Small business owners find success in honoring their culture and cultivating local ties with TD.
Key Points
- Charleston area small business owners Marion “Rollen” Chalmers and Arun Drummond are using entrepreneurship to preserve Lowcountry culture and strengthen local community ties.
- Rollen’s RAW Grains grows heirloom Carolina Gold Rice, Charleston Gold Rice and other traditional grains, helping keep historic foodways alive while expanding a local business.
- Drummond Studio Gallery celebrates Gullah Geechee heritage through art and creates space for local and emerging artists to gain visibility.
- TD supports small business owners who help build thriving communities by investing in local relationships, cultural preservation and long-term growth.
- At the International African American Museum’s J.O.Y. event, sponsored by TD, small businesses, artists and community members honored culture, history and entrepreneurship.
Charleston, South Carolina, one of America’s oldest cities, has shaped the nation’s culture through its rich traditions in foodways, textiles and the arts.
For small business owner Marion “Rollen” Chalmers, that heritage is deeply personal. A fourth-generation rice grower in the Lowcountry, Rollen follows the methods once used by his great-great grandfather, who worked in local plantation fields as an enslaved person.
Those enduring traditions and the remarkable stories behind them, were proudly showcased in June at the International African American Museum’s J.O.Y. event, sponsored by TD. The day-long festival featured local small businesses, creatives, entertainers and more.
“It felt fitting that IAAM named the festivities J.O.Y., because joy is and always has been an essential part of the Black experience,” said Shelley Sylva, Head of Corporate Citizenship, TD Bank U.S.
Great grains are great business
Rollen, owner of Rollen’s RAW Grains, began getting his feet wet about 20 years ago in his own rice fields near Hardeeville, SC, when he was approached by the landowner to grow rice at the former Turnbridge Plantation.
“I started my business with the idea of having good grains — good quality and taste — that are heirloom grains,” Rollen said.
He is one of the few growers still cultivating Carolina Gold Rice and Charleston Gold Rice. Rollen also sells lesser known “rice grits,” which are made from middlins, the broken pieces created during the milling process of Carolina Gold Rice.
Growing these crops, once commonplace in the 17th and 18th centuries, is more than farming, it’s an act of cultural preservation.
The South Carolina Lowcountry was once part of the ‘Rice Coast,’ but the Carolina Gold variety was largely forgotten for more than a century after the Civil War and faced extinction until growers like Rollen revitalized the crops.
Rollen and his wife, Frances, began selling their products in farmers markets, supplying to other local brands and shipping across the U.S. In 2023, they opened a retail store in Hardeeville as a permanent location to sell the heirloom peas, rice, grits and other grains he grows.
Rollen said it was a good feeling to open his first business account at his local TD store. “When you got a bank that understands you and sees you, that helps as a business.”
As his business — and crops — grow, Rollen hopes to work with TD to fund more of his operations such as equipment financing.
How the art of business can benefit a community
Artist and gallery owner Arun Drummond ties his mixed-media artworks to the traditions of the Gullah Geechee people, who are descendants of once enslaved Africans on the lower Atlantic coast. His paintings are done on unbleached linen canvas and include woven sweetgrass elements and primarily use neutral colors.
“I paint the neutral colors and use sweetgrass to document that if we don’t preserve our culture, it will fade away,” Arun said. “Our history is the story.”
Arun began his art career as a framer in a local art gallery and eventually began making his own art. He sold it in spaces such as Charleston City Market but knew he needed more prominent space to also capture local buyers.
“In Charleston, tourism drives economics, and it’s hard to sometimes get the help you need if you’re not driven to the ‘right’ clientele,” he said.
He found assistance for his business vision with TD. Like Rollen, Arun came to the bank initially for its proximity. “I stayed because I’m banking with someone in my community,” he said.
In October 2025, Arun moved into a permanent space called Drummond Studio Gallery. He has a mission to use his space to exhibit other local and emerging artists and invest in his community.
“It’s community building and giving others an opportunity they might not have,” Arun said.
“What I’ve learned in my journey is what you put out there into the community you get back. That’s also what TD is doing.”
Building thriving communities
Together, Rollen and Arun show that small businesses often do more than sell a product or service — they can preserve history, create opportunity and strengthen the communities around them. At J.O.Y., their booths reflected the spirit of Charleston itself: rooted in culture and carried forward by entrepreneurs committed to honoring the past while building for the future. For TD, supporting small businesses is about investing in the people, places and traditions that help communities thrive.
“Supporting small businesses is an important part of how TD helps advance local economic growth and wealth-building, including in the Black community, and we are so proud to play a role in that work,” Shelley said.
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