Fatimah Muhammad, is a serial, social entrepreneur, motivated by a desire to help improve and transform social and economic injustices while building an entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Fatimah’s life’s journey has spanned over several different occupations, businesses and subcultures. Her compassion for people and a passion for community building, led her to form the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association of North St. Louis where she lives and where Apiary @ The Park is located. Coming from a family of business owners, her own enterprising spirit led her to realize early in her career that the traditional corporate blueprint did not support her free spirit.
Consequently, Fatimah’s entrepreneurial path, which has spanned over four decades, included; Small Business Owner Consultant, Minority and Women-Owned Business (MWBE) Certification Specialist, Contract Compliance Specialist and now the CEO of Apiary @ The Park and Executive Director of Be Well Cafe & Artisanal Marketplace, a nonprofit social enterprise with a focus on training and collaborations. Both of these enterprises will be a entrepreneurial training ground creative entrepreneurs.
Like many other freelancers and small business owners, Fatimah started out meeting clients in coffee shops, and bistros because of the lack of affordable, safe and accessible spaces. More importantly, there was no place that spoke to the vibe of creative entrepreneurs. Those experiences, along with the disparities throughout the communities of Black and Brown people, gave Fatimah the forethought in creating Apiary @ The Park.
This is what social responsibility looks like!
MY STORY
After retiring, my husband Donald and I purchased and renovated a beautiful, 180 year old, historic row home in the Hyde Park Neighborhood. My neighbors held me to my commitment to help bring some very basic changes to our community, so they petitioned me to run for Alderwoman. While canvassing the neighborhood, I met Regina.
Regina is a retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer who purchased, and renovated her retirement home in Hyde Park. Regina was looking forward to starting an African Cuisine catering business in her neighborhood.
In order to get started, Regina needed a commercial kitchen. To her surprise, there were no culinary incubators within 15 miles of her home. She eventually found a space. The cost was extreme, there was no community connection and often times she did not feel safe.
Regina went on about the disparities in her neighborhood;
Regina’s story resonated throughout my soul! Apiary @ The Park will speak to the neighborhoods unique character all while supporting entrepreneurs and the community.
Apiary @ The Park, located at 2027 Salisbury, is a well traveled, major thoroughfare adjacent to all the major highways, and downtown St. Louis. It is a dense, diverse, mixed-use neighborhood that continues to suffer from disinvestment and population decline, an entrepreneurial desert.
In the 1800’s these two iconic buildings served as the neighborhood Post Office and rooming house for immigrant workers! This was coworking and coliving long before it was the fashionable term that it is today.
Join me as I welcome Regina to Apiary @ The Park.
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2027 Salisbury Rear,
St. Louis, MO 63107