A Business of Her Own

Three decades ago, when customers entered what is now UpStairs on the Square, some assumed that the woman who greeted them was only there to take reservations. But in fact, Mary-Catherine Deibel welcomed the guests to her restaurant.

In 1982, Deibel, as the co-owner and co-founder of the longstanding Harvard Square restaurant, represented an exception to the male-dominated business community.

This month, Deibel’s name along with 116 others was published in the Harvard Square Business Association’s annual list of women business owners, which is released each March in honor of Women’s History Month.

HSBA Executive Director Denise A. Jillson estimates that about 10 percent of Harvard Square businesses are currently owned or directed by women.

These women, who run eclectic shops and outlets scattered throughout the Square, have carved out space in a historically male-dominated profession and community. Today, in an environment in which they are still a minority, they have turned to entrepreneurship and developed partnerships to survive and thrive.

BREAKING TRADITION

Each day at work, Jillson revisits Harvard Square’s male-dominated roots. Her desk faces a photo on the wall of a 1941 golf outing of the Square’s businessmen. While the picture could suggest an enduring patriarchal legacy, to Jillson, it serves as a reminder of the great strides taken by women in a profession previously out of their reach.

“There are definitely more businesswomen now in the Square than when I came here in the ’80s,” said Paul J. MacDonald, owner of the iconic Leavitt & Peirce tobacco shop that has stood witness to the evolving demographic of Harvard Square for more than a century.

The growing number of female entrepreneurs in recent decades coincides with the HSBA’s historical shift toward welcoming women into the Association. The HSBA, founded in 1910 as the Harvard Square Business Men’s Association, originally barred women from becoming members.

Only in the early 1970s amid the increased pressure for women’s rights did the Association abandon the “Men’s” qualifier and welcome women leaders.

The HSBA itself currently reflects the increased gender balance among Harvard Square business owners. Its board has exclusively been led by a woman since the first executive director was hired in the 1980s.

Today’s HSBA continues to embrace the young businesswomen who are changing the face of Harvard Square. Eight of the 18 current board members are women, several of whom are young entrepreneurs.

“When [women] arrive on the scene, they immediately like to get involved in the community,” Jillson said. “These women are young, sitting on the board, and really making an impact on the Square.”

RIGHT JOB, RIGHT PLACE

MacDonald emphasized the importance of bringing entrepreneurs and small businesses to Harvard Square.

“You need to protect the Square and keep it vibrant,” MacDonald said. “And you do that by bringing in independent businesses.”

Numerous women have done just that by choosing Harvard Square as the ideal location to open new businesses or bring their already existing ones.

Brooke Garber, the co-founder and co-owner of Mint Julep clothing boutique, said she always felt a passion for small businesses and entrepreneurship, having grown up in a small town lined with family-owned businesses. Garber and her business partner Stephanie Nist opened their first store in Brookline, Mass., in 2004 and arrived in Harvard Square two years later.

“Harvard Square is a place that really embraces small businesses,” Nist said. “You get such a variety of people, but it also has that small community feel, which is hard to find.”

Rachel A. Wentworth, co-founder and co-owner of lingerie boutique Forty Winks, traveled a similar path to entrepreneurship. Wentworth worked in retail before opening her own store with business partner Meredith W. Donaldson in April of 2010.

“I knew that I wanted to open my own business some day,” Wentworth said. “I always wanted to do my own thing and have control over what I did during the day.”

Having previously worked in a more regimented corporate environment, Nist said that the greatest appeal of owning a business is the flexibility it provides. She added that entrepreneurship has a particularly vital function in the lives of women by allowing them to own a business and also care for their families.

Deibel, who lauded the increase in the percentage of businesswomen in Harvard Square since her arrival in the 1980s, said she sees this expansion of female entrepreneurship as the result of a new mindset.

“I think that women have way more confidence and just expect to own the world right now,” Deibel said.

But owning the world still comes at a different price for men and women. Deibel said the income disparity between men and women still astonishes her, and the gender wage gap is one of multiple reasons why entrepreneurship can be increasingly appealing to women.

“If everybody was getting paid the same amount, there wouldn’t be an issue,” Deibel said. “That’s the reason to be an entrepreneur, since you don’t have to worry about that.”

FACING CHALLENGES TOGETHER

Female entrepreneurs may not grapple with wage discrepancies or a restrictive schedule, but the businesswomen of Harvard Square are not immune to challenges.

Deibel recalled having to contend with the preconceptions of the patriarchal business world for several years after opening her restaurant, as wine salesmen and other vendors often failed to realize that she was the owner.

Despite progress in the gender gap of the business world over the past three decades, recent entrepreneurs Wentworth and Garber echoed Deibel’s sentiments when recounting the obstacles they faced at the outset of starting their businesses.

Wentworth noted that, despite having good financials and a business plan for Forty Winks, she and her partner found it difficult to rent space in Harvard Square.

“We were young. We were women. We had no established business before the store. So we definitely had to fight a bit harder to be taken seriously,” she said.

Renting a storefront has been one of the main impediments for young entrepreneurs. Nist said that she and Garber had to wait until their first location was a success before settling in the pricier Harvard Square area.

While discussing the obstacles that businesswomen contend with, Garber referenced the career woman’s ongoing struggle for balance.

“Women always carry the weight of the world,” Garber said. “Being able to balance your life is definitely the most challenging thing.”

Several of Harvard Square’s businesswomen have found partnership to be an effective way of mitigating some of these challenges.

Nist said that within her female entrepreneurial network, approximately half of the businesses are run by pairs. The division of responsibilities, combination of talents, and ability to receive a second opinion are all boons of partnership.

Nist added that the psychological dimension of having a co-owner relieves some of the stress involved with the risks of entrepreneurship.“You’re taking the plunge with someone else, and that makes it so much easier,” she said.

Local support for female entrepreneurs comes from partnership, the HSBA, and a now diversified community of established business owners and new arrivals.

With 117 woman-led businesses in the Square, female entrepreneurs have developed a network to maintain the strength of their growing community. “We hope to continue to see that grow,” Jillson said.

—Staff writer Nikki D. Erlick can be reached at nikkierlick@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @nikkierlick.