Three years ago, Jennifer Leveque started a business selling false eyelashes. The online company, Whipped Lash New York Inc., has her, well, fluttering.
“I get calls at 8 in the morning and 12 at night” from women who need eyelashes in a hurry, Leveque, of North Babylon, told the Press. Leveque has had to make all the deliveries – as many as five to 10 a week – herself. That has taken time from tending to her company.
Now, the delivery part of her business will be handled, as a result of a $125,000 program funded by Suffolk County, which received the money from the federal government. Leveque’s company is one of 40 small businesses in Suffolk that are members of the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce that will be able to participate in the $125,000 program that offers same-day delivery service to customers.
The program is the brainchild of Adam Haber, cofounder of Trellus Same-Day Local Delivery and Marketplace, a tech start-up, in Long Beach. Haber applied to Suffolk County for the $125,000 grant, and partnered with the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce. The federal money was part of a pandemic-relief program.
Those companies approved for funding will each receive $2,500 in credits to use Trellus, which has 18 employees and more than 100 gig drivers who can transfer products across Long Island, and into Queens and Westchester counties.
Haber said the credits equal more than 200 deliveries. The credits don’t expire until Dec. 31, 2026.
Chamber officials said that small businesses that are not chamber members should join and then they will become eligible to apply for the grant program. The grant application can be found at bytrellus.com/jumpsmart.
Haber, who has had a long career in finance and started two restaurants in New York City that have since been sold, said he came up with the idea for Trellus when his wife would ask him to pick up something – wine, for example – on the way home. Why wasn’t there a service for this sort of thing, he asked himself.
“The whole purpose of this business was to help small businesses,” Haber said. “We want to keep small business thriving.” Such businesses, he said, need help competing with Amazon and other online giants.
Haber said that Trellus has made some 114,000 deliveries in the past three years for more than 480 businesses, the vast majority of which are on Long Island. He said Trellus has flower and chocolate shops, retailing clothing stores, and small pharmacies.
Trellus works only with small businesses and franchisees. Haber does not want to see the county populated with Walmarts.
“Every politician says shop local,” Haber said. “That’s what we’re trying to encourage.”
Phil Andrews, executive director of the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, agreed to partner with Trellus immediately.
“The value to small business is tremendous,” Andrews said. “This is going to give marketing dollars to companies. It gives them so much more economic power.” Additionally, Andrews said, Suffolk County benefits as well, as growing companies will be able to hire more employees.
Dr. Neva Alexander, who runs a business consulting company that offers training and event planning, also hosts an International Womens’ Conference annually. She said that Trellus would assist her company with marketing events.
And Jordan Isaac, owner of Cornucopia Business Consulting in Yaphank, said he will be able to help his clients improve their companies.
“This will put money in their pockets,” Isaac said.
Haber said that Trellus is raising “significant” revenue and that he expects the company to be profitable in late 2025.
Haber also plans, sometime in July, to launch an app, an online store for small companies. Almost $4 million has been raised for that effort, he said. Trellus will receive a percentage of each sale made from the app.
Haber said that future plans will expand the Trellus brand nationwide.
For 35-year-old Leveque, Whipped Lash is her first business, and she does not want it to be her last. That is why she wants to focus on running the company instead of running to make deliveries. She worked hard, she said, to build up to where she is now. She has a background in biotech and has always had an interest in the eyes, how they are shaped and how they function. Her eyelashes are vegan and reusable.
The grant program, she said, “Gives me back time.”
