Catch Us in the NEWS
"It Has Been A Year. 29 locals tell their stories of surviving the first confirmed COVID case, managing a shuttered music venue, writing obituaries, driving Metrobuses, performing comedy ...", Natalie Delgadillo, DCist, MARCH 5, 2021
![Artemis-Whyte[1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0a7f3a_46c1d88e40ff4860a11cf20ae80a5df9~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_474,h_355,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Artemis-Whyte%5B1%5D.jpg)
Artemis Whyte wears a lot of hats. Businesswoman, chef, caterer, community activist, and, for years, D.C. sidewalk vendor.
But the coronavirus pandemic brought an end to the 46-year-old’s days selling fruit, drinks, curry-q, oils and African jewelry on 14th Street NW and at festivals around the District. She immediately stopped going out, and hasn’t been back since.
There were fewer pedestrians milling around, she says, and even when they returned, Whyte didn’t feel comfortable selling anymore.“Even though people started going out, it’s scary,” she says. “And then things slowed down [economically], and there’s no money for people to buy things from the vendors.”
It didn’t help that Whyte’s mother fell ill last year, and she had to travel to her native Trinidad and Tobago to care for her. After her mother died and Whyte returned to D.C., she felt even further away from her old life as a vendor. She had no money left to buy inventory, and the longtime vending business she’d been nurturing felt like it had petered out.
For nearly a year now, Whyte has been scraping by with odd jobs and help from D.C. mutual aid groups, which have been distributing small stipends to street vendors who’ve lost income during the public health emergency. Once, she fell short on rent, and mutual aid came through and helped her pay it.
But lately, Whyte has been feeling inspired to focus on her real dream: starting an online business called Trini Love, which will sell candles, spices, food, and other Caribbean-style goods, some of the same things she used to vend. She’s just finished registering her business as an LLC. Whyte hopes that, sometime soon, other sidewalk vendors can begin selling some of her merchandise from their own carts and stalls. — Natalie Delgadillo