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Through Her Startup Jennifer Gomez Is Helping Entrepreneurs Fill The Gap Of Missing Pop-Up Markets This Season

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Jennifer Gomez credits her career to being guided by two true norths – community and storytelling. During her time with the MLB or at Time Inc. those passion points helped bring to life the larger mission of already large companies, now as an entrepreneur she’s working to bring the same energy and dedication to the small businesses her startup serves. 

“oneKIN is a mission-driven tech company centered on driving socio-economic change in underserved communities by building an ecosystem for small businesses of color to thrive,” explains Gomez. 

Through oneKIN Gomez and her team lead a marketplace that showcases entrepreneurs and their work, as well as the thought out marketing campaigns that help elevate those same stories. 

“There has never been a time in my life when community didn’t fuel my personal, professional, and entrepreneurial aspirations,” shares Gomez. “In 2018, with a toddler and preschooler in tow, I jumped into entrepreneurship with the goal of building a company that infused all the things I loved: storytelling, community, and culture.” 

As 2020 has progressed, Gomez along with her founding team, have doubled down on their mission to help bridge the gap for BIPOC entrepreneurs particularly as they navigate COVID-19. 

“As it stands, the majority of our retailers are full-time entrepreneurs; and for most, 40 to 90 percent of their annual revenue originates from participation in pop-up markets, trade shows, and events, which have currently been cancelled or postponed for the foreseeable future,” notes Gomez. “To help mitigate this loss, we are building a solution that will help small businesses recover lost revenue, improve their margins while pricing their products more efficiently, and build a capital reserve that can be used to further scale their businesses, invest in R&D, and hire locally.” 

Through a live-stream e-commerce experience, oneKIN will offer a virtual pop-up market that will allow BIPOC entrepreneurs to continue to elevate their brands no matter where they are. 

Below Gomez shares more insight into how she’s built oneKIN and what advice she has for other entrepreneurs. 

Vivian Nunez: How is oneKIN hoping to fill the storytelling gaps for brands moving forward? 

Jennifer Gomez: Black and Latinx entrepreneurs and businesses often go unnoticed in the media for their role in innovating their respective industries. We are actively working to change that. Through our continuous marketing and PR efforts, strategic partnerships, and evolving tech capabilities, oneKIN works to amplify the voices of our retailers by connecting their target customers to their powerful backstory - history, conscious craftsmanship, intentional design, etc. 

For years, we’ve observed how the confluence of increasing consumer consciousness, and rising debt, has motivated consumers, especially Millennials, to seek greater meaning in their purchases. To that end, we want to further reengineer consumer purchasing behavior and thinking. Instead of pushing an end product, we want to refocus their attention on powerful and relatable human experiences.

Nunez: How do you work with the retailers and creators who are featured in the marketplace? 

Gomez: Our retailer recruitment process for the marketplace is comprehensive and multifaceted. It entails a combination of brand sourcing based on current market trends/needs and consumer behavior data from our platform; brand referrals from credible sources or a direct cofounder experience; brand outreach and application through our website.

All brands are then vetted by our selected curation council, which makes recommendations based on multiple factors; including, quality of ingredients, product efficacy, supply chain practices, founder technical acumen, brand values, etc.  

From the initial curation to the onboarding process and routinely thereafter, we spend significant time building real relationships with our retailer partners. This entails unpacking the consciousness behind their brand and products at a molecular level, understanding the unique challenges they face; and leveraging our team’s collective expertise and networks to arm them with resources and tangible solutions. 

Nunez: What makes for an effective campaign to rally support around a small business? 

Gomez: Oftentimes, brands make the mistake of overengineering their marketing campaign. When it comes to the messaging, it’s important to speak to the central thread that connects us all – shared experiences and our humanity. 

Unlike larger corporations, small businesses have aspirational proximity to the dreams of folks in their own community. Every small business has a story, and every consumer has a story tied to that business. Therefore, speaking authentically, passionately and transparently to consumers about your plights, the motivation behind your brand or product, the value it provides or the problem it solves will always resonate. The best way to create organic ambassadors for your small business is to always focus on creating community, and then giving them the opportunity to actively participate during times of needed support.

Nunez: What should other small businesses do to encourage their community to continue to support them? 

Gomez: If you haven’t spent time nurturing your community or offering the best customer service possible, now is the perfect time to start! 

If you have, then lean in on the community you’ve built. Communicate directly and candidly with past customers via newsletters; collaborate with and reach out to stakeholders in your local community. Share your journey and explicitly spell out what support looks like for you. Unemployment rates are exponentially increasing, and therefore support may not translate into sales immediately, so get creative on how your community can support you. Perhaps it looks like writing a review, or posting about your brand on social, etc. 

Pro tip: provide a win-win incentive by temporarily pivoting to serve a current need. Many of our retailers have paused their existing operations to create hand cleansers and face masks as a way to serve their community and diversify their revenue streams. Not sure where to start? Ask your consumer!

Nunez: What advice do you have for Latina business owners during this time? 

Gomez: In the time of a crisis, there is often opportunity to reimagine, innovate and rebuild what no longer serves us. This pandemic has exposed so many inefficiencies, inequities and broken systems across all industries. 

Now is not the time to play small, be bashful, or operate from limited mindsets. This is the time to lead with your vision and story, not fear. My daughters were the driving force behind my decision to leave corporate America and pursue an entrepreneurial path. I want to raise them in an environment that incubates the belief that nothing is impossible; that it's never too late to realize a dream; that they should take up space and recreate spaces that don’t include them. And that can only truly be fostered by mirroring my actions, just as I did with my mother.

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