My Economy

Daisy Camarena is co-founder of D’Fifth Rose, an alteration shop in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Cheryl Alexander is a social worker in San Diego, California who also leads tours of the Italian countryside.

Adam Hickman is the owner of Foxhound Bee Company, a beekeeping supply business in Irondale, Alabama.

Bekah Jerde, executive director of Omaha’s Radio Talking Book Service, manages a modest budget, works alongside just two other employees, and oversees an army of volunteer readers.

Mary Lauren Fraser is a coffin weaver based in Montague, Massachusetts.

Jordan Stancil, owner of three independent movie theaters in Michigan and Illinois, went back into the movie theater business after years abroad.

Rufina Gutierrez comes from a long line of Mexican weavers. She and her daughter, who live in southern California, started a business to sell textiles made by their family in Oaxaca for purchase in the U.S.

Adé Neff, the owner of Ride On! Bike Co-Op in Los Angeles, California, is bringing transportation to his community.

“[I] definitely won't ever get rich doing it,” said small-scale commercial fisherman Matyas Kreidler.

Rebecca Holopter pops up at markets and events and paints 10-minute watercolor portraits of pets — from dogs and cats to pigeons and cockroaches.