Reaping What She Sews: A Businesswoman of Color Tells Her Story

Some women celebrate their 30th birthdays worrying about their life plans or society's arbitrary expectations. Erica Varize celebrated the milestone with another milestone: She opened a business.

EVarize Fashion Café in Berkeley, Calif., is the Bay Area's first "cut and sew boutique." Customers come to the shop for a fashion experience that is unique to them -- they select the fabric, cut and style of their garment, and Varize sews it, tailoring it to the client's measurements.

"People love seeing the fabric and what it can become," said Varize, who launched her business four years ago on her birthday. "And they love that they can meet and talk with who's making it."

Proof is in the bottom line. Varize said her business became profitable last year. In the middle of a wrenching recession, the business was bringing in more money than ever.

Varize, who proudly identifies herself as Hawaiian, Japanese and black, knows she is beating huge odds on more than one level.




According to a new economic report, women of color "face an enormous wealth gap when compared to the rest of society, undermining their future economic security and the nation's long-term prosperity." "Lifting as We Climb: Women of Color, Wealth, and America's Future," compiled by the Insight Center for Community Economic Development, investigates the "daunting economic reality faced by women of color who experience the compounding negative economic effects of being both a woman and a person of color."

Single black and Hispanic women are "particularly hard hit, owning only a penny of wealth for every dollar owned by their male counterparts and a fraction of a penny for every dollar owned by single white women."

The report warns, "As the racial demographics of the United States continue to shift and our nation becomes majority minority, letting a large group stagnate financially is not only irresponsible, but detrimental to the nation's economic prosperity over the long run."

"Lifting as We Climb" concludes that one of the best paths out of poverty is "self-employment and small-business development" via micro-enterprise training.

And that's where such organizations as the Women's Initiative are making steady inroads. For 22 years, the Bay Area non-profit has been helping low-income women start or strengthen their own small businesses.

It's where Varize turned when she needed a business plan for her fashion cafe. After completing an entrepreneurial readiness interview (Women's Initiative must first confirm that prospective clients are ready for the demands of owning and running a small business), Varize enrolled in the organization's business plan course and learned everything from marketing and pricing strategies to management and record keeping. She graduated from Women's Initiative in October 2005 and wasted little time: On Nov. 19, EVarize Fashion Café was open for business.

Karuna Jaggar, executive director of Women's Initiative East Bay region, said Varize's work ethic and character have a lot to do with her success. She cites Varize as an example when speaking to groups about the need for more women -- especially minorities -- to strive for positions of power and authority, especially in business. "If you think of business, you think of white men in suits," Jaggar said. "If you don't have role models, you don't see yourself getting to that level. . . . When women can say, 'I see people like me' in those positions, they're going to think that could be them."

Barbara Mark, president of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, said it was no mystery why more women were starting their own businesses: "Corporate America is sometimes not as inclusive to women, especially ethnic and racial minorities."

Varize started her business not because she felt excluded from corporate America but because she was frightened by an experience within it. In 2002, there was a robbery at the bank where Varize worked. "That pushed me to commit to the business full time," taking what had been a passion and knack for sewing and deciding to try to make a living at it.

Though she's now a custom designer who charges up to $400 for a glamorous floor-length dress made from Ugandan fabric, she started from humble beginnings as an amateur sewer who apprenticed under her grandmother from the age of 9. Her instincts were right: By 2005, Varize was so busy that her business outgrew her house. She jokes that her husband, Darryel, and two children (now 8 and 10 years old), who were eyeing the spare bedroom her business was occupying, were the ones who convinced her to look for her own space.

How did she survive the economic downturn? Varize took a risk. In 2007, she launched "Sew What" sewing camp in hopes that children and teenagers (up to 12th grade) would want to learn how to sew and design. More than anything, she wanted to pass on the "lost art of sewing," as she says, to others the way her grandmother had taught her, and how she had taught her own daughter. Varize knows that with great success comes great responsibility. "I need to be an example," she said. "Women minorities need to stay visible."

Varize said she had made it this far with the support of her family, "a lot of hard work, sleepless nights, and a lot of crying." She credited Woman's Initiative with helping her establish the blueprint for the fashion cafe. "I still turn to my business plan regularly," she said.

"People come into my store all the time and ask me, 'How do you do it?' People can't believe I'm making money in this economy." But "I am where I am because I work hard," Varize said. "I always keep telling myself, 'No matter what it takes, I'm always going to have this.' "