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Behind the curtain: What it’s like to be a professional performer

Mar 15, 2024
For performer Jonathan Betchtel, it all started with the film "Moulin Rouge."
With long hours, tough schedules and challenging physical demands, the life of a performer can be a constant hustle.
Courtesy Nate Watters

How a virtual fitness company is staying strong in a changing market

With people returning to physical gyms, Jeff Witherspoon, CEO of E2M Fitness, says doctors' advice to patients is boosting his service.
E2M Fitness founder and CEO Jeff Witherspoon. "I think all fitness companies are seeing that Peloton effect," he said.
Courtesy Witherspoon

For this Black Wall Street business, it's time to "pass the torch on to another entrepreneur"

Mar 11, 2024
Venita Cooper made the decision to sell her sneaker store, Silhouette Sneakers & Art. "There's a certain type of person that it was important to me that they would take over Silhouette," said Cooper. "And to me, it's someone from Tulsa, from North Tulsa, who has roots here."
After five years, Venita Cooper (right) has announced she's selling her Black Wall Street sneaker store to Kellen James (left), a third-generation Tulsan.
Courtesy Venita Cooper

Sourdough bread is at the heart of this family-owned bakery in New Mexico

Mar 8, 2024
New Mexico-based business owners André and Jessica Kempton want to keep making good food for the people in their community.
"We know that we're doing something that our neighbors want us to keep doing," Jessica  Kempton says about Wild Leaven Bakery.
Courtesy André and Jessica Kempton

Burundian photographer based in New Hampshire hopes to open up a studio one day

Mar 4, 2024
Photographer Augustine Nyonzima is an immigrant small business owner who has big dreams for his business.
Nyonzima started his photography business in 2014, just seven years after he moved to the U.S.
Courtesy Augustine Nyonzima

The life and death of one local newspaper in Virginia

Keith Stickley had to pull the plug on the local newspaper he founded when he just couldn't make the economics work any longer.
"I had to create this printing company," said Keith Stickley, owner of Shenandoah Publications. "So we created the printing company to subsidize the newspaper. And so, we used printing margins to support a bad habit."
Alex Schroeder/Marketplace

This Indigenous artist made her beadwork into a thriving business

Feb 14, 2024
Thanks to the success of her beadwork business, owner Mikailah Thompson was able to start a creative agency for Native artists.
Mikailah Thompson learned to bead from her grandmother when she lived on the Nimiipuu reservation in North-Central Idaho.
Courtesy Mikailah Thompson

For public good, not for profit.

How are small businesses feeling? It depends on whom you ask.

Feb 14, 2024
One survey showed small-business owners in a downbeat mood for the 25th straight month. Another had satisfaction at 85%.
Inflation and supply chain problems are abating for some small businesses, says Brett Sussman of American Express, but the smaller of those companies are still struggling, says Alex Shvarts of FundKite.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

How Seattle cabaret performers weathered the pandemic

Feb 14, 2024
How cabaret performers weathered the pandemic.
The pandemic devastated many performers' businesses — and forced some to confront the possible end of a career.
Courtesy Nate Watters

Need space to store your vinyl records? This small business makes furniture for that.

Jan 18, 2024
Matthew Wicker, owner of Oregon-based WickerWoodWorks, is profiting from the renewed popularity of records and record players.
Wicker makes handmade pieces to store vinyl records and turntables.
Courtesy Matthew Wicker