The New Builders

EPILOGUE

Just before we finished this manuscript, we checked in one final time to see how Danaris Mazara was faring. It was early 2021 and the Covid pandemic had been burning through the world for almost a year, taking an as‐yet‐untold toll on small businesses.

Tired, but determined and confident about the future, Danaris continued to display the optimism and grit we had come to know from her. But the reality of her past year was challenging that resolve. She pored over the numbers for the bakery, doing her books late at night, sometimes staying up until 2 a.m. or later in an effort to better understand how she could make things work. Although her business had reopened after the first pandemic lockdown ended, sales in 2020 were down 40 percent from the prior year. As the year wore on, things were getting worse.

On Thanksgiving Day 2020, Sweet Grace booked $400 in sales. A year ago, it had grossed $1,000. A $150,000 low‐interest SBA loan in the springtime enabled her to hire back the 16 women who worked for her in 2019. Now, it was a balancing act. Sales, mortgage, payroll – trying to make sure there was at least some work for everyone. To cope with the reduction in sales, her entire staff was working reduced hours. Every week – every day, it sometimes seemed – someone would stop by the bakery or reach her on her cell phone to ask for work. “They say, ‘I will do anything,’” she recounted. “I hate saying no.” The work she had wasn't enough to keep her existing staff busy. With ...