Radical Women: Kim Hill's Brooklyn boutique with a community mission
NEW YORK - If you're taking a stroll down Tompkins Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, you might just stumble upon Kim Hill's hidden gem: Radical Women, which isn't just a boutique but an entire movement.
"The name is really contagious and people are drawn to it, kind of going: 'What is this? What is this 'Radical Women' thing?" Hill said. "'What is this about?'"
Hill, a former musician and founding member of The Black Eyed Peas, swapped rhythm and soul for fashion, opening up her clothing shop with three other designers in early 2018.
The boutique was inspired by a critically-acclaimed exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, which shines a spotlight on more than a hundred Latina artists from 15 countries.
"Choreographers, visual artists, writers—this collective of women got together and they bartered, and they made this resurgence of amazing art that women helped each other foster, and nurture through this ideology," Hill said. "And they called themselves 'radical women.'"
Hill has since become the sole owner of the boutique, with some help from her son, Cassius. The store is now home to Hill's natural body care line, Next of Kim, as well as vintage clothing, shoes, and jewelry.
However, Hill wants her customers to leave with a bigger message regardless of what's on the price tag.
"This is a community predominantly of people of color, and even with the gentrifiers, somebody that you know is affected by a health challenge," Hill said.
She told us women undergoing radiation and chemotherapy began to shop at her boutique, searching for all-natural products to help them through their cancer treatments.
That's when the boutique transformed from just a clothing store to a safe space in a community still struggling with poverty and crime.
"I need people to feel and understand that there's an entry point for them," Hill said. "They can come in and buy something for $5. They can buy something for $500."
Hill plans to launch a podcast called Radical Conversations to echo the kinds of discussions happening inside her store.
Radical Women | 384 Tompkins Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11216 | radicalwomenbk.com