Tag Archives: Life Enchrichment Group

South Seattle Shop Denied CARES Loan Fosters Anti-Stress Expertise

by Ashley Archibald

(This article was originally published by Real Change and has been reprinted under an agreement.) 


The line to enter the Columbia City Farmers Market stretched down 35th Avenue South, curving down South Ferdinand Street, shoppers standing the designated six feet apart in the shade of the trees of the shuttered Interagency Academy. Vendors stacked fresh vegetables and prepared food on tables that lined each side of South Edmunds Street, tokens of normalcy in abnormal times.

A customer goes shopping at QueenCare on a sunny Wednesday afternoon amid Seattle’s Columbia City Farmers Market. The shop’s owner is promoting self-care, especially for Black people, in a difficult time. (Photo: Susan Fried)

Just a block away, Monika Mathews had a small table of her own set up in front of QueenCare, the natural skincare company that she launched in December 2018. Colorful face masks and dangling earrings next to Black Lives Matter shirts and a handful of her handmade products lay out to tempt customers, as a person filled bottles with handmade products inside the small storefront.

There’s a lot of work to keep up with.

Continue reading South Seattle Shop Denied CARES Loan Fosters Anti-Stress Expertise

For Local Merchants, Small Biz Saturday Outpaces Black Friday Rush

by Marcus Harrison Green

Count Monika Matthews among the growing legion of Americans who abhor the consumerist carnage induced by Black Friday, the day when retail store aisles become indiscernible from WWE wrestling rings. Continue reading For Local Merchants, Small Biz Saturday Outpaces Black Friday Rush