JACKSONVILLE, Fla — The Florida Black Expo is back and it's now during Black History Month.
The event starts Thursday at TIAA Bank Field and the Ritz Theatre and Museum in Jacksonville with the goal of promoting Black-owned business growth and exposure. Florida Black Expo President Mincy Pollock says the expo is both empowering and entertaining.
Pollock says there's nothing quite like this in our area and they want it to be a destination event that helps grow Black-owned businesses.
"You will leave the expo better than you came, period," Pollock said while standing inside 1Bridge Connect in downtown Jacksonville.
Inside 1Bridge Connect you can check out products from nearly 30 small businesses; it's a picture of what the Florida Black Expo aims to do on a large scale. The expo will host more than 300 vendors and up to 10,000 guests are expected.
"It's about when we come together and we share ideas, we can have victory together," Pollock said. "Sometimes they stay small because they don't get the opportunity to connect. So I think the bigger picture is how do we help small businesses be able to scale up?"
In 2020 following Black Lives Matter protests there was a push to shop at Black-owned businesses. First Coast News asked Pollock if that momentum has continued in 2023.
"Everybody is still, I think, still carrying that banner of 'we want to see businesses scale up and we're gonna do everything that we could do to help businesses scale up,'" Pollock said. "The Florida Black Expo is one of the ways to help that happen."
Korine Teamer's business Nutta Butta, which sells items like skin creams, has only been around for two years and has already expanded into different states. As part of 1Bridge Connect, she and 1Bridge Connect President Autumn Redding say her business has accelerated.
"It's amazing to see her growth," Redding said. "She is also a business that is in multiple states that started here and has been able to take exactly what she has here and utilize and understand the concept to go elsewhere to expand her business."
Teamer credits much of her growth to 1Bridge Connect.
"It's been taking off," Teamer said. "It's been a great opportunity because every time I get a little stagnant, she kind of push me and be like, 'you need to do this, you need to do this.' And it's not that she's doing it for me. She's showing me where to do it, how to do it and then making me do it myself. So it's like she teaches me to fish so I can feed my family for a lifetime."
There are three big parts to the expo Thursday through Saturday. There's the Top 20 Under 40 where young leaders will be recognized. The Taste will be a chefs competition in a scholarship event. The Main Event on Saturday is where small businesses will display their products.
There will also be entertainers and stars. Redding will be a moderator and a chef competition judge.