Local Businesswomen Find Strength in Numbers

When a group of San Marino business proprietors was formed late last year to help foster economic development, women were a major presence in its ranks.
More recently, that group’s comprehensive list of businesses and their contact information further illustrated women’s significance in the community’s commercial establishment. According to the Economic Development Team, nearly half — 45% — of San Marino’s shops and eateries are owned by women, a statistic well exceeding the state and national figure. This has crystallized into the formation of the Women’s Business Club in San Marino.
“It was one of those ‘aha’ moments,” said Corina Madilian, who owns both Single Stone and Serafina on Mission Street. “We never really stopped to think about the fact that there are so many women-owned businesses in the area. It’s great to know, and we thought it would be a good idea for us to form a group to provide support to one another.”

Shelley Boyle, a member of the city’s Planning Commission, formed the club along with Madilian and Linda Zadoian, proprietor of the San Marino Cafe. Boyle, a contractor consultant who offers strategic planning, marketing and public relations services, also has worked alongside Madilian and Zadoian with the city’s Economic Development Team.
“My role has always been to pitch stories to journalists, so I immediately thought this is really compelling, and I contacted the San Marino PR team,” Boyle explained. “Then I said wait, this isn’t just a story, this is an opportunity to form this group of people. Without the Economic Development Team, we would never have known that there were this many female-owned businesses in town.”
Of course, another reading of the data is that a majority of the city’s businesses are owned by men; however, when compared to the state and nation, San Marino boasts a significantly more equitable distribution of ownership along gender lines.
According to a 2018 report from the U.S. Census Bureau, women-owned firms nationwide accounted for about 20% of all businesses. A separate analysis, the 2019 State of Women-Owned Business Report commissioned by American Express, indicated that 21% of women-owned businesses were owned by Black women, 18% by Latinas, 9% by Asian women and 0.3% by Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander women.
A 2019 report from the Small Business Administration which used the same data the Census Bureau used indicated that the nation’s women-owned businesses employed 9.4 million workers and had a total payroll of $318 billion and $1.5 trillion in annual sales. The average woman-owned firm employed eight workers and generated $1.3 million in annual sales, the SBA found; virtually all women-owned businesses are considered small businesses. A study published by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research reported that 37.2% of California’s businesses were owned by women, ranking the state No. 8 in the country.
Boyle said those with interest in forming the club included Rebecca Carr of Encore Music and Performing Arts; Joelle Grossi, a Realtor; Kelley Carpiac of San Marino Toy and Book; and Julie Campoy of Julienne.
“It’s great to know that the city has created a safe environment where so many women feel like they can open a business, run it and not be overwhelmed by pressures or not thinking the city is behind them or supportive of them,” Madilian said. “That so many of us feel great and comfortable in this environment is really reflective of San Marino. I think it reflects that cozy neighborhood with a hometown feel and not as overwhelming.”
Zadoian recalled prior meetings among the Mission Street shopkeepers that were mostly attended by women.
“I’m looking around and thinking ‘Gosh, I feel like everyone here is female,’” she said. “I just thought this is a badass group and this is the age of woman, and I think it’s telling that you look around the room and a lot of the small business owners here in town are women.”
Added Madilian: “As women, we understand each other’s needs and expectations and wants, and I think this gives us a way to support one another and make sure our voices are heard. We want to have speaker series and have things that expand on that and help one another. We want to be able to communicate things we think are important and incorporate more things into the community.”
Boyle said that besides forming a network of entrepreneurs who can support each other, the club can also be used to advocate policy changes at City Hall and to highlight safety or culture issues with more relevance to women. As an example, Boyle pointed out that some of the city’s alleyways in the commercial corridors are not well lit at night, which presents safety issues for shopkeepers as they lock up and go home.
“We can have a very large bloc of women who can solicit to the city,” she said. “’You need to make the infrastructure safe, because we’re already here and exist as a very firm component and you can’t ignore our needs.’ I’m not saying that they’re actively ignoring the group of us, but we need to come together as one solid voice to bring it to their attention and not just be one person who says, ‘Hey, this is what I need.’”
Aldo Cervantes, the city’s community development director, said it was a “pleasant surprise” to learn this about the city’s business community and welcomed more input at the table for planning issues in town.
“We look out for those stakeholders,” he said, “and the more groups that are out there that are organized, the more we can invite to the table to talk about things like economic development and programs.”
Coalescing into a group also opens up outreach opportunities for local schools, which already use events like career days and partnerships with local organizations to help cultivate the leaders of the future. The business-oriented students could get part-time work or internships to develop a better idea of where they take their post-graduation lives.
“You form this opinion of ‘Oh, I want to grow up and be this,’ and they have zero idea what that is,” Madilian said. “With all of these businesses in the city, we can provide a resource for these kids to get an idea of business and really expand the idea of what they want to do.”
Boyle added that the club could also highlight what she saw as roadblocks often faced by women in the workforce in general. Culturally, women are often expected to assume family caretaking roles and tend to take custody of children when they separate from their partners. Boyle recalled having to switch gears and take care of her late mother when her health took a turn for the worse, causing the businesswoman’s income to “drop significantly.”
“I had more expenses because I was taking care of my mother, but because I had to get out of the workplace, that made getting back in harder,” she explained. “Sickness and pregnancy can be so all-consuming that you lose your entire network and you have to build that up again.”
Zadoian, who has spent the coronavirus pandemic alternating custody of her two daughters by month, observed that these cultural realities may ironically net out as advantages in business savviness.
“Sometimes, as a woman, you don’t give yourself that option, to fail,” she said. “You don’t have a choice, so I think that instinct kicks in. By design, we’re creative. We grow things; we rear children; we grow gardens; so we get to grow businesses, too.”
Experiences vary among women, too. Madilian observed that running her jewelry and lifestyle shops in quieter San Marino for 14 years has allowed her ample quality time to spend with her three children.
“I wanted to be in a neighborhood where I could still go home and have dinner with my kids every day and not feel like a slave to the business every week,” she said. “I wanted to be in a place that made me feel like I could still have my family life. It’s a very family-oriented neighborhood and it made me feel like I could do both.”
Conversely, the mom-and-pop restaurant industry is notorious for low profit margins and little room for error, and often necessitates sudden extra work for owners when they are short-staffed. The pandemic has only exacerbated that.
“I haven’t had a real day off for about eight months,” Zadoian said. “But that’s the decision, that’s the commitment, the marriage, the dance that you do when you decide to build something.
“I’m not the woman who says ‘I get to bake cookies with my kids and run a business,’” she added. “Being both a mother and a business owner, not everybody gets to do that, so when you’re with people who are in the same kind of thing you’re going through, it strengthens you. There’s power in numbers.”
Those interested in learning more about or joining the San Marino Women’s Business Club can email sanmarinowbc@gmail.com.