During the shutdown, many businesses were required to close, limit their capacities and/or change regular operation. It was crucial for consumers to consider where their money was going. Who owns that restaurant? Are those items made locally? Do I want to spend less at a corporation or would I rather keep a local business in business? 

Seattle-based business Intentionalist aims to help you answer these questions. Created three years ago by founder and CEO Laura Clise, Intentionalist is an online database that filters small businesses by community and recommends users where to shop and eat. Though most listings are in Seattle, Intentionalist also posts about businesses in other cities as well as other states.

The user-friendly website’s home page — which states “Spend Like It Matters” — is simple: type in a product/service and a neighborhood, then pick a community, such as Black-owned, Asian-owned, LGBTQ-owned, woman-owned and/or more. A click of the pink “Search” button brings you to a list catered to your choices.

Journalism alumn joins Intentionalist team

Kristina Rivera, who graduated from Western Washington University in 2019 with a degree in Public Relations and a minor in Spanish, now works as Intentionalist’s Marketing and Communications Coordinator. At WWU, Rivera enjoyed how multifaceted the PR program was because she learned both writing and design. She now applies these skills constantly to her Intentionalist work.

Before she started at Intentionalist, Rivera was a public relations intern. When the pandemic began, she wasn’t sure what could happen to her position, so she began job searching. Through a connection from her internship she found Intentionalist. Now, as a member of the small team, she wears many hats. Rivera writes the weekly newsletter, helps run the social media, creates graphics/illustrations, writes website copy and writes a bi-weekly column with the South Seattle Emerald. 

Rivera and others at Intentionalist are also responsible for managing business suggestions, which anyone is welcome to make on the website. 

“We typically get between 10 to 20 suggestions a week, but it also depends on the time of year,” Rivera said. “Last June, when all the protests were happening mid-pandemic, and people were becoming more aware of who they wanted to support, we saw hundreds and hundreds of people suggesting businesses for the website.”

The suggestion process has evolved in the last year. The Intentionalist team verifies the business is a “small business” and/or a brick and mortar. Kristina will often reach out to business owners while writing a listing, so that owners can make changes and provide photos. 

According to Rivera, Intentionalist has over 4,000 listings now. A typical listing includes a short description, the owner’s name and photos. Recently, Intentionalist added a new feature that allows users to “Leave a Recommendation” if they’re logged in. Rivera said they focus on positive aspects, so the website is not like Yelp or Google Reviews.

Blog posts include owner profiles, which aim to give more information about a business owner, as well as “Top 10” lists, such as 10 Unique Gifts for Mother’s Day or In-TEN-tionalist Guide to Black Owned Businesses in Los Angeles.

“Our main thing is having people get to know the people behind the businesses because small businesses are so much more than the products that they sell,” Rivera said. “It’s been so great being able to interview business owners because they’re literally just talking about their dreams. Every single interview I’ve had, they’ve all been so sweet and they all do so much for their communities.”

One business Rivera wrote about that stood out to her was Black Coffee Northwest Café in Shoreline, Washington, which puts social justice first.

“Not many businesses, big or small, put their beliefs at the forefront,” Rivera said. 

Black Coffee NW is upfront about supporting the Black Lives Matter Movement and openly endorses city hall candidates. The owners have done community work in Shoreline for years, including starting the city’s BLM chapter. Rivera finds the business inspiring, especially because Black Coffee NW hires youth of color to help them with business and job training that they wouldn’t have necessarily received otherwise. 

“I feel like it’s become kind of a platitude, where it’s like you should support local businesses and you always know that it’s good to,” Rivera said. “But, I feel like I didn’t truly understand how much small businesses do for our communities until I started working for Intentionalist.”

Because she works on such a small team, Rivera is able to take on work that wasn’t originally in her job description, such as creating graphics for social media. 

“I feel like I have a bigger say in a smaller team than I ever did at my internship with a big company,” Rivera said. “I feel like I’m able to make this job what I want.”

Though she’s worked at Intentionalist for nearly a year, Rivera hasn’t even met her coworkers in person because they’ve all been working remotely. She misses the social life of the office, and interviewing people face-to-face. However, she believes this position has been a great start to her career. She is building her portfolio and exploring different avenues of the PR world. 

“The most gratifying part of this job is being able to build these connections and talk with small business owners,” Rivera said. “I’ve just cried multiple times with small business owners talking about how they are dealing with the pandemic or just their stories of how they got here. They’re all so different, they’re all so sweet and it’s great to focus on—during the pandemic—something really positive.”

Current journalism student interns at Intentionalist

Jax Kiel, who graduates this spring with a degree in News/Editorial, was searching for internships to complete their degree when they saw a post from Rivera on the journalism student Facebook about an internship opportunity. 

“Honestly I was kind of panicking trying to find an internship so I could graduate in the spring,” Kiel said. “I saw it and it was before I knew much about it. I was like, ‘I need an internship. I might as well just apply.’ So I applied. I learned more about [Intentionalist] and I was like, ‘this is actually really cool.’”

Originally, Kiel was supposed to intern for three months, but they’ve been at Intentionalist for five months now. Kiel is not sure how long the part-time internship will last, but they are planning on staying as long as they can. 

“I personally would like to work there until I find my big-kid job,” Kiel said. 

Kiel admires Intentionalist’s founder, Clise, for leaving a secure job in order to pursue something she believes in. 

“Having a boss that you talk to every week who genuinely believes in the work that they’re doing is really cool and motivates you,” Kiel said.

During winter quarter, Kiel took classes while completing the internship, but is now focusing solely on Intentionalist. Kiel primarily writes listings, but they also write blog posts and manage social media. They’re happy to build their resume and proud of their published work. 

Kiel is working remotely from Bellingham, Washington, but they have gone to a couple local businesses for Intentionalist, such as Wink Wink and a few restaurants. Intentionalist aims to highlight the faces behind the food/product, and Kiel loves getting to know small business owners, such as Wink Wink’s Jenn Mason. 

“She’s so amazing. She’s sex positive, she’s gender positive. She’s really an incredible and kind person,” Kiel said. “My coworkers and I were talking about this the other day… Once you start to do a lot of listings in a certain area, you can just drive down that street and know each place’s story. It brings the city to life.”

One of the benefits of working remotely was that Kiel wrote about Bellingham businesses in their blog post An InTENtional List of Bellingham Businesses Giving Back.

From home, Kiel was able to also attend Intentionalist’s 3rd Anniversary event in April. They were inspired by the business owners who spoke about how the pandemic affected their businesses, including the increase of community support. Business owners agreed that when the pandemic is over, they hope that people continue supporting small businesses.

3rd Anniversary

On April 30, 2021, Intentionalist celebrated it’s three-year anniversary with a virtual event for people to get to know some of their favorite small business owners. The panel was hosted by journalist Ruchika Tulshyan, who led a conversation with four diverse business owners. Intentionalist paired the event with a “takeout dinner” made up of featured food from the four restaurants:

1. First Course: Mini-tamales from Frelard Tamales, owned by Osbaldo Hernandez and his husband, Dennis Ramey.
2. Second Course: Salad from Terra Plata, owned by Linda Di Lello Morton and her wife, Tamara Murphy.
3. Main Course: Berbere meatballs or Za’luk vegetable stew from Salare, owned by Edouardo Jordan. 
4. Dessert: P.O.G. Cheesecake from Hood Famous Bakeshop, owned by Chera Amlag and Geo Quibuyen.

Tulshyan began the event by recognizing Clise, Intentionalist’s founder. “Laura, you are my inspiration,” Tulshyan said. “You’re such an amazing person and you have done so much for our community at a time when we have gone through unspeakable pain. So, thank you for holding space for all of us.”

Kiel wrote about the virtual event in their blog post Cheers to Three: A recap of Intentionalist’s three year anniversary celebration, which highlights some of the most memorable moments and inspiring quotes from the panelists. 

As more folks are vaccinated and businesses continue returning to regular operation, consider visiting Intentionalist online to learn more about where you are spending and who you are supporting. As Intentionalist says: spend like it matters. 

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