Small Black Businesses Take on the Pandemic and Emerge Stronger 

The once-empty studio is now filled with people. In one corner there are boxes filled with clothes, with more draped over the furniture that wasn’t there just one month ago. A wall that was once naked concrete is covered in a black- and red-checkered pattern. Camera equipment, tripods and spray paint cans are scattered around the space. 

Simon Biagui is wrapping up what he calls Media Day. They shot a commercial, did photoshoots with models for the website, and made Reels for the brand’s Instagram page. 

Over the loud music echoing throughout the studio, people are laughing and sharing ideas on the set up and the outfits. Biagui positions his business partner in front of a rack of their clothes and tells him how to pose for the photoshoot.

It smells like fresh paint, and one of the walls is now covered by a large grey and blue mural reading “VIEWS, the youth still win.” 

“Okay, alright, we’re ready,” says Biagui, stepping off the set.

Simon Biagui is the owner, designer and co-founder of Views Clothing Co. Biagui and his partner, Pablo Novelli, are both 22 years old and first-generation Americans from Senegal, West Africa and Venezuela. They started their business in 2019 and the brand has dropped two full clothing collections so far and is in the process of putting out another one. 

As stated on its Instagram page, Views Clothing Co. is “seeking to tell their story living the life of an inner-city kid starting from nothing.”

Views Clothing Co. is a Milwaukee-based streetwear brand. They sell their clothes at pop-up events and through their website, and work out of their studio on North Fratney Street. Although they don’t have a store front, their online presence has helped to keep them going through the pandemic. 

“I think the internet has made us the most money just because we’re able to ship products across the country,” said Biagui.

In anticipation of their next collection, the brand scheduled three events leading up to the official release.

“This is our third one and is probably the most important collection,” said Biagui. “And I can’t even say most important just because we’ve got so much stuff coming soon. But this is probably our most thought-out collection so far.” 

The collection is named Views University because it is inspired by Biagui’s and Novelli’s last year going to college. Biagui is currently enrolled at University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Novelli at University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee.

The release includes three crew necks, a hooded sweatshirt, a tee shirt, sweatpants, and jeans. Many of the jeans have the brand’s signature logo embroidered on the hem.

They hosted a Halloween pop-up party, followed by a Black Friday pop-up, all leading up to an event on Dec. 31.

“That’s like the grand finale. We’re dropping a pair of shoes, dropping exclusive merch for the event and then having a 15-minute runway of everything we’ve been creating this year,” said Biagui.

Before Views Clothing Co. moved to its current location, the owners had a space a quarter of that size at The Lincoln Warehouse in Bayview. That was in the beginning of the pandemic. 

“We were just in a tiny space, trying to learn how to print clothes, how to embroider clothes and stuff,” said Biagui. 

The events, photoshoots and pop-ups Biagui had planned required much more space.

Like Views Clothing Co., many other businesses faced challenges brought by COVID-19, which hit minority businesses especially hard.

An analysis conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research looked at the number of active business owners in the United States in April 2020, the first month of wide-spread quarantine and COVID restrictions.

This is what the study called the crucial two-month window. During that time, the number of active business owners decreased from 15 million to 11.7 million. The 22% decline in business owners was the largest on record, according to the report.

The findings show that Black businesses were hit the hardest by far with a 41% drop from February to April 2020. 

During the crucial two-month window, the number of Black business owners declined from 1.1 million to 640,000. This 41% drop represents the loss of 440,000 Black businesses.

Black businesses supporting Black businesses

The non-profit organization MKE Black tried to combat this loss during the pandemic by promoting Black companies and providing them with resources. 

MKE Black is an app and a database of Black-owned businesses in the city. Co-founders Rick Banks and Paul Wellington started their organization in 2019 with the goal of showcasing Milwaukee’s Black community to local residents and tourists. 

MKE Black gave 15 companies grants ranging from $500 to $2,000 last year to help them stay afloat. But Banks says their focus has been acting as a network.

“Our main thing has been marketing, exposure, access to wider audiences and connections to larger businesses,” said Banks. 

They wanted to create a database so customers could have a list of all Black-owned establishments in Milwaukee in one place. The current version of the app has over 600 businesses sorted and categorized by the type of service they provide, and Banks says they are working on expanding that.

In an updated version of the app, they plan to include a map view. They also want to introduce online ordering and a feature that allows customers to like or save their favorite places.

Banks says he’d like to create a local currency that could only be spent at Black-owned companies.

“We always talk about ‘the Black dollar only circulates so far in the Black community’ and ‘what if there was an actual Black dollar that you could only spend at Black owned businesses’,” said Banks. 

But customers would first need to know where they could spend this Black dollar, and that’s where the idea for the database came from.

“So many people were looking for ways to support those businesses and we became that avenue,” said Banks.

MKE Black was able to raise about $20,000 to support businesses that were impacted by COVID-19 to support local jobs.

Black-owned businesses tend to employ Black workers. This makes them important for generating more jobs in Black communities, according to an analysis by Thomas D. Boston, a professor of economics at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Banks said public interest in supporting Black-owned businesses peaked during the pandemic.

“We partnered with the Bucks and another organization called The Lonely Entrepreneur to provide a free year’s worth of business development courses and that went out to over 500 businesses,” said Banks. “We had the Brewers Foundation approach us in February, wanting to purchase gift cards from five or six Black-owned businesses so we connected them.”

MKE Black also organized a marketing internship program. A large marketing firm reached out to them wanting to do more for Black communities. Black businesses report that one of their biggest problems is being able to afford quality marketing. 

Schools had also reached out to MKE Black to find out how they could provide a work study to partner with Black owned businesses.

“I saw an opportunity there to connect three dots,” said Banks. “We got marketing students studying graphic designs and social media and stuff like that. We’ve got this large marketing firm who can offer mentorship to these students. And then the students can provide affordable services to the black owned businesses. So, I connected those three dots.”

Pursuing a passion through the pandemic 

For Aaliyah Covington, the pandemic meant quitting her job and starting her own business. Covington is a fitness and wellness coach and the CEO of Core with Covie. 

During the pandemic, Covington kickstarted her business by teaching Zumba classes outside at Kilbourn Park, just a short walk from where she teaches classes now.

“Every client I had I met at the park,” said Covington. “Doing some Zumba outside it was like ‘oh, you want to come and dance?’ In the park, literally just vibing, going out and meeting people.”

Covington describes it as an “aha” moment when she realized she hated what she was doing and needed to start pursuing something she was passionate about. 

“You get to a point in your life where you’re like, ‘Man, I just cannot continue to live the same way that I am. There’s no purpose in my life like, there’s nothing that I’m striving for.’” 

When she first started, she taught two classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays with a $10 general admission fee. Sometimes she had 30 clients, and sometimes she had none. Covington said it was a rollercoaster of trial and error.

“I don’t necessarily base success off of the amount of people that show up. I think it’s the quality like, do you enjoy this, like my retention. I’ve had people who have been with me from the very first workout to now,” said Covington.

She teaches classes at Pink House Studio in Riverwest and offers virtual classes as well. She began in September 2020 by teaching classes with the option to be in person at half capacity or to join virtually.

“I’ll teach where I have my virtual people in my ear in my air pods and then I’ll be here with the in-person people,” she said.

One year later, Covington has expanded her business and includes boot camps, yoga, boxing and cardio.

She started offering two-week or month-long memberships for in person or virtual clients. Covington helps her clients with their nutrition by creating meal guides and cleansing kits as well as advising on mental health and wellness and seasonal depression.

“This has been a wellness journey of my own and I’ve just been able to help out a few people along the way,” said Covington.

In Pink House Studio there are colorful paper mâché birds hanging from the ceiling, plants and crystal sitting on the windowsill and music from Flo Milli playing out of the speakers.

In between sets, Covington makes jokes with her clients and keeps the energy high.

“I think coming here like these are my people. I laugh with them, they’re like my friends. So, everyone that joins they should become family,” she said.

At the end of her classes she makes it a point to stretch and cool down. She even includes some yoga poses like downward dog and child’s pose. 

Covington dims the lights in the studio and changes the music to something more soothing. As Frank Ocean and Jhené Aoki play out of the speaker, Covington slowly walks around and picks up the equipment for her clients as she coaches them through a new breathing exercise.

Sense of community inspires small businesses

In a national survey of 350 Black CEOs, business owners said they recognize a strong commitment to community improvement, according to Boston. 

It’s this sense of community that helps to keep Covington coming back, even on the hard days. Covington said that one of her clients showed up every morning for three months and some days he was the only one.

“Every day. I was like, ‘He’s going to keep coming,’” Covington said. “’He’s going to keep coming. He really likes this.” 

Covington says that it’s really encouraging when she can tell her clients are excited to be there. 

This commitment to community is true for Views Clothing Co. as well.

“Coming from the Midwest, we’re real strong, hardworking people,” said Biagui. “Kind of makes me carry some pride, you know? Being from Milwaukee, Wisconsin just because we’re no small city. We’re a big city in a small place.”

Views Clothing Co. has sold over 7,000 items since launching their business and have shipped to 18 states around the country.

“To have a big following in Milwaukee is just really a blessing,” Biagui said, smiling.

Banks describes his team as deeply passionate individuals who want to see the Black community improve and thrive.

“There’s the small things like these small victories and the small opportunities,” said Banks. “Exciting things like when the Bucks call us or Northwestern Mutual. It’s like ‘wow we’re really doing things.’”

Freedom Summer motivates small Black businesses 

During the summer of 2020, empathy and connection to the community became heightened for a lot of small Black business owners following the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

“We kind of realized how important and powerful our brand is,” said Biagui. “So, we kind of realized that we had a voice in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and just on the internet, so we feel like we really had to act upon it.”

Biagui felt it was important to let their supporters know that they don’t tolerate violence or racism.

“That’s kind of what kept us from not just staying quiet and disappearing, since that was such a big deal and a super sad tragedy. Since there’s something negative, we kind of had to make a positive impact,” said Biagui.

In May, Views Clothing Co. released a statement on their Instagram page supporting the family of George Floyd and denouncing racism.

 “We’d like to let everyone know that [VIEWS] stands with George Floyd, and with everyone else that has been affected by the racial disparity and abuse perpetuated by the criminal justice system and the police in this country. We will not stand idly as people are hurt, murdered, incarcerated and profiled by institutionalized racism.” 

MKE Black raised money for businesses who suffered property damage.

Covington said the protests against racial injustice helped to give her to push she needed to start.

“Honestly, everything going down within the Black community just gave me the extra empowerment. I’m just like, ‘oh, tomorrow really isn’t promised.’ So, if you’re going to do something, do it now,” said Covington.