ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Dr. Mary Bisbee - Burrows knows that starting your own business is not easy.

"I recognized that I had much of a talent to run a business but I lacked the resources," said Bisbee - Burrows, founder of the Economic Empowerment and Entrepreneur Expo in Rochester, which originally sparked the idea for what is now the 2nd annual Economic Empowerment and Entrepreneur Expo.

"The expo idea really came about as a result of myself being a business owner and seeing a lot of the different challenges that I had," Bisbee - Burrows said. 

What You Need To Know

  • According to research from The Brookings Institution, the number of Black women-owned businesses increased by nearly 20 percent between 2017 and 2020
  • Data from GoDaddy shows that Black women have emerged as the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs
  • The expo helps further the momentum for Black women to start their own businesses

The expo is focused on educating and elevating Black women economically in their entrepreneurship.

"I’m like, okay if a woman such as myself who has, you know, high levels of education, and a high level of social capital, if I was still struggling I could only imagine other women that were similar to me struggling also," said Bisbee - Burrows. 

Giving women access to the knowledge and experiences of other Black women owned businesses through panel discussion and networking.

"It shows representation. It helps women who are up and coming or who have aspirations of being a business owner find people that they can be mentored by and its also representing women thats already in the space you’re trying to get to," said Carly Chung-Stowe, owner of Textures Beauty Bar LLC and one of the panelists at the event. 

"If we don’t stand together, sometimes it’s not possible, especially in the Black and brown communities, I think that having representation, whether that be a real estate broker if you’re trying to buy or purchase a house, or maybe that might be a lawyer of some sort who can represent you legally on different aspects," said attendee Cassandra Bradley who is also a licensed real estate broker.

With data from GoDaddy showing that Black women have emerged as the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs, the expo helps further that momentum.

"You’re always needing someone who walked in those shoes already to kind of guide you to the next step," said Chung-Stowe.

And helping women overcome common barriers.

"A lot of times entrepreneurs, if you can’t see the ending you may get lost in the middle. So being able to see pople who have already achieved these goals that you’re reaching for, thats a big deal," Chung-Stowe said.

"This is a safe space where everybody can come and they’re welcome and they can say you know what my sister did it and I can too," said Bisbee - Burrows.