'Girl Power': Five women business owners rule on this Rockville Centre block

If you think business is a man’s world, you won’t find support for that notion on a stretch of North Park Avenue in Rockville Centre.

Nestled near Maple Avenue and Jose Dominguez Way are five women-owned establishments located right next door to each other, including a nail salon, hair coloring specialist, two restaurants and a clothing store. 

While small business experts say such a cluster of female-owned businesses might be unusual, they add that the block actually represents a local snapshot of a growing national trend. There’s been a huge increase in women taking care of business —  by owning one.

“It makes perfect sense to me that the block is populated with woman-owned businesses,” said Erica Chase-Gregory, regional director of the Farmingdale State College Small Business Development Center. According to the latest figures from the Census bureau and Statista database, 43.2% of businesses are owned by women, compared to 29% 10 years ago, she said.

Chase-Gregory added that women working for themselves simply works, for three main reasons: the flexibility it allows for balancing their jobs and family needs; the control they have over their salaries; and the opportunity to be in a field that they are passionate about.

“The number one reason I hear is the desire to create a more flexible and satisfying work/life balance,” Chase-Gregory said. “Work/family balance flexibility has not been a priority for employers, and with women still being the primary caregivers of their children, they have a difficult time balancing their family’s needs and their desires to be present for their children during traditional business hours,” she said. “Self-employment allows for flexibility and a woman’s priorities are more in balance.”

Marlene Cintron, regional administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Region II that serves Long Island, said the number of women opening businesses is increasing “exponentially.”

'The best ROI'

“Being your own boss, working on your passion, and knowing that the energy you put into your business will be returned in profit and satisfaction is the best ROI (return on investment),” Cintron said. “This can be the best equalizer for a woman who knows her self-worth.” She added, “They have determined that they have a better chance of success if they are in control of their own destiny." 

Cintron noted the number of women opening businesses continues to increase as the pandemic's Great Resignation — record numbers of workers quitting their jobs in search of greater work/life balance or more fulfillment — continues.  

What types of businesses are popular for women to start?

Chase-Gregory said tops are professional services such as accounting, attorneys and health care; and wellness and retail shops. She said a small percentage of women are also opening construction-related businesses. “This increase is due to the state goals of 30% of government spending on MBE/WBE (minority business enterprise and woman business enterprise) firms.”

Cintron added the accommodation/food industry and administrative support and scientific tech services to the list.

Power in diversity

“It is powerful,” Naala Royale-Holder said of having so many women-owned businesses dominating a block. The Baldwin resident is owner and president of one of the restaurants in the lineup — Dunns  River Lounge, Inc. “When we first opened there was only one other female-owned business on the block, so it is refreshing and wonderful to now have four counterparts."

And instead of competing against each other or staying to themselves, the owners are supportive, patronize the others’ businesses, and have become friends, Royale-Holder added. She said the fact the women represent different ethnicities makes the block even more special.

“With the diversity of cultures and diversity in our approaches to business, we can all directly of indirectly learn from each other’s best practices,” Royale-Holder said. “It is so motivating to have so much ‘girl power’ on one block.”
 
 

Naala Royale-Holder, 51, of Baldwin

Owner of Dunns River Lounge, Inc., 93 North Park Ave.

Employees: 10

Royale-Holder, a second-generation immigrant from Jamaica, was the first of the five women with stores on North Park Avenue to land on the block. She opened her Jamaican restaurant and bar in 2004 after coming to Long Island to attend Stony Brook University, where she earned a degree in political science.

“I changed my career,” said Royale-Holder, who is married with no children. “I wanted at one point to become a lawyer because my aunt was a lawyer, but I had a passion for marketing.” 

Royale-Holder worked for Aramark, a worldwide provider of food, facilities and uniform services to universities, school districts, hospitals, stadiums and other businesses.

“My role there was to help create, brand and market restaurant brands on college campuses,” Royale-Holder, who loves entertaining at home, explained. But she found something was missing with her Aramark job.

“Even though I moved up in the ranks I was still an employee rather than an employer. I always had a dream of starting my own business, and so based on my background and expertise, opening a restaurant made perfect sense.”

 

Ruby Zhou, 36, of Queens

Owner of CiCi Nails, 95 North Park Ave.

Employees: 5

Zhou is a native of Wenzhou, a port and industrial city in China’s Zhejiang province that manufactures about 90% of the world’s eyeglasses and huge quantities of shoes. It is used by foreign media as a barometer of the Chinese export economy, and Zhou said  women own a lot of businesses there. But when she got divorced joining them didn’t immediately come to mind.

“I was very sad, very depressed,” following the 2014 divorce, Zhou said. “I had two young children to take care of and I didn’t know what to do.”

Zhou's mother had owned a restaurant in China and one in Queens, and Zhou’s two sisters had  a nail shop, so her mother suggested Zhou start a business as well.

“My mom said maybe I could try to do something like that to be stronger,” Zhou,   who left China in 2003, said. She opened CiCi Nails in 2016 and said that owning a business changed her life. “We need the independence; you can’t always rely on a man. My kids now see Mom is doing good, I can support them, and that’s a good example for them.”

Zhou said being on a street with other women like herself has also been an ego booster.

“You feel more powerful, and you can help each other and learn a lot from each other,” Zhou said.

 

Patrice Dacosta Fernandez, 49, of Freeport

Owner of Stoosh Boutique, 89 North Park Ave.

Employees: 1

With a passion for fashion ever since she was growing up in Jamaica, and having a lot of women who owned businesses in her family, it didn’t leave much to the imagination for Fernandez to figure out what her dream job would look like.

Fernandez’ path to owning her own clothing store started when she’d go shopping with her friends and help them decide what to buy. Nearly 20 years of retail experience followed along with studies in fashion merchandising and image consulting. Then in August of 2022 she opened Stoosh.

“My business provides personal and professional image enhancement,” Fernandez, the married mother of a 5-year-old girl, explained. “We specialize in helping women and men look and feel their best.” She said “stoosh” means to her, “stylish, sophisticated, successful.”

As a first-generation immigrant who came to this country when she was 27, having her own business has meant fulfillment of the American Dream, Fernandez said. “It’s been a three-to-five-year goal for me to own my own boutique.” Being on a block populated with so many other women has been a bonus, she added.

“It’s a wonderful feeling knowing it didn’t happen overnight and all of us are consistent hard workers,” Fernandez said. 
Fashions for sale at Stoosh come from all over the world. Most of what is featured is for women but there is a small section for men with shirts, belts and pocket squares.
 

Zohra Hamid, 30, of Syosset

Co-owner of Zora’s Halal Grill, 91 North Park Ave.

Employees: 4

It was her husband’s pushcart gyro business in Manhattan that led to Hamid opening her brick-and-mortar restaurant with her father, Joe. 

“My husband had gyro carts in the city throughout the years and we decided as a family to bring the business to life as a storefront location in 2019,” Hamid explained. “I am one of the first women business owners in my family. As a first-generation Afghan growing up in New York this has been a big deal. My mother and aunts are homemakers.”

Hamid has a lot of other big things on her plate. She is a dental hygienist, doctoral student, and professor at Farmingdale State College. “And importantly the mother of two ambitious and happy boys,” ages two-and-a-half and seven weeks, she adds.

By having her own business and her father’s help, Hamid said she has the flexibility for her other pursuits. Most recently she has been spending a lot of time taking care of her youngest child while her father mans the eatery.

Support comes not only from her family but the other four women business owners, Hamid noted. 

“We are growing as a society and as a community,” Hamid said. “The women on this block are supportive of each other’s businesses, which has helped us all grow. When I have a break, I get my nails done down the block (at CiCi’s) or chat with Naala next door.” She added, “If you enter our restaurant, you’ll notice other women business owners’ flyers on our counter displayed for our customers.”

 

Izabela Saboski, 54, of Rockville Centre

Owner of Colour Bar Hair, 93A North Park Ave.

Employees: 8

Saboski, who is single, came to America from Poland in 1989 to find more opportunities for herself and her daughter, who is now 34.

“Poland was under Communist oppression,” Saboski said. “I had obtained a cosmetology license in my native country and was always drawn to the beauty industry.” She opened Colour Bar Hair, which specializes in ammonia-free hair coloring, 10 years ago. In addition, she owns Raypath Eco,  a distributor of environmentally friendly cleaning and cosmetic products that she started three years ago at the start of the pandemic.

“The opportunity to be an entrepreneur and independent small business owner gives me the ability to develop my vision of excellence and hospitality in the beauty industry,” Saboski said. 

Being among a group of fellow women business owners presents other opportunities, she added. 

“I interact with them on a regular basis, sharing concerns about finances, business climate and customer experience,” Saboski said.