The Never-Ending Struggle to Sustain a Small Business
Delissa Reynolds, an actress, ran a popular local bar for years, until the neighborhood changed.
Editor’s Note: This article is part of Exit Interview, a series of conversations about leaving one’s career.
Like many theater rats, the actress Delissa Reynolds had juggled auditions with an on-and-off office job, “daylighting” as a temp at Citibank. She had some success as an actor, even landing two roles on Law and Order. But by 2002, Reynolds faced a reckoning in a field notoriously challenging for anyone who dares to age, particularly women. “I was 40, and did not want to be a 50-year-old temp,” she said.
9/11, still fresh in New Yorkers’ minds, had already led her to question how she could be more involved in her community. “So, while I figured out what’s next, I supported the firefighters because they had lost quite a few of
