"Right now, it's like, everything that I want is $80,000. So it's all getting tabled and I'm focusing on paying down some debt. I don't need to have it all at once but I need to know that I can see it coming in a clear and specific way. I need to pay down some debt before I can think about that."
Listen 🎧 : Lucia shares how she approached building credit for her business.
is a Brooklyn based, 4,000 square foot warehouse that offers color and black and white film processing, a photo studio, and educational classes. The business started as a small operation in the building Lucia was living in and has now grown to the full scale business it is today.
The darkroom opened its doors in 2011. Since then has grown into a larger space, offering more amenities and services. This growth hasn't always been predictable. Lucia's focus is on managing rising costs while maintaining affordable prices for her customers. She says she's taken on several loans and reinvested them in her business over the years, growing her business credit alongside it.
At 23, Lucia launched the business fresh out of art school with an idea and a Kickstarter to get funding off the ground. By 2013, she went back to grad school for a master's degree in arts and culture management. She says this gave her sight-lines into legal structures, budgeting, curriculum development, proposal and grant writing, and more. Over the years, she's found support in the small business association and the business organizing center in downtown Brooklyn. With the benefit of hindsight she wishes she'd explored more resources available to her when she was starting out and as the business was scaling.
Check out Bushwick Community Darkoom's website for more
