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...]
Dairy farm finds way to thrive amidst tough market
Zero dollars. When they read the number on the check, their hearts sank. After a month of physically exhausting work, the owners of Duivenvoorden Farms received absolutely no money in return. That was thirteen years ago, when the northern California dairy farm participated in the “conventional market” – selling its milk to a co-op-owned creamery. “That’s a pretty … [Read more...]
Successful Wisconsin cheese business energizing rural community
A New Beginning After being dismissed following 12 years at Kraft Foods, Paul Scharfman was at a crossroads. The Wisconsin resident considered next career steps that would fit his food industry sales experience. Having owned his own small business in his teens and early 20s, Scharfman decided to reenter the entrepreneurial world. In 1991, he piled up all he had and … [Read more...]
Rural millennial returns home to blaze career path and connect with others doing the same
She was a go-getter growing up in her small town. A straight-A student, Madeline Moore was involved in her community and school programs. She enjoyed her rural lifestyle and the strength naturally provided by that environment on the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington. But the support that helped her thrive did not include much encouragement to stick around. It’s a … [Read more...]