Several hundred residents and out-of-town visitors celebrated International Women’s Day during the third annual Women in Business Expo in Brantford on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
The six-hour event showcased women in business from communities like Brantford, the County of Brant, Norfolk County and beyond.
“We are showcasing, we are networking, we are learning, and we are coming together all in one place, all under one roof,” said Sam Gernhart, event founder and owner of Clarity Marketing and Design. “There’s nothing like this in, or near, our community as a resource for women, as a day to celebrate women, as a way to showcase women and as a way for them to all come together and just learn from each other.”
As always, the expo featured a photobooth area made of colourful balloons, product give-aways, swag bags, six guest speakers and 60 vendors, of which 13 were non-profit organizations.
Understanding how important it is for non-profits to get as much exposure as possible, Gernhart gave those organizations a free table so they too could benefit from the expo without spending their much needed dollars.
Throughout the day attendees and vendors alike explored the tradeshow room, networked with others, or sat to watch one or even all of the guest speakers including: Gernhart; Stacey Bester of SWEET Bakery; Nadine Kelley, founder of SPRINGSS; Korrenne Jensen of Afterglow Psychotherapy; Taylor McConnachie of Embodied Sexual Wellness and Laura Dickson of Dickson Wynperle Associates.
The six each gave presentations on a variety of topics such as entrepreneurship, confidence and overcoming self-doubt, mental health and motivation, sexual wellness and self-esteem, and more.
While in the past the speaker series and the tradeshow have been separated via a wall, this year everything was done in one room so no one missed out on any learning opportunities.
“It just allowed for more flow, allowed for more people to listen and engage with the speakers, and even our vendors were able to listen and watch the guest speakers,” said Gernhart. “I just need to fine tune the volume for next year and tweak that, but I think having the open concept is perfect and it solved the problem of vendors not being able to participate. We definitely had way more people listening to the guest speakers, engaging and partaking in it, more than in previous years.”
On the trade show side of things, vendors had the opportunity to talk to guests about their products and services, hand out samples and various goodies, create real connections with others, and even make a few sales here and there.
While it was the first time that Catherine Rastin and Jazmin Brown were working the event themselves, the company they work for, B3 Therapy, has had a booth set up at the expo in the past.
The two agreed it was nice to be there and share their knowledge with both men and women in attendance.
“It’s been a great opportunity to connect with other clinicians but also possible future clients too,” said Brown. “We’ve really been able to share information about the resources we offer, not just for the people we’re talking to, but for any of their family and friends as well. We’re also educating people about resources that are available in general, not just at our clinic, but other places that we know of and can recommend too. It’s definitely been great to build the business, connect with people face to face and just inform the public about the supports that are available.”
Gernhart later said that after months of planning and preparing for the big event, it’s nice to hear that people find the expo beneficial.
“I think my favourite part of the day is just the overall support of the event and the positive feedback [because] I have my own set expectations for myself in this event and sometimes I don’t always feel like I meet my expectations,” she said. “When people say things like ‘this is great, how do I sign up for next year?’ or ‘that was another great event, you did it!’ I go, ‘okay, good’ because I can be quite hard on myself and I set high expectations for my events and what I can do and what I can pull off.”
She said that hearing that feedback and seeing the participation shows her that the event is not only on the right track, but that it’s needed in the community too.
“Every year that I hold this, it just reconfirms it is needed. From the attendance to the feedback, to the guest speakers and how many people donate for the swag bags… it just shows us that this is still a need and it needs to continue,” said Gernhart. “…The attendance shows it, the conversations women are having [show it], the networking, the connections, the partnerships that come out of it …it just shows that people want it, people need it, and people can’t wait to attend again.”
When asked about how it felt to celebrate year three, the organizer said it was amazing to watch it grow and evolve.
“People are still signing up, people are still attending and it continues to grow in various ways,” said Gernhart. “I’m still having a lot of first-time attendees so even in year three, after all the marketing and media that we do, people are still finding out about it for the first time and attending for the first time. As long as it continues to grow and people sign up and want to attend, I will continue to host it. How I will grow it, I’m not sure and how this will morph and change over the years, I’m not sure, but it is still an event that needs to happen every year so there is 100 per cent going to be a year four.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
