Forest Hills Women Entrepreneurs Create Family-Focused Small Businesses
While many neighborhoods in NYC continue to lose longtime mom-and-pop businesses due to rising commercial rents, a diverse group of 12 local women is putting the small business concept focused on children and their families back on the map.
Small businesses have the distinct ability to offer unique products, to give back to community causes, and to build rapport and loyalty with customers. Statistically, it has shown that they also boost the local economy. For every $100 spent at a small business, $68 will remain within the community.
Among this eclectic group of entrepreneurs, there are educators, a book publisher, a teaching artist, photographers, a life coach, a café owner, and a music therapist. Some businesses are mobile, while others have rented commercial retail space in Forest Hills and its surrounding communities.
Each of these businesses is unique in servicing the needs of children and families. For example, the creator Sharita Manickam is the author of the “RAD Girl Revolution,” designed to empower and inspire young girls to “Rise Above Doubt to Reach Any Dream!”
“Although there are many empowering children’s books that teach girls about inspiring women of the past and present, RAD Girl Revolution helps girls imagine themselves becoming the inspiring women of the future,” she said. The book uses photographs of real girls acting out 30 different careers. Many local businesses opened their doors for photo shoots, including the local firehouse, Tuscan Hills, Kew & Willow Books, Little Pulp Printmaking Workshop, and Title Boxing Club. “Seventy-two children appear in the book, and the majority are from Forest Hills,” Manickam said. “It was truly a community effort to create this book.”
The neighborhood of Forest Hills has witnessed a rapid shift in demographics in the past few years, with the influx of young families. Small family-centric businesses are catching up to the growing demand to serve these families’ educational and social needs better. These local niche businesses are devoted to stimulating and enhancing learning, creativity and positive social impact on families.
If you’d like to make your next home in the Forest Hills community, contact Forest Hills Realty today!
