My name is Tiara Tillmon. I live in Auburn, NY, the chosen hometown of Harriet Tubman. I am one of her living descendants. The town of Auburn is small and is predominantly white. The town has evolved a lot in the past years. We have more minorities who live here now, but the resources available to our population are still limited. I started selling eyelashes to provide a service that is not offered here in Auburn. From the eyelashes, I then started to invest in braiding hair and beauty supplies. There were no Black-owned beauty supply stores here in Cayuga County that catered to our community's needs. Therefore, the community had to drive almost 45 minutes to Syracuse/Onondaga County in order to meet basic hair care needs and buy products. There are many people who live in town but don't have the transportation to get to Syracuse. I started to sell products out of my home in order to meet the needs of my community. After months of growing my product inventory and establishing a customer base, I decided to start looking for a storefront. I was able to find a small yet intimate place to set up shop.
