CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Michelle Taylor is the owner of Bonded Charlotte. She sells bracelets that stay on your wrist permanently.
“I am doing a little micro-weld on the bracelet to close the little ring, so that it can’t open and your bracelet doesn’t just fall right off,” she said as she welded a bracelet closed, fitting snug around her daughter Maggie’s tiny wrist.
They were a military family and moved around a lot. When that was over, career shifts for Taylor and her husband had them to move even more — from California, to Utah and Arizona, and now the East Coast. Her daughter Mayli is 11 and has moved a dozen times, making it hard to hold onto friends. but Taylor says Mayli has always had her sister.
“They’re absolutely best friends,” Taylor said. “And it’s something I really wanted her — well, both of them really — to have on a daily basis. So that anytime they’re feeling alone or frustrated or scared, that they always had that connection to each other.”
Maggie switches places with her older sister, Mayli, so she can get her own bracelet. And just like that, they’re are bonded in more ways than one, with matching bracelets.
This weekend Taylor wants to spread that bond to Charlotte residents through Small Business Saturday.
“I am hoping that people will give a gift that is an experience that’s more than something you’re just going to get and then it’s going to get thrown away and forgotten later,” said Taylor. “I am hoping that by shopping small here, that you will give something that will last a lifetime.”
This time of year determines just how well she’s doing as a business owner.
“It makes the difference between me being able to pay myself as a business owner, versus not,” she said.
Thanks to Small Business Saturday, more help is on the way for businesses hit hard by Hurricane Helene. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation along with American Express has pledged $5 million in grants for those still recovering from the storm. Funding raised through that pledge this Saturday will go toward additional grants.