Madison College employee Sabrina Madison has been organizing local Black Business Expos. Here’s the story from Madison on the ones that have taken place this year and the ones to come.

Q: Who is Sabrina Madison?

A: First and foremost, I am Savance Ford’s mom. That’s who and what I am most proud of accomplishing. I grew up in Milwaukee, that’s still my heart, still my home. I was a teen mom, I had my son two weeks from my 16th birthday. I am a former student at Madison College, where I was Student Ambassador and received The Karen Roberts Leadership award. I also worked for the college for about 8 years, until I decided to leave to work for myself in March. If I had to say a super quick description of myself, I’d say that I was someone who chooses every day to do the work that I do from a place rooted in love. I truly believe in the potential in people.

Q: What is the Black Business Expo?

A: The Black Business Expo came from the Black Women’s Leadership Conference in May. I housed about 15 vendors on the second floor of the conference…The women who attended kept asking about each other how to get in contact, and the community wanted to reach those folks too. My entrepreneurial spirit said I need to find a space and that’s why we had the event in July at the Urban League…In a couple of years, we should see the success rate for black entrepreneurs should grow because they have more access to potential customers, resources, an increase in sales. We should see black entrepreneurs who are better equipped to have businesses that are long lasting. It’s really just another space for black entrepreneurs to thrive.

Q: What inspired you to do this event?

A: There not being a space for black entrepreneurs to promote their businesses. There wasn’t a place for them to network. I’ve always been good at connecting people, so it was just providing the space for them to thrive and put them in one place to see each other on a regular basis…I always get inspired by wanting to meet their need to grow and meet like-minded folk.

Q: Why is this event important?

A: This event is important simply because black entrepreneurs need spaces to thrive, we need the resources to thrive, we need the space to test out our ideas. We need the space to generate our income and scale our businesses.

Q: How many vendors? How many attendees?

A: In July, we had 44 vendors…we stopped counting guests at about 350…but we probably had about 500 guests. For November, we had 61 total vendors, 41 for profit. They made a total in sales of $22,732. We had at least 2,000 attendees to the event…We should be able to hit 5,000 attendees and 150 Vendors at Truax on July 22, 2017.

Q: Are there any last notes that you want the readers to know?

A: Yes.  Thanks for supporting financial freedom and agency in the Black community. Stay connected to updates by joining my newsletter at www.heymissprogress.com.