Tiffany Cartwright was the first finalist to take the stage on May 9 at the Wayne State University Industry Innovation Center. The four other Hatch Detroit semifinalists, Harry Rich Clothier, Khana, Roller Skate Detroit, and her own G.L.A.M. Body Scrubs, watched from the room.
Cartwright went first because she had been practicing her pitch alone on the stage before doors opened. When the judges and the public votes finished tallying, she had won. Comerica handed her a $100,000 ceremonial check.
Her son shouted "That's my mom" from the crowd.Cartwright started G.L.A.M. Body Scrubs in 2018. Before that, she was an assistant attorney general for the State of Michigan, a judicial clerk, and an administrative law judge.
She was laid off in 2012, which cost her insurance, benefits, and eventually her home. She started making natural skincare products in 2018 to soothe her infant daughter's eczema. The line grew.
By 2020 she had incorporated and turned the kitchen experiments into a Detroit-based small business.G.L.A.M. is an acronym. Giving Love to All Mankind. The company is a certified woman- and minority-owned business, and the part of its mission Cartwright leads with is the workforce one.
She hires women who have survived domestic violence and human trafficking. She hires returning citizens. The work happens with the kind of training, mentorship, and patience that the typical retail job doesn't provide.The Comerica Hatch Detroit Contest is now in its 12th year.
It has put more than $1.1 million in direct grant funding into Detroit small businesses since 2012, and the alumni list is the actual measure of the program's track record. La Feria, Sister Pie, Meta Physica Massage, Baobab Fare, 27th Letter Books, Little Liberia, and Bouncing Around the Motor City have all won and all opened. Most are still operating.
The win pattern is now well-established enough that the contest functions less as a lottery and more as the seed round for a particular kind of Detroit retail entrepreneur.The three runners-up at Cartwright's Hatch Off all received $10,000 from a Michigan Economic Development Corporation small business grant. Cartwright will use her $100,000 to open a brick-and-mortar storefront for G.L.A.M. Body Scrubs.
The plan is to do that as soon as the storefront's ready and the workforce is in place.G.L.A.M. Body Scrubs, Detroit.
