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INDEX
Vol. CXXXII, No. 108
©2023 The Michigan Daily

N E WS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

S T A T E M E N T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

O P I N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, April 5, 2023

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Phillis Engelbert – Detroit Street Filling 
Station, The Lunch Room and 
North Star Lounge

Celebrating Women’s History Month with Ann Arbor businesses
 From yoga to tteokbokki, The Michigan Daily sat down with five female business owners based in Ann Arbor

IRENA LI, MARY COREY & 
EMMA SPRING
Daily News Editor & Daily Staff Reporters

You may not know her name, but there’s a good 
chance you’ve wined and dined at one of the 
three prominent Ann Arbor establishments run 
by Phillis Engelbert: Kerrytown staple Detroit 
Street Filling Station, the recently-opened North 

Star Lounge and The Lunch Room Bakery & 
Cafe in Huron Towers. With a focus on locally-
sourced produce and community organizing, 
Engelbert’s restaurants provide an assortment of 
eclectic vegan fare for their patrons.

Eve Aronoff Fernandez – Frita Batidos

Diana 
Marsh – 
Thistle & 
Bess

Whether you are shopping 
for classy gold jewelry, sparkly 
cocktail-themed 
Christmas 
ornaments or realistic food-
shaped candles, owner Diana 
Marsh promises that you don’t 
have to look any further than 
Thistle & Bess, a funky store 
full of surprises. Located on 
Ann Arbor’s 4th Avenue on 
the outskirts of the Kerrytown 
District, Thistle & Bess opened 
a physical location in 2015 after 
making its mark as an online 
antique jewelry store.

Ji Hye Kim – Miss Kim

Floor-to-ceiling glass panels and a stark 
white interior beckon Main Street passersby 
into the Cuban-inspired burger and “batido” 
joint, Frita Batidos, owned by Eve Aronoff 
Fernandez. 
The 
indoor 
picnic 
tables, 
reminiscent of a cozy backyard gathering, are 
often completely filled with patrons indulging 
in Cuban comfort food, including the signature 
frita burgers and batidos milkshakes the 
restaurant is named after. 

Aronoff Fernandez opened Frita Batidos in 
Ann Arbor in 2010, and a secondary location 
in Detroit nine years later. But before she 
crafted the best burger in the city, Aronoff 
learned about cooking from her Jewish 
mother in New York. In an interview with 
The Michigan Daily, Aronoff Fernandez said 
her passion for cooking stems from a long 
line of Jewish mothers who instilled the 
importance of nurturing through food in her.

Jessie Lipkowitz – aUM Yoga / Polarity

Nestled in the heart of Kerrytown, Miss Kim, 
an award-winning restaurant operated by Ji Hye 
Kim, serves traditional Korean cuisine with a 
contemporary twist. Kim opened the restaurant 
in 2016 as a part of Zingerman’s Community of 

Businesses through their Path to Partnership 
program, which allows anyone, regardless of 
previous business experience, to apply to either join 
an existing Zingerman’s business as a partner or, in 
Kim’s case, start their own. 

Jessie Lipkowitz has a journey full of twists and 
turns that led her to become the owner of aUM Yoga 
and Polarity, a yoga and pole studio located on South 
University Avenue in Ann Arbor. 

Lipkowitz said yoga has been a transformative 

practice for her and she hopes it has been for the 
other people who step into her studio as well. 
“Yoga saved my life,” Lipkowitz said. “In no way 
am I saying that yoga is a cure, but it is definitely a 
tool and a tool I’m very passionate about sharing.” 

Read more about these five businesses at michigandaily.com

ASHLEY GRAY/Daily
KEITH MELONG/Daily

ELLIE VICE/Daily

SOPHIA AFENDOULIS/Daily

BELA FISCHER/Daily

Women are at the forefront of a new wave in entrepreneurship, with one survey finding that nearly half of all new businesses in 
the United States in 2021 were founded by women. Despite this growth, women continue to face barriers to entry and growth while 
women business owners remain underrepresented at large. To celebrate Women’s History Month, The Michigan Daily’s business 
beat spent March sitting down with five female business owners based in Ann Arbor to discuss their stories and experiences.