Maria Hollenhorst/Marketplace
Taylor Nesia Jenkins, owner of a vintage clothing boutique called House of Vestige, displays formal wear at bridal fairs in north Phoenix.
This story originally aired on “Marketplace” on May 27.
On a sunny Sunday in late February, about a dozen wedding vendors, including photographers, florists, musicians and event planners, gathered at Changing Rivers Ranch in north Phoenix.
The “Bridal Fair + Bohemian Picnic” was meant to introduce vendors to potential customers and promote the micro wedding/event space. Just before 11 a.m., one more vendor showed up.
“I’m sorry it took so long,” said Taylor Nesiah Jenkins, known as Nessie, wearing a white satin dress, pink lip gloss, large gold earrings and carrying a bag full of formal wear.
“I just brought bridal items today,” said Jenkins, 24, who opened a second-hand clothing store called House of Vestige a few months ago.
Entrepreneurship exploded during the first year of the pandemic, but what initially appeared to be a pandemic-related surge is persisting: A record 5.5 million people filed for new business registrations last year, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
Jenkins is one of millions of entrepreneurs currently starting new businesses across the United States.
She and her boyfriend, Chandler, had skirts and dresses hanging on random hangers, she explained, and most of the items in their inventory were under $80.
“Everything is second-hand,” she says. “I use eBay a lot, and I also love Depop and Poshmark. I also go to thrift stores and Goodwill.”
Jenkins left her hometown in the Bay Area and moved to Arizona about three years ago in search of more affordable housing.
“I didn’t know anything about Arizona. [that] “I couldn’t get what I wanted in California, so I packed up and moved,” she said.
She has worked in restaurants, an acupuncture office, the Maricopa County School District and as a babysitter.
“I’ve had a lot of different jobs,” she said.
Maria Hollenhorst/Marketplace
Taylor Nesiah Jenkins, owner of second-hand boutique House of Vestige, shows off some of her inventory at a bridal fair in Phoenix.
Maria Hollenhorst/Marketplace
A shoe and accessory display set up by Taylor Nesia Jenkins, owner of vintage clothing boutique Haus of Vestige, for a bridal fair in February.
As he waited for his customers to arrive, Jenkins shared with us what inspired him to start his own business.
Though she’s years into her career, she’s still trying to find her place in the business world.
“Every black woman I know is exhausted by the struggles they face in the workplace,” she said. “If someone disagrees with you or someone else and says something they don’t like, you’re called aggressive or you’re perceived as the aggressor… so it literally makes a world of difference.”
Black business ownership is growing at the fastest rate in the past 30 years: According to the Small Business Administration, the percentage of Black households who own a business more than doubled between 2019 and 2022.
But starting a business is hard: Government data shows that roughly one in five new businesses don’t survive the first year.
Jenkins is just getting started: She’s spent about $1,500 and countless hours to get the boutique off the ground, sourcing inventory, setting up a website and coordinating photo shoots.
She’s been to a few events like this one before, but two and a half hours later, no customers have arrived. “It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be,” she said.
Jenkins said she was only able to explore starting her own business because her boyfriend, a project manager for a painting company, was financially supporting her.
“I wouldn’t be able to do that if my partner wasn’t making as much as I do in his job,” she said, “so it’s an honor to be able to say that.”
The event at Changing Rivers Ranch lasted four hours and no guests showed up, but Jenkins did purchase some champagne glasses from another vendor for photo ops.
That was in late February, and over the next two months, Jenkins participated in several more events, even trying to organize a fashion show, but when there weren’t enough participants, she changed it to a photo shoot.
She’s still hoping the business will be a success, but in the meantime she continues to work as a babysitter during the day.
Maria Hollenhorst/Marketplace
Part of the décor at Changing Rivers Ranch, a small wedding venue in north Phoenix.
