In March, some of our team was lucky enough to attend a ShoCo Chicago press conference in celebration of Women’s History Month. We were excited to hear from great speakers but also to learn more about this new project/initiative. All of the business owners that participated in the press conference are members of ShoCo Chicago (short for Shop Community Chicago). ShoCo Chicago is a first-of-its-kind initiative to support small businesses that give back to the community, either by donating to local charities or by having mission-focused hiring practices (such as hiring at-risk youth, homeless military veterans, and people with disabilities). ShoCo Chicago’s vision is to turn shopping into a major source of funding for Chicago charities and causes. This awesome project launched in December 2021, thanks to the generous support of the Chicago Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Department.

Speakers included:

Edwin Tumlos, Assistant Commissioner, Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection
Tina Wong, Founder, Grace + Ivory
Semira Allen, Owner, Exhale Safe
Cassie Zehren, Program Manager, Wildlight Yoga (Cassie is speaking on behalf of Founder Kelli Wefenstette)
Annie Xiang, Founder, Volition Tea
Omotola Akinbiyi, Founder, Bon Femmes
Matthew Suit Shop
Carina Daniels, Co-Founder, ShoCo Chicago

The speakers spoke about how young women entrepreneurs are supporting one another. Sara Faddah, co-host of the 77 Flavors of Chicago podcast, served as the emcee. Ukrainian immigrant Oksana Ambroz-Trychta spoke about how her business, It’s Oksana, has been giving back to the people of her home country, especially during the War in Ukraine.

We took a little time during the event to ask questions of some of the speakers and have those shared below.

Oksana Ambroz-Trychta

What advice to you have for other young women starting out?
“Just be Brave. Listen to your voice - you have be true to yourself. My mom was my biggest inspiration. She always told me that you have to try.. because without trying you will never know.”

What is the greatest rewards to giving back or being a part of the community for you?
“I believe always that if you help someone you don’t expect it to come back to you directly. I have learned that it comes back in other ways”.

Tina Wong

How are you giving back in your business, Grace and Ivory?
“Originally we were supporting Plan International which is a global non-profit but I really wanted to bring something home and be more supportive of people that are in need here in Chicago. Specifically we support women’s issues, advocating for women’s right, gender equity, that’s really important to me and my passion. …Currently we are supporting The Period Project. Right now 10% of dress proceeds goes to the Chicago Period Project. We also have the box in the space that brides can donate items directly. Ideally as Grace and Ivory grows I want to donate to other various women’s causes in the area.”

Learn more about The Period Project.

Carina Daniels

Tell about ShoCo Chicago and how it got started:
“In December of 2020 I was doing my holiday shopping and I wanted to support businesses that give back but was having a hard time finding them. I figured that I’m sure I’m not alone here: if I’m looking for these businesses and want to support them I’m sure other people do too. I leaned into my background PR and came up with the idea for ShoCo which stands for Shop Community. It really had two components - The first is creating an online directory of Chicago businesses that give back (regularly donating to charity in a trackable way for shoppers to see or they have mission focused hiring practices). The second is the ‘Shop Community’ PR campaign around that so encouraging people to shop community. We are wanting to make ‘shop community’ a household term, just like ‘shop local’ except that shop community is really a two for one - supporting small businesses and also helping to address the causes you care about.”

What advice do you give to business owners about giving back?
“I think that right now this is a really important time for everybody to come together to help address some of the city’s biggest problems. I think where we are in the world is not sustainable so I think that businesses and everyday people need to make sure that we are giving back, on a regular basis.”

What has been the biggest reward of starting this project?
“It has been really encouraging to see how quickly this has grown. We just launched in December and we already have 50 businesses so I’m encouraged that we’re going to be able to create a robust movement where this just becomes the go-to way that Chicagoans shop. By specifically looking for businesses that are doing good - that two for one effect of supporting small business but also knowing that you are helping to address some big economic or social problem.
“What is also really rewarding is events like this - this is our second event that we have held, the first was our launch, but all of the businesses hit it off and they are already starting to support one another. Likeminded businesses are able to refer more business to each other and then we can all have a larger impact.”