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As part of Women鈥檚 History Month, 蜜桃视频app explores how two sisters are taking a homegrown business to the next level with the help of a local incubator program that includes business mentoring and classes for the next generation of female entrepreneurs.
Turning a hobby into a successful business can be incredibly daunting. But when Maria and Sofia Tapias started their own sustainable jewelry business, the two sisters from Rockville, Maryland, hadn鈥檛 even considered all the challenges they would face.
鈥淲e started the business really on a whim,鈥� Maria, the younger sister, told 蜜桃视频app.
鈥淲e didn’t have time to think of all the reasons why we shouldn’t do it,鈥� Sofia said.聽
鈥溾�� or do a startup business plan,鈥� Maria interjected.
They had both just graduated聽during the pandemic聽with undergraduate degrees in product design and psychology 鈥� which had almost nothing to do with jewelry-making or business management, but they both knew that they were 鈥渧ery passionate about fashion and sustainability.鈥�
鈥淚 started making repurposed jewelry, but I needed brains in the whole operation. And she has those,鈥� Sofia Tapias said, smiling at her younger sibling.聽
Despite their matching long, dark hair, glasses and big smiles, plus their penchant for finishing each other鈥檚 sentences, the Colombia-born sisters couldn鈥檛 be more different. Sofia is confidently chatty and charismatic, while Maria is more shy, quietly explaining the complexities of running a business and stepping in whenever Sofia forgets anything important.
Together, and released collections of elegant earrings, rings and necklaces made from recycled metals. The sisters also ensure that their packaging and shipping are carbon neutral.
鈥淢aybe we didn’t think about the business process, but everything else is incredibly intentional,鈥� Sofia Tapias said. The sisters also a nonprofit that supports impoverished children in Venezuela, which they say is part of giving back to their community in South America.
A helping hand with growing a business from scratch
The sisters had already set up an online store and brought their jewelry to art markets in D.C. when they started to consider expanding to their own in-person store.
鈥淲e were looking at doing a one month pop-up in D.C.,鈥� Maria said. 鈥淭he rent was looking like $10,000 for a month. And we were actually seriously considering it.鈥�
Instead, they joined that has allowed them to experience running a shop for six months while paying less than $200 a month in rent.聽
, a nonprofit funded in part by federal and local government grants, sets up five to six business owners in a small, shared shop in downtown Rockville for six months. The program allows them to learn how to run a shop while receiving training on how to expand their businesses in other ways.聽
For historical context, women couldn鈥檛 apply for a business loan without a male relative as a co-signer until 1988. In 1972, there were a little over 400,000 women-owned businesses in the United States, according to
Now, that number has grown to over 14 million women-owned businesses, according to While that growth is exciting, women-owned businesses are for a business loan than male-owned businesses, which impacts how large their businesses can grow and how long they last.
Danette Nguyen, managing director of MWBC, said the incubator program in Rockville is unique in its two-pronged approach: First, business owners manage and sell their wares in a rent-free space 鈥� they only split the utility bills. Second, they receive six months of mentoring that includes business-intensive classes.
鈥淎lmost 40 women have participated, and 74% are from underserved communities,鈥� Nguyen said. Over 80% of the program鈥檚 graduates have also opened online or brick and mortar stores.
The emphasis on underserved communities is important. While the found Black women-owned and Latina women-owned businesses and revenues overall are growing at a faster rate than other women-owned businesses, businesses owned by Black and Latina women still struggle to secure business loans because they
Even with minority-owned businesses starting to recover after the pandemic, there is still a huge wealth gap for small businesses owned by Black and Latina women.
Unlike many other programs that just put their products on the shelves, small business owners in the incubator completely run the small shop together and take turns as the “general managers” of the store each month.
Looking back, the Tapias sisters say they were woefully unprepared to take on the expensive overhead costs and maintenance of their own store after having this experience.
鈥淯nderstanding the steps of opening the store, cleaning the store, having everything ready, is incredible,鈥� Sofia said. 鈥淭he window display is huge, like setting up the window display is not something we would have ever thought about.鈥�
Program participants attend networking events and make important connections, learning about local grants they can apply for to get their business off the ground.
鈥淭hey are really trying to help us in any single way they can or connect us with people that can help you,鈥� Maria said.聽
The other women-owned businesses currently sharing the shop space include , an organic skin care line; , a shop filled with bright Mexican artisan gifts; , a moss sculpture and house plant business; and , a florist that specializes in arrangements for events and house plants.
Developing financial and personal confidence
Many of the women in the incubator agree that the program has helped them to develop a plan for expanding their business.
Daisy Abdullah Mason, the owner of , watched her small business grow from posting her aloe vera plants on Instagram in 2020 to a full online floral shop that has already booked three weddings in 2024.聽
The incubator has empowered her to look beyond her small business as a hobby she loves and given her the confidence to 鈥渞eally start charging my worth,鈥� she said.
Beyond confidence, Mason said MWBC has also helped her to develop financial discipline and long term plans for her business.
鈥淲e’re actually working on our business model now, which is a minimum of 10 pages,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o with the logistics, it’s helped a ton. I do hope to go into my own storefront. 鈥� I want this to be a staple, to be able to pass down to my children and generation on generation. So that’s the goal.鈥�
Shweta Jain, , said that she is most thankful for the 鈥渨omen empowerment鈥� she has found in the program. Jain graduated from the Chesapeake School of Esthetics in 2017 and has a home studio in Edgewater, Maryland, where she takes skin care and wellness appointments.聽
She developed her own skin care line in 2018 with a microbiologist in North Carolina because she was frustrated by 鈥渢he availability of clean products鈥� as an aesthetician for years.
After practicing her salesperson skills at the small shop, Jain said that MWBC is helping her figure out how to expand her business.
鈥淛ust talking about tax documents 鈥� to know that, yes, you have enough in your pocket that you can have your own brick and mortar,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think those are my biggest hurdles today, how to take this to the next level.鈥澛�
“You鈥檙e not alone”: Strength in diversity
The sisters behind Dov Jewelry said they feel incredibly lucky to be joining a small business community in the D.C. area, where Sofia Tapias finds that 鈥渆verybody is so sweet and kind, and helpful鈥� 鈥� instead of competitive.
鈥淚t is a sisterhood, I would say, that you create with these small businesses,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e are generally surrounded by women-owned businesses. And most of our friends are women-owned [business owners].鈥澛�
That business community continues to grow in the D.C. metro area. A found that D.C. ranks No. 3 for cities that saw growth in the number of women who opened businesses in 2023 compared to the previous year, with a 25% rise in women opening businesses.
Mason said being surrounded by these women and managing a store together in the incubator program has changed her perspective on building a diverse community.
鈥淚 feel like I’m so used to being in my own community and thinking about, selfishly, my own people,鈥� she said. 鈥淚’ve learned women are women. People are people, and it’s like being in this store has really helped me learn a lot from different people, different cultures.鈥�
Jain agreed that the support from women from various backgrounds has been 鈥渂eautiful.鈥�
鈥淓specially being in a group network of other women鈥檚 businesses, it allows you to really see that it’s not you alone, struggling. You’re not alone,鈥� Jain said.
Sofia Tapias has also been trying to spread the knowledge she鈥檚 gained from mentors in the incubator program to people from different cultures and nontraditional business backgrounds.
She鈥檚 taken on 鈥減rivate coaching with other small, women-owned businesses, especially if they don’t speak fluent English鈥� in the Rockville area, helping them with their branding and marketing. One local woman gives Sofia homemade empanadas as payment for her coaching.
The 鈥渞eally close bonds鈥� they鈥檝e developed in the incubator have inspired the Tapias sisters to start looking for spaces they could rent out for a collective shop with some of the women from their cohort and other D.C.-area business owners once the program is over.聽
Maria Tapias said the group of women business owners have been getting quotes for different locations.
鈥淲e’re just trying to figure out the area,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut it’s something that we’re exploring. And that is super exciting.鈥�
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