How the Women @ Work Grant Helped Folcland Grow — And Why Your Gift Matters

Independent retail is tough in any year. It’s even tougher in a mountain town where every dollar has to work hard. Folcland is proof that investment in local women entrepreneurs pays off for the whole community.

From vision to boutique

Before opening Folcland in 2020, founder Alyssa Pullekines spent a decade in retail operations and management for pioneering multi-brand boutiques in Pennsylvania and New York City. “Working closely with tight-knit teams, emerging designers, and small batch artists inspired my own vision for an independent boutique committed to slower, responsibly made fashion,” Alyssa says. “Folcland is the ultimate expression of that.”

Folcland brings responsibly made pieces to Breckenridge, with a focus on designers using natural and organic materials that are hard to find on the mass market.

What a Women @ Work grant made possible

In 2023, Folcland received a WOTS Women @ Work grant. “Thanks to the grant award, I was able to fast track many of my business goals,” Alyssa says. Here’s what that looked like in action:

• Participated in the StartUp Colorado Founders Coopetition

• Hired a local marketing consultant for hands-on strategy support

• Expanded Folcland’s selection of small local vendors

• Invested in professional photography with a local photographer

• Built new merchandising displays to carry more small products

• Ran local digital advertising with KSMT/Always Mountain Time

“The combination of these efforts led to our strongest year of business yet in 2024 with continued momentum going into 2025 despite broader economic challenges,” Alyssa says.

Community is the true return

Grants change more than a balance sheet. They build confidence and community. “One of the most valuable things I’ve taken from WOTS was the push to invest in myself as an entrepreneur,” Alyssa says. When she was encouraged to “create my own meet-up,” she launched a Retail Owners Meet + Greet that helped restart a retailers association in Breckenridge. She also partnered with complementary women-owned businesses, tapped resources from StartUp Colorado, and helped restart ShopBreck. That’s the ripple your gifts create.

Why Summit County matters

“Nearly everything,” Alyssa says when asked what she loves about living here. “The proximity to the outdoors and ability to recreate in nature daily was my primary motivation for moving to the county. The incredible community I’ve found both personally and professionally has only solidified how much this place feels like home.”

Your gift fuels the next Folcland

End-of-year giving to W powers Women @ Work grants, peer mentoring, and the kind of confidence that turns ideas into storefronts. If Folcland’s story made you smile, imagine what the next grant will unlock.

Give today to Women of the Summit and help more founders write their next chapter.