One person can be powerful. But lifting up a whole community collectively? That’s impact.
These four North Texas women-owned businesses are channeling collaboration and discovering niches to fill with their entrepreneurial spirit. And although these four companies differ greatly, they all are woven together by a common thread: women lifting up other women.
Dondolo
Catalina Gonzalez was a young mother to her first son (she now has four boys) and felt the desire to cultivate a business that first and foremost gave back to children, mothers and their communities.
“There is something magical about women supporting women,” Gonzalez says. “I believe that when we uplift other women, we uplift ourselves.”
That desire evolved into Dondolo, a luxury children’s clothing line that has grown to include women’s clothes. Gonzalez simultaneously launched the Dondolo Gives Foundation, where she leads giveback efforts in her native country of Colombia, as well as in Dallas. The clothing is manufactured in Colombia, helping the women employed there earn funds needed to raise their children and creating a safe place for them to thrive.
Locally, her team this summer launched its first Dondolo Gives Collection, which benefits the Ashford Rise School of Dallas. Fifty percent of each purchase will be donated directly to the school, a program that educates typical and nontypical learners in an inclusive environment.
The inspiration behind the collection came from one of her team’s volunteer sessions with the school. The fabric design was influenced by art the children created, and then local artist and Dondolo team member Carolina Moya created the final product.
“I also custom-designed a sun appliqué detail for this collection to represent the love and light found in every child,” Gonzalez says. “It’s extra-meaningful because the sun is the Rise School logo.”
Details: dondolo.com
The Worthy Co.
Sarah Bowden and Melissa Ice offered support, recovery and rehabilitation to survivors of sex trafficking for nearly a decade through The Net, a nonprofit that Ice founded and Bowden came to work for shortly after. They noticed a common denominator in the women they served: barriers to employment post-recovery.
The women they built up and supported could never be truly free from their past unless they achieved economic independence. This sparked the idea to found The Worthy Co., a candle and jewelry business that provides employment to clients of The Net. The Worthy Co. is also a nonprofit social enterprise, with 100 percent of its profits going to the women it serves.
“As a company that serves and employs survivors of trafficking, we wholeheartedly believe that women are far more than the worst thing that’s ever happened to them,” Ice says. “That opportunity should be available to all women, especially those who have survived and overcome extreme difficulty in life.”
Before a survivor comes to work at The Worthy Co., she becomes affiliated with The Net, which is also The Worthy Co.’s parent nonprofit. Through the program, the women receive court support, a mentor, access to a survivor support group and many other services to help in the healing journey.
The Worthy Co. opened a brick-and-mortar retail store in its headquarters near downtown Fort Worth. The team recently launched The Candle Studio in the same location, offering candle-making classes that support the organization’s mission.
During the last year, the founders added an enrichment program for employees, where the women partake in survivor-led classes on professional development, healing from trauma, yoga and self-care.
Details: worthy-co.com
Black-Tie Babysitting
The adults-only wedding of her sister presented a perfect opportunity for Hope Oriabure-Hunter to develop her business based on the need for child care during social events. She wanted to attend the event but still have her kids nearby. The answer became her company, Black-Tie Babysitting.
Along with creating her business out of a personal experience, Oriabure-Hunter wanted her company to embody advocating for parents, mothers especially, and enable them to have a balanced social life.
“Research indicates that social interactions are a major buffer of depression and improve a person’s general well-being,” Oriabure-Hunter says. “Most of the time, parties are welcoming events that can offer a great opportunity to develop friendships, or they can be a real confidence-builder.”
Black-Tie Babysitting provides on-site child care for social events and allows her all-female staff of care providers to earn extra income. Last year marked a temporary shutdown for Oriabure-Hunter’s traditional business model of in-person events. During that time, she offered in-person child care for small groups of remote learners while parents worked.
With in-person events happening again, she returned to her original model in April. She also just published Bring the Kids, Leave the Headache: A Comprehensive Guide to Bringing Kids to Grown-Up Events, available on Amazon, and she plans to roll out coinciding tutorials on the subject.
Details: blacktiebabysitting.com
The Queendom Beauty Box
Bridgette Jones and Valese Jones wanted to spotlight Black and brown small-business owners when they started The Queendom Beauty Box last October.
The two best friends (no relation) release a subscription box filled with items like bath salts, sugar scrubs, hair products and makeup every quarter. Each one includes new products, all of which are from minority, women-owned businesses.
While the beauty boxes feature products from small businesses across the country, many are from Texas. Boxes have included items from Hair Scentz, owned by Jewel Sharp in Dallas; Loving Lacquer Cosmetics, owned by Kimberly Loving of Houston, and Dominica Duvall Beauty and Aesthetics, owned by Destinie Ray of Beaumont. Proceeds from the sales benefit rape crisis centers across the country.
“Creating a business that uplifts women is so important to us because we are standing on the shoulders of women who did the same for us,” Valese Jones says. “We have to pay it forward, and The Queendom is one of the many ways we choose to do so.”
The beauty box idea was the result of a pivot. Initially, the founders planned to build a traveling beauty bus with salon and spa services, catering to women without the luxury of time to criss-cross town for their hair and nails. But then the pandemic hit and they lost their investor, forcing them to pump the brakes. They do hope to have the bus up and running by 2022.
Details: thequeendombeautybus.com
Staff Writer Narda Pérez contributed the Queendom Beauty Box item to this report.