For years, women would come up to Giselle Fetterman, the wife of then-Mayor of Braddock and now Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, telling her their ideas to start businesses.
“Our idea was to create a space that helps women who want to take their business from the living room to an office setting,” said Kristen Michaels, co-founder and co-director of ForGoodPGH. A non-profit organization for promoting diversity and inclusion.
Michaels and Fetterman started the Hollander Project in the summer of 2018. The business currently houses 11 women-owned businesses.
They named their flagship initiative after Hollander’s Pharmacy, the former tenants of the space, keeping the original design at the front of the store.
“It's been cool because people from the Hollander family have reached out to us," said Michaels. "It's a way of honoring the past and making the space useful for what the neighborhood needs now."
This space holds a range of businesses, from beauty services to notary and psychologists.
Bridget Miller runs East Side Laser Center, a for-profit business specializing in skincare. She started the Erase project about 15 years ago, a non-profit service for removing tattoos of people who want to change their lives after being involved in gangs, in jail, or made bad choices.
Two years ago, she came to Braddock to talk to Fetterman about getting the word out about the Erase Project and received an offer to take residence with the Hollander Project.
“It's very easy for my tattoo removal clients to come in and not be scared or intimidated in that building", said Miller. "That's what I strive to do. You're supposed to be accepting of people when they come to the Hollander."
They’ve held community events like book giveaways, yoga classes, cardio classes and fitness classes for kids.
Cathy Welsh and her company, Commercial Maintenance and Cleaning Service (CMCS) has been a part of the Hollander project since its inception. Her non-profit, Helping Out Our People (HOOP), is for people and families deal with the death of people in the Woodland Hills School District to gun violence.
"Women at the Hollander help me [cope with the loss], so I could help my children," said Welsh. "Living with a major loss is the hardest."
Welsh, lost her son Jerame to gun violence a block away from her house. She started her non-profit because Jeremy liked to help the underdog.
“He comes with this kid, holding three garbage bags," said Welsh. "He told them I would wash their clothes and for the next couple of months gave the kid's mother a ride to the store on food stamp day.”
Welsh sees a lot of the same qualities in Fetterman with the Hollander. She calls it Gisele's magic.
“I don’t know if it’s because she knows what it feels like to be the underdog,” said Welsh. “I don't know like where we would be in our pain if we didn't have this place.”
One of their main goals is professional development. The Hollander Project runs entrepreneur meetups, classes for grant writing, financial literacy, and marketing workshops.
A few weeks ago, they held a special meetup with a group of women from Afghanistan who were interested in starting their own catering business. A theatre company that previously used the space set up the unique opportunity for them to meet three fellow immigrant women who run restaurants.
“It was an awesome night,” said Michaels. “It was like a perfect kind of conglomeration of our goals and their goals.”
The goal for the Hollander is to serve as many people as they can and prove that this model is replicable in other communities.
“There are communities all over that have blighted buildings and great entrepreneurs,” said Michaels. “If someone can [help those people], I think there could be potential for this kind of model to take off.”
Published in The Valley Mirror.