Olga’s foundation gives $25,000 grants to 3 women-owned businesses

ROYAL OAK — Three women business owners received $25,000 grants through the Olga Loizon Memorial Foundation June 12 at Olga’s Kitchen on Woodward Avenue in Royal Oak.

Bread & Basket Marketplace, Scarlet Crane Creations and Inspire Physical Therapy & Wellness have each been rewarded with a $25,000 grant, which is to date the largest grant given by the Loizon Foundation.

Loredana Gianino, president of the Olga Loizon Memorial Foundation, said that the foundation honors Olga Loizon, a woman who overcame many obstacles while creating Olga’s Kitchen.

“The purpose for us having created this foundation is to provide grants to these women entrepreneurs here in Michigan. They are looking to start businesses that are embodying that same passion and same drive as Olga had,” she said.

Tiffany Blackman, founder of Bread & Basket Marketplace in Battle Creek, was the first business owner to receive the grant for her boutique-style public market that is stocked with items from small business brands from across the country.

“Having the opportunity to receive grant funds today for my business is both significant and fundamentally altering,” Blackman said. “With the grant funds I received today, I plan to invest in expanding my inventory, finally.”

Blackman said that her initiative has always been to support local businesses, and she will continue to uphold that with this grant.

“My goal is to continue to assist makers, curators and creatives,” she said. “I plan to help them build the life that they want, doing the work that they love, all in partnership with Bread & Basket Marketplace.”

Shayla Johnson, founder of Scarlet Crane Creations, located in Detroit, was the second grant recipient of the day. Scarlet Crane Creations is a sustainable, micro-batch textile printing house. The company provides customers with original designs for home decor and fashion.

Johnson said that the textile industry uses more than 2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools of water per year for dying and printing.

Through working with Centrepolis Accelerator at Lawrence Tech University, Johnson's company has gotten a report outlining how it can dispose of water in a sustainable way.

“We can actually get all of the equipment with this grant,” she said. “That will allow us to, believe it or not, remove all of the dye from the water, all of the sludge, and actually dispose of it in a responsible way.”

Jenny Jeshurun, founder of Inspire Physical Therapy & Wellness, located in Bingham Farms, was the third business owner to receive a grant. Her business specializes in physical therapy for pregnancy, the postpartum period, pelvic pain and orthopedic conditions.

Following her journey as a first-time mother, Jeshurun noticed a gap in health care for pregnant women. One goal she had when she started her business in May of 2020 was to focus on those gaps, especially when it came to postpartum care.

“To normalize things we do not talk about enough in our society when it comes to prenatal care, postpartum care, women’s health, and all sorts of things, to create a safe space was the goal, to normalize these issues,” Jeshurun said.

Jeshurun will be putting the grant money toward funding “several” educational workshops and hopes the workshops will further create a safe space for women’s health care in southeast Michigan.

Kim Barnes Arico, University of Michigan head women's basketball coach, attended the event as the keynote speaker. She shared her story of how she became one of the most successful coaches in the university’s history.

“All of you are trying to change the world, and I think it is really important,” she said. “We need each other, we need to empower each other, and we need to support each other.”

The coach told the ladies that being a woman is in itself a job, one that comes with many responsibilities and hardships. She encouraged them to continue reaching for their goals as business owners.

“You guys know it as much as I know it: It is not easy being a woman,” she said. “Listening to all of your stories is an inspiration, and it gives hope for the future that there are people that are coming after me that are just absolutely incredible.”