Blog Posts tagged as: PowerUp!

PowerUP! to the People 

Djaz

In 2003, the PowerUP! Business Plan Competition launched to support and grow Brooklyn's entrepreneurial spirit and small businesses. Since then, PowerUP! has nurtured 9,000+individuals with 1,200+business plans and awarded more than $500,000 to Brooklyn entrepreneurs. Some of our most notable success stories are the Bogota Latin Bistro, Greenlight Bookstore and Island Pops. Although the pandemic brought many challenges to Brooklyn neighborhoods, and to our city as a whole, PowerUP! continues to be an exciting presence and program supporting local business startups. …

Interview with the Entrepreneur, In Depth: Jamila McGill of Brooklyn Tea - Part 2

Ellen, Business & Career Center

Image: brooklyntea.com
In Part 2 of this two-part interview, I continue the conversation with Jamila McGill, who co-founded, along with Alfonso “Ali” Wright, Bed-Stuy’s Brooklyn Tea, which won $10,000 in Brooklyn Public Library’s PowerUP! Business Plan Competition in 2018. Ellen Mehling: What was the most difficult thing that happened this past year, with the business?  Jamila McGill: The most difficult thing… that's so hard to nail.  I'll name this. We pride ourselves on excellent customer service, and having not [yet] had …

Interview with the Entrepreneur, In Depth: Jamila McGill of Brooklyn Tea - Part 1

Ellen, Business & Career Center

Image: Brooklyn Tea
Jamila McGill and Alfonso “Ali” Wright opened Brooklyn Tea in Bed-Stuy in 2019, not long after winning $10,000 in Brooklyn Public Library’s PowerUP! Business Plan Competition.  In Part 1 of this two-part interview, I talk with Jamila - while we were both drinking tea, of course - about how their business has fared during the pandemic, and… about Shonda Rhimes and Beyoncé too(!) Ellen Mehling: It is now more than one year since everything shut down for all of us. How have you been this past year?…