Rhode Island
Google helps Rhode Island businesses move toward their goals
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$2.2B of economic activity
In 2025, Google helped provide $2.2 billion of economic activity for thousands of Rhode Island businesses, nonprofits, publishers, creators, and developers
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67,000 Rhode Island businesses
More than 67,000 Rhode Island businesses used Google’s tools at no cost to receive phone calls, bookings, reviews, requests for directions, or other direct connections to their customers
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$1M+ of Ad Grants to nonprofits
In 2025 alone, Google.org provided more than $1 million worth of donated search ads to Rhode Island nonprofits through the Google Ad Grants program
$2.2Bof economic activity
In 2025, Google helped provide $2.2 billion of economic activity for thousands of Rhode Island businesses, nonprofits, publishers, creators, and developers
67,000 Rhode Island businesses
More than 67,000 Rhode Island businesses used Google’s tools at no cost to receive phone calls, bookings, reviews, requests for directions, or other direct connections to their customers
$1M+of Ad Grants to nonprofits
In 2025 alone, Google.org provided more than $1 million worth of donated search ads to Rhode Island nonprofits through the Google Ad Grants program
Featured businesses
Roam Loud
Toyin Omisore’s maternal grandmother inspired her to forge her own path, so when she founded an activewear company in 2020, she named it Roam Loud. “Her personality and legacy embodied the essence of roaming loud in the world,” she explains. The brand was sparked by Toyin’s own fitness journey and the boost she got from wearing fashionable activewear; she designs premium leggings and other apparel that help women feel confident. “I didn’t just want to sell bras and leggings,” she says. “I wanted it to mean something, and I wanted women who look like me to see themselves in the fitness space.” Roam Loud launched at East Coast pop-up shops; today, they’re sold in national retailers and select yoga studios. Toyin ships to Canada and the UK via her e-commerce site, and recently, Australia. “That was remarkable,” she says. “We’re definitely expanding globally.”
“Using Gemini helps me refine my writing and expand on my ideas. This has allowed me to shave two to three hours off my work.”
As “Wanderer in Chief” and a solopreneur, Toyin uses Google Workspace as a central hub to collaborate with consultants, photographers, and creators. She shares folders in Google Drive, like the one with an audio clip library that helps everyone in the Roam Loud ecosystem correctly pronounce apparel names like “Bai” or “Sele.” To help refine how she refers to her brand, Toyin puts details into Gemini Notebook, then has it generate a podcast. “It’s been so helpful to hear the brand being spoken about from a different angle,” she says. Gemini helps her fine-tune product descriptions so they accurately reflect the fabric or feel of an item, and clarify step-by-step instructions for processing orders or returns. “Gemini can help me shave off hours per day,” she says. Gemini also helps her map out onboarding procedures for leaders in Roam Loud Outdoors, a community initiative that organizes in-person activities like runs or hikes. “My grandmother was limited by her times,” Toyin says. “This is my way of doing so much more through her.”
Products
Emmymade
Emmy Cho always wanted to live abroad and didn’t hesitate when she had the chance to move to Japan for two years. But she found herself feeling lonely, so she reached out to the world by starting a YouTube channel, Emmymade in Japan, in 2011. She started with craft projects, but soon centered on using food as a way to learn about other cultures. “I wanted to document my experience as a foreigner living in Japan and trying new things,” she recalls. Japanese food and candy kits made for popular viewing, as Emmy assembled and tasted everything from dried scallops to candy “soap” made in a tiny toy washing machine. Soon, followers around the world were sending her their favorite foods to sample. “They were mostly nostalgic childhood treats so it felt very wholesome,” Emmy says. “People were so generous.” Viewers appreciated her enthusiasm for exploring different foods–and her honest reactions even when she didn’t like something, such as salmiakki, a Danish salty licorice.
“I use YouTube Shorts when I have a subject I’m curious about and want to share, but it’s not substantial enough for me to make a full-length video about it.”
Emmy returned to the U.S. and expanded her channel, now renamed simply Emmymade, to include retro recipes (lime jello with onion, anyone?) and military rations, as well as more traditional fare. Her technical setup improved to match viewers’ higher expectations of video and audio quality, and today she has a dedicated kitchen studio. Brand deals, affiliate links, and a steady growth in subscribers–now over 3 million–have turned her one-time side gig into a full-time business for both her and her husband. Emmy uses Google Trends to help optimize dates to publish holiday-related content, and is experimenting with YouTube Shorts. Gemini is helpful for transcribing her video cooking instructions into written recipes for the website. Emmy’s made around 1,900 videos and stays true to her original goal: being open to new experiences. “I just want people to live zestfully and be curious,” she says.
Products
Rail Explorers
Rail Explorers founders Alex Catchpoole and Mary Joy Lu ran a successful visual effects agency in NYC before they made an abrupt switch. Mary Joy was watching TV when she saw the actors climb onto “a strange contraption on the railroad,” pedaling off into the sunset. It was a rail bike. “I said to Alex, ‘This is brilliant! This is what we’re doing next,’” she recalls. In 2015, the couple left city life behind and founded their first Rail Explorers site in the Adirondacks; today, the company has six sites across the U.S. Visitors of all ages and abilities can enjoy a leisurely ride through unique landscapes as they pedal rail bikes on restored tracks. “It caught the imagination of so many people. Business just took off,” Alex says. “And now we have some fantastic groupies who try to ride in all of our locations.” They have 30 full-time employees–190 during peak season–and have two more sites planned for 2024.
“In 2023 we were getting 10 to 1 return on our investment in Google Ads. That’s a pretty impressive statistic.”
Rail Explorers began using Google Ads in 2017 to bring customers to their website, which handles 80 percent of their bookings. They use AI-powered Performance Max campaigns to reach locals and travelers alike across Google channels. “The return on investment is astounding,” says Alex, noting a 30-percent increase in ROI in 2023. Each site has its own Google Business Profile, with reviews, photos, and maps to the often remote locations. Alex and Mary Joy are deeply committed to eco-tourism: “The Rail Explorers experience requires minimal new construction, with no new roads or development through sensitive ecosystems,” Alex explains. They’re also creating local jobs, and are proud to be driving tourism and economic development at each of their locations, which attract tens of thousands of riders a year. “Communities are coming to us now asking us to put in a Rail Explorer division,” Mary Joy says. “They can see from our history the impact we have in a community.”
Products
Feast & Fettle
Carlos Ventura has always been a financial whiz. After working for some of the world’s biggest banks and consulting firms, he returned home to New England to help friends Maggie Pearson and Nicole Nix with their startup meal delivery service. “I was blown away by the attention to detail and the quality of the food,” Carlos says. So he partnered with them to create Feast & Fettle. They deliver fresh, never-frozen handmade meals to subscribers across Rhode Island and Massachusetts from their HQ in Providence. Today Feast & Fettle employs over 150 people, serving nearly 4,000 households a week in a fleet of 30 branded, refrigerated vans. And as the business has grown, Google tools have helped them write their recipe for success.
“Our Google Business Profile is so important to building trust with our customers. Our reviews let people know there’s something good going on here.”
With so many pots on the stove at once, Feast & Fettle uses Google Analytics to help them identify where their web traffic is coming from, and uncover surprising opportunities they may have missed. “Analytics alerted us that our name had been popping up on a parent-focused community for Boston families,” Carlos says. ”That allowed us to reach out to them and formalize a relationship, and now they’re one of our most valuable partners.” And their Google Business Profile helps them attract new subscribers by showcasing the glowing reviews left by happy customers. “It creates a level of trust and authority,” Carlos says. “We try to create special moments and experiences that customers want to talk about.” Feast & Fettle now plans to open a brick-and-mortar location in Providence so hungry fans can pop in and grab a meal on the go, and they’ll open a second kitchen facility later this year that will let them expand into New York City and beyond. That’s some delicious food for thought.
Products
Mighty Well
A chronic illness diagnosis is like having a baby, says Emily Levy: “Your whole life changes and you need a whole new set of products.” After her own diagnosis had her searching in vain for effective and stylish protective covers for her PICC line (used for IVs), Emily and two college friends launched an online medical technology company they called Mighty Well. The company offers products like colorful PICC line covers, masks, and medical backpacks to help people face illness and disability with confidence. Now led by a team including Emily as chief brand officer and co-founders Maria Del Mar Gomez (marketing manager) and Yousef al-Humaidhi (CFO), Mighty Well is applying for FDA approval, aiming to add more items covered by insurance, and planning to expand into durable medical equipment and direct sales to medical facilities.
“Google Ads has been our biggest driver for inbound revenue.”
Flexible working conditions are a top priority for the team, many of whom are in different time zones and live with disabilities or chronic illness. They use Google Meet and Docs to collaborate, and Emily finds Calendar helpful as she coordinates work and health obligations. Google Forms and Surveys let the team gather input from customers, and Google Analytics helps refine their SEO strategy. Google Ads campaigns attract both national and international customers; Mighty Well has seen a 150 percent growth in web traffic, and overall revenue surged 40 percent in 2021. “Our business wouldn’t be as successful as it is today without the support of the Google products we access,” Emily says. The company also works with partner charities like the Global Lyme Alliance, and offers supportive medical content under their “Friend in the Fight” program. “At the end of the day,” Emily says, “we do this to help patients empower themselves to facilitate their medical treatment, and to keep them from feeling alone during this disruptive time in their lives.”