Blogs
Takeerah Jones did not set out to be an educator or a business owner. But after pivoting away from a career in writing, she found herself in a substitute teacher position. That’s how she fell in love with educating children.
“The first day, I just fell in love with the kids. They were my happy place, and I just never left,” Takeerah said.
Having spent most of her adulthood working in retail, New York City-based entrepreneur Caroline Weaver noticed that while many people understood the importance of shopping locally, few incorporated the habit into their daily lives. Wanting to change this, Caroline trekked over 2,000 miles through the five boroughs, visiting every small business she could find.
Congress has big plans to reform the tax code this year. To help ensure that America’s diverse small business economy has a seat at the negotiating table, Small Business Majority and Main Street Alliance (MSA) partnered to launch the Small Business Tax Reform (SBTR) Coalition, a national initiative to advocate for a tax code that better prioritizes the needs of America’s entrepreneurs.
Sharon Kalenzi always envisioned herself as an entrepreneur. Growing up, Sharon was inspired by her mother, a small business owner who was very involved in their community. And while she and her husband were already co-owners of Rock Creek Veterinary Hospital in Broomfield, Colo., Sharon always wanted a small business of her own.
Alberto Sanchez is the newest member of Small Business Majority’s Outreach Team, supporting entrepreneurship in Southern California. Our outreach team helps entrepreneurs on two fronts: It advocates for policies that benefit small businesses and it offers webinars and in-person events that offer entrepreneurs tips on how to grow their businesses.
Small Business Majority and Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute (RMMFI) convened an Inclusive Small Business Roundtable on December 4 with Colorado policymakers and agency leaders and a group of diverse small business owners ahead of the upcoming 2025 legislative session. The goal was to help legislators and agency attendees better understand the experiences and barriers that entrepreneurs face when starting and growing their businesses.
Although Jessi Burg loved her career in seasonal industries like environmental education, outdoor guiding and agriculture, she faced a big problem.
“I wanted to make a living wage,” she said.
With that goal in mind, the future Colorado entrepreneur thought about the small business owners she knew. They seemed to have more control over their wages, work schedule and life. This realization led her to found a landscaping business, Pears to Perennials, in 2016.
We encourage you to shop small all year round, but especially during this holiday season. If you purchase an item through a small business on this list, take a photo and post it on social media using #IShoppedSmallBiz to encourage others to do the same!
This blog is adapted from Small Business Majority Founder & CEO John Arensmeyer’s conversation with small business owner Mo Johnson in the video series Inside Small Business Policy.
Gustavo Garcia Jr. contracted life-threatening viral meningitis as a child and ended up in the hospital as a result. But for Gustavo, something good came out of this experience: It inspired him to pursue a career in medicine and research. After studying immunology at the University of California, Berkeley, he went to work at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), during the Zika virus epidemic of 2015-2016, and played a vital role during the COVID-19 pandemic. His work at that time was instrumental to his career because it allowed him “to see the gap in preventative measures to combat these viral diseases,” Gustavo said.
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