Sheetal Bahirat was a graduate student studying to become a food researcher at the prestigious Drexel University Food Lab when inspiration struck. On a day Bahirat will never forget, the assignment was simple enough. She was tasked with making guacamole for her class to study the textures and tastes of the classic Mexican dish. But
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The FBI kept Hakim’s Bookstore, 210 S. 52nd Street, under surveillance for some time, sniffing around for subversion, says Yvonne Blake, 70. Daughter of Dawud Hakim, the store’s late founder, Blake recounts how her father had done the unthinkable in 1959 by opening an independent Black bookstore, five years before segregation would be outlawed in
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Following the birth of her first son in 2018, Melanie Hasan experienced postpartum depression, a condition that affects millions of women each year. She turned to natural dyeing to find comfort. “Just dipping your hands into a really nice, lukewarm bath and absorbing the color of an onion skin, or just embracing the smell of
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Feast Jewelry’s Adrienne Manno doesn’t upcycle because it’s trendy. Or because she’s on some sustainability soapbox. Manno describes the reclaim-and-repurpose aspect of her jewelry making as an organic outgrowth of incorrigible collecting. On her used-to-be-frequent travels, Manno would spot and acquire a piece here, an element there—a 1980s faux horn belt at a London flea
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Stitched together by their mutual love of yarn, it’s a group of local makers and entrepreneurs that make the shelves of the South Philadelphia-born yarn shop Loop such a unique place to shop, according to the store’s co-owner Laura Singewald. Loop works with three to five small businesses in Philly—local vendors that either dye yarn
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When Snapdragon Flowers owner and designer Tolani Lawrence-Lightfoot first became a mom she longed for a flower shop where she could bring her children to smell fresh flowers and take home bouquets. For a while, she had just that on Baltimore Avenue. Though their West Philadelphia storefront closed its doors during the summer of 2019,
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Photography courtesy of Scott Cunningham. Rashaad Jorden Scott Cunningham was working as a painter’s assistant at a body shop one day when he mentioned he needed a new clock. “And on the suggestion of one of my coworkers, I made one out of a flywheel that was laying in the corner of the shop,” he
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Amirah Mitchell , founder of Sistah Seeds. Photography by Drew Dennis. Ground Work by Jenny Roberts Amirah Mitchell has known she wanted to be a farmer since she was a 14-year-old intern with The Food Project, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit devoted to building sustainable food systems. “That’s kind of when I caught the farming bug,” Mitchell,
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In a photo, Morgan Burrell stands on the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, flexes her bicep, and looks down in reverence as the sun catches her shadow. The Philly entrepreneur created her online fitness, coaching, and mindset business, Get Mo Phit (Physically Healthy & Internally Tenacious) with the goal of helping women transform their overall
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On February 9, Kensington resident Kristin Dudley texted her mother Pamela without context: “Hey mom—could you do something for me? Write the words ‘Mother Butter’ on a piece of paper, one time in cursive, the next just regular—take a pic and send it to me?” “Ok … ” her mother responded. Dudley, a self-described “serial
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Living a sustainable lifestyle can be a daunting undertaking, especially if you don’t know where to begin. Welcome to Philly Low-Waste Living. I’m Emily Rodia, the founder of Good Buy Supply—Philly’s one-stop-shop for sustainable home goods. We specialize in all areas of the home from kitchen, bathroom to laundry but I can also help you
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