Women’s Small Business Month: The Famly Bizness’ 3 Black Women Business Owners Take On Fashion, Retail & Entertainment

California family business brings together affordable fashion, entrepreneurship, music and entertainment while creating opportunities for independent designers.

CARSON, CA, UNITED STATES, September 29, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — As National Women’s Small Business Month #BuyWomenOwned begins, three Southern California Black women business owners are growing a family enterprise with ambitions across affordable fashion, retail, entertainment and entrepreneurship.

Bonita Sutton, Celecia Tymeka Johnson and Lashelle Sanders are the women behind The Famly Bizness, a Carson, California based family business offering headwear, clothing, purses, sports themed apparel, accessories, collectibles and keepsakes. The women are also developing a larger vision that includes full figure fashion, opportunities for independent designers and small businesses, and entrepreneurship education for young people.

Their story comes as women continue to expand their presence in American business. The number of women owned employer businesses in the United States increased nearly 20 percent between 2017 and 2023, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

For Sutton, Johnson and Sanders, Women’s Small Business Month is also an opportunity to discuss what women build beyond revenue: skills, businesses, relationships and knowledge that can be transferred to another generation.

“When one of us wins, the famly wins,” Sanders said.

Affordable Fashion, Retail and a Bigger Marketplace

The Famly Bizness began with Sutton’s background in millinery and has expanded into a broader selection of fashion and retail products.

Sutton was the youngest student in a Saturday millinery class at West Los Angeles College, later continuing her training through adult night school. She learned traditional techniques for shaping felt and straw, working with wooden hat blocks, steam and stretchers, and constructing hats with buckram, wire and connectors.

She founded Hats by Bonita in 2008 while also building a career in information systems at Harbor UCLA Medical Center. Today, Sutton wants to pass those skills forward and include full figure clothing in the family’s fashion vision.

“I believe in passing the torch,” Sutton said.

Sanders brings another priority to the retail side of the company: making style accessible to everyday consumers. Her vision includes hats, clothing, purses and accessories that allow customers to feel good without spending a fortune.

The family’s longer term plans extend beyond selling its own merchandise. The women envision a marketplace where independent designers, small businesses and young entrepreneurs can gain visibility and reach customers.

From Fashion to Music and Entertainment

The women behind The Famly Bizness also bring careers and experiences well outside traditional retail.

Johnson is a classically trained lyric soprano who studied music performance at El Camino College and California State University, Dominguez Hills. In 2013, she toured Europe with hip hop, traveling through Germany, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Norway and Austria. She has released music, performed poetry and spoken word, and has a manuscript in progress.

Today, Johnson uses equipment including Glowforge and press machines to make products for the business while also mentoring children. Sanders brings a background in acting, hosting and stand-up comedy, along with firsthand memories from a consequential period in Los Angeles hip hop history. Sanders says she knew Tupac Shakur as a close friend, grew up around hip hop circles that included Dr. Dre, and that her singing can be heard on a Dr. Dre song.

Those experiences give the family business an unusual intersection of fashion, entrepreneurship, music and entertainment, while giving Sanders an opportunity to discuss the people and culture surrounding an important period in hip hop from a personal perspective.

Building Beyond Their Own Family

The Famly Bizness also has a community mission rooted in the family’s own experience. Cloesha Sutton spent roughly a decade at the Boys & Girls Club Main Street Clubhouse, where instructors, mentors and Cal State Dominguez students helped with homework, introduced children to sports and encouraged them to envision their futures.

Years later, that experience helped inspire the family to develop workshops exposing young people to creativity, entrepreneurship and financial literacy. The family describes its approach to generational growth as passing skills, access and confidence from one person to another through fashion, making and mentorship.

During National Women’s Small Business Month, Sutton, Johnson and Sanders are available for individual and group interviews on women owned businesses, affordable fashion, family entrepreneurship, traditional millinery, music and entertainment, hip hop history, mentorship and passing business skills between generations.

Consumers can explore The Famly Bizness at https://www.TheBestFamilyBusiness.com.

About The Famly Bizness
The Famly Bizness is a Black women led, family-owned business based in Carson, California. Its merchandise includes headwear, clothing, purses, sports themed apparel, accessories, collectibles, and keepsakes. The family’s broader vision includes affordable and inclusive fashion, entrepreneurship, mentorship, and opportunities for independent designers, small businesses, and young entrepreneurs.

Sharifah Hardie
Famly BizNess
+1 562-822-0965
sharifah@asksharifah.com
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