YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – As a young wife and mother of four, Jasmine Hampton knows how easy it is for women to give of themselves until they have little left.
“I started [J. Jeneé Spa & Wellness] based on my own journey with mental health, self-care and self-love,” Hampton said. “As I’ve learned how to navigate those waters as a young mother and young wife … I learned how to take care of myself and I want to provide the same thing for other women.”
As do many women, Hampton has found herself doing everything, including promoting her young business. She only recently began to let others help her and promote her.
Hampton’s business is one of 13 that will get some promotional help from the Western Reserve Transit Authority’s “Give Local Small Business a Lift” campaign.
This year, in honor of National Small Business Week, April 28-May 4, WRTA – along with sponsors The Business Journal, WKBN-TV and StrategiX Social – is spotlighting 13 local small businesses.
The selected businesses will be featured on WRTA buses for the next few months and will be promoted on its website and social media pages, on its digital sign downtown, in The Business Journal and on WKBN-TV.
A campaign kickoff event was held April 18 at Concept Studio in downtown Youngstown, where the businesses were recognized.
During the kickoff, two businesses received even larger promotions through drawings. J. Jeneé Spa & Wellness won a $3,000 TV campaign and All Spruced Up Cleaning Co. won a 12-month social media package.
Paige Collins, owner of All Spruced Up Cleaning, said it’s important for her business to emphasize safe cleaning products that are better for the dozen workers she employs and the families for whom they clean. Through a partnership with the nonprofit Cleaning for a Reason, some of her customers include cancer patients and people trying to overcome health setbacks. In the future she hopes to form her own nonprofit, and support more people in need.
“Everything we do is to help you out. So that’s one less thing you have to worry about,” Collins said.
Collins gave up her career as a dental hygienist during the pandemic to start the business so she could be with her family more and provide jobs for others also in her situation – people who need to be flexible and get their children on the bus and dinner on the table.
Not all of the companies WRTA is honoring are new businesses. Some are long established and multigeneration businesses that need a boost.
Avalon Downtown Pizzeria has been a tradition in the region for many years. Started by the grandparents of Anne R. Massullo-Sabella on Belmont Avenue, the business has changed hands several times. At one point, she says her husband’s family owned it long before she knew him.
“It’s really humbling and an honor to see the support of WRTA for local small-business owners,” she said. Like many downtown businesses, Avalon Pizzeria has been navigating the post-Covid landscape, along with construction work downtown. She hopes business will get a boost from the additional publicity.
The other 10 businesses selected for recognition are Gloris Counseling Services; La La Love Healthcare LLC; Charly’s Family Restaurant; The Joshua Tree; The Emma Elf Project; Rescued to Riches Pet Groom and Board; Bending Oak Permaculture Farm; Haus Auto Group; Guided Compass Holistic Health; and QuickMed Urgent Care.
Many of the selected businesses have found a service that gives back, such as The Emma Elf Project, which provides craft projects and other resources to help youngsters on the autism spectrum express themselves.
Nancy Duker started Bending Oak Permaculture Farm after seeing property near her home that had been stripped of its topsoil. She purchased the land and began to heal and revitalize it. Now she uses the farm as an educational opportunity, with workshops and self-guided tours to teach others about sustainable farming and the importance of promoting the healthful use of nature.
“Permaculture is actually a process of design,” Duker said. “It encompasses an umbrella term for all things sustainable.”
Duker is planning a camp for children this summer. She hopes that having her logo included with the others in promotions will let people know where the farm is located in Youngstown.
When Monica Deavers started bussing tables at Charly’s Family Restaurant in Austintown as a 13-year-old girl, she never considered she would one day own the business originally owned by Robert Bowers. Deavers said she learned all aspects of the business – serving, cooking, being the secretary – as Bowers kept giving her more responsibility.
“In 2010 he said to me, ‘I’m ready to retire and I want you to buy it,’” Deavers said. But she lacked the money. A trip with Bowers to the bank showed her she did not have adequate credit as well.
“I don’t want to sell it to anyone else but you,” Bowers told her. “You’ve worked for me since you were 13 years old and you deserve it.”
He believed in her and fronted her the money to run it for five years while she repaid him and built up her credit to buy the restaurant.
The 13 businesses were selected by three community business leaders who served as co-chairmen of the event:
Teresa Miller, executive director of Valley Economic Development Partners; Dan Procopio, product manager at CBC Global; and David Wilaj, director of the Mahoning Valley Logistics Council.
Pictured at top: Dean Harris, executive director of WRTA (far right) stands with representatives of the 13 local businesses honored by the transit authority as part of National Small Business week. In the front row, from left, are Jasmine Hampton, Gloris Griffin, Michal Mymo, Paige Collins, Monica Deavers and Shannon Swiskoski. Back row: Chris Haus, Ann Massullo Sabella, Kelly McKee-Foos, Nancy Duker, Julie Paine and Maria Van Tilberg.