
As one of several Black entrepreneurs part of Black Market Creatives DC’s small business showcase on Nov. 30, Rylinda Rhodes exemplifies the event’s mission to uplift creators using their resources to push boundaries and heal communities in the D.C. region. Rhodes, founder of Mane Rhodes Soap and Wellness, advocates for social-emotional wellness, mental health, and trauma support, spreading awareness throughout the District. She plans to promote her wellness cause at the upcoming showcase at the Anacostia Arts Center. “I was taught violence at a young age, and I know that if I had learned something different, then I could have responded and done something different, and I wanted to be an interrupter of that,” Rhodes told The Informer. “I created my business to help us to manage those emotional triggers that oftentimes lead to violent episodes, whether those are episodes with ourselves, our family or other people.”
With her bright and aromatic soaps, integrating the senses and mindfulness, Mane Rhodes acts as a conversation piece for taboo subjects that often plague communities, such as self-harm and domestic violence. Through various partnerships with organizations like Dreaming Out Loud and Peace for DC, the Rhodes has taken advantage of youth mentorship, volunteer work and other forms of local activism to champion mental health education and trauma support in the District. “There’s a lot of shame to talk about bipolar depression or PTSD, or any other mental health disabilities that people deal with all the time. There’s so much shame around [it] that no one wants to talk about their emotional state or mental health because they don’t want to look…crazy, or weak,” said Rhodes. “These are the conversation pieces…the things that I want my community to think about. I want [us] to learn that we can manage that trauma, we can manage mental illness, we can have conversations…so you could be a better individual and a better human.”Hosted every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the Small Business Saturday Black Market Creatives Showcase brings consumers a taste of culture and enterprise exposure in an immersive collision of innovation and resilience, featuring various industries of D.C.’s seasoned and novel entrepreneurs.
The annual Black Market Creatives DC Small Business Saturday showcase, pictured in 2019, brings over a dozen Black-owned small businesses to Anacostia Arts Center in Ward 8 to promote and recognize entrepreneurs pushing boundaries and creating lasting change in the District. (Courtesy photo)Gabriel Massalley, event founder and owner of Status Apparel DC, told The Informer he started the tradition in 2016 with a mission to encourage community outreach and amplify local creatives making a difference. “The showcase underscores the power of believing in one’s ideas, talents, and abilities—showing that diverse perspectives and voices are essential to a thriving business community,” Massalley said. “We have strong, women-led businesses, emerging and established artists, and enterprises across industries like fashion, technology, and wellness…which demonstrates the resilience and innovation of Black entrepreneurs and creatives.”
As an overcomer of childhood and adult trauma, Rhodes navigated violence and the corridors of a city overcome with gentrification and high crime rates the best she knew how. After serving five of a 15-year sentence for the self-defense manslaughter of her domestic abuser, the D.C. native was released in 1999 with parole and faced a three-year custody battle, the intricacies of societal reentry, and a later diagnosis of PTSD and bipolar depression.It was when Rhodes dove into soap-making – initially a method to aid her son’s extreme eczema – that she discovered the effective naturalistic practices offered solace in a time of need. The creative outlet served as a decompressor for anxiety and other emotional distress onset by mental illness.Now, at 53 years old, she’s working to help others combat similar challenges by prioritizing their emotional health and self-care, including with her own business, which uses colorfully hand-crafted soaps, invigorating sensory textures, and beauty products, such as essential oils and hair care, to provide customers with tools for healing. “Living in Ward 8 and seeing all of the violence, I needed to do something to create change, and I started with myself,” Rhodes said. “As business owners, [we’re] not just developing good products and making sales, but we live in these communities, we drive on these streets. We’re asking the customers to trust us and to buy our products, but what do we stand for? Who are we to our community? It takes every single human being to create positive change, and that cliche, ‘Either you’re part of the problem or you’re part of the solution,’ is real.”
Quality Care Childcare Service: ‘The Reduction of Harm’ in Maternal CareBlack-owned businesses are immersed within the District and contribute to the local economy, accounting for 35% of firms in the city, according to the Department of Small and Local Business Development. In this event, Massalley felt it was pertinent to use the annual showcase to highlight community builders like Rhodes and Joia Edwards, founder of Quality Care Childcare Service, Inc., who create a lasting impact beyond revenue.“Each business [in the showcase] has a unique story, sharing their journey and what drives them forward….and they understand the needs of the area,” Massalley said. “In this community, we’re surrounded by The Good, The Bad, all of it. So, I feel like you have to have a positive impact on the world. Especially if you’re gaining from the community, you should also be giving back and trying to do good in whatever way you can.”Like Mane Rhodes, Quality Care Childcare Service, Inc. will serve as one of many enterprises in attendance whose resources and informative practices could help save lives – and in this case, help “fill the huge gaps” in maternal health care, according to Edwards. “We know that the most at-risk group of people are middle-class to upper-middle-class Black women. It doesn’t matter how much health care insurance they have, how much access to top-of-the-line hospitals, unfortunately, medical racism still exists today,” Edwards said. Studies have shown that Black women suffer the worst determinants of maternal health care compared to any other race:
Black women are three times more likely, compared to white women, to die from a pregnancy-related experience, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
A 2023 Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that about one in five (21%) of Black women say they have been “treated unfairly by a health care provider or staff because of their racial or ethnic background.”
A previous article from SHIRE cited 90% of birth-related deaths in the District implicated Black birthing, despite only making up about half of all births in recent years, with striking disparities in predominantly Black Wards 7 and 8.Enterprises like Quality Care Childcare Services offer Black women and other birthing people a well-rounded transition into parenthood. Instrumental aspects of the children’s services include nanny care and homeschool assistance that focus on nutrition, social-emotional awareness, financial literacy and other curriculum subjects. In addition, parental aid expands on services like abortion support, lactation peer counseling, and full spectrum doula services. “Our job is to make sure that parents – not just moms, moms and dads – are aware of their rights, their options, and that they understand what’s being presented to them…before they make a decision,” Edwards told The Informer. “The opportunity to pause and think and understand is how we support families. Being the reduction of harm.”Moreover, the affordable childcare institution serves as a safety net for vulnerable groups who may not be offered adequate medical care. “It’s a propensity in American culture for things to become big business, and some business lanes are family-centered and oriented, and they must remain that way,” the director shared. “Now more than ever, it’s important that if people are choosing to make choices that they know are dangerous, that they know they can be penalized for… they still need support…[and] to know that they are not alone in this world. So, we just choose to show up in that way.” More Than a Showcase — An ExperienceAmong other benefits, Small Business Saturday outlines the importance of collaboration and community engagement in elevating businesses and future creatives.
“[We’re] just trying to show representation as far as we can – for younger generations as well as other people — and a value transfer of knowledge they’re gaining from us, but also [trying] to get back as much as we can,” Massalley said. “It’s definitely a community-based movement…to build something that’s of the people, of the creative scene, but also [for] learning and growing.”Edwards commends these spaces for strengthening the network of entrepreneurial talent in D.C., and forging better relationships between business owners and consumers. She hopes attendees will feel the familial spirit of the enterprises and increase communal support. “We all firmly believe that nobody wins if the family is not winning,” Edwards told The Informer. “The Small Business showcase is doing an excellent job to make sure that the family is put first. Everybody is thriving, everyone is eating well, because we work together and we make sure that even the weakest of us is being brought up.”Rhodes teases self-care packaging, mindfulness techniques and invigorating products at this year’s Small Business Saturday, welcoming the opportunity to engage and connect individuals who may be struggling with mental and emotional support that her business aims to provide.As a passionate leader and advocate, the Ward 8 entrepreneur plans to continue using her business platform to forge partnerships and raise awareness for significant issues affecting the local and broader Black community, touting Mane Rhodes as a beacon of hope for overcomers looking to regain control of their destiny and “turn their trauma into triumph.” “If you can’t take care of yourself, lack is going to drive you, and that’s what I see in my community every single day,” Rhodes said. “This is the journey. This is the main road that’s going to get you to your future, to where it is that you want to go, and you get to decide what that looks like.”This story is part of the Digital Equity Local Voices Fellowship Lab. The Lab initiative is made possible with support from Comcast NBCUniversal.
Source: Washington Informer