Staten Island Entrepreneurs Weigh In On Highs, Lows Of Succeeding In Today’s Post-Covid Economy
Local Business Owners Weigh In On The Highs and Lows of Being An Entrepreneur In Today’s Economy
Despite the pressures of Covid-19 closures and out of control inflation, two Staten Island small businesses have taken the leap into independent entrepreneurship and have paved their own ways toward success.
Stephanie Debes is the owner of The Make Up On Wheels Foundation, which is focused on spreading support and awareness for the disabled community in and around Staten Island. She has been operating in Staten Island since April 2020. The nonprofit has raised over $20,000 and Debes’ long term goal is to service 500 people in need of support. So far she has helped more than 130 people.
Debes thinks fondly of her first major fundraiser in December 2020 when her foundation raised money for a little girl who had Cerebral Palsy, was going through double surgeries, and was stuck in a hospital bed during the Holiday season. “Even though it was a little bit, I raised $370 to give her presents to open,” explained Debes.
Co-owners Rosalba Annunziata and Tina Russo from Knead & Peel opened their spa this past July 2023. Both women, however, have over 15 years of experience in the spa industry. Annunziata is an esthetician who has always worked under larger companies, but wanted to start her own business for some time. Russo is a massage therapist who has begun to grow her own private clientele. “you get enough private clients and you can start. Then you need a place,” explains Russo.
The two business partners are grateful to have discovered the organization Sola Salons Studios, where they found the perfect start-up space for their business at the Sola Salons location on 1553 Forest Avenue, Staten Island. Russo explains how important their relationship with Sola Salons has been, saying, “I don’t work for Sola, Sola works for me. This is my business. I just rent out the space from Sola Salon, and they make it very easy for us.”
Despite the recent state of the economy, small businesses in and around Staten Island have managed to make a huge impact. A May 2023 report written by the New York City Economic Development Corporation, or NYCEDC for short, states that “New York City’s small businesses were both the businesses hit hardest by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the drivers of NYC’s economic recovery.”
In the year 2021, the NYC EDC shows that while many small businesses did close down, there has been more of an increase in newly opening businesses, Staten Island small businesses being a part of this positive turn of events. The reports reads, ”New areas of growth emerged, with neighborhoods in far eastern Queens, Staten Island, southern Brooklyn, northern Manhattan, and the Bronx all experiencing strong rates of new small business formation.”
While there has been this increase of newly forming small businesses across all five boroughs and Covid-19 restrictions on businesses have gradually lifted since 2021, the intense national spike of inflation has been an issue. According to the US Bereau of Labor Statistics, consumer prices on average rose exponentially in the early half of 2021.
In April 2021, inflation increased to 4.2% and continued to steadily rise until it hit its highest record of 9.1% in June 2022. For more than a year, US consumers struggled with increasingly costly prices of products they needed on a daily basis. Among major city areas, NY ranked 14 out of 23 metropolitan US zones who were experiencing major rises in inflation according to data from the US Bereau of Labor Statistics.
Working under these economic conditions, new small business owners would have to deal with the general pressures of starting their own local business while coping with the 2021 and 2022 rise in inflation. When speaking about wanting to grow her nonprofit and raise more money to help those in need, nonprofit owner Stephanie Debes states “you can’t do that when you know that no one wants to buy things because of what’s going on in the world.”
In addition to economic pressures, Debes’ first big obstacle in running The Make-Up On Wheels Foundation was a lack of knowledge of the nonprofit sector. “I am an event planner and make-up artist, I didn’t know how to run a nonprofit the way these nonprofit people do.” Regardless of not having full knowledge of nonprofits, not having staff to help her with management, and the difficulty of convincing people to donate their money when budgets have had to tighten, Debes has managed to do so much good for the disabled community.
Debes’ foundation grew from its humble beginnings of raising money through selling T-shirts, masks, and sanitizers, and in 2022 the foundation had its first fundraising Gala. Debes explains she didn’t have any sponsors for this event and did her first Gala for free, out of her own pocket. For her second Gala, she had financial support from sponsors that totaled up to $4,500.
The Make-Up On Wheels’ Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and official website has helped to spread the word about the foundation’s upcoming events; including raffles, social events, collaborations with other nonprofits, and fundraisers. Debes credits her foundation’s growth to the connections she’s made in the nonprofit world as well as in the local business community on Staten Island. She explains how networking has made a huge difference in the success of her nonprofit business.
As a member of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce and the Staten Island Not For Profit Association, Debes works with other business owners, especially those in the nonprofit sector, to support her own foundation and other nonprofits. “Other nonprofit people support you because they want you to support them,” says Debes.
On top of managing her foundation, Debes is a certified make-up and special effects make-up artist with a Bachelor’s in Hospitality Management and Event Planning. She is also a New York State licensed Esthetican. “It’s not just about make-up”, explained Debes. “It’s about the disabled community, about helping one another when they’re struggling.”
For Stephanie Debes, her greatest motivation is her big heart in addition to her dream to do what others’ have said is impossible. “Nobody was hiring me to do what I love, so I had to do everything through my nonprofit, which is being a make-up artist, event planner, and esthetician, so if you think about it, I’m doing everything I love. It took me, myself, to get my dream job.”
For Rosalba Annunziata and Tina Russo, Knead & Peel has only just begun. Their main focus has been centered around building their clientele, and their biggest goal is a consistent flow of clients. Through their efforts to spread the word about their business, they’ve brought business cards into gyms, storefronts, local businesses in and around the area, posted fliers of their business, and even offer special promotions. “We’re offering 15% off the first service, and we’re going to give away free samples,” says Annunziata.
As they are building their clientele through these promotions and in-person events, including giving out free chair massages, their biggest challenges have been social media savviness and the inflation costs. “In social media, the audience is a lot bigger than just three people,” said Russo. When it comes to making social media posts, the two entrepreneurs emphasized how permanent those can be and how careful business owners have to be when sharing.
For their current clients, Annunziata and Russo offer a wide variety of services for massage and skin care, including seasonal treatments. The cost of a 60-minute massage is $120 while a 60-minute facial is $95, prices that were carefully decided based on the current state of the economy. Russo says, “Even though the economy and inflation is going up, we set our prices not based on that, but what we know people are bringing home, so we know what people could afford and we’re not going to overcharge.”
She also emphasizes the cost of their experience, which runs over a decade for them both. “Even though we have 17 years of experience, we could probably charge a lot more than what we are, but because of inflation, we don’t.”
For these two spa entrepreneurs, the focus is not just on turning a profit, but also about their customers. “I feel like I’m healing,” says Annunziata. “They tell me they just feel comfortable with me and I think that’s what keeps them coming back, too,” she adds.
With their biggest motivation being the clients they take care of, both Annunziata and Russo are building their independent spa free of promotion pushing goals that ask their customers for more money. “It’s really hard for you to sell things when people just want to come in and relieve stress and leave feeling happy. Not to push product or push upgrade. Knead & Peel isn’t about that,” says Russo.
Russo also adds, “A big aspect of wanting to have your own business is wanting to be there for your clients and also wanting to help yourself out so that you are not dependent on another person’s goals.”
For Knead & Peel, The Make-Up Foundation, and all small businesses on Staten Island the journey hasn’t been easy, especially these past few years as shown in surveys conducted by the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce. According to the survey, in 2020, 76% of SI small businesses had a significant loss of revenue, this group adding that they lost roughly a quarter to half of their business that year. The SI Chamber explained in their report that financial assistance “served as a lifeline for many Staten Island businesses.”
In their 2021 survey, the SI Chamber explained that nearly half of small businesses increased revenue in 2021, but were not at the same levels as they were in 2019. The biggest challenges drawn from the 2021 survey claim that staffing was the biggest challenge for small businesses in this year. “The inability to attract, hire, and retain employees is the biggest challenge facing respondents across a wide range of industries. Other challenges included mandates from state and local agencies, competition from neighboring states, and marketing,” reads the report.
While there is unfortunately no survey published from the SI Chamber for the year of 2022, when inflation was at it’s highest levels, today there is evidence that at the very least inflation has gone done in the past year. According to the US Bereau of Labor Statistics, this past June 2023, the average increase in cost of consumer goods was down at 3%, which is just a .1% increase from where costs were at in June and July of 2018.
With small businesses proving to be a driving force to NY’s economic recovery, and inflation coming down, now may be the right time for aspiring entrepreneurs owners to start their business. Stephanie Debes of The Make Up On Wheels Foundation, calls it a “leap of faith.”
Rosalba Annunziata of Knead & Peel says, “You just have to do it. Without risk, you’re never going to know.” Her business partner Tina Russo also adds “Make sure you have a safety net, because it’s expensive to start something, so if you have something to fall back on that would be very helpful.” She also explains the need for patience when opening a business. “For your first year, you’re probably in the red, where you’re just making it but you’re not making a profit yet. So give it time.”
“Do what you feel is right because no one knows your dream better than you do and no one is going to make you a success better than yourself,” says Debes.
Stephanie Debes is currently looking for board members and committee members to help The Make-Up On Wheels Foundation grow. To donate or take part in any upcoming events, go to themakeuponwheelsfoundation.org or follow the foundation on their Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn pages.
For those in need of stress relief, Knead & Peel is opened starting at 10am every day of the week except for Wednesdays. Their full business hours listing is on their website as well. For the Holiday season, they have gift cards for those looking to give the gift of self care. Book an appointment for a facial with Rosalba Annunziata or a massage with Tina Russo on their website kneadandpeel.glossgenius.com, and follow them on their instagram.
Banner Image: Makeup on Wheels Foundation header. Image Credit – Makeup On Wheels
Jaclyn Appelgate
From her 2016 Bachelor’s degree in Communications to her experience in retail and customer service, Jaclyn has a deep interest in culture, storytelling, and the arts. She began writing as a journalist in 2018, writing for two other publishing companies. Her focus is on sharing stories that enlighten and uplift people.
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