The founders of Harlem Haberdashery and Vontélle Eyewear, two New York City-born-and-bred businesses that were nurtured via JPMorgan Chase’s minority entrepreneurship program, announced the launch of their new collaboration at a Juneteenth pop-up event in Harlem on Saturday, June 17.
The two business have come together and have released a limited eyewear line with bold designs and names featuring historic Harlem landmarks: Lenox Avenue, Sugar Hill, and the Harlem Renaissance.
The founders, Sharene Wood of Harlem Haberdashery and Tracy Green of Vontélle, as well as Joy Butts, a vice president and senior business consultant for JPMorgan Chase, talked at the pop-up about the intricacies of making business boom in a vastly-changing and dynamic landscape.
In 2020, JPMorgan Chase announced a $30 billion commitment towards promoting racial equity and bridging the racial wealth gap between white-owned businesses and businesses owned by people of color. This includes $15,000 loans and mentorship programs for businesses based in predominantly Black, Hispanic and Latino/a areas. The program is free and open to the public.
The business pop-up was only the second of its kind and came on the heels of another pop-up during Small Business Week in early May.
Butts, who is one of 50 senior business consultants working one-on-one with businesses across the nation, told amNewYork Metro that the goal of the program is to not only elevate and uplift minority entrepreneurs, but to also pour resources and know-how into their communities.
“One of the key pillars of what it is that we do is to connect businesses together,” Butts said. “We realized that there’s a lot of business owners that sort of feel lonely. They’re in it all by themselves.”
While the program is meant to be accessible to all businesses — “whether you’re just starting your business, or you’re a $30 million company,” Butts said — Harlem Haberdashery and Vontélle demonstrated their…
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