Local Story: Akron, Ohio

Eat Speak Love

As an Akron native and community advocate, Tiffany Roper provides mentorship, exposure, and more for women and minority entrepreneurs in the Akron area through her company Eat Speak Love.

At Buy Local Serve Local, we highlight non-profits and small businesses that contribute meaningfully and mindfully to their communities, bridging the gap between the non-profit and business sectors. Akron local Tiffany Roper has a similar vision for her city’s minority- and women-owned businesses, and we have the honor of sharing her story.

Visit website: eatspeaklove.com

Find on social: Facebook | Instagram | Linkedin

Home to just under 200,000 people, Akron, Ohio boasts big opportunities without sacrificing the small-town charm that Akronites cherish, and Tiffany has always had the wellbeing of her community in mind. She is a Licensed Therapist and worked for the Department of Job and Family Services before she launched her most personal project in March 2020—and became CEO of Eat Speak Love, LLC.

In the early lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic, Tiffany felt eager to find an avenue for her entrepreneurial spirit.

“I really wish[ed] I could just box up small business and bring it to people,” she recalls. “And [my mentor] said, well why don’t you just box it up and get it to people, and that’s how the smallBIG Box was born.”

The smallBIG Box, a bimonthly subscription box that patrons can pick up locally or have delivered to their homes, features sample products, flyers, and exclusive deals produced in Akron by minority- and women-owned businesses. When Tiffany launched her first smallBIG Box, it sold out in only 72 hours.

But the smallBIG Box (named as such because small businesses are a BIG deal!) is only one element of Eat Speak Love’s business model.

Eat Speak Love is a multi-faceted company that empowers minority- and women-owned small businesses in Akron. The goal is to keep Akronites’ dollars circulating locally while supporting businesses whose owners face compounding disparities in the entrepreneurial world.

Designed entirely by Tiffany, the three pillars—Eat, Speak, Love—each represent a unique aspect of the company while bringing brand awareness and visibility to the entrepreneurs and businesses she works with.

Eat

Eat reminds people to dine at local restaurants. Tiffany features her favorite local eateries and dishes on Eat Speak Love’s website, a great resource for her customers to find delicious food in the Akron area.

Speak

As a Black woman CEO and business owner, Tiffany recognizes that mentorship and support for minority- and women-owned businesses is often lacking, or even nonexistent, inhibiting access to business ownership for these communities. With this in mind, Tiffany uses Speak to focus on professional development, conducting speaking engagements on a variety of topics ranging from gratitude to sisterhood to entrepreneurship for non-profits and businesses. She also mentors black student business owners through the Kent State Black Woman Bosses initiative.

“When I talk about anything, even if it’s not rehearsed, I try to be authentic and genuinely connect with people,” Tiffany says of her mindset behind public speaking. “I also love to try and move people from Point A to Point B with whatever I’m going to say.”

Love

Finally Love, in the form of the smallBIG Box, is a call to love the Akron community by consistently financially investing in local businesses.

“It’s really about finding replacements [for mass-produced products], putting energy and intentionality behind that, and then doing it. That’s what really gives back,” Tiffany says.

Part of the inspiration behind the smallBIG Box was Tiffany’s deep involvement in the Akron community. As a member of the Akron Children’s Hospital Parent Advisory Council, a board member for Torchbearers, and Board President of Limitless Ambition, Tiffany knows all that the city has to offer.

“Akron is great for the amount of resources that we have, but it’s also a double edged sword because there are so many resources, so many things going on at all times, that it’s really difficult to wade through the meaning behind all of that,” she recognizes. This is why she has a directory of partner businesses on her website, in addition to the smallBIG box subscription service.

The smallBIG Box is a way for locals to experience all that these wonderful businesses have to offer, integrating these products into their daily lives while redistributing wealth into minority communities. Yet it also tells a story.

“There’s a story behind each of the products,” Tiffany says. “They’re people and innovators and creators who throw all of their passion into creating something amazing that they can share with other people.”

One Akron entrepreneur Tanya Green found a box full of recipes handwritten by her mother, Julia Belle, after she passed away. The keepsake recipes inspired Tanya to start her company, Julia Belle’s Seasonings, selling 100% natural seasonings, rubs, and spice mixtures. Empowered by the legacy of her mother’s cooking, Tanya is encouraging others to expand their palate, try international recipes, and spice up their dishes at home. There is a sense of care and curiosity in supporting not only someone’s product, but their identity, who they are. Small business is personal.

Sharing stories behind minority- and women-owned businesses is a key part of Tiffany’s mission with Eat Speak Love. One way she does this is through the Outside the Box series on Eat Speak Love’s social media. This amplifies the voices of the entrepreneurs she partners with. One of her partner companies Blvck Sun Coffee was started by two young Black women who were disappointed with Starbucks’s response to the Black Lives Matter movement in Summer 2020.

“You can get coffee anywhere, but knowing [why] these phenomenal young Black women started their company, I’m more apt to purchase that coffee. Putting those stories behind what the business is—that’s the need we’re filling,” Tiffany explains.

She seeks to put entrepreneurs at the forefront of their company because she feels that a person’s individual identity largely influences their brand identity, and vice-versa. Intermingling personal and brand identity can work largely in favor of young entrepreneurs who are seeking a start in the business world. It also reinforces pride in one’s product.

“When I sell the smallBIG Box, it isn’t like ooh yes I just got this money, it’s like wow they believe in my dream! That’s what happens when people try a sample and then go support that business. Those business owners feel that same sense of gratification and pride,” Tiffany says, articulating some of the emotions behind small business ownership for herself and others.

The pride is empowering, and far-reaching. Tiffany views Eat Speak Love as her children’s inheritance, though whether or not they choose to continue the company is up to them. Her two young children Harrison and Alizah have already been inspired by their mother’s work.

Harrison writes scripts and acts out advertisements that Tiffany posts on Eat Speak Love’s Instagram page. He had the idea to create a smallBIG Kids Box, complete with recipes for kids who, like him, are picky eaters. He’s even writing all the recipe cards for what he calls the Picky Eatery. Meanwhile, Alizah is busy showing her mom her play-business and asking Tiffany to play “meeting” with her.

“When your kids know what’s possible, it’s more probable in their lives,” Tiffany says, grateful for the impact the family business is having on her children. “My kids [seeing that] you can create something incredible for yourself and make things happen for yourself is so much bigger than any amount of money or any sales. That’s what Eat Speak Love really encompasses. That entrepreneurial, generational wealth and spirit. All that.”

Just a little over a year after founding Eat Speak Love, Tiffany’s business is growing rapidly, for the good of the entire Akron community. The Instagram page has amassed nearly 500 followers, and she’s now hosting Covid-safe Eat Speak Love events with live music, food, drinks, and local vendors. She’s created merchandise, and the subscriptions to the smallBIG Box continue to roll in.

“Akron is small enough to make some real collaboration and connections, but it’s big enough to make a huge impact,” Tiffany says with pride. “Defend your city… this is no small feat. It’s Akron.”

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Visit website: eatspeaklove.com

Find on social: Facebook | Instagram | Linkedin

Eat Speak Love

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