NYC's Mercantile Mayhem: The Urban Naturalist, Venturize, Selena Soo, New Reports on City's Tech Sector and Elderly, AAPI Pop-Up at The Center and Greek Olive Oil
A newsletter about the survival of independent businesses in New York City with a focus on immigrant-owned, storefront retail and CPG enterprises.
THE NEW YORK CITY NATURALIST
Imagine loving nature—birds, lichen, flora, fungi, little furry mammals—while living in New York City and creating a business that enables you to share your knowledge. Gabriel Willow is one of the city’s most sought after naturalists who makes a living by tours, walks and lectures about the city’s robust nature, plus he’s an artist and occasional DJ. In fact, I saw him DJ as DJ Stylus with artist Nina Katchadourian and Jule Covello (DJ Shakey) at the “On-Hold Music Dance Party” at Fridman Gallery in 2019. They mixed dance music with samples from Katchadourian’s extensive collection of on hold (as in, being put on hold) recordings.
I recently ran into Willow at the Wild Bird Fund gala, where Tenafly Nature Center workers were handling Flint and Kokokhas, a screech and barred owl, respectively, for gala-goers to observe. Willow conducts nature walks in the city, on boats traveling the waterways around the city and even abroad in counties like Ecuador.
If you want to learn more about the city’s ecosystems I highly recommend going on one of Willow’s tours, which he does through NYC Bird Alliance (formerly Audubon), Wave Hill or on his own. During spring migration he leads several free morning strolls through Prospect Park, ticketed evening walks through Central Park and starting in June, cruises to see water birds on islands like U Thant Island, Roosevelt Island, Mill Rock and North & South Brother Islands in the East River. Find the schedule here.
Trigger Warning: nature can be cruel. I was on a Willow tour in Croton-on-Hudson and at the end of our walk, Willow was almost apologetic to the group because we didn’t see that many birds. (Since I am not a hardcore bird person and basically just pigeon-adjacent, I was perfectly happy with what we saw—plus, you can’t plan nature.)
But then he spotted a hawk high up in a pine tree trying to teach its teenaged hawk how to hunt. The teenage hawk was squaking, throwing a fit, maybe it was hungry but not willing to hunt. So the parent hawk flew gracefully above our heads landing in a meadow, disappeared for a few seconds amid the tall growth and emerged with a little bunny rabbit dangling from its talons. It flew back over our heads returning to the tree where the teenager was waiting. I will spare you what happened next, but let’s just say it involved visible entrails.
Willow has a good sense of humor (at least he makes me laugh) so it’s likely that even if you are not a nature person, or a cranky morning person, you will have a few laughs while learning about NYC’s abundant nature hidden in the urban nooks and crannies.
VENTURIZE, A NEW PLATFORM BY SMALL BUSINESS MAJORITY
Are you an independent business owner overwhelmed by the different types of lenders and grants? If so, let your fingers click on over the keyboard to Venturize, a new comprehensive platform created by Small Business Majority. (Yes, one of Mercantile Mayhem’s wonderful sponsors.)
Venturize explains various funding options for small businesses, as well as business/financial services offered by CDFI’s (Community Development Financial Institutions) like Accompany Capital, this newsletter’s other amazing sponsor. If you are a CDFI but not listed on Venturize and would like to be, contact Venturize here.
Venturize has designated verticals to help businesses find loans and grants, as well as other resources by zip code. Venturize, which is part of a nonprofit, also has listings for live or online events; sign up for the Venturize newsletter here.
THE RICH RELATIONSHIPS OF SELENA SOO
I attended Selena Soo’s Rich Relationships book party, a book about creating a robust network of like-minded people who jazzify each other, in business and in life. There were many business coaches present with very particular specialties who I believe are part of each others’ rich relationships. The camaraderie was palpable and listening to Soo thank all her pals and mentors made me grateful to have my own wonderful friends and colleagues too.
Building a network is different than just networking. Journalist Elaine Pofeldt recently wrote about Soo in Forbes, which highlights some of Soo’s advice on creating rich relationships, from being intentional versus transactional when building a network, to the ability to articulate your goals and dreams. Soo, who says she is an introvert, also has pointers on how to ask for advice, an opinion, even a favor without being a “bulldozer” or being so vague or cryptic that no one even knows that you are asking in the first place.
CENTER FOR AN URBAN FUTURE’S NYC REPORTS: THE TECH SECTOR AND THE ELDERLY
The Center for an Urban Future (CUF) is a New York City nonprofit that conducts extensive research, compiles data and writes reports about economic issues impacting the city and its residents. CUF suggests policies that could improve the city’s economic health and holds periodic panel discussions with NYC heavies (multiple council members and other government officials, nonprofit executive directors, D.A. Alvin Bragg, etc) who discuss how to better serve city residents. You can follow their work by signing up for the newsletter.
I was struck by two recent reports, one is about NYC’s robust tech sector, the other is about the financial crises many of the city’s older residents face, both by by Jonathan Bowles, Eli Dvorkin and Rachel Neches. Reading these two reports back to back explains a tremendous amount why we see the insane levels of income inequality in New York City. While people are not as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed about the tech sector as maybe seven years ago, there are still scores of founders who are not Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, David Sacks or Peter Thiel. A few tidbits from the two reports…
Sustaining NYC’s Tech Edge
The tech sector has accounted for 41% of the net new jobs added in NYC since the start of the pandemic.
NYC is home to 8,750 funded tech start-ups; the SF Bay area has 14,574.
Between 2014 and 2024 the tech sector added an average of 8,000 jobs a year; employment in the sector surged by 64%, four times the rate of the city’s private sector job growth.
There are 203,819 jobs in NYC’s tech sector.
The Emerging Financial Security Crisis Facing NYC’s Older Adults
There are 1,366,151 older adults (65 and over) living in New York City, a 33.5% increase over the last decade.
Over the past decade, the number of older adults in New York City living below the poverty line increased by 40.9%.
Immigrants (those born outside the US) make up 51.1% of the city’s 65-and-over population (698,056) up from 46.5% a decade ago.
18.4% of city residents aged 65 and over live in poverty.
Citywide, the number of older adults who are employed increased by 66.1% over the past decade.
Read the full tech sector report here; read the full older adult financial report here.
AAPI FOOD POP-UP AT THE LGBTQ CENTER, A RECAP
The hilarious and formidable Miss Ma’am She MC’d the AAPI food pop-up at The Center last weekend, which featured emerging businesses as well as those that have been around the block, so to speak. I was particularly delighted to spot Yun Hai’s table and purchased a new stash of Taiwanese dried green mangos pronto, which are always incredible.
I did not photograph every vendor, but those pictured above include: Bibingka Mama, Cheat Day With André, Eat Boomi Pop/Jessie YuChen, Pocha89, Gary/ceramics, Sen Saigon/vegan Vietnamese, Pinklady Cheese Tart, Kopitiam, BlushBoi/earrings, PS & Yao Bakery/French Asian flavors and Bánh by Lauren.
The community partner was Heart of Dinner, a nonprofit that brings food to homebound elderly NYC residents, co-founded by Yin Chang and Moonlynn Tsai. Heart of Dinner was launched at the beginning of the pandemic when there was a break down of food systems coupled with acute AAPI racism. There are still scores of isolated homebound elderly people receiving Heart of Dinner’s meals and groceries in NYC, the Brooklyn Food Lady aka Angela made a concise, moving reel about her experience volunteering.
RELATED, ELIZABETH STREET GARDEN VS AFFORDABLE SENIOR HOUSING
I got mocked online recently, primarily by sock puppet accounts, when I voiced my support for the mayoral candidate who wants to keep the Elizabeth Street Garden as it is, rather than developing it for 123 units of senior housing (which sounds evil of me after those statistics in the previous story). I have written my reasoning before, I’m not going into it, but I want to link to the Elizabeth Street Garden fact sheet to counter some of the pro-development voices. A tell tale sign of pro-development people, including journalists, is when they call the Elizabeth Street Garden neighborhood SoHo—maybe they have never stepped foot into the neighborhood? Or are just lazy? Or they want to paint the neighborhood as being extraordinarily wealthy? Whatever the reason, the garden is not in SoHo.
There are alternative sites in the district for 123 units of senior housing, in fact Mayor Adams’s aide Randy Matsro might be considering 22 Suffolk Street, which is an empty lot that’s been reserved for a potential school. This story by Chris Sommerfeldt, originally in the Daily News, states: “The School Construction Authority, the Department of Education’s development arm, has argued against the need for a new school, pointing to declining local enrollment rates.”
It strikes me as odd that the garden, which has educational programing for kids, arts programing for families, provides rain absorption and shade to cool the neighborhood, could be razed when there are other possible sites. Not to mention, why is the city building a high rise jail in Chinatown and not high rise senior housing? All I can say about dogged pro-development people is even when they use “social justice” language, follow the money.
On a side note, I think we can all agree the Elizabeth Street Garden’s neighborhood needs a new name. It used to be Little Italy, but it really isn’t predominantly Italian anymore; Nolita is an atrocious name, maybe WeBo, West of Bowery? Or perhaps better, NoBro, North of Broome.
GREEK OLIVE OIL
Spotted at the Greek Jewish Festival centered around Kehila Kedosha Janina, a synagogue built for the Jewish Greek immigrant community in the Lower East Side in 1927: Mentis Estate extra virgin olive oil. I sampled an olive oil soaked piece of bread and it was fabulous. I am partial to olive oil that burns your throat a bit, peppery with a touch of grassy. This Mentis Estate didn’t scorch my throat, but it had a lovely flavor nonetheless, the sample was sprinkled with their own sea salt.
I didn’t get the entire Mentis Estate olive oil story, only that it’s family owned, the olive trees grow in Neapolis, Laconia, producing Athenolia olives. Mentis Estate olive oil can be purchased wholesale on the website and by the individual bottle at Stand Alone Cheese in Jackson Heights, Queens.
Thank you to Mercantile Mayhem’s sponsor Accompany Capital. Based in New York City, Accompany Capital, a CDFI, helps immigrants and refugees with loans and financial services. Please read about it here.
Thank you to Small Business Majority, Mercantile Mayhem’s sponsor. SBM supports and empowers small businesses across the US with a focus on public policy. Please read about SBM here.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPONSOR MERCANTILE MAYHEM?
Yes, I am still looking for one additional sponsor, three in total, the individuals, businesses, organizations or foundations that believe independent businesses in New York City need to survive. Do you want a city full of just Chipotles, Starbucks and bank ATMs? Do you value the character that independent businesses bring to New York City?
If you would like to know sponsorship rates and newsletter stats (open rates and such) please email me: ninarobertsnyc@gmail.com and I’ll send you the details. Please forward this newsletter to others.
OPPORTUNITIES
Brooklyn’s PowerUp Business Plan Competition is back. The Brooklyn Public Library holds an annual business plan competition for those living in Brooklyn or planning to launch a business in the fine borough. Look here for information about how to win $20,000, the next orientation session is May 28.
Immigrant fashion designers, fabric and material innovators, tech/sustainability/environmental designers, makeup artists, hair stylists, fashion/design-centric writers, researchers, stylists, curators, could be eligible to win a $50,000 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise. Six winners in total. Click here for details, application due June 9, 2025.
WomensNet offers a number of grants to women-owned businesses on a rolling basis, peruse grant information here.
The new grant cycle is open. Small businesses in New York City could win a micro grant up to $5,000 through CitizensNYC. Deadline is July 25, 2025.
NYC Boss Up Veterans, planning ahead… pitch competition applications for entrepreneurs who are veterans of the US military will be open July 1, 2025. Children, siblings, spouses or parents of a Gold Star Family, or military spouses, are also eligible. Winners will receive a grant of $20,000. Applications close September 15, 2025, click here for more information.
Great, colorful writing & information of numerous small businesses. Hope you get that third sponsor soon!
Love your newsletter!