Meals 4 Heels - SBLC Client Profile
Meals 4 Heels, owned by Nikeisah Newton, originally started as a late night healthy eating option for exotic dancers and sex workers. As Portland is both known for its eclectic food and high number of strip clubs per capita, Nikeisah sought to combine these two themes into a niche industry that could supply healthy eating options for late night workers. Beginning in January of 2019, news of Meals for Heels traveled via word of mouth and she took orders directly from Instagram direct messages, texts, calls, etc. Additionally, by being able to directly message Meals for Heals, Nikeisah was able to remove the “creepy guy factor” that comes with ordering from a food delivery app and having a complete stranger deliver food to a club.
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Meals 4 Heels, owned by Nikeisah Newton, originally started as a late night healthy eating option for exotic dancers and sex workers. As Portland is both known for its eclectic food and high number of strip clubs per capita, Nikeisah sought to combine these two themes into a niche industry that could supply healthy eating options for late night workers. Beginning in January of 2019, news of Meals for Heels traveled via word of mouth and she took orders directly from Instagram direct messages, texts, calls, etc. Additionally, by being able to directly message Meals for Heals, Nikeisah was able to remove the “creepy guy factor” that comes with ordering from a food delivery app and having a complete stranger deliver food to a club.
Nikeisah started working with the Small Business Legal Clinic in the fall of 2018 when a volunteer attorney drafted an independent contractor agreement. More recently, Nikeisah came through the Intern Program to trademark the business name. As she is single handedly running the company, Newton has to “juggle it all” on her own. The Small Business Legal Clinic was able to help take some pressure off Meals for Heals and, for Newton, it was nice to have a “someone in your back pocket who knows the law.”
The business has now expanded and also supports local community organizations and medical workers with healthy food options. Recent organizations Nikeisah has supplied meals for Don’t Shoot PDX, Frontline Foods, Pride NW, Trans PDX Housing, and many others. Nikeisah has many aspirations for her future including expanding into grab-and-go’s at grocery stores, opening a co-op run by her and sex workers, starting a food cart, and operating pop-ups outside of Oregon. Every day delivering her meals whether it is to community organizations, late night workers, or medical workers “is a wonderful, happy, grateful, blessed day.”
email sblc@lclark.edu
voice 503-768-6940
fax 503-768-6540
Executive Director Juliana Minn