(Mayté Penman, TechTown Bicultural Business Strategist and Cesar Escobedo, Owner DMex Printing)
Why is it important to support local businesses and service providers?
When you consume locally, you are giving back to your community. Patronizing local businesses and service providers generates high levels of revenue, which circles back into the community. However, nothing helps local businesses grow more than when community members spread the word to our friends and families about the businesses and service providers we love!
As part of celebrating local businesses and service providers, I am proud to highlight Eddi Gonzales.
Eddi Gonzales, Founder of Eye Breathe Design, is a Detroit native with deep roots in the community. Southwest Detroit is an area rich with graffiti and murals, and so from a young age, Eddi was drawn to design. His love for letters and typography evolved into graphic design and from that to digital media. From documenting local events to creating branding and websites for local business owners, Eddi uses his firm grip on design trends and strategies to propel his community forward.
Eddi is a talented designer who has created websites for several of our SW Detroit businesses. I had the privilege to learn of his talents many years ago while working in the community. He used to do spoken word poetry and was very active in local events at a young age. I asked him to share what it meant for him to work for people in his community, and this is what he said:
“It’s been a blessing to have TechTown facilitate this exchange, especially amidst the Covid pandemic. Over the years, my services have evolved to meet the businesses that crossed paths with me where they were. This exchange made my clients and me stronger and stronger through each collaboration. As someone raised in SW Detroit, I’m no stranger to the businesses in this project. I got my first business card and flyers printed at DMex Printing. I even have memories of walking through the Vaquerita as a kid in the ‘90s/early 2000s and being blown back by the scale of inventory and feel of the space! It was an honor to contribute from the design realm to the families and businesses servicing the community that raised me.”
Through his work with TechTown, Eddi recently designed websites for five local business owners. I am proud to showcase the five business owners whose websites were designed by Eddi below; all of them work so hard and diligently to make sure the website represents their vision.
Antojitos El Catracho | Owners: Obed Hernandez and Sandra Padilla
Authentic food from Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador
https://www.antojitoselcatracho.com/
DMex Printing | Owner Cesar Escobedo
Everything for your advertising needs
El Popo | Owners Rodolfo and Raquel Lozano
The store where our customers feel among friends
Guadalajara | Owners Salvador Enriquez and Adriana Hernandez (Father & Daughter)
A charming market with a wide variety of products right in the neighborhood in Southwest Detroit!
https://www.guadalajara2inc.com/
Vaquerita | Owner Jose Angel Rodriguez
Western apparel and accessories for the entire family
https://www.rodriguezvaquerita.com/
As Ned Staebler, TechTown’s CEO, stated at the Annual Toast of the Town celebration: “One of Detroit’s most valuable assets is its talent. This is our mission: ensuring that we can access all this talent and connect it to opportunities and resources. And this is my challenge to you: Stop accepting the conventional wisdom about Detroit… it takes intentionality but come and see for yourself. Do not expect talent in Detroit to look and sound or act like New York or like it does in Chicago, or like it does in the Valley, clear your filters, expand your definitions, trust the results, and invest in Detroit!”
