Florida

As an LGBTQIA+ parent, Michaelene Cadiz knows there’s no one definition of family. What unites all parents of infants, though, are the milestones babies share—from teething and weaning to (hopefully) sleeping through the night. In 2016, the mom-turned-entrepreneur launched Bazzle Baby, a line of smart, stylish products designed to make early parenthood easier.

To help spread her brand’s message of inclusivity and love, Cadiz turned to Amazon—and has since reached millions of customers. With Amazon’s support, Bazzle Baby has grown tenfold in sales and amplified its mission: to support all kinds of families, at every stage of the journey.

Traditional models don’t work when you’re setting trends. It’s no longer about choosing between digital and physical presence, one location or another. Fazit’s using Amazon’s tools to be everywhere—from college campuses to concert venues, social media to shopping malls. It’s a model that creates jobs across regions, meets customers in their moment, and allows them to capitalize on every opportunity to build long-term growth.

“The future of retail isn’t about choosing between digital and physical presence,” said Aliett Buttelman, Fazit co-founder. “It’s about having partners like Amazon who understand that success comes from being everywhere your customers are, while creating jobs and opportunities along the way.”

When fans started relisting their Youtooz collectibles on Amazon, Austin Long, CEO of Youtooz, knew he had to rethink his sales strategy. In the first month of selling in the Amazon store, Long said the concern ‘Amazon would cannibalize his direct-to-consumer sales’ went away. Long learned that instead of buying on his website or the Amazon store, customers were doing both.

“We definitely find that on Amazon there’s a lot more gifting,” said Long. “There’s people buying it for someone else and we see a lot of repeat sales; someone orders something on our website and they really love it, so they’ll get a second one on Amazon,” said Long.

Years ago, as an architecture student at Florida A&M University, David Castro would buy plain t-shirts and bring them to life with paint, using the garments to tell empowering stories with artistic flair.

“The inspiration came from not having the finances to pay for things I thought were cool,” Castro said. Over time their canvas expanded to hats, which have since become what they call ‘crowns for the culture’ and the centerpiece of Dungeon Forward’s thriving business.

“Streetwear is not the first thought that comes to mind when you think of royalty, but the ideas that move the world and drive everything come from the street,” said Castro. With the Amazon Black Business Accelerator, Dungeon Forward is redefining streetwear and changing the perspective on what a crown could look and feel like.

Married couple Oliver and Alejandra James bring complementary personalities to their Miami-based baby product business, Ali+Oli.

“I handle most of the physical and she does most of the brain work,” Oliver said. “She’ll love that answer.”

As parents to three children, they were looking for ways to spend more quality time as a family and decided to start selling online, including in the Amazon store. The shift has given them the freedom to do more of what they love—focus on their family and expand their collection of innovative products, like their stackable snack bowl sets and star-shaped binky holders.