BUFFALO, N.Y. — March is Women's History Month. It's also an opportunity to highlight and support women in our community.
And that's where the Instagram page @ShesFromBuffalo comes into play.
"The account was born out of my own recognition of my own need," said Miranda Bigham, owner of the @ShesFromBuffalo page. "I felt like there wasn't really anything out there that highlighted the women owned businesses in Western New York. There's certainly several accounts that identify women of influence and women of power, but there wasn't really one straightforward resource."
That was back in 2018.
Two and a half years later, Miranda Bigham is still passionate about highlighting the women doing business in the 716, reaching people in a place she already knows they spend a lot of time on; Instagram. Miranda started the @ShesFromBuffalo account and its companion website inspired largely by the notion originally put forth by civil rights activist Marian Wright Edelman: "you can't be what you can't see."
"Younger girls, even people my age need to see female business owners doing their thing, making money, making an impact on the community and visualize that it's like a sustainable and successful way of life," said Bigham. "It's an important thing to the community at large."
Important because Miranda says women in Western New York running their own businesses are a rare breed to begin with. Add in the pandemic's particularly harsh effects on all working women, and the already severe gap widens even more.
"This isn't made up, this is a dramatized for social media impact, the gap is still very much there, in terms of women at the top," said Bigham. "That's why I think it's so important to highlight these incredible women."
@ShesFromBuffalo is not only raising awareness, but also just making it really easy for consumers to find businesses owned by women in this area.
"I'm hoping that if people are so inclined, as they start to shop women owned more often, they can always use #ShesFromBuffalo to post on Instagram or any social media, and show women owned businesses they're shopping from, because they might be even a couple that I haven't gotten to yet," said Bigham. "I hope it's never a finished product, and that there's always new women owned businesses to add to that She's from Buffalo website, because that would mean that there's a never-ending list of women who are starting their own business in their community."
You'll find @ShesFromBuffalo on Instagram and at shesfrombuffalo.com.
Miranda says you're more than welcome to reach out if you are a woman who owns a business in Western New York or you know a woman who does.