After spending much of her fourth year examining the experiences of women who own small businesses in downtown St. Catharines, Brock student Daria Do is sharing her findings \u2014 and related recommendations \u2014 with the community.<\/p>\n
Do presented her undergraduate thesis research, completed under the supervision of Associate Professor Ebru Ustundag in the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies, to business leaders from the St. Catharines Downtown Association, the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce and Innovate Niagara on Wednesday, Feb. 14.<\/p>\n
An entrepreneur herself, the fifth-year Concurrent Teacher Education student set out to look at social-spatial relationships and the gender dynamics that shape local female business owners\u2019 experiences, as well as the personal and institutional support systems available to them.<\/p>\n
With support from Ustundag and her second reader, Professor of Geography and Tourism Studies Michael Ripmeester, Do interviewed six out of a possible 16 women business owners in the downtown core at the time of the research, which began in August 2022.<\/p>\n
Several themes emerged during these interviews, from financial barriers encountered when pursuing loans and grants to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the participants had to make some challenging decisions to lay off their team and work by themselves, taking on all of the business tasks \u2014 from labeling to producing to marketing to maintaining an online shop and making deliveries,\u201d Do says.<\/p>\n
The role of support networks \u2014 whether it was family members helping out or official programming \u2014 proved to be crucial, particularly in identifying opportunities such government grants like those attached to the Digital Main Streets program.<\/p>\n
According to Do, the participants also showed a strong commitment to an inclusive downtown and diverse urban culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t just care about their own store. They care about their customers and about their neighbouring business owners and that everyone’s successful, not just themselves,\u201d says Do. \u201cThat cohesiveness and ability to be empathetic towards other people, I think, is something super special in downtown St. Catharines, something very unique.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the presentation, Do and Ustundag offered recommendations based on the thesis interviews, including a networking program specific to women small business owners that caters to the needs and schedules of working caregivers and paid mentorship opportunities to help further strengthen local connections.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe presentation was a gratifying experience that allowed me to share my passions for the purpose of my research and illuminate the positive stories coming out of downtown St. Catharines,\u201d says Do. \u201cMore importantly, it was a unique opportunity to be able to amplify the significance of having a geographical lens when trying to understand the changes in downtown St. Catharines and how female small business owners are active participants of this urban culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ustundag says that Do\u2019s work has particular significance because much of the existing research in Canadian urban economic geographies relates to large metropolitan centres.<\/p>\n
“I am continuously impressed by Daria’s dedication, curiosity and enthusiasm about conducting qualitative research as an undergraduate and as a first-generation student,\u201d says Ustundag. \u201cDuring her presentation, she made an excellent case about how critical geographical analysis is so vital in understanding the complex economic and social relationships in downtown St Catharines.\u201d<\/p>\n
In all, Do says it was an honour to be able to learn from the experiences of her research participants, and that pursuing an undergraduate thesis created some great opportunities overall.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are times that it is difficult, but it\u2019s so rewarding in the end to be able to look at where I was, look at where I came from and what I learned from this experience,\u201d says Do. \u201cI learned about writing, about slowing down and paying close attention to detail, and I gained so many strong connections and relationships with my department and also my community. That\u2019s something I will always appreciate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After spending much of her fourth year examining the experiences of women who own small businesses in downtown St. Catharines, Brock student Daria Do is sharing her findings \u2014 and related recommendations \u2014 with the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":91033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9794,1,38],"tags":[11740,9498,327,6196,13264,5014,3504,98,522,4263],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91032"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91032"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91047,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91032\/revisions\/91047"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}