African American entrepreneurs find sales power at Black Sunday Expo in Oakland
OAKLAND -- Move over Black Friday. In Oakland, the fifth annual Black Sunday Holiday Expo provided an opportunity for African American business owners to participate and thrive in the holiday shopping season to build a brighter future.
Vendors at Sunday's expo may not have the money to compete head-to-head with big retailers like Target or Amazon but they have the courage to try.
"There are a lot of businesses in Oakland but they're very small," said Cathy Adams, CEO of the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber organized a pop-up marketplace at an indoor venue near Jack London Square.
"That's why these events here are important -- so that we can elevate them," Adams said. "Our job is to help our businesses have the community find out where they are."
Most of the vendors have no formal marketing training -- just an idea for a business and faith in themselves that they can make it work.
That's what happened to Traci Joy Ramos. Eight years ago, she quit her job as a designer for several large clothing companies and began studying how to make floral arrangements, something she admits she wasn't confident about.
"Then one day, a light bulb went off and I realized, 'I think I'm pretty good at this,'" she said.
Now she owns Traci Joy Designs and is prospering as a floral and event designer. She helped create the decorations for Sunday's holiday expo and, on Mother's Day, Ramos opened her first brick-and-mortar store in San Leandro.
"Always think outside the box because you just never know. Right around the corner might be something that you are amazing at, that you really enjoy even if you fight against it, like I did for a while," she said.
Sherry Vance didn't fight it. She founded Big Momma's Desserts in the middle of the pandemic with nothing but her grandmother's recipes -- including one for an amazing pound cake.
"I made the cake. I put it on Facebook. The rest is history," Vance said. "They just started 'bing, bing, bing, bing!' And then, all of a sudden, I was making enough money to pay my mortgage!"
For the African American entrepreneurs at the expo, this was just a beginning and there are no guarantees. But those who are finding success say it takes some guts and a whole lot of hard work.
"It's scary. It's a big leap of faith," Ramos said. "You feel like you're stepping off a bit of a cliff but what's life if you don't take those moments and do that?"