Women-owned businesses are important for both the economy and for equal rights. Even though women make up half of the population, much less than half of the small businesses in Boston are female-owned. That's why we are highlighting four Boston business women who are making their mark!
With just about 40,000 small businesses in Boston, this city is thriving with unique shops, retailers, and services. It’s unfortunate, though, that despite having a population of 52 percent women, only 35 percent of small businesses in Boston are owned by women.
That’s why we wanted to create this article. Representation of minorities is so important in the business landscape, and we wanted to give a few awesome Boston business women a shoutout for all their awesome work! These four businesses we’re going over are just a few of the amazing female owned businesses in Boston and the Greater Boston area.
(Check out this site for a huge list of female owned businesses to check out.)
Garden Streets - Jen Gouldstone
Garden Streets is owned and operated by Jen Gouldstone. It's an interior landscape and plant service company that’s focused on biophilic design at home and the workplace.
What is biophilic design, you might ask? Simply put, it’s a design concept. Specifically, it uses plants and nature within the workplace to help employees and occupants feel connected to the natural environment.
Jen does this through thoughtful plant design, living green walls, lighting, specific plant types, and more. She’s already worked with a number of big-name companies throughout Boston and the surrounding area. Her beautiful plants and designs are thoughtful and purposeful with every plant and design element having a purpose.
Jen is a big proponent of workplace wellness in Boston through biophilia and plant design. She’s done her research and knows that plants in the workplace can have a great positive effect on employee productivity, happiness, and more.
Garden Streets also offers plant maintenance services to keep the plants looking fresh and healthy for the long-haul.
Check out the Garden Streets website for an amazing gallery of her work in both commercial and residential locations.
Adventure Pub - Athena Z Peters
The Adventure Pub is located in Arlington right outside of the city. This is a gastropub meets board game cafe meets event venue meets bar.
This awesome place owned by Athena Z Peters has seen great success since it opened in 2018. Peters started as a theatre major in college, which sparked her passion for theater and performing. She loves games and video games and worked in the gaming industry for over 15 years.
This gave her the lore understanding of games like Dungeons and Dragons, Lord of the Rings, and more. This definitely inspired her Adventure Pub.
Inside, it looks and feels like an inn from Lord of the Rings complete with rustic lighting, a “Wizard’s Tower” room, goblets, and other fantasy objects.
The menu and drinks are whimsical and fun with names like “Princess Peach” and “d20” showing her gaming background. She says the Adventure Pub is also inspired by Mox Boarding House in Seattle and The McKittrick Hotel in New York City.
If you have the chance to check this place out, it’s definitely worth it! You can talk and drink the night away while playing games ranging from classics like Scrabble to Trivial Pursuit to new and interesting ones like Exploding Kittens (yes, that’s what it’s called).
Ash & Rose - Nea and Mary Savoca
Ash & Rose has two awesome women owning and running the business. Nea and Mary Savoca are a mother-daughter team that worked together to create Ash & Rose, a fashion boutique in the SoWa neighborhood of the South End. They also have an online shop if you prefer to shop from the comfort of your bed!
These two women saw that fast fashion is harming the world and creating fashion that’s not original. They wanted to create a fashion retailer that has ethical and sustainable fashion that looks and feels good.
Not only is their boutique dedicated to sustainable fashion, but they’re also committed to using fair trade labor and supporting women around the world. On their website, they say that they “have a special interest in working with designers who employ at-risk women in areas where few opportunities exist. We also care deeply about empowering you, our customer, to make informed decisions about how you shop, and choose products with values that align with your own.”
Pretty awesome, right? Supporting Ash & Rose means that your supporting women-owned businesses in both Boston and beyond throughout the world.
Bantam Cider - Michelle da Silva and Dana Masterpolo
Last, but certainly not least, is Bantam Cider. With a brewery in Somerville close to Union Square, this awesome local cidery has a rustic and industrial interior that’s fun to just relax in. They’ll often project big games or events onto the wall so patrons can sip their delicious ciders and drinks amongst an awesome atmosphere.
Michelle da Silva and Dana Masterpolo are co-owners of Bantam. They’re dedicated to using local ingredients since their origin story is also local. Testing recipes themselves and making small craft batches was the beginning for these two, and they’ve grown a lot since that time in 2012.
For the first year of business, these two delivered kegs and cases out of the back of their own tiny hatchback to over 150 clients. By the end of that year, they had to up their distribution game considering they were delivering to over 400 by that point!
Today, Bantam has found its permanent home in Somerville. They have grown from one signature cider to over a dozen types that have found their way to 1,500 accounts in 5 different states.
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