APPLETON, Wis. — A few years ago, Barlash got its start in a living room.
What You Need To Know
- Wisconsin has tens of thousands of Black, Indigenous and people of color-owned businesses
- ColorBold Business Association is encouraging people to support those businesses with holiday shopping
- Barlash in Appleton started in a living room and has grown
Sisters Connie, Bridget and America Vargas have since moved the business to its own space in Appleton, where it continues to grow.
“All we did was lash extensions for a really long time, for about two years,” Connie Vargas said. “After the two years, we decided we wanted to expand and one of our co-founders decided to go back to school and become an aesthetician to be able to provide more services.”
Barlash is an aesthetician salon and one of tens of thousands of businesses owned by Black, Indigenous entrepreneurs and people of color in Wisconsin.
Connie Vargas said Barlash is proud to work with everyone who lives in the Fox Cities.
“I remember my mom not being able to go into spas because she didn’t feel very comfortable. They didn’t know her skin type. They didn’t know her hair type,” she said. “I think it’s important for the minority community to open these businesses and really be able to open it to everybody that is now living in the Fox Cities. We’re proud of that. We’re proud to welcome any individual into our space.”
Ramona Hallmon is the board chair with the ColorBold Business Association. The six-year-old organization works to build sustainable businesses and nonprofits led by people of color.
“In Wisconsin, when it comes to small businesses, less than 10% are BIPOC owned. When it comes to supporting BIPOC businesses, Wisconsin is actually number four of the worst states,” she said. “Why we do this is really to say, in northeast Wisconsin we can be a bridge, a catalyst to shift the trajectory or how our state sits and our area sits when it comes to supporting businesses.”
The association is elevating the visibility of BIPOC businesses during the holidays through a social media campaign.
“What we are encouraging people to do is to be intentional and go out and shop with BIPOC businesses,” Hallmon said. “All a person would have to do is go, shop, take a picture, post it on social media, tag that business or nonprofit, and then also tag ColorBold.”
Connie Vargas said customer support is an important piece of sustaining and growing BIPOC businesses like hers.
“Our minority community really struggles sometimes to get the financing they need to keep growing,” she said. “We really base our growth on our community support.”
Instructions on how to participate in the ColorBold promotion can be found here.