Blog Viewer

Tylisya Gober, owner of Barbie Behavior Boutique in Oak Park, Mich., used part of her grant funding to host a community event and give out coats to women in her community. Photos submitted by Tylisya Gober. 

Tylisya Gober, owner of Barbie Behavior Boutique in Oak Park, Mich., was a 2023 Backing Small Businesses grantee. Barbie Behavior is a women’s clothing boutique specializing in celebrity-inspired attire. They received an initial $5,000 grant and a $25,000 Enhancement Grant, given to grantees for an opportunity to create transformative change within their business and community. In this Q&A, you’ll learn how Tylisya and her team used grant funding to increase marketing efforts, host events, and offer charitable contributions to women in need in her community. 

About the Grant Program 

In partnership with American Express, the Backing Small Businesses grant program supports economically vulnerable and under-resourced small businesses with community reach. This year, eligible small business owners can apply for $10,000 grants for projects that grow or improve their businesses by building community, supporting their economic viability, or bolstering meaningful change.  The application is now open through Sunday, April 7 at 11:59 p.m. CT, or when maximum submissions of 5,000 applications is reached, so early submitting is encouraged. Learn more and apply here. 

Tell us about how you used your initial grant funding. 

I invested in advertising and marketing through paid social media ads on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, SEO, content creation, radio advertising, EDDM postcards, website automations, AI automation, and more. The marketing campaign allowed my business to gain more exposure and become more viable on the front page of search engine platforms. The advertising also helped my business get the attention of the Oakland Times, which is a local newspaper within the Oakland County community. Thanks to this investment, our customer conversion rate has increased by 28% percent over the course of two months, and our social media followers continue to grow by the day. We gained an additional 1,388 new social media followers, which added around 30-50 new customers through our website.  

We also hosted a customer appreciation event at our store, which consisted of clothing and gift card giveaways, free food, a live DJ, raffles, a fashion show, discounts and sales, and more. The event brought in dozens of women attendees from Oak Park and the surrounding Metro Detroit area. A great benefit from the event was that it brought the community together and generated more revenue for my business and other businesses located on Main Street.  

How has your project impacted your downtown and community? 

Receiving the grant funding impacted my business in a positive way, by increasing social media followers, increasing website traffic, increasing sales revenue, and improving our inventory supply to accommodate our larger customer base. It has helped us to drive more walk-up traffic to our brick-and-mortar location. 

Our customer appreciation event positively impacted the community and surrounding Main Street businesses. Event attendees also shopped at the gas station next door, a nearby pizza place, and became aware of other local businesses along the way. Most importantly, the event allowed us to bring the community together and to give back, as our way of saying thanks. We offered free food from a local catering company, free clothing to the first 10 attendees, and gift card giveaways. The event has generated more walk-up traffic for our brick-and-mortar store, around a 35% increase in day-to-day customer traffic which turns out to be between 7-10 new customers weekly. 

You were one of 25 Enhancement Grant recipients, awarded $25,000 grants to help further transform your business. Tell us about how you used this funding. 

With the additional funding, I organized a community event to spread awareness about my business as well as give away hundreds of new winter coats to single mothers and disadvantaged women within the community. As a teen mother at the age of thirteen, I had to learn to sacrifice at an early age. It caused me to have love for someone else, before I could care for myself. Unfortunately, this influenced me to make an immature decision, to drop out of high school in the 12th grade, to work a full-time job. Although, I worked 40 hours a week, it was barely enough to provide for my daughter, and the cost of childcare, food, transportation, etc. Therefore, I had to sacrifice and go many winter months without a winter coat. As a result, I often contracted the flu, respiratory infections, pneumonia, and other illnesses, which were transmitted to my daughter, which I didn’t consider. Therefore, as an adult, I’ve learned the importance of having a warm winter coat. I also understand the struggles of single mothers, low-income women, and minority women – specifically, that they often prioritize others before themselves. The city of Oak Park has 29,733 residents. Of these residents, 16,482 are women from a household with $32,000 to $58,000 income. This means that 63% of women within the community are disadvantaged, so the support is very much needed.  

The event, called “Love & Heat on Main-street,” took place at our store one week before Black Friday. The purpose of the event was to provide love and support to disadvantaged women, with a goal of keeping women warm, healthy, and strong. We provided free winter coats to 200 women, free food to all, games with free clothing prizes, music provided by DJ from the local radio station, live broadcast by radio personality, gift card raffle, discounts for clothing, and more. We also hosted the City of Oak Park Mayor, the Executive Director of the Economic Development Center, and more.  

What impact have you seen since implementing this project? 

I am deeply thankful to American Express and Main Street America for the incredible opportunity they have bestowed upon us. Receiving the Backing Small Business Grant has not only been a lifeline for our business but has also had a profoundly positive impact on our entire community. 

Thanks to your generous support, we were able to replenish our inventory right on time for the holiday rush, enhance our brick-and-mortar establishment, and most significantly, host our Love and Heat on Mainstreet event. This event, held on December 15, 2023, was a huge success. It was a heartfelt initiative aimed at honoring the incredible mothers who are the very pillars of our community. 

Through the grant funding, we were able to distribute hundreds of new coats, provide free food, and offer gift bags filled with essential hygiene items, comforting candles, and warm hat and glove sets. The outpouring of gratitude and warmth from these women made every effort worthwhile and deeply rewarding. 

We cannot thank you enough for your selfless generosity and unwavering support. Your contribution has helped our business immensely and has made a tangible difference in the lives of so many, and for that, we are eternally grateful. 

Interested in applying for a Backing Small Businesses grant this year? Applications are open now. Learn more and apply here.