By Paulina Albarracin
Queens has earned the nickname “The World’s Borough,” thanks to over one million immigrants contributing to its multicultural vibrance. The work ethic of immigrant-owned businesses has transformed the borough into a haven where tenacity breeds success. Christine Jeanjaquet, the Founder and Managing Director of the August Tree Inc., started the company in her living room and has since partnered with the Queens Museum to become their official gift shop. Joining the Queens Night Market as a vendor kickstarted her involvement with a dynamic community that selflessly supports each other. Jeanjaquet also operates the Unisphere Café at the Queens Museum, where customers purchase various beverages and snacks. She utilizes the lessons she learned as an aspiring entrepreneur in the Philippines before her NYC arrival in 2003. After spearheading the Hecho Local program amid the pandemic, she curates product lines to celebrate fellow Queens-based entrepreneurs and their stories. Through the community-oriented mindset that encapsulates its mission, the August Tree Inc. provides a space for those who call Queens home. Despite her challenges as a non-native speaker, Jeanjaquet moved past the struggles and established herself as a business force to be reckoned with.
What led you to become a business owner in New York City?
I was working as a preschool teacher, then for a shipping company, and then I managed a store at a museum. What I realized was that even as much as New York City is multicultural, for someone like me with a very thick Filipino accent, even if I had a high educational attainment, they didn’t think I was smart enough. It was getting exhausting, and I really wanted this to be my home because my husband is an immigrant too. I really love New York. I came to visit here growing up. I thought that for me to actually be able to do what I studied for, I wanted to start my own [business]. One of my coworkers at the shipping company said, “Let’s start a business!” I said I wanted to start it, and he said, “You know what? I’ll invest in it.” So, we started a business online [in 2013]. Nobody bought [our items] except my mom and my best friend. We would get five sales a week. It wasn’t enough to sustain us. And then we got wind of the Queens Night Market.
I have been to the Queens Night Market before!
We were one of the original vendors during the time when we didn’t know if there was going to be a Queens Night Market next week. We did that for five years. Sales were really good. We would have five lines of people in front of us just wanting to buy soap. After a while, the organizer [of the Queens Night Market] John said, “Do you have a store yet?” We were like, “No.” “Why are you still here?” [Laughs] And we realized that it was very difficult to have the store because we would try to apply for stores. There’s this stretch of stores in a subway station around 57 th [Street]. I was applying and they told me that it was $4,000 a month. I said, “Yeah, we can manage that,” because if we can get the sales at the Night Market, we would be able to do this. When I met up with them and the broker saw us and noticed the way we spoke, he became a little hesitant. I guess sometimes people are not exposed to a lot of different cultures even if they live in a city that is very multicultural.
I understand that.
We had a couple of instances like that. So, we just gave up. And then John, the organizer of the Night Market, introduced us to the Queens Museum. They loved us! They gave us the opportunity. That was five months, four months before the pandemic. [Laughs] The Museum was very supportive. I wanted to give back. When the Museum reopened in three months, they had a food pantry and I started a program called Hecho Local. I started the program teaching [people]
how to start their own businesses on Etsy. Mayor [Bill] DeBlasio actually featured us for the Hecho Local program.
What inspired you to run your gift shop in Queens, NY? What is it about the borough that makes it stand out from the rest of New York City?
When I moved here, I also stayed at Staten Island and Rockland County. But Queens felt like it was home. When we started joining the Queens Night Market, I met all these other vendors, and it felt like a community. That’s when I locked in on Queens, like, “Queens will be where my business is. Queens will be where my forever home is gonna be.” When I was 11, I went to an international summer camp where you have to learn to live with other cultures. You revel in everyone else’s differences, you accept it, and you learn from it. That’s how I feel about Queens. It’s a giant international summer camp. [Laughs]
How do you set your business apart from other gift shops in the area?
There is something that I am really proud about of my gift shop. In the Philippines, people speak both English and Tagalog [A native dialect in Manila, Philippines]. If you go to a bookstore, books are separated by topic, not language. I make sure that if you go into the bookstore, you see different language books side by side. When families bring their children in, they know that there’s a hundred different languages that is spoken here and that’s normal. That’s what sets this store apart. We want people to come here and feel represented and seen, but in the context of a multicultural setting. It’s a safe space for a lot of people.
What are some of your best learning experiences as an entrepreneur?
As an entrepreneur, it’s all a learning process. My biggest learning experience from all of this is that when you do a business, it’s not to make money. You have to have a purpose. If it serves the community, everyone is happy. That what makes it work. If you do not serve the community, your employees are unhappy. And I would not have realized that if I started the business in the Philippines where I am from. I only realized that because I’m an immigrant. When you try to make something of yourself in a place where it is absolutely new, you will realize that if you become part of the community, that’s when something happens. You bring who you are and see
how you share it to that community. As a business, that’s what you should do.
What advice would you give to an immigrant with dreams of running a business in Queens, NY?
You have to do it for the community and make sure, at the very beginning, to get all of your licenses in check. Register for a license. You can always ask for help with local government. Get your licenses in check. When you do your business plan, the planning can be very scary, but start with, “What can I do to serve for my community?” From there, that’s how you move forward.