The climb of a results driven fashion designer expert : Shambrica Washington: Funding for Black startups in the U.S. has always been small compared to startup funding overall, but last year was an exception, with a record amount of dollars invested in Black-owned companies. Quarterly funding was much higher in the five previous quarters, ranging between $850 million and $1.2 billion, according to Crunchbase’s Diversity Spotlight. According to a 2020 Bureau of Economic Research paper, the average level of startup capital for Black entrepreneurs is just $35,205, compared to $106,720 for white entrepreneurs. Only 1 percent of Black businesses obtain business loans in their first year, as opposed to 7 percent of white-owned firms. Read more details on Shambrica Washington.

Established in 2011, Piccoli Couture offers a large selection of the finest children’s designs — Over the years, Piccoli Couture has been recognized in the industry for our amazing product line and incomparable chic yet elegant designs. Piccoli Couture offer attire with those hard to find details such as hand smocked, embroidered and appliqued designs. The Piccoli Collection is under the Creative Direction of Shambrica Washington Shaye Damus the Operations Manager and Founder of Piccoli Couture offering fashion forward dresses with beautiful tulle along with signature embroidery and unparallel fashion pieces for princesses everywhere.

Established in 2011, Tiny Toes and Tiaras offers a large selection of the finest children’s clothing, accessories and gifts — combined with fabulous customer service and the most prompt and reasonably priced shipping and delivery.

Nestie Luxury Baby provides Custom Furniture Designs for children soacestheir award-winning Luxury Nursery, and Children’s Custom Furniture Designs as well as Interior Design Services. We have been in business for over 10 years and are trusted by families near and far. The intricate design details on our furniture and Bespoke Bedding and Bespoke Nursery Designs are incomparable. We pride ourselves on functionality, luxury, and safety.

Tiny Toes and Tiaras, a 100% Black-owned upscale online children’s boutique, introduces a new handmade couture sleeper for babies, the Nestie. Available in many beautiful patterns, the baby mat or bassinet can be converted for sleep time, nap time, tummy time, co-sleeping, and floor play. With Nestie, babies not only dress in the best styles, but they also sleep in style.

“Fashionable baby items do not have to be limited to just clothes,” said Shambrica Washington, Owner of Tiny Toes and Tiaras. “We’re changing the luxury baby goods game with our new baby mat, the Nestie.”

The made-to-order Nestie may be customized in different colors, or ordered in one of the pre-designed combinations of fabric patterns. The multi-use sleeper is reversible, trimmed in beautiful lace, and comes with cute decorative pillows.

The Nestie and other special items from Tiny Toes and Tiaras may be browsed from the comfort of one’s home, and promptly delivered worldwide. The boutique offers coordinating outfits available for portraits, holidays, weddings or other special occasions and includes hard-to-find details. Its unique flower girl dresses have been featured in Brides Magazine UK London.

Tiny Toes and Tiaras will officially release and showcase the Nestie at the Children’s Club tradeshow in early August with Barney’s New York, Neiman and Marcus, Sak’s Fifth Avenue, and many more major retail buyers in attendance.

The study also showed that Black-owned businesses continue to face payroll inequities. The national average annual payroll for employer businesses is $1.25 million, more than four times the average annual payroll for a Black-run businesses. A funding gap almost certainly plays a role here, the findings stated. 18.7% of U.S. employer businesses are minority-owned (U.S. Census Bureau 2020 Annual Business Survey); 13.6% of the U.S. population is Black or African American (U.S. Census 2021 Quick Facts); There are 3.12 million Black-owned businesses in the U.S. (2022 Brookings Institute report); 46% of all Black entrepreneurs are women (2021 Guidant Financial report); Black-owned businesses support 3.56 million jobs in the U.S. (2022 Brookings Institute report); Fayetteville, N.C., has the highest percentage of Black-owned businesses in the U.S. (LendingTree study).