Our Bronx, Our Brand: Anthony Ramirez II at The Bronx SBDC Celebration of Success

On Tuesday, October 27, The Bronx Small Business Development Center hosted its 3rd Annual Celebration of Success at Lehman College, and Anthony was proud to join the "Our Bronx, Our Brand" influencers and small business panel.

The "Our Bronx, Our Brand" panel at Lehman College.

A Day for Bronx Small Business

Based at Lehman College and working with the SBA and America's SBDC, The Bronx SBDC helps small businesses across the borough grow. Its Celebration of Success brought them together for a full morning: resource tables, networking, and free professional headshots, then the "Our Bronx, Our Brand" panel, a client awards ceremony, a panel featuring Chase Bank, and lunch to close it out. From The Bronx printed the event backdrop and loaned one of our own.

Anthony (second from left) with his fellow panelists in front of the backdrop we printed.

The Panel

The Bronx has a story to tell, and this panel brought together some of the local voices telling it:

• Anthony Ramirez II, From The Bronx (@FromTheBronx) & The Bronx Beer Hall (@BronxBeerHall)
• Diego León, Dandy in The Bronx (@DandyInTheBronx)
• Julius Drake, Bronx Tourism Council (@Bronx.Tourism)
• Rhina Valentin, BronxNet (@RhinaValentin)
• Amaurys Grullon, Bronx Native (@TheBronxNative)

Together they explored the power of storytelling, social media, and community in helping local businesses thrive. Here's what Anthony shared.

Anthony (left) and Paul (right) at the From The Bronx backdrop we loaned to the event.

"Our Bronx, Our Brand" in One Word

Ownership. For an insanely long time, other people owned the narrative of The Bronx and we lived with it. Ownership means we write the story, we design the look, we decide what the borough stands for, and we keep the value here.

Perceptions, Opportunity, and Economic Growth

Every company we've built shares one mission: to change the way the world sees The Bronx and to share its rich history and culture. Each one just does it a different way.

• Mainland Media is about perceptions. We put Bronx stories in front of people who wouldn't go looking for them, often offline: designing merchandise for a partner, helping a business owner get some press, curating an event, or connecting a nonprofit to a sponsor.
• From The Bronx is about opportunity. It's putting positive, high quality merchandise into spaces where it would be easy to produce something inexpensive or boring, giving people a way to wear where they're from, and proving that The Bronx can stand for premium.
• The Bronx Beer Hall is about economic growth. It's a safe space where Bronxites and non-Bronxites actually connect inside our borough, and where people who might never have come up here spend their money with Bronx vendors, Bronx staff, and Bronx makers.

The part we're proudest of is contributing to the rise in Bronx pride. When we started, just putting "The Bronx" on a shirt was a statement. Today it's a whole movement, with so many people in it, including folks on this panel. Entrepreneurs ask us all the time how we generate press, build merch, and develop our businesses, and we tell them, because every one of them raises the ceiling for all of us. It's great that people follow us, but it's even better when they go build something, and the money and the attention stay in The Bronx.

Tuesday Tip: Attract More Customers

Stop talking about what you sell and start talking about the people you serve. The businesses that win in The Bronx aren't the ones with the loudest ads. They're the ones that show up as part of the neighborhood.

Post the regular who's been coming in for 15 years. Shout out the business next door. Co-host something with the school down the block. Every time you feature someone else, their people become your people. It's the cheapest marketing there is, and it compounds. We built From The Bronx on that idea: the brand is the borough, not us.

Our new tiger promo card made the rounds.

Building Our Bronx: 10 Years From Now

For too long, the story of The Bronx was told by people who didn't live here, and it was always the same: the fires, the drugs, and a comeback that never quite happened. What Anthony, Paul, and Derick set out to do was make sure the people building the businesses are the ones telling the story, in their own voice.

Ten years from now, if the world sees The Bronx and thinks of the designer, the chef, and the founder, and not just the history, our names don't need to be on it. The hope is that people see Anthony, Paul, and Derick as the ones who handed people the mic, and gave those owners a leg up and the confidence to say it themselves. From The Bronx to The World, told by The Bronx.

Anthony with guest Nigel Bennett after the panel.

Thank you to the whole Bronx SBDC team and Lehman College for having us, to our fellow panelists, and congratulations to every business honored at this year's Celebration of Success.

From The Bronx to The World!!