There are many successful small businesses in our area that are pioneered and led by women in our community. Female business owners have worked hard to both start off on their own and to carry on their family legacies.
Grace Abi-Najm Shea of Arlington’s Lebanese Taverna loves to give back to the community that has helped to support her family-owned restaurants for 45 years. Lebanese Taverna takes a different approach to advertising, by relying on the locals to spread the word about her now long established restaurants.
“We rely on word of mouth for advertising, but we also do things to support our surrounding communities that help to get our name out there,” Shea said.
Shea’s parents, who immigrated from Lebanon, started Lebanese Taverna in 1979 to try to bring some of Lebanon with them to America. Shea and her siblings carry on what her parents started by continuing to introduce Lebanese culture to Arlington.
“I really enjoy getting to be able to be like an ambassador and being able to bring this Lebanese food here and helping to make it become more known,” Shea said.
Shea loves to get to be a part of her customers’ lives, whether it’s just another day or a significant event.
“I really like being able to be a part of a lot of people’s special occasions … getting to serve people,” Shea said.
Shea has continued the family tradition at Lebanese Taverna, which has grown into a staple restaurant in our area. There are also many other strong women in Arlington who have proven themselves capable of running a business.
The owner of One More Page LLC, Eileen McGervey started this charming quaint bookstore off of Langston boulevard almost 14 years ago. She’s a book lover by heart, having always surrounded herself with novels.
“I love to read; my first job was working as a page on a book mobile, shelving books,” McGervey said.
She clues into her admiration of the store by explaining its history,
“I decided I wanted to be around books all the time,” McGervey said.
That’s when she chose the hard task of opening and running a new business around January 2010.
She has a lot of hard tasks but as the owner, Elieen does it all. Apart from being the face of the store, she takes care of the maintenance and sometimes the leaky ceilings.
“You just kinda do everything that needs to be done, taking the trash out, cleaning the bathroom … all the glamor,” McGervey said.
One More Page specifically focuses on promoting books that you wouldn’t often pick up. Elieen and her colleagues specifically place uncommon but yet very interesting books right at the front of you.
“This is more a place of discovery; we want you to look around and see things you didn’t even know were out there, that you didn’t even know you wanted,” McGrevey said.
They work hard to expose people to new and diverse authors.
