October is Women’s Small Business Month, and here in Louisville, Amanda Dare has built a platform that celebrates women-led shops year-round. She's the founder of the Woman-Owned Wallet Feminist Gift Shop in NuLu and creator of the Woman-Owned Walking Tour — a map that highlights local businesses owned by women.
I spoke with Amanda about Louisville’s women-owned business community, her feminist gift shop and other business ventures, and the growth and challenges facing female entrepreneurs today.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Ayisha Jaffer: Where did your passion for uplifting women-owned business first come from, and was there a moment or experience that sparked this for you?
Amanda Dare: My little heart was always yearning for sisterhood. As I started to enter into adulthood — I actually started my first business when I was 20 years old, in my dorm room at UofL. I started making headbands and selling them to different boutiques in town. But, I was like, “Man, I feel like I have to always show up in this very masculine way,” and I was always competing with other women.
And that was hurting my inner child. So for me, I was like, “There's got to be a different way.” And if I can lean into my feminine and then show other women and women entrepreneurs that we can do this together, then that will actually create more sisterly bonds being made, more connection, as well as more economic growth.
AJ: What exactly is Woman-Owned Wallet?
AD: It really started as that map [highlighting women-owned businesses]. I owned a business that I was moving into the NuLu neighborhood, and I realized I've been an entrepreneur so long that I knew all the women-owned businesses down there. And so I was like, “Hey, girlies — what’s going on? I’m moving into the neighborhood. What's up?”
And I realized, with so many [women-owned businesses] within walking distance of each other, that they weren't being highlighted or celebrated in any way. If I wanted to have a sisterhood, I had to be the sister first. I had to show up. I didn't ask anybody for any money to be on that map. I just wanted to make sure that we were all going to be doing well together.
And then I was walking over to Please & Thank You, because coffee is life. And I looked across the street and I saw a storefront. I was like, “Oh my gosh, there’s a storefront on Market Street available — this never happens,” and so I rented 400 square feet on Market Street.
That shop has always held only woman-owned products. So we are putting money in the wallets of women. When you shop with us, that's what you do. So there's a “ka-ching” sound at the register where you get to celebrate that. And then we have a counter on the wall where you actually get to watch your money go into the wallets of women — into the big pot.
Since I knew that women put 90% of our incomes back into our local community, I knew how to explain it in a way that wasn't divisive but was really unifying. The map and the shop are really where it all started.
AJ: Nationally, women-owned businesses are on the rise, but according to a recent Federal Reserve survey, many still face real barriers, especially when it comes to access to capital. The survey found that women-owned businesses are disproportionately more likely than those owned by men to be denied financing. What do you think could help close that gap?
AD: Funding your business — but funding a dream, especially — you can get very close to it. And it becomes more personal than it really needs to be with funding. I think that there's a bigger and more disproportionate issue for women in that we're really just being left out of the conversation.
And I think when we kind of skew toward the negative messages that women aren't capable, women aren't good leaders, women are too emotional — that is really dangerous and detrimental.
So building that confidence, being a part of that conversation, and then not perpetuating negative conversation around women and money. That's just as important as encouraging good conversation.
AJ: For someone listening who wants to support women-owned businesses but isn't sure where to start, what's one small, meaningful way they can get involved this month?
AD: Simply share. Talk to everyone about your friend's business, about a business that you had a great experience at. Go to the W.O.W. directory on our website, and then come take the tour if you can. But anything you can do to highlight a woman-owned business, she will appreciate.
