St. Paul woman opens storefront for Lip Esteem cosmetics line

Tameka Jones, who grew up in St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood, was a makeup artist for more than 20 years when she was furloughed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So she took all her savings and started a plant-based cosmetics company called Lip Esteem.

Barber completes dream of owning shop despite pandemic challenges

After years of cutting hair at 3M, Collette Lease thought she’d lost everything at the start of the pandemic, when her flow of regular customers vanished. But after about half of a year without work, the barber created something bigger and better.