Moderator: Ed Gorman, Chief Community Development Officer, NCRC

Speakers: Catherine Crosby, Board Chair, NCRC,  Mayor Randall Woodfin, Mayor of Birmingham 

Transcript:

NCRC video transcripts are produced by a third-party transcription service and may contain errors. They are lightly edited for style and clarity.

Gorman 00:00

Our honored guests here is Mayor Randall Woodfin. He has played a major role in those successes both of the BDRC and the city of Birmingham for more than a decade. Before he was elected to his current post in 2017, as mayor, he served on our school board is president. He’s also been one of the city’s attorneys. And so I’ve been proud to work with Mayor Woodfin on a range of projects, none of which I think will be talked about more or that’s more important than growth. And I’ll look at a girl woman as I say that, because it’s given us a chance to work with aid and the city of Birmingham to really make a difference in our community. So here with aid and Mayor Woodfin is Katie Crosby, the Board Chair of NCRC. Now, when Katie’s not busy helping keep us on track, and making sure that we’re doing the right things and and give she’s given assignments at the board meetings. Katie, please don’t give me another one. I’d appreciate it. But her day job, she is city manager at the town of APEX, North Carolina. So these folks have field level experience. I think you’re going to enjoy their conversation. I’m going to turn it over to Ed Gorman. So Ian, take it away.

Gorman 01:16

Thank you, Bob. Welcome, again, everybody. Glad to see so many folks out there. And if you have friends and neighbors in the hallway, come on in. So I have the privilege of talking with Mayor Woodfin and board chair, Katie Crosby, about their respective experiences in Birmingham and Apex. And a little bit about how they got to where they got to at the midway through and towards the end of this conversation, we’ll also talk about their creativity, use of federal funds to get things done that other mayor’s may not have had the opportunity to do. So we’re at a moment in time that we get a chance to talk about here. So without further ado, Mayor Woodfin. You were recently elected, I will say by quite a wide margin to a second term leading the city of Birmingham. Would you talk a little bit about your background and what it is? Had you kind of decided to run for office?

Woodfin 02:17

Yeah, well, first, good afternoon, everybody. It’s good to be here with you. At this conference, I’m excited about my city of Birmingham’s partnership with NCRC. And particularly with growth. Madam Chairwoman, it’s good to be with you as well. When in when in when anytime anybody asked me a question about why I decided to run for mayor, I always just always start with the personal and home I grew up in a home. There were never less than eight people who lived in that home. So if you’re listening to that, sometimes that meant more more than eight people lived in my home growing up. And my mother is one of eight children. My dad is one of six and I’m going to connect that at some point via the q&a. But having grown up in the city of Birmingham and having family lived all over the city of Birmingham, I fell in love with my home at a very early age. That led me to leaving Birmingham for a little while and I attended Morehouse College. It spoke this morning about at a guest. One of the areas we were talking about what’s the importance of Morehouse and the conversation went into all these people. Morehouse have produced Morehouse, the intersection of Morehouse was not only academic rigor, but in addition to that leadership, and community service, leadership, community service. And I think for me, it was important that I go back home and make a difference in the community that I grew up in seeing all the things I saw as a child that I didn’t like, and and learning how to bring solutions to those problems. And out of college. I’ve been in and around city government probably since 2003. And so I only know municipal, local government, and I think in municipal local government, from a democracy standpoint, as a participatory sport. It’s actually where you can make a tangible difference in people’s lives. And that’s why I decided to run.

Gorman 04:11

Terrific. You Yeah, we could do that. Come on. So town manager, Crosby, or would you prefer I address you as Katie? Katie? Thank you. All right. You’ve been a servant leader in two cities in Ohio before moving to apex. Yeah. Talk a little bit about your motivation, why you’re doing what you’re doing. And maybe we’ll talk a little bit too about the differences between the cities you were working in in Ohio and now where you are in apex. Sure.

Crosby 04:43

So very similar to the mayor’s experience. I got into this work because I wanted to get back into the community. One of five children. I was the first to graduate from college. My dad was incarcerated from the time that I was 13 to 25 So my mom was a single mom trying to, you know, take care of five kids. And I think she did a fantastic job because she did. Thank you. Not just for me, but more. So when I look at my my siblings, and I think for for families like ours, people count us out. And we very much I think, we were against the odds, we went against the odds. And so for me, it was about giving back to a community that looked very similar to the one that I was raised in. I never forget reading the book evicted, and having a conversation with my mom about some of her experiences that I didn’t know about about quid pro quo experiences that she had, and people making assumptions about how many baby daddies she had. And it just reaffirmed my commitment to community and wanting to change the lives of people who grew up the way that I grew up, who lived in communities, the way that I lived, and ended up meeting a mentor who actually used to be on the board of NCRC, Commissioner Dean Lovelace, he got me very engaged in community reinvestment. And that’s how I ended up on the board. And so at making the decision to say I wanted to be in a position, a decision making position where I could direct resources to communities, like where I was raised, and I could, in fact, impact policy that really benefited the communities where I was raised more than was similar to what I was raised in, I really made me pursue this position. And we were just talking behind me, before we came out about how difficult it is to want to affect change, and to be in positions of leadership and have to, you know, have these competing and conflicting values, with with limited resources, limited resources, which brings me to my next comment. So growing up in Ohio, I worked in Dayton, Ohio, and I worked in Toledo, Ohio, and the average immediate area income was about 36,000. In both communities. I now live in APEX, which is a very affluent community, and the average median income is $110,000. And in both communities, we’re having an affordable housing crisis, we’re gonna get into that. Very different experience. Yeah,

Gorman 07:06

Incredible. So Mayor Woodfin, you’re in your second term, four and a half years in? What’s going right and what’s not moving fast enough for you?

Woodfin 07:19

So what’s going right is, and I’ve shared this with you, I’ve shared this recently with my own team. Any mare that sits in this seat, sits out and sits before an audience with blinding lights and can’t see you, but you can see them and tells you they’re doing all the work themselves and everything, all the successes because of them there, they will be lying to you. A marriage is only as strong as their team. And I had a mayor Tell me a little over four years ago, that the first question he was asked six months into the job, or 100 days into the job, what have you accomplished? His response was I’m building my team, six months into the job. What have you accomplished? I’m building my team, and a year into the job, what have you done? What have you accomplished. And his response to the public in the media was I built my team? I am fortunate to have a supporting cast of folk I’ve stolen from the private sector borrow. I borrow talent, I’ve stolen talent. I’ve got talent on loan, to come into City Hall to have to figure out a way for us to reimagine how we grow our community, how we grow our city, to think outside of the box. And that’s a mix. Some folks have been in City Hall some have not. But to bring all that talent in has allowed us I’m not gonna even say me but we as our to accelerate growth in Birmingham. So the thing I’m most proud of is that the team on the ground is pushing this conversation around affordable homeownership. I would say the challenge is always resources. There are always a limited, everybody thinks a city, that cash grows on trees, but it doesn’t work like that.

Gorman 09:13

Well, this, I think is a great opportunity to hear from both of you about the use of resources. And specifically I think folks in the audience want to know, in particular, I know Mayor Woodfin you are and Katie, I suppose you were as well, I’m not sure, but an early adopter along the path of using federal money for your projects in a way or in ways that other people weren’t doing. And in fact, taking chances in a sense, because nobody told you you had a green light to do it. You just forged ahead to did it. And now what I think we’re seeing is a lot of mayors are starting to follow that lead. So if you would both talk a little bit about, you know, your willingness to take a chance on doing things and other people might not have said was okay. But you knew was right for your city. Gotcha. Okay, you want to go first?

Crosby 10:06

Yeah, perfect. That’s always good to go before politics. I’m teasing. I’m teasing. I’ve worked. I’ve worked in the political arena for a long time. So she knows me first. So I’ll talk a little bit about my previous community, because I think, you know, when I was in Toledo, that was one of the things that we were doing was trying to figure out, look, we have a structural deficit, and we have a lot of need in our community, how can we use our art performance more specifically, to address those needs? And so, you know, before the Treasury finally produced the recommendations on how to use the Treasury dollars, we were really pushing the needle and saying, Look, well, you know, this is a very general statement. So we think that it’s broad enough for us to be able to use our dollars to address racial equity issues to help, you know, a small business development, affordable housing, things that weren’t really specifically spelled out in the treasury dollars. And that’s one of the things that I appreciated about working for the mayor there is that he was willing to strike that. And in North Carolina, the need is a little bit different. And, you know, while we’re using our funds to support affordable housing, we’re also using it for infrastructure. So sewer and water infrastructure to help expand some of our development, and then also to help provide infrastructure, sewer and water infrastructure for some of our most vulnerable communities, which is, which is very small apex, but we’ll talk about that.

Woodfin 11:34

And so for us, in the city of Birmingham, there are two words that had been on repeat since November of 2017, neighborhood revitalization, neighborhood revitalization, they were revitalization. And within they were revitalization. There are all these infrastructure issues you have around it, which include your city’s grid as far as paving streets and sidewalks and parks. And there’s also public safety. But at the root of neighborhood revitalization is actual housing and home ownership. And for this conversation, affordable homeownership. And so for us, having a homeowner who’s been there is taking risks, but their property value was too low, or they don’t feel safe in their own home. And then when they look to the left or right, there’s either an empty lot or dilapidated structure. We needed to stabilize those neighborhoods first in the conversation, and they were revitalization. But we needed to invest in infill housing. And so taking the risks using the federal dollars, ARPA made sense, and our partnership with NCRC and growth. We know we went into a historic black neighborhood that hadn’t had any development development in over 20 years, then the city of Birmingham needs to pony up some resources to get the private sector to participate in accelerate that growth. I think, for us opera was that once in a lifetime, yes. Once in a lifetime opportunity to use these resources to participate in actual infill housing, and, and do proof to concept and then scale that around our city.

Gorman 13:14

You know, I think it’d be helpful for folks to know that, that the mayor, and I’m sure Katie doing the same thing, that that this money is leveraged, I think almost 10 to one it is. So the private sector money, specifically bank CRA investment has been the the catalytic has played a catalytic role in both both I know, in Birmingham and Katy, I assume, in APEX as well. You know, it’s always a good idea when bankers are in the room to thank them for their investment. So thank you. But I think you know, knowing that you can take this money, because without it, that $10 that you’re trying to get invested doesn’t happen. No, it does. So it’s a great, it was a great and very timely investment for all of you. So Katie, if if we could talk a little bit about how it is that you have affordable housing is the goal wherever you go. But a very different set of problems from the cities. You were in to apex. Now we’ll talk a little bit about that.

Woodfin 14:18

Yeah. So when thinking about Toledo, the challenge there is that the income was so low. The other challenge is is that was really the challenge. Toledo is a very affordable community, for most, but affordability is really defined around what people make and what resources they have available to them. So it wasn’t also it wasn’t only the fact that affordability was a challenge in Toledo but it was also the conditions of the housing right so that if you have poor housing conditions, if you have dilapidated housing similar to what you’re talking about, the cost to the to the owner or the renter goes up because that means they’re they’re less energy efficient. We have issues around with things like that. On the other hand in APEX where we were a rural community that is now becoming more dense, and we’re we’re bringing people in the life sciences, we’re bringing in Facebook, we’re bringing in all this technology, the median income is $110,000, we’re doing affordable housing projects that anywhere from 80 to 100%,for somebody that makes $110,000. So we’re talking about 80% of my staff cannot afford to live in the community that they aren’t responsible for taking care of. And so what we’re doing is a couple of different things. One, we’ve taken a portion of our opinion off of our tax, and we’re putting that towards an affordable housing fund, which is great. So that gets us about 1.2 $1.7 million a year. But the land is so expensive, so it doesn’t stretch very far. The other thing that we’re doing is when we have the new developers come in part of our zoning conditions, we advocate for affordable housing. And so they they add units, so you have the option of doing a fee, or units, our preferences a unit because it doesn’t matter how much of a fee you pay, you can’t afford the land. And so so we’re encouraging units, and then what we’re doing is we’re working with financial institutions, we’re putting a restriction for affordability into the DEA for single family homes. And then we’re working with financial institutions that are willing to lend against that deed. So trying to do a couple of different creative things to help drive affordable housing, but it is definitely a challenge and a more

Gorman 16:32

Well, that probably will be the last I know we limited period of time. So this probably be the last question. But talk a little bit about the challenges you see going forward, rising interest rates, even greater threats to affordability, the need for affordable housing and affordable homeownership unabated. But now we face higher interest rate to kind of future. How do you see us what ideas you think we should be pursuing to try to get more folks in homes and or to do whatever development you’re looking to do? But I you know, affordable homeownership. So the number one community need, according to the folks that we talked to, what do you see going down the road here as we’d see a rising interest rate environment?

Woodfin 17:19

So I think we’re at a very interesting intersection. You have this combination of low unemployment, right? Inflation. But we’re not an A, technically, we’re not in a recession yet. Right. So the the truth? The My honest answer is, I don’t know. Right? That’s, that would be honest, when you have all three of those things in one pot at one time. What does that yield? Because I’m not sure when there was another time, all three of those things existed at the exact same time. One of those is off, right? The inflation part tends to go with the recession. But the unemployment is low, but it turns out in the great resignation, a lot of folks just are not applying for the jobs we need them to apply for. When you are mayor, you need people on the front line. If you’re in support of your hospitals, you need more nurses invest in your your school systems, you need more teachers, making sure people call 911 You need a fire or police officer to actually show up. These are the people we who I defined them as not just working class, but these are the people your middle class. The right investments need to be made in affordable homeownership told the truth as I can’t tell you, I don’t know the answer to that what I can tell you as a city, we need to do everything we can to continue to drive down costs. The question is and the second tranche of opera bonds, how much cannot throw at this problem to continue to support and invest in affordable homeownership, right. When these are performed on longer exists. And you still the question of affordable housing, investing in affordable housing and where those resources come from. That is to be determined. Right.

Crosby 19:06

And I appreciate I appreciate you saying I don’t know, because a lot of people, I think want to say that and won’t say it. You know, what I will say is we need more subsidy to help make housing affordable. But you know, subsidy is expensive and and you know, from our financial institutions, they have lending products that don’t work when you’re trying to when you’re trying to drive down the cost of housing, we we definitely need more philanthropic investment from that perspective. To help create a subsidy just drive it down. For us, probably very similar to the challenge that you’re having. We’re taking some of our affordable housing fund some of our federal dollars to help try to drive down the cost of the land ownership, but that’s only going to go so far. So at some point that’s going to run out. And so you’re gonna have I mean, I’m still running because our 1000 is $500,000 Oh Lord, it’s that’s our average housing price. And so at some point you’re going to drive people out. And then the other concern that we have is just the naturally occurring, affordable housing for our community. So like our mobile home parks, we’re starting to see developers come and want to invest in mobile home parks. And there’s not a lot of opportunity for the folks that live there to own the park if that developer is offering a nice amount of money to sell it. And then that’s the same thing that we’re we’re seeing happening in our communities that are predominantly minority communities where we have people who are longtime home long term home owners, but developers are coming and trying to buy their property. So that’s then also making our community less diverse. So it is, I don’t know, question but a lot of work and not a lot of opportunity to do good work.

Gorman 20:51

But I will say. So thank you to both of you for this conversation. And I think we’re about to hear from somebody I consider one of the most creative bankers in the industry. I don’t expect to he’ll have answers either. Not trying to put you on the spot Steve. But But I will say creative CRA. Interested banks, will help come up with these solutions along with elected leaders like us. So anyway, thank you all for your time. And I know you need to kick us off the stage. Now.

Crosby 21:25

I do need to kick you all out. Nice. It was nice meeting you. Thank you. Thank you.

Moderator: Catherine Crosby, Board Chairperson, NCRC

Speakers: Stephen D. Steinour, Chairman, President of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated

Transcript:

NCRC video transcripts are produced by a third-party transcription service and may contain errors. They are lightly edited for style and clarity.

Crosby00:06

So I’ll give you a little quick biography. You can have a seat. I want a very quick bio. Okay, very quick bio. This is Steve, is that quick enough? That’s good. So Steve is the president and CEO of Huntington Bank. And so like I said, Before, I was a part of the community benefit agreement process when Huntington Bank started their process some years ago, I think you’re on your third, we are a benefit agreement. And so that is a huge commitment. So we have some banks that they do want agreement, and then we’re done having a conversation. So we’re glad that you’re leading the way. So why don’t we have a seat? All right. Steve, graduated from Gettysburg. We’re not going to do that, because we’re not gonna put you to sleep. So we’re just gonna jump right when

Steinour 00:49

I graduated. I couldn’t get into that school today anyway.

Crosby 00:52

So why don’t you tell us about your role and why you think they should be a part of these Community Benefit Agreements? And why you decided to do that? Well,

Steinour 01:00

I think fundamentally, banks are at the intersection of commerce, right, we take deposits, we make loans, we do lots of other things as well, the the communities, I think, need responsible banks. And we in turn, because we’re community bank, only do well when the community does well. So it’s symbiotic. I think the benefit of the CBAS, which we’ve come to learn, is very significant. And I don’t know why other banks don’t do them in multiples, and why this isn’t a process that’s embraced. For us. When we started the first one, you’ll remember, we were, we were literally going year by year and looking to do more every year, but we didn’t have a five year plan. And so consequently, we thought we’re doing great, but we couldn’t project what great might look like, if we really pushed ourselves, how much could we do? How much impact could we have? So that was that was an important lesson. Second was, we were doing great, but we were doing it with the same set of partners, we just do more with the same set of partners. The benefit of NCRC, in terms of opening up many, many new possible partners for us, was extraordinary. And so we remember we did these, we do these listening tours, every time before we do the CBA. We want to understand what the needs of the community are. And while we may know at a certain level, what those needs are, we’re not there every day, you guys are you guys know, firsthand. We don’t. So everything we do is through partners by with partners and through partners, by going through these rounds locally with NCRC partners. It informs ultimately what we do in the plan. I see Ernie Hogan here, already spent a great part of Pittsburgh running PCR GE now for multiple decades. Or, you know, if we didn’t talk to Ernie, we’d be missing something vital to what we might do in the Greater Pittsburgh community. So one, there’s the benefit of the listening tours the rounds. And, and for me, it’s it’s very beneficial. Because I do them, I think I missed one or two meetings out of 50 or 75 meetings over the three years, or three times we’ve done this. And then that lets us help shape our programs. So we can talk about some of those programs if you want but but by by learning firsthand what the needs are by hearing that directly, it puts us in a much better position to engage and more effectively partner and create better and more significant results for the communities we serve. And ultimately, that’s better for us.

Crosby 03:47

Awesome. So you talked a little bit about being on your third plan. What What motivated you to go to the second plan. And then to the third plan?

Steinour 03:56

Well, we did the first plan and started in 2017. It was a five year plan. We completed it in three and a half years. So when we completed it, we said let’s go out let’s re up. The first plan was $16 billion dollars. The second plan then was we wanted to do more, was $20 billion. And, and because we’d never done something like we just didn’t know how much we could do. So when we when we got when we completed the first one to three and a half years, it gave us a sense of what’s possible, which we didn’t otherwise know. That led to the second one at 20. And then we had this great opportunity to combine with another company we acquired them called TCF they doubled our presence in Michigan, traveled it in Chicago gave us new great markets, like the Twin Cities of Minnesota and Colorado. And so that just gave us that much more opportunity and the local community groups in those different markets also helped weigh in and inform the The discussions we were having, and the ideas that ultimately, we came up with a great example that is a program we run, called Lift local. So Huntington is, by volume, the largest SBA lender in the country, we’re one or two for the last almost a decade. But we only lend in our footprint. And so we do lots of business with small business. What we were missing, though, was neighborhood micro loans. And that’s what came out of this third round of listening tours. And so we put together again, everything in partnership, we have a national partner Operation Hope, John Hope, Brian’s organization, and we worked for a year and a half, two years, tailoring a entrepreneurship program that they deliver. And then we find our local partners in our marketplaces that we take that program through and the the individuals that go through that program, if they’re a startup, we want them to have an idea of what they’re going to face by running the business. Project. Hope does that for us. As they complete then we go on to to fund their loans. And these are we absorbed the SBA fees, these are loans anywhere from $1,000 to $150,000. No fee, low rate can be long term, if that’s what’s expected up to 10 years. So really is cheap capital. Because it’s fixed rate, low low fixed rate. fixed capital fixed long term capital, it’s a great program, we’ve we started with 25 million, we’ve gone through that we’ve got 125 million, it looks like we’re going to complete that later this year, we’ll then put another number in on the program and try and do more, but it’s really helpful. These are jobs in the neighborhoods, we were talking earlier, you heard about not having income in the neighborhoods? Well, one way to do that is to spur business in the neighborhoods. And that’s what this program is designed to, we would have done it without the listening tour.

Crosby 06:58

Awesome. Well, I’m glad to hear that the community listening tours were so valuable. There are a number of people who have not been a part of the community benefit agreement process and a part of those listening tours. What would you say to a community member that wants to engage the bank? How would you suggest that they go about?

Steinour  07:15

Well, you can do it directly, the challenge we have is if everybody has a directly we get flooded, and we can’t respond. So the benefit of these tours are generally I think there’s been 1512 1520 Plus organizations around the tables within CRC deserts as the coalition bringing lots of, of not for profits together and and articulating for and with them, what the needs are, whether it’s the CRA, proposed amendment, or an otherwise, but you facilitate each of these as local meetings. So we get the benefit of being in with a dozen or two dozen organizations, many of whom we don’t know where they don’t know us.

Crosby07:59

Awesome. Well, you’ve answered a lot of my questions that I have left easy good. Yeah, it’s been pretty easy. Do you mind taking a question from the audience? Oh,

Steinour 08:06

Happy to Alright, can I get maybe one question not gonna be able to see hands raised? So we’re gonna do this. Charles Harris? I’ll repeat it. To the CPA, will the bank see that ever? Three. The question was if a group of nonprofits got together to propose a CBA would the bank see that as a threat? I get there? I I don’t think the bank, you know, certainly we wouldn’t. Everything we do is with partners. Happy to have a coalition of interests come together. But we’re happy to be one of either as well. I know. I’ve been around this industry for 40 years. I know many of my peers, not all of them, man. I think most of them are very approachable. And and I think their people have good intent. And so some of us are just more comfortable getting into the, the, you know, getting into the neighborhoods and communities and then others but but you know, you learn I didn’t initially have this it started 25 years ago in Philadelphia when I go around to the different neighborhoods in Philly, and we had some tough meetings and tough neighborhoods. But you’re so if you assume good intent, then  your efforts to outreach hopefully will be fruitful.

Crosby 09:39

Well, as I mentioned earlier, I was a part of the Huntington Bank Community Benefit agreement process it was a really good process. And you know, after that, that process, you are formed an advisory group that you deal with on a regular basis and I wasn’t one that particular advisory group, but it was one of the ones that the community members spoke very highly of and thought that, you know, everyone at the bank was really engaged. Do you want to talk a little bit about that that group and how you are?

Steinour 10:06

Sure. Another great benefit of, of our partnership with NCRC is our national community advisory committee. And we meet three or four times a year. And we meet so we can learn. And this is not intended to be, sort of show me and how great are we? It’s its needs evolve, or, frankly, right now needs are evolving with inflation fairly significantly. So what can we do better differently? What are the new ideas, we only see what we do you see what other banks do, as well as what the needs are. So we find these incredibly valuable sessions, where we’ll share, of course, but we also learn, and the exchange is very powerful and helps the shape further shape our agendas. So we’re privileged we have, I think, a dozen NCAC members on our advisory council and some have been on since the inception. I can’t quite see with these lights. But Ernie is that you? So early Hogan has been on for since inception. And I’ve known him for a couple of decades and the scene of the great work he’s done in many, many, many communities, but but we have a lot of new friends and new advisors. And then we cycle a bit on the committee as well. So we always have some fresh freshness about.

Crosby 11:37

Well, folks, that is a wrap. I want to say thank you so much, Steve, I know you’ve you’ve had a pretty busy day. But we really appreciate you joining us today. We hope that this was a helpful fireside chat for you are just to hear a little bit from a bank leader about how they’re engaging with the community. And as I mentioned before, Huntington has been a great partner and a great example of how Community Benefit Agreements work as well as how our stakeholders can can engage with their financial institutions. 

What is the name of your business and what kind of products do you sell?

Winta: The name of our business is Kelem, and we sell handmade African clothing, jewelry, accessories and some home goods. All of our products have a cultural, traditional and artistic element.

What does “Kelem” mean?

Winta: Kelem means color in Amharic, which is an Ethiopian language.

Why did you choose the name Kelem?

Winta: We love wearing colorful things, and both of our houses are super colorful. Also, African crafts and fabrics typically have lots of colors and patterns.

When did you start Kelem and why?

Tensae: We started in 2017 and we were in Africa shopping for ourselves when we came up with an idea to start selling goods, which would help out the artists as well.

What advice do you have for other women business owners?

Tensae: It’s much easier to own your own business because you have your own schedule and time for your family and personal life. I think it’s a better choice than being an employee.

Winta: I appreciate being in a partnership. I know I couldn’t do this by myself. So, I appreciate that there is someone else to think things through with. Of course, the key is that you have a similar vision and similar desire for what the business can become. There’s a lot that goes into it. Communication is also important. If you can work all those things out, I think a partnership is a good option because it’s hard to do everything on your own. Even for us, there are two of us and there are still way too many pieces to think about so having someone definitely helps.

How has ShopHER helped you and what do you think of the program?

Winta: Our participation in ShopHER has been magical and we honestly enjoyed every minute of it! Joining the program revived our passion for the business, and made us feel that our long term goal of owning/sharing a brick and mortar is actually attainable and within reach. It pushed us to formalize the business, and in the process visualize the full potential of how much more we can grow given the right infrastructure and opportunities.

Briana Shelton a MPE Intern at NCRC.

Photo courtesy of Tensae Haile and Winta Teferi.

What is the name of your business and what kind of products do you sell?

The name of my brand is Bermuda Triangle Vintage Clothes. I sell women’s vintage clothing and accessories.

 What inspired you to start your business?

I started my business during my senior year of college, and it grew from my collection of vintage clothes. I realized that I had an eye for fashion, and I was good at sourcing unique pieces; and I saw that people like vintage clothes, and I wanted to share my love for vintage with others. 

What is it about vintage clothing that you like the most?

I am also a scientist, so I like the idea of sustainability and being able to recycle and reuse clothing. I like that it’s environmentally friendly. I’m a part of the sustainable fashion world which is really big now because it helps the environment. I really like the idea that you can give these pieces a new life. Instead of throwing them away, selling vintage clothing allows them to go to a new home. It’s like walking in another person’s shoes, and you can continue the life of a piece.

Is there anyone you look up to as inspiration or motivation?

I’m inspired by Dapper Dan. He would take pieces and reinvent them into new outfits for stars and hip-hop artists. His career has continued to grow, so I think he’s a good inspiration in breaking down walls and barriers to make a name for himself in the fashion industry. I’m also really inspired by art. Growing up, I always took art classes and went to art camps, so designing things, drawing, and painting were part of me. Now, seeing that come full circle and being able to incorporate my artistic side into my brand and business is amazing. One of the things that makes Bermuda Triangle a unique vintage brand is that I not only offer vintage clothes, but I paint, upcycle and rework vintage pieces to give them more style and uniqueness. I always say that Bermuda Triangle is the intersection of creativity, design, and vintage.

How has ShopHER helped your business?

ShopHER has been a blessing. The opportunity to participate in ShopHER was perfect timing. I usually join in pop-ups, and the pandemic shuts all of that down. When a friend told me about it, I jumped at the idea. My business has been going strong since about 2011. Each year my business has continued to grow so that I can do more events and pop-ups. I feel like I’m becoming a household name for vintage clothes in DC. ShopHER is another stepping stone for me because it gave me the experience of having my own retail space. It provides me with a home store. Pop-ups are fun, but having a store has been such a great experience. Being a part of ShopHER has also provided me with business classes and opportunities to build my business as a whole. Especially during the pandemic, there weren’t many avenues to sell products, and ShopHER provided a space where I didn’t have to pay rent. You don’t come across opportunities like that, especially in DC. ShopHER has built my business and all of the vendors at the store. It has allowed us to broaden our customer base and reach a customer base that we wouldn’t have been able to outside of ShopHER. It gave us a lot of exposure.

How did you start your business?

My business started from my collection of vintage clothing and thrifting. My dad has always been an avid thrifter and collector, so it started there. I had a friend build my website, and another friend was my model. Then I started selling at Eastern Market, and everything took off from there. I researched how to get a business license and get an LLC. I knew that I had great products, and people loved my variety. I try to select fun vintage items that can be incorporated into your everyday style.

What advice would you give any other women who want to start their own business?

Find something that you are passionate about, something that you love, keeping you motivated. That way, you can enjoy putting time and energy into it because you will have to put a lot of effort into it. If you don’t love what you do, it will be taxing and not enjoyable. There are many opportunities to build a business and many free resources like grants and services to help you get your foot off the ground. So, go for it if you have an idea. It doesn’t matter how small or insignificant you might think it is. There’s someone who will love your product. You have to find your market or your niche.

Any advice for women of color starting a business?

Do it and jump out there! The world needs our businesses. Now is a great time because our contributions are being recognized more and getting more spotlight. We also need more representation out there. We need to be at the forefront of every industry. We have the talent, and we just haven’t had the opportunity. I say grind. Get out there and grind every day. Even if you’re a small business, there’s a lane for everyone.

Where do you want to be in 5-10 years?

I want to be the black Martha Stewart. I say that because she has many products and her hand in many different things. I want to do the same, to have my hand in various areas and have it all come together to make sense for my brand. I’m really into art and fashion, which can take me to the next level. I would love to create a collection for big brands like Nike or create my line of hand-painted vintage purses. I want to be a household name for vintage clothing so that everyone knows to go to Bermuda Triangle for their vintage needs. My ultimate goal for Bermuda Triangle is to be the top vintage brand in the prop industry for stylists, films, and TV production to get all things vintage! 

Briana Shelton, MPE Intern at NCRC

Photo courtesy of Ebony McMillian

Hello, Elaine! Let’s start by sharing the most important thing that you would like people to know about The Elm Shop.

Hi! The Elm Shop is a women’s boutique, and we carry accessories, bags, clothing and jewelry. I think what sets The Elm Shop apart is that we’re targeting women who want to be classy, graceful and stylish. The idea is to provide accessories, bags, clothing, and jewelry that elevates their style and makes them feel great as a woman. You know there’s this trend right now to wear a lot of tight and revealing clothing, but the women who shop at The Elm Shop are women who take care of how they present themselves. Some are career women, they’re educated, they have young families, and that’s who we cater to.

How and when did your business begin?

I started buying handmade masks in April 2020 and when I posted pictures people would ask where I got them. I was selling them to friends and family. The woman I purchased them from suggested I buy them wholesale and resell them at retail! And so, I kind of fell into selling masks. Then I started meeting other women who made jewelry and other types of products and I began working with them, which allowed me to expand into handbags, clothing and jewelry in the fall of 2021. Everything has felt destined to be, it’s fallen into place, and I’ve been able to meet other great women. These business owners, creators and makers have been wonderful partners for me.

Why did you decide to take part in ShopHER and what has it done for the growth of your business?

I had recently applied for another similar program and didn’t get in so when I saw the information for ShopHER I reached out to Heidi Sheppard and applied right away! I wanted to take part in ShopHER to not only gain retail experience, but to grow my business by reaching new customers. I also wanted to have the opportunity to interact with my customers and hear directly from them about why they were purchasing an item, items they may be interested in and to share with them more about my shop. ShopHER has been a big blessing to my business. I’ve been able to gain hundreds of new customers and expand my product line.

Can you tell me more about some of your partners?

Sure! One of my partners is based out of Atlanta and she makes handmade jewelry for me. I was shopping with her, and she happened to mention that she sold her jewelry wholesale and so I told her about my boutique, and she was happy to work with me. I also get my bags and clothing from several vendors around the country. I focus on supporting women- and minority-owned businesses, with the idea to create an ecosystem for these businesses where we can help each other grow and prosper.

And I know that you have an important relationship with Howard University. Do you support any other HBCUs or organizations?

Yes! So, I started selling Howard masks back in the fall of 2020 and then I began working with another Howard alumnus and we started designing masks and t-shirts together, so now we have matching t-shirts that are also featured in my boutique. Then I expanded to include other HBCUs such as Spelman College in Atlanta, Morgan State University in Maryland, and North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University. Education is important to me and so is supporting my alma mater (Howard University). Philanthropy is also a big part of what I do with my shop. Several times a year, I donate 10% of sale proceeds to various organizations, including the Ladies of Howard University Scholarship Fund.

And finally, if you could go back in time to before you started your business, what is the one piece of advice that you would give yourself?

I think for me it would be to put in place a lot of admin pieces at the beginning, like inventory tracking. I would also get marketing support because I think one of the hardest parts about doing an online boutique is that you really have to be marketing consistently. Marketing takes time, energy and effort from content creation to regular posting, so that’s what I would prioritize.

Deb Almond, owner of Candid Almond, one of the ShopHER vendors.

Photo courtesy of Elaine Myada