About
Ethos
Small Biz San Antonio started as a simple list of diverse small businesses that Ann Horst wanted to support during the height of the pandemic. After arriving from San Diego, she was pained by all the restaurants and stores that were closing and by the growing political and social division in the nation. She felt the need to push back on all of it.
After sharing her idea with likeminded people on the Nextdoor App and on Facebook, it became clear there was a demand for a directory of diverse, underserved, and inclusive small businesses in San Antonio. It would allow shoppers to intentionally spend their hard-earned dollars at inclusive, tolerant, and welcoming businesses while fostering a more compassionate community.
Around the same time she learned about the international Charter for Compassion and their Compassionate City movement. San Antonio is an official Compassionate City, signed into Resolution by Mayor Nirenberg in June, 2017. Ann strongly felt that this was a sign that she was on the right track and she launched Small Biz San Antonio, LLC. She wanted the business model to grow from a foundation of compassion instead of from profit and Ann is thrilled to have been declared a "Partnered Business" of Charter of Compassion.
Ann wants to help reverse the effects of redlining back in the 1930s which essentially caused generational poverty on the Eastside, Westside, and Southside of San Antonio among other areas where black, brown, and Native American populations have been negatively affected by their inability to obtain small business loans and mortgages. Back then, maps were literally drawn with red lines to show where loans and mortgages were too "dangerous" to award. These areas, of course coincided with non-white populated areas. Today, maps showing high poverty rates in San Antonio closely mirror those same redlined areas from yesterday.
Ann created a logo for her business with the shape of San Antonio and the beltways. The bright colors represent tolerance, inclusivity, and compassion for others. The blue S running through the middle represents the river running through town delivering nutrients to our Small Biz from the North to the South, from the West to the East, and vice versa. The bold red line at the top of the logo reminds us of just how damaging the redlining policy was to people's lives.
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Meet the Founder
Ann Horst is the Founder of Small Biz San Antonio. The Seattle native grew up in Italy and in France due to her father's career with Boeing International. Her mother is French and Ann is a dual citizen of France and the US. In the early 1970s, her elementary school in Rome, Italy welcomed three generations of Cambodian refugees who fled the Khmer Rouge regime. The school was home to students from around the world, especially from Africa, where her father worked. This early experience with compassion and friends from all over the world helped Ann to develop a passion for equality and social justice at a young age.
Ann has two amazing children, now ages 18 and 26. They both reside in the San Diego area and Ann starts planning her next trip to visit them as soon as she returns to San Antonio. On disability, Ann works Part-Time as a French Teacher at Keystone School and resides in the beautiful and historic Alta Vista neighborhood where she is active on the board of the Alta Vista Neighborhood Association.
For fun, Ann enjoys discovering San Antonio, meeting small business owners at farmer's markets around town, painting rocks to hide for strangers to find, and going on hikes at local parks. She spoils her chihuahua, Peyton, and takes him everywhere. Ann loves to read and to listen to all kinds of music including classical music concerts performed around town.
Ann is an ardent mental-health advocate and social justice warrior.
Ann with her two kids, Laura and Michael
Mission and Vision
Our mission is to create a network of diverse and inclusive small businesses, organizations, and shoppers that are committed to creating a just economy and a more compassionate community in San Antonio.
Our vision is to create more just economies around the world by uplifting diverse, underserved, and inclusive small biz and organizations, one city at a time.
Affiliate Links
NEW!
The costs of maintaining this site are going up and instead of asking Small Biz in San Antonio to pay a fee to be listed, Ann would prefer to sell products through affiliate links to earn a little income.
Vendors selected for this section sell affordable eco-friendly, zero-waste, all natural pet-treats, or other products that Ann has not been able to find locally.
The affiliate link platform used is ShareASale.com and is known as a fair and ethical business partner with a goal of supporting performance-based partnership. Small Biz in San Antonio are encouraged to become vendors with ShareaSale.com by using this link in order to support SmallbizSA.com in the process.
Then, send us your affiliate info so we can link it to your listing!
Thank you for your support!
Ann
#smallbizSA
#supportthisdirectory
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