Love Local: Brighton and Hove is the latest venture of Emily Schlaikier, a Brighton Girl on a mission to bring together the city’s artists, bakers, entertainers and gift makers. The idea is simple: an online community platform to showcase the local goods and services available on our doorstep.

We interviewed Emily to find out more about how Brighton Girls can get involved in the platform.

Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself, and how you came up with the idea for Love Local?

I’m an Aussie ex-pat who lived in London for around 4 years before finding my way back to the seaside. I’ve been in Hove since July and have loved every minute of it! I joined the Brighton Girl Facebook group to connect with the amazing community of women in the area and I wanted to find a way to give back.

Quite often, I saw women who were creating beautiful products asking for alternative suggestions on how to market and sell them as they struggled with the commissions on Etsy and Shopify, or with building a following on social media.

I wanted to buy locally made gifts for friends but I didn’t know how to tap into the community of sellers. This prompted me to start the Love Local project.

From career coaches to graphic designers, your project is already supporting many local businesses. How can Brighton girls get involved if they want to showcase their work on your platform?

If anyone wants to join, there’s a downloadable sign up form available. I’ve tried to ensure the process is as straightforward for people as possible! When you join, you’ll get your very own page on the website and you can also provide all the external links to your own site, social media accounts and Etsy pages.

The idea isn’t to keep people trapped on the Love Local site – it’s to help local makers get their work found!

I’m asking for a one-off £20 joining contribution, which goes into the ongoing monthly costs of running the site. I also intend to start putting some of those contributions into social media advertising to help draw people to the site and benefit all the sellers listed!

While I can’t fund the project entirely on my own, my aim is to help the local community, so if anyone is struggling financially but still wants to be listed on the site, they should absolutely get in touch.

The past year has been tough on everyone so if you’re only able to contribute a smaller amount, or even if you can’t contribute anything at all, Love Local is still a place for you to share your work. 

Why is it important to you to have a community site where people can support local Brighton makers?

For me, it’s the double rainbow of both helping to minimise our impact on the environment by shopping locally and also supporting our neighbours within the community. Many of our sellers’ products will also be upcycled, organic or sustainably sourced.

While I’m sure we all desperately miss the days of wandering around a local arts and crafts market, at least we can still feel a sense of community knowing that we’re supporting those sellers and helping them do what they love (plus getting our hands on amazing one-of-a-kind products).

What are your hopes for Love Local in the Future? 

At the moment we’re in a recruitment phase to get more sellers listed on the site so that it really can become a one-stop-shop for all the great things that the local community has to offer. The site is going to continue to develop, including the addition of new categories as they are needed. Currently, the categories are: Handmade, Artists, Eatables and Services.

If you have a look at the site and aren’t sure if your business has a place there then I would encourage you to get in touch anyway and we can see if we can find or make a space for you. Basically, if you’re doing something great in the community, we want to know about it!

If anyone is a local seller or knows someone who is then please do get in touch on the website or you can email lovelocalbh@gmail.com.

At the City Girl Network, we are always keen to celebrate women setting up their own businesses or giving back to the community. If you would like to know more, please reach out to us.

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Written by Rosie Doyle