今年秋天早些时候, 乔治王子郡经济发展公司 accepted applications for a new e-business grant made possible by funds from Maryland Department of Commerce as appropriated by the Relief Act of 2021. The grants were designated to help 乔治王子县-based personal services businesses increase foot traffic to brick and mortar establishments, 对销售点技术进行改进, 并支持跨渠道功能. 在一般情况下, this grant program encouraged personal services businesses to utilize all forms of digital capabilities and technology to support and optimize its business processes, 通过建立或扩大在线销售能力. 

两位MWBC客户与安吉·邓肯森合作, 乔治王子郡的高级商业顾问, 最近每个人都得到了5美元吗,000年电子商务拨款. We congratulate these women business owners on winning grants that will support their continued business growth and are extremely proud to have supported them on their journey. To inspire other women entrepreneurs, we’ve profiled their companies and their road to success. If you would like one-on-one business consultation to start or grow your business, contact a business consultant in the office located closest to you–jdb电子夺宝, 弗雷德里克县, or 乔治王子县. 

Alodia护发

Dr. Isfahan Chambers-Harris was born to revolutionize the hair care industry. With a background in Bio-medical Sciences and a passion for healthy hair, 她将自己的技能和知识结合到创作中 Alodia护发有限责任公司, an innovative hair care line that is poised to take hair care to the next level.

 
Dr. Chambers-Harris started Alodia after battling with her own damaged, 多年使用化学拉直器导致头发稀疏. 作为一个结果, 她求助于她的生物和化学专业知识, 花无数的时间研究发质结构, 属性, 以及最佳维护实践. 她开发了滋养 & 头皮油，她的第一个产品. Inspired by her own hair transformation and her desire to help other women with their hair, 她开始创造一个完整的系列. Over a three-year period of meticulously selecting ingredients for each of her products and making sure that all compositions were medically and nutritionally sound, 2017年，她推出了自己的产品Alodia护发系列. 从一开始就, it was extremely important to her for Alodia护发 to not only provide all natural high-quality products, but also to help dispel the stereotypes that surrounds textured hair.

当被问及妇联如何协助她时, Isfahan says that the experience of participating in the Maryland Women’s Business Center’s Business Plan Competition and pitch event helped her tremendously. It allowed her to see the strengths of her business but even more importantly the weaknesses so that she could work on them to create a better, 较强的业务. Isfahan says that “MWBC is a wonderful resource for women entrepreneurs. It provides mentorship and opportunities that all businesses need to thrive and be successful.”

虽然阿罗迪亚已经起飞，但伊斯法罕才刚刚起步. 对慈善事业和人道主义问题充满热情, she is working to align Alodia护发 with nonprofits centered on health and healing. She has collaborated with the Sisters Network for Breast Cancer Survivors (D.C. Chapter) and Mikeys Miracle, where she gave seminars on growing hair after chemotherapy. 她还对激励年轻人探索科学感兴趣, 技术, 工程和数学(STEM)领域. 她与位于D.C. 这赋予了来自单亲家庭的年轻女性权力, and continues to actively seek mentoring and partnership opportunities to discuss STEM and how it relates to the beauty industry.

AROMAbyANETTE

AromabyAnette started in 2013 when Anette Casiano-Negroni created her first whipped body butters that were gifted to family and friends. Anette’s business inspiration occurred because she was trying to figure out her own skincare—her skin stopped responding to the over-the-counter cosmetics she was using when she moved from Michigan to the DMV area. 她于2015年正式注册，并开始了她的生意.

As a trained biochemist and someone who understood the ingredients in cosmetic formulations, 安妮特决定把她的训练用于工作. She was further inspired by her students as she started to create and implement laboratory experiments that showed them how the chemistry they were learning is used in their daily lives. 例如, some of the activities included a laboratory exercise about creating artisan soaps, an activity to understand how Vitamin E worked with trapping radicals and exploring different methods to test for chemicals in cosmetics. Anette was encouraged when she saw her students excited to verify the contents in the products they consume. 

Anette remains committed to creating a great quality product that is accessible to all. Today, her line of products is made using mostly natural ingredients. AromabyAnette is a family affair—Anette counts on the support of her husband and children. 在一起, they’ve participated in different events including being one of the first participants in the jdb电子夺宝平台(MWBC)商店当地零售孵化器 马里兰州洛克维尔.  Participating in this incubator taught them more about business and strengthening the brand. 

今天，Anette的生意正朝着正确的方向发展, and it is slowly recovering from the negative economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. AromabyAnette is a constant vendor at the University of District of Columbia Farmer’s Market from May to November and has an online presence as well. Presently, Anette is working to enhance the online presence by redesigning/updating the AromabyAnette网站 and planning a comprehensive social media strategy and digital marketing efforts.