It was the mid-90s and Michelle Rathman felt like she’d made it. She had successfully launched her own business, Impact! Communications, growing it from a small outfit (think: a card table in the kitchen) to a firm that represented hundreds of clients on national platforms like The Oprah Winfrey Show. Then, in 1996, a cancer diagnosis turned her world upside down. Rathman … [Read more...]
A minority, within a minority: A journey to becoming a Black business owner in rural America
TROTFITNESS, a boutique fitness studio in rural Pennsylvania, has made it against all odds. In a pandemic expected to permanently shutter hundreds of thousands of small businesses across the United States, TROTFITNESS remains open. In an industry that crushes 80 percent of fitness studios in their first year, TROTFITNESS counts nearly a decade of successful boot camps. And, … [Read more...]