you?
We are finally in a place where we see that women have been marginalized in every step of modern-day civilization but now it actually feels like change is happening. It’s looking back to see where we screwed up in the past and how can we move forward, that means more rights and more quality for women.
We care a lot about supporting other women, especially other local women and women in food because food can be a hard industry for women. We’ve often been underappreciated in this industry. We are spending every week of this month highlighting a different area of women’s history, so this week we are highlighting women in sports.
Follow these women at @SipCitydc on Instagram and Twitter!
Ringlet owner, Elise Crawford
Ringlet is a full-service digital marketing & branding agency, community and resource focused on serving women-owned small businesses in the D.C. area. We are a “full-service” agency because we work with clients to build their online marketing strategy and then our team can execute that strategy through social media management, email marketing, content creation, website design and event design.
We also host events that focus on providing women entrepreneurs with the education, tools and community that they need to make their businesses succeed.
How/Why did you begin Ringlet?
What do you hope to see for the future of women in business? And do you have any advice for women who want to start their own business?
What does International Women’s Day mean to you?
Glen’s Garden Market owner,
Danielle Vogel
After getting her start in policy and working on Capitol Hill for 10 years, Danielle did not think that she would become a fourth generation grocery store owner. But the grocery business runs deep in her roots. Danielle started her grocery business for a different reason than her family members.
Her whole life’s work was climate change progress. After noticing congress started becoming more conservative and needing to continue progress without them, Danielle opened Glen’s Garden Market in 2013 on Earth Day! During the 5 years they have been open, Danielle has helped launch 78 local food businesses, 43 of them founded by women!
Mission: Make incremental climate change progress by selling good food from close by and fostering relationships with farmers who treat their land, animals and ingredients with respect.
And every decision that is made for Glen’s, they keep that mission in mind, no matter how large or small the decision is! “You walk into Glen’s and it’s a very pretty grocery but every single way it is an intentional climate change progress agent.”
Tell me about your new AccelerateHer DC program:
This is the first time we are doing it! This is for our 5 year anniversary. Our notion is to get to 50 women-owned small businesses that are launched here at Glen’s by the time we turn 5.
I was thinking how we could really double down on our committment to growing women-driven small batch food companies in our region. And we came up with this idea of doing a business pitch competition. The application went live on March 1, and there are SO many prizes.
They include:
- A $10,000 investment with no strings from Glen’s
- A year-long professional mentorship with Danielle, the marketing director, Shana Mohamed, their grocery department head, Merrill
- Free entry to the Good Food Mercantile in Brooklyn in July
- Monthly HR and strategic analysis consulting services
What is your advice for women who want to start a business?
My advice is starting a business requires an amazing amount of resiliency. First of all, no matter what you’re doing you’re not going to be embraced or understood from day one, even if you’re the coolest grocery store that anyone has ever conceived.
Also, take your projections for how much you think it’s going to cost, and double it! And figure out how to get the help from people who have strengths where you have weaknesses. So, I am a lawyer…math skills NOT great- so, I hired the world’s most spectacular accountant! Build your team so it’s complementary to your skill set.
What does International Women’s Day mean to you?
Women bring exactly the same amount to the table. We are equally as aggressive, we’re equally analytic, we’re equally forward-thinking, we’re visionaries.
It’s really cool to get together to celebrate our accomplishments, but I personally don’t believe there is any implicit differentiation [from a man]. I am just as ambitious as any man I went to law school with, practiced law with, worked in the senate with and we would be well-served to remember that.
Alexasmind.com blogger, Alexa Garcia
Alexa is from NOVA, and is a great blogger that I met through the blogging network, InfluenceHer Collective. In addition to being a wonderful blogger, she runs a hand-lettering shop through her blog and on Etsy. You can tell that each product is truly made with love!
Your blog is absolutely beautiful! How long have you been blogging?
What inspired you to begin your blog/custom design shop?
How long have you been doing hand-lettering?
Growing up, I always had neat handwriting and played around with writing in different fonts. Around two years ago, I found out about calligraphy and hand-lettering and I fell in love with the process of creating hand-lettered items.
How important is it to you to shop at other local/small shops?
What does International Women’s Day mean to you?
OneMillionWonders, Etsy shop owner, Amanda Beall
OneMillionWonders is a business where Amanda promotes the sense of well-being while aligning you with your higher self through handmade jewelry.
Why did you want to start your business?
I started my business back in 2013 when I was bored in one of my college classes, it started out as doodles to keep myself busy and pretty soon it came to life. I have always wanted to be able to make a living from what I can create with my own hands.
What is a piece of advice you have for other women who want to begin their own business?
For other women who want to start their own businesses- just go for it! It has been the most wonderful experience for me. I beleive if you pour your heart and soul into something there is no way you can go wrong.
How important is supporting other small businesses to you?
Supporting other small businesses is extremely important to me. I go out of my way to do it. I purchase many supplies for my own business from other small businesses.
Why do you think it’s important to have International Women’s Day?
I think International Womens Day is important because it is a day to honor all the amazing things women have done, to show our strength and how far women have come as a whole.
