When Phoebe Sherman, founder and CEO of Girl Gang Craft, sat down to wrap up her books for 2024, she faced a tough decision. One that snowballed amid lingering challenges with venues and revenue from the end-of-year crafts fairs.
Letting go of her team was a difficult but necessary decision for Sherman, who built Girl Gang Craft around helping women and marginalized creatives navigate small business ownership. While she doesn’t plan to host craft fairs in the near future, she is shifting her focus to supporting creatives through resource guides and tools to help them advocate for themselves amid rising tariffs and growing fears of a recession.
Girl Gang Craft was founded in 2017 in Oakland as a means of creating a community where women and fem-owned small businesses could support one another and learn to grow their businesses. Especially during a time when the political climate, much like today’s, posed challenges for marginalized communities who rely on their creativity to make ends meet…