- Welcome back everybody to my LA stronger hour.
The pandemics devastated small businesses in this town.
Many are barely hanging on.
It's certainly true for dozens of once, thriving mom
and pop shops along Pico Boulevard, a road that stretches
from the beach all the way to downtown.
Several of those businesses were recently profiled
by the LA times.
And we've invited the owners
of two of them here for a segment.
We call back to business.
(upbeat funk music)
Back to business! I didn't even hear it. That was nice.
Okay, from Design Hive,
please welcome Lauren and Jen, everybody.
And from My Two Cents please welcome chef Alissa.
Hello to all of you.
- Hello, hello.
So your businesses aren't far from each other, right?
Y'all are pretty..
- We're about a few blocks away from each other.
Yeah.
- Did y'all know each other before?
No, and it was so great to meet today.
Now we're like neighbors and friends after this.
That's awesome.
Well, with Lauren and Jen, either one of you can
can pipe in, but let's start with your business.
Like, what is Design hive?
Why, where did this come from?
- Design hive is an art and technology studio.
We offer hands-on project based exploratory steam workshops.
So that's an acronym that stands
for science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.
So we've got stuff for the whole family, activities
for toddlers, elementary school aged kids,
big, big kids, adults.
We've got crafty happy hours that adults can participate in.
Yes.
- So Lauren and I are both teachers.
So we both..
- Thank you first of all, for that, that's a hard job.
- Yes, and try opening a business
on top of that during a pandemic.
- You can do it, not me.
- So we both, we worked together
and we both been teaching for each of us about 15 years.
And we decided that we wanted to open this business
and do hands-on work with kids.
And we picked Pico because we loved the neighborhood
and we loved how it was vivid and diverse.
And that's where we wanted to be.
- [Kelly] Absolutely for the arts.
That's a perfect place.
So this part is actually heartbreaking.
When did you start this business?
- Well, we signed our lease on Valentine's day, last year.
- [Kelly] February of last year.
- Yes, and then we threw a fabulous launch party
on March 1st.
It was the best ever greatest day ever.
And then yeah.
Had to close, you know
two weeks later because of the lockdown.
- How do you stay a float, a brand new business?
Is that the community rally behind you?
- The community has definitely, you know, kept us going.
That's been a major like source of inspiration
and we just knew that we could not let this business fail.
We had put everything into it.
So we sort of just had to dig
into that resourcefulness, of a teacher.
And we turned all of our workshops
into a hands-on kits that we sent
out to people and did alongside with zoom workshops.
- [Kelly] Smart.
Yeah. We sold our kits on Etsy
and just like...
- [Kelly] I live on there so.
- Okay so
- Get up on those mamas.
Yeah. I can't make it, but I want to buy it.
- Yeah. I mean parents were really wanting adults
just for themselves and then for their kids,
you know, everyone's isolated. So it was
- You run out of things to do.
It's like, you feel like you're a clown at a circuit.
Just keep everyone laughing.
- Yeah.
- Yeah. So you both leaned on each other quite a bit.
I imagine.
Is there anything you don't want to say to each other?
That's, it's an amazing thing to have a partner
that you can lean on instead of going...
(making explosion sounds)
- Well, I mean Lauren is the best partner
and friend that someone could ask for.
You know, we struggled when like last, April
last year at this time we were kind of looking
at each other, like, what do we do?
You know, we didn't qualify for any PPP money.
We've never qualified.
We've had to just bootstrap everything.
And at every turn, you know, whenever
Lauren's the most creative business partner you could have
at every turn, she's been like, let's, let's pivot.
Let's do something else.
Let's go.
- Positive. You both sound very positive.
- Yeah. Yeah.
And I think Jen is just so quietly thoughtful.
It's, you know, I think back
to a recent example where I was worried about the business
worried about even
like my own personal finances with this business.
- Amen.
- And you know, I hadn't been
in the studio for a few days because I was sad.
And I came in and Jen had like bought cookies
and snacks and it was just like a little hug in food.
And it was just her way of saying like
I know things are hard. We're going to get through it.
It's like touching she just does stuff
like that all the time.
- Common. Like, I mean
what businesses do you want to promote right now?
- A restaurant here based in LA
it's called My Two Cents LA and the chef,
Chef Alisa used to be my chef
and the restaurant serves so many different people.
You gotta go there one time.
Hey and restaurants are struggling right now.
So that's awesome.
What's up y'all that was rapper common talking
of one of his favorite LA restaurants earlier this season
it's owned by chef Alisa Reynolds who was recently profiled
in the LA times article
about businesses affected by the pandemic.
We just heard from Lauren
and Jen whose business was also profiled.
So now let's find out how things are going
with chef Alisa's restaurant, My Two Cents.
So that's why I was like, well, kind of welcome back.
We've already had your vibe on the show.
I talked to him actually in the commercial breaks too.
And he said it was really good.
I think it was chicken and waffles.
He was talking about as well.
But anyway, I am very excited to talk to you
because we ask common what businesses deserve support
you know?
And he mentioned yours and I know a lot of people
in the beginning and still now are like, who can I help?
What business are in need?
And you know, he didn't just say it.
Cause you're friends.
He really like, you're like a great chef.
He loves your food.
- Thank you, thank you.
It's a real Testament to your talent.
So you, you two have a history though, right?
- We go back for many years.
I was his chef actually up until I got the restaurant
and it was funny because he was so excited.
And when I told him, I'm like, Hey, I got a restaurant.
And he was like, yay.
So I'm losing my chef.
I'm excited, but I am torn.
So it was cool.
I mean, I'm, I'm French trained
and it's been just a great ride to like transition
but it's been crazy last year
- But it wasn't just COVID that affected you though.
Right? What else happened?
Well COVID was see in the restaurant industry is very, very
I mean, our margin of profit is very, very thin anyway.
And for us, you know, going into COVID, we were great
but when COVID hit, it was like, I had no idea what to do.
You know what I mean?
I'm, I'm usually a positive person.
This kind of was like, it took the wind
out of yourself and we had to pivot instantly.
And like she was saying, like
you have to get creative instantly.
And how do I make lemonade out of the lemons that I have?
And that's what we did.
We started up a taco program and I started LA loves tacos.
Let's make tacos.
You know, I can't waste all this food
and basically a quarantine, all my servers and staff
and we made this taco idea.
I grabbed all my friends that weren't working.
And then the gut punch was the George Floyd.
So that happened.
And it was like, now what?
You know what I mean?
That we're in the middle of a pandemic.
This thing happens.
And I didn't even know what to do at that point.
I didn't know where to where to turn
but what did save us was the community.
And that's why I love being on Pico.
It really people came out of the woodworks
and like, just to support, what can I do?
What can I do?
Or just here's $5.
Here's $2, little kids giving me change.
Like it, it was, that's how it is being on Pico.
It's really a community.
- Well, and I will say this just for doing this show.
Even we've been doing it through the whole pandemic.
And I like to find the silver lining
of any situation, especially horrible ones.
I think the really cool thing that has happened is maybe
people in the community that would have never
known each other, never known these businesses
never started these relationships.
Maybe none of that would have happened.
Maybe we all did get comfortable in our own little zone
and we weren't worrying about anybody else.
Maybe we were, you know, too much like that.
So we are thinking of others outside of our own boxes.
So I mean, if there is any silver lining to it,
well My Two Cents and Design Hive,
our amazing Los Angeles businesses that deserve support.
And that's why we reached out to Intuit QuickBooks
the most trusted partner of small businesses
they're connected suite of business tools
and solutions helps millions
of small businesses manage the complexities
of owning a business, you know
in businesses like yours rather.
So you can focus on, you know
your business growing rather than just surviving.
They were inspired by your resilience and by your passion.
So to help both of your businesses succeed
QuickBooks is giving each of you $20,000.
- What?!
(laughing)
- Wait.
I didn't hear you.
- Oh my God I hope that was on camera.
Oh my God.
That was my, that was my favorite reaction.
Oh my God.
I love you guys so much.
I really do love your business.
I'm so sorry.
Started on such shaky ground
but your relationship is beautiful.
This partnership is going to be so successful.
It's really important what you're doing for not only kids
but adults and families alike.
And I cannot wait to see what you do with that 20 grand.