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CapNY Small Business: Upstate Coffee Collective

October 12, 2020 By Gabby Fisher

Matt (left) and Kevin (right) talk coffee with Nick Furnia (middle) of Knockabout Coffee Roasters.

Sipping on a freshly brewed cup of their flagship coffee blend, All Day ADK, Matt Pfeifer, Co-Founder of Upstate Coffee Collective, said that if he had the opportunity to connect with every single one of the million people that live across CapNY, he would be able to spread the value of drinking ethically sourced, carefully crafted coffee.

Coffee & Community

Kevin with Nick Zigich, Business Lead

The small business venture started when Kevin Miner, co-founder of Upstate Coffee Collective, invited his longtime friend Matt to kru Coffee in Saratoga Springs. Kevin worked at kru for free in exchange for learning the ins-and-outs of coffee science & culture. He shared his knowledge with Matt — the science, method, and trial & error behind that caffeine deliciousness. Both passionate about coffee culture, they decided to form a small coffee club. VOILA! The Upstate Coffee Collective community was born.

The Pandemic & The Pivot

The community quickly grew. About 30 people a month were showing up to their gatherings all across CapNY to taste and learn more about coffee, but then Covid hit. They pivoted, developed a website and a podcast where they shine a spotlight on people in CapNY doing cool things through the lens of coffee. They also set up an online retail store with highlights of special roasts and stories of its origins, producers and roasters. Matt said, “So many hands touch coffee on the way to your cup; the farmers are making a living on this agriculture, and we need to tell their stories.”

CapNY Entrepreneurship

When asked what role community has played in the development of the business and concept, Matt said, “Other CapNY coffee shop owners have been very supportive and are happy we’re chasing our dreams. They support us and we support them. It didn’t take much for me to make valuable business connections. People are so willing to hear your story and learn about your startup. I believe CapNY is in its infancy for major transformation in entrepreneurship…what we have now is incredible, but I see the possibility of something greater on the horizon.”

Connect with Upstate Coffee Collective!
Website
Phone: (518) 391-5773
Email
FB / IG

Photo credit: Kieran Mangels and Nick Rovazzini

Want to learn more about coffee? Read their blog, listen to their podcast, and check out their YouTube channel!

CapNY Black-Owned Business: West Indies Natural Food and Grocery, Hudson

June 16, 2020 By Maureen Sager

Paulette Clark & Winston Dunn

Each week, ACE will be visiting a black-owned businesses featured in our list. Have a business to add, or a place that we should visit? Please let us know.

Paulette Clarke has run West Indies Natural Food and Grocery in Hudson, NY for 19 years. Their takeaway menu features homemade beef and chicken patties, oxtail stew, seriously amazing chicken curry, rice and peas, and many other dishes from Paulette’s country of origin, Jamaica. Plus, there’s a wide selection of West Indies spices, sauces and specialty food products, and kombucha and drinks in the cooler.

Paulette came to the United States when she was 18, and raised five sons in Hudson. There used to be a broad mix of residents in Hudson, she said. Lately, though, “New Yorkers bought up the real estate. My customers have moved out to Albany, and Kingston and other places.”

Warren Street is lined with galleries, restaurants, antique stores, and luxury boutiques. It has the distinct advantage of being within walking distance to the Amtrak train station, which makes it a popular destination for New York City residents. However, this influx of visitors has not been a boon to the West Indies Natural Foods and Grocery. New Yorkers, Paulette said, “don’t come into my store. I want to say, ‘I don’t bite.’ I wish that people would just come in and look around. They don’t even have to buy anything. If someone comes in, it makes the store owner feel good. Don’t just walk by. Don’t ignore my store.”

Paulette is discouraged by the lack of attention her business has gotten from newspapers. She said, they “take pictures of every white business around me. They skip right over me.” Her friend Winston Dunn agreed, saying, “It’s not been easy. Not easy.”

Support Black-Owned Businesses

Support 200+ Capital Region black-owned business and black-led organizations by shopping, hiring, posting, contributing funds, volunteering, and learning more about what they do. Click here to see our list. This list is far from complete, and you can help develop it! Use the form to add businesses.

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Creatives in Quarantine: Hassan Eminyawi

April 29, 2020 By wordpress

Meet Hassan Eminyawi, Owner of Urban Aftermath Books, an online book business with a warehouse in Menands and a physical shop in the City of Albany. ACE asked him about life and business during the COVID crisis,

What’s your quarantine workspace like, and is it working for you?

My workspaces are really extensions of me and my thought processes. The Bookshop is super eclectic/organic with beautiful copies of the classics, curated artworks, and other items that align with my design aesthetic. The warehouse on the other hand is literally organized chaos. We have 30,000 items in stock with each item having been carefully reviewed, graded, listed for sale, and safely filed away for purchase. This setup is working, though one thing I think would bring this business to another level is integrating the shop and warehouse into one space.

How are you coping with this new reality?

It has been difficult to stay optimistic. Our physical bookshop is currently closed. Sales are down across the board and I’d been sadly resigned to falling behind & giving up… But then again, I am reminded of one of the greatest rules of small business ownership: Innovate or Perish. So I’m doing what I can to increase online sales and offer new ways to allow people to shop our physical storefront virtually.

Have you started adapting and/or innovating your business model to operate under these conditions?

Definitely. We have refocused much of our attention to online sales and are offering customers a “literal window shopping” experience at our shop. Simply put…every item in our window is $5 and every item can be purchased remotely and picked up at the shop or shipped to your home. The display currently has an array of good books, vinyl, and vintage toys for sale, though we intend to change the selection weekly.

How have you seen the local creative community band together to support one another?

I have seen plenty of evidence of unity though I really am concerned how certain businesses (including my own) will pull through this. Many small businesses are owned by passionate people who have sacrificed a great deal to open up and do operate on a month to month basis.

Are you thinking about ways that you’ll change the way you do business in the future?

Of course, I have always attempted to incorporate the Japanese word “kaizen” into my business philosophy. Kaizen means “change for better” or continuous improvement. I intend on consolidating the business to become more agile and light footed. I am taking a serious look at our spatial footprint and hope to be able to buy a building to house both aspects of the business. Processes that can be moved to the virtual realm will be while we expand our sales channels and further develop/promote our social media presence.

Do you see any long term changes to the way people work coming out of this situation?

I believe there is going to be widespread acceptance of a work from home / remote work culture. People who own small businesses that survive are much more likely to downsize physical storefronts and continue to operate on a more virtual/grab and go/take-out/delivery basis.

Hassan, is there a piece of positivity you’d like to leave with our readers?

Small businesses are inherently unique and care tremendously about the community they reside in. I believe that given the right, internal adjustments and a healthy response from the government, many businesses will come back stronger and more versatile than ever before. This is a time for creatives to do what they do best… And for strategic planning regarding future steps.

Connect with Hassan

Instagram: @capital_books
Facebook: @webuybooks
Email: urbanaftermath@gmail.com

Cap Region Creatives in Quarantine: David Reali

March 31, 2020 By wordpress

Creatives in Quarantine is a segment that highlights creative professionals across the Capital Region during this period of isolation due to COVID-19. We have developed some questions that will allow our community to share experiences and learn from one another during this time. 

Meet Entrepreneur & Fashion Designer, David Reali.

David, introduce yourself.

I am David Reali. 34-year-old, Schenectady born creator who now lives and LOVES TROY, NY. I am just a human with some dope ideas looking for the best ways to execute them. I am the creator of LYF SUPPLY, a clothing brand…no, as of today, it’s officially become a PASSION PROJECT, a brand that has evolved from just a hat and embroidery brand to a lifestyle choice, which is represented by garments that reinforce the idea of self love. Even if the items themselves don’t refer exactly to self love, hopefully those who are familiar with my story know that this brand operates and lives on the confidence I have in myself and my ideas and my passion for creating opportunity and expressing yourself via art in some form.

I recently began a brand extension called UPLFYTED which consists of thrifted items, upcycled into 1-of-1 pieces that also include LYF SUPPLY signature embroidery in addition to some really cool transformations. In addition, I provide embroidery for many of the local businesses in Troy that sell their own DOPE A** MERCH, SO CHECK THEM OUT (Superior Merch, Little Pecks, Joan Kelsey Silver Lining, YESFOLK TONICS, POOR DEVIL PEPPER CO., etc). I am also currently working on music. I won’t get too in depth yet, but I will have some really great tunes lined up for everyone’s enjoyment.

What does your workplace look like, and is it working for you?

I currently work in my home in a very, very small room. I have two machines now, so for my larger orders, I take my equipment to Electric City Barn in Schenectady because it has a lot of room and I get to socialize with other creatives and the staff there which I often miss out on when I’m working from home constantly. Working from my home gets to be a bit stressful because my workspace only has room for one embroidery machine. I plan to invest in a Commercial Embroidery machine which will require a lot more space than I have.

Electric City Barn also has a space for screen printing and I am currently learning that skill. Long story short, my space is working but I really need to be in a bigger space that accommodates everything. I AM BLESSED though because I could still be working in an office which I dread, so shout out to the universe for putting me in position.

More can be found on www.lyf.supply

How are you coping with this new reality?

It hasn’t set in yet. The lack of socializing has made it very difficult to focus on work and creativity. It does remind me of being a kid again though. I was the only boy in my family and also the youngest, so a lot of my time was spent creating stuff and ideas, typically with my wrestling toys, etc.

Back in the 90’s, the best part about things not being as advanced as they are now was our need to create our reality within our limited amount of space and time we had available due to curfews, bedtime etc. So in a way, I’ve been going back into my mind finding that kid that would re-enact the battle of Fort Wagner from the movie Glory in his living room or plan out an entire Pay-Per-View wrestling event with all of my wrestling toys, which always gave me something to look forward to when I got home from school. I would be in school thinking about my makeshift wrestling event literally all day (lol). So with these circumstances, I try to allow myself to be that kid again, but with access to the internet, an embroidery machine and a sense of self awareness that may not have existed then. Also, LOTS OF FACETIMING WITH FAM AND MY GIRLFRIEND!!

Have you started adapting and/or innovating your business model to operate under these conditions? Please explain.

So, that is still something I am working on now. Luckily my operation has been via my online store so sales haven’t been really interrupted but I am aware that after all of this madness is over that LIFE will be different so LYF must become an evolved version of itself. I have proposed the idea of TROY NIGHT IN which is a take on Troy Night Out but in this instance, creating a one stop shop for people to have access to every creative person, small business etc. in the form of a live feed which gives a direct to consumer, pop up-like event using social media. I planned to do pop ups once a month, independent and collaboratively, and free from any groups or affiliations that we would have to get permission to do so but the Coronavirus happened. I think having a place online where people can get direct contact and access to the creator and their services and goods would be very convenient and user friendly for the consumer and help continue to build the creative economy here in Troy despite the circumstances. I am open to suggestions as to how to make that work effectively.

How have you seen the local creative community band together to support one another? Do you feel like there are additional resources/tools/strategies that you need to succeed under this circumstance?

www.lyf.supply

Honestly, It is amazing at how fast everyone came together to support one another during this time. It has been great seeing people and other businesses really show support for one another by posting each others stuff. I hope that all of this love and generosity continues when this is all over because this showed us how resilient we can be and also how much we actually do love and need each other. As far as support, I have seen a lot of different business grant opportunities by way of Facebook and other mediums.

Understanding your consumer is always important. A lot of my customers may have lost their jobs or have their income cut, so I have created discounts on products and reduced the cost of embroidery services for regular clients because I know it’s hard and I rely on them for my well being. I also had to take some time and rid myself of shame of selling items despite the fact that we are in quite difficult times. I’ve still gotta make a living and while doing so, I help when and where I can. We are only week two into this and I haven’t suffered enough yet to offer anything outside of what I have already done pre-Coronavirus, but I would say to reach out to others, get help when needed and allow yourself to evolve, even if it means letting go of something/someone/somewhere to make room for what you need.

Are you thinking about ways that you’ll change the way you do business in the future?

Absolutely. With all of this social distancing, it makes me really miss the ability to be around people. I get inspired by people randomly. Whether it’s a beautiful face, or song by a local artist I accidentally stumbled into while getting a drink or my current friends, I miss being inspired by people so I want to use that inspiration and include people in the communication aspect of LYF SUPPLY. I want to tell the story better and more clearly, from a multi perspective instead of just my own because as I said, I am inspired by people and LOVE.

Do you see any long term changes to the way people work coming out of this situation?

HELL YEAH!!! Honestly, that’s all I have been thinking of. Especially the workers who are deemed ”ESSENTIAL,” I really hope they are getting paid for what they are worth now and moving forward. Hopefully during this period, people can find a passion or something that they can freelance at and create opportunity for themselves. 2020 has been dookie so far but I do hope that people who have the spirit for entrepreneurship take a chance. No, take several chances, to see the world from a different perspective and become something more than what they may have settled for. Sitting in an office for eight hours a day for five days a week is becoming obsolete and this is proof of that, because if it weren’t the case then work that needed to be done in an office setting would be on complete pause right now but it’s not because it doesn’t have to be. For those with office jobs that are working from home…take time to reflect and think about who you are and what you want for yourself. There is so much opportunity available but there is so much more opportunity that has yet to be created and discovered. Now’s the time to explore.

Can you share a final note of positivity with our readers?

Bet on yourself. Invest in yourself. Love yourself. Hold yourself and others around you accountable. ALWAYS BE CURIOUS. Go after more than what is just available to you because there is a great chance that there is ALWAYS MORE than what OTHERS are offering. NO ONE IS GOING TO DO IT FOR YOU so you have to do it. For those who are transitioning from a job to their own thing, the hours you’re putting into what you’re working to get away from should eventually cease and not EXCEED the hours you put into what you’re working towards. ESPECIALLY IF YOU LOVE IT!!

Connect with David:

  • Website: www.lyf.supply
  • IG: @lyf_supply / @david.lyf
  • FB: Love Yourself First
  • Twitter:@DavidDOTlyf
  • Email: lyf.supply@gmail.com
David, eating vegan nuggets, in Quarantine

Resources and Information for Creatives During the COVID-19 Crisis

March 24, 2020 By wordpress

We have put together a list of articles and resources for the benefit of our local creatives. We will continue updating this list as we find new useful information. Stay awesome!

To All You Creatives, My Inbox Is Open! A note from Maureen Sager, Executive Director of ACE

Financial Relief Resources:

  • NYS Unemployment Information*
  • The CARES Act – Business Assistance (effective 3/27)
  • Financial Relief for Artists (3/18*)
  • SBA Disaster Loan Information for Small Business and Not-for-Profits*
  • NYS Health Foundation Resources for Not-for-Profits and Community-Based Organizations*
  • How Freelancers Can Claim Paid Sick Leave During This Crisis (3/23)
  • NYS Guidelines for Paid Family Leave*
  • Greene County Artists Emergency Fund (4/7)
  • Financial Help for Freelancers and Self-Employed Workers (4/8)
  • Artist Relief, $5,000 grant
  • The Creative Impact Capital Region Artist Fund, $100 for artists

*=continuously updated

Creatives Building Community

  • Albany Center Gallery Launches an Artist Support Group
  • Creatives in Music and Film Developing Online Socialization Networks
  • Local Business Leaders Coming Together to help Unemployed Restaurant Workers

Digital Tools for Artists to Work Remotely

Creative Diversions & Other Resources:

  • Freelancer Resources
  • Free Mental Health Hotline for New Yorkers: 1-844-863-9314
  • A Breath of Fresh Air
  • 2500 Museums You Can Visit Virtually
  • Where to Watch Live Virtual Concerts
  • Cafe Lena Offering Free Music “Stay Home Sessions”
  • How to Protect Your Mental Health
  • Emotional Benefits of Journaling
  • How to Survive Isolation with Your Partner, Kids, and Yourself
  • Five Recipes that Prove Beans are the MVP of the Pantry
  • That Discomfort You’re Feeling is Grief
  • How Bad Times Bring Out The Best in People
  • Avoid These Traps When Negotiating in a Crisis
  • Buy Produce and Support Local Farmers

Cap Region Creatives in Quarantine:

Creatives in Quarantine is a new segment that highlights creative professionals across the Capital Region during this period of isolation due to COVID-19. We believe that inspiration and vision are as contagious as the virus, so in that spirit, read on! If you’d like to be featured on our blog and/or social media pages, please email Gabby!

  • Konrad Odhiambo (3/24)
  • David Reali (3/31)
  • Kirsten Voege (4/7)
  • Richard Lin (4/15)
  • Margaret Hall & Yvonne Perry (4/22)
  • Hassan Eminyawi (4/29)
  • Creatives in Quarantine Gallery

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