A new report finds that Washington, D.C. ranks No. 3 for cities which saw growth in the number of women who opened businesses in 2023 compared to the previous year. The District saw a 25% rise in women opening businesses, which ranks it behind only Miami (31%) and first place, Austin (34%).
The report, conducted by Yelp, used business-opening data with the “women-owned” identity attribute on a business’ account.
“I feel like the city is just full of very ambitious, capable and really intelligent people in general, but especially women,” said Holley Simmons, owner of She Loves Me, a flower shop in D.C.’s Eckington neighborhood.
Simmons, a former writer for The Washington Post, said she made the jump from being a journalist to an entrepreneur after she was told she couldn’t take time off.
“It was enough to make me feel like I was in a cage and I couldn’t live my life,” she said.
In the district, women owned just 47% of businesses in the nation’s capital, according to the Small Business Administration.
“I think it’s really impressive … that women are able to follow their goals and open up a small business because it’s not easy,” said Alexes Haggins who also owns a flower shop, Flowers by Alexes. “Being able to do that and just conquering all the challenges, it’s just really impressive.”
Haggins said she opened her doors last year along Upshur Street in Northwest several years after her father closed his floral shop. She said that familial connection helped when opening her business because she was familiar with the area and neighbors knew her from her time working with her father.
“The community has been very, very welcoming to me,” Haggins said.
As she scoops ice cream into cups for excited kids, Julie Wineinger, owner of Lulabelle’s Sweet Shop also on Upshur Street NW, said she hasn’t put much thought into how many women own businesses in the city because on her block, most businesses have been owned by women.
“It’s just been a normal situation for me,” Wineinger said.
According to Wineinger, the community that she and other female shop owners have nourished has helped.
“Oftentimes, they’ll come talk to me maybe before they open their business, or we’re all in talks all the time, while operating, helping each other,” Wineinger said.
For Simmons, she believes the pandemic had a part to play in the rise in women-owned businesses.
“I think you can’t really talk about this without referencing the pandemic. And considering that women and men were home, twiddling their thumbs … all of a sudden that faint cry of your passion starts like getting louder and louder and louder. And you have time and space to kind of play around,” Simmons said. “If I had to guess a lot of these businesses were founded, or conceived, during the pandemic.”
Is this still a man’s world?
Some of the shop owners say some disparities that women have encountered running businesses still exist.
“I feel like, traditionally, men have more access to fundraising,” Simmons said.
As for Wineinger, one thing she still experiences are contractors and others in male-dominated fields treating her differently because she is a woman.
“[When] I have to get equipment fixed and I have to get other things, like maybe a roof fixed or HVAC or something like that, and oftentimes it does feel that I am not treated necessarily how a man would be treated in that situation,” Wineinger said.
Despite that, Wineinger said she encourages more women to take the plunge and become their own bosses.
“I think lots of times when people want to start businesses, they get hung up on their ability to do it, and part of running a business is just getting in there and doing it,” Wineinger said.
Haggins agrees, and said the experience she got from her dad was priceless. Her daughter wants to take over her shop one day, and Haggins said she’s preparing her for that right now.
“I would tell anyone, if you have a child who wants to be an entrepreneur, keep them with you, because that’s what my dad did with me and planted a seed. And look at me today,” Haggins said.
Simmons, the mother of a five-month-old, said women make great business owners because they can multitask.
“I think we just get in and get things done that need to be done so that we can go on and do other life things,” Simmons said.
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