HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- From pandemic panic to pandemic pivot, 2020 started a scary journey for small business owner Victoria Berkeley.
The Henrico mom and owner of Victoria Berkeley Beauty said when COVID put the brakes on business.
"A lot of my business is face to face. It's meeting with women and working on women," she said. "So when the pandemic came, I had to change everything up. Had to learn how to do things differently. How do I keep the business flourishing and going without sitting directly in someone's face?"
Berkeley said once she gathered her wits, she pivoted and took her business to another level.
"I had to go more virtual. Great, now I reach the masses. I'm not just doing Virginia women or teaching them how to educate themselves in business, I reach people in Atlanta, North Carolina, or DC. So, that was the pivot point," she said.
A change she embraced and now plans to incorporate into her long-term business plan.
"The pandemic helped me to rebrand and regroup," she said. "It helped me with time. I think I'll always keep the virtual learning going."
Even though the pandemic slowed things a bit for Berkeley, she said she was now eyeing a move to bring her beauty line to a storefront. She also aspires to start a nonprofit to uplift young women and encourage them to reach for their dreams of running their own companies.