Lehigh Valley Women vs. the Economy

This is a project on female entrepreneurs in the Lehigh Valley. They discuss the successes they've had and the struggles they've faced in regards to the economic recession.

The Lehigh Valley economy has been rising and falling for the past few years. The unemployment rate is slightly better than the United States’, 8.1% compared to 8.9%. In 2009, 2,509 women and children in the Lehigh Valley were living in homeless shelters, 872 of these people being children under the age of five. Finally, 43% of those unemployed in the Lehigh Valley are women, 57% are men.

Although these statistics are depressing and give one the sense of crisis in the Lehigh Valley, there are also positive stories throughout the Valley; there are many women who have risen above the statistics and opened their own businesses. Since 2007, at least eight new businesses have been opened by young women in the Lehigh Valley. In the state of Pennsylvania, women represent 30% of self-employed persons; women generating $1.9 trillion in annual sales in 2006 in the United States as a whole.

Jane Roncoroni, owner of fine clothing and accessory store Jane Roncoroni in Bethlehem, has been opened for 23 years. Starting the business in her home while she was between jobs, Jane would host trunk shows to sell fine clothing to her customers. She has been in business ever since, moving throughout Bethlehem but currently located in the heart of downtown.
Although Jane has successfully kept her business afloat, she was affected be the economic recession in the last few years.

“Of course we have. Everybody has, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t.”

Due to her personal dedication to being at her store and personal relationships with her customers, Jane has been able to beat the trends of businesses closing around her.
For women who are looking to open their own business, Jane feels passionately about focusing on dreams of being independent.

“I really think you should follow your passion, I don’t think you should be afraid of failure,” she said.

Although Jane feels women should pursue a business, owner of Patti’s Petals in Bethlehem for 25 years, Mike Rohn, gives an honest man’s perspective on opening a business.

“In all seriousness, I would say don’t. People always say, ‘Oh you own a business.’ I always say, ‘No I don’t, the business owns me,’” Mike said.

Mike’s advice to perspective business owners is based on the vigorous hours and the financial pit that many new business owners fall into. According to Mike, five years of financial cushion is necessary to have a successful business and establish yourself.
“People think that if you hang a sign out there on the door, people are going to run in and it ain’t that way,” he said.

Both Mike and Jane have been opened for much longer than owner of Millie’s Notary and Insurance, Millie Pabon, has been opened for five years in Bethlehem. Although she’s newer to the self-employed scene in the Lehigh Valley, Millie has grown up in Bethlehem and has a customer following of south Bethlehem natives and friends she has grown up with.

“I live here, I was raised here and I know a lot of people in the area,” she said.

For future female business owners, Millie believes women have it harder then men and need to focus on nurturing the business.

“I think it’s a little harder for us, it’s more difficult,” she said. “Just continue to press-on.”

Along with Jane and Millie, there are an abundance of successful female-owned businesses in the Valley. Among newer businesses, Apotheca Salon and Boutique, Eskandolo Salon and Loose Threads Boutique are all businesses opened in Bethlehem in the last few years by women under 35. 

Although there are newer women to the self-employed circle in the Lehigh Valley, there are also many women who have set the example for them. The Funhouse and Cleo’s Silversmith have both been female-operated and been opened for more than a decade.