People from all across the health, arts and business industries filled The Hall at Live! in Hanover, Maryland for the 11th annual Ubiquitous Women’s Expo, working to empower women through programming focused on overall wellness, Sept. 5-7.
The weekend-long event included panel discussions, exhibitors and organizations focusing on women’s mental, physical and emotional health, and featured live performances from Travis Malloy, JJ Hairston, and a fireside chat with award-winning television personality Sherri Shepherd.
“[This is] about us coming together as a community, [and] about us being healthier,” Germaine Bolds-Leftridge, founder of the Ubiquitous Women’s Expo, told The Informer. “We do free health screenings, mammograms, cardiac screenings, and high blood pressure screenings because health is our wealth.”
In addition to the panels and programming, the exhibitors— ranging from clothing, jewelry, beauty, handbags, and art entrepreneurs to representatives highlighting health services— offered attendees an opportunity to shop, learn, grow and support small businesses throughout the three-day expo.
The idea for the expo came to Leftridge in 2014 while thinking of ways to utilize the abundance of influencers and entrepreneurs in the local community.
“The DMV is a very important market,” she said. “I wanted a place [where people] could come and showcase their products along with other beauty brands and it’s just evolved.”
‘A Perfect Space to Showcase’
Since the event’s inception, Aaron Johnson, founder of Unitees, has felt it essential to be an exhibitor at Ubiquitous Woman’s Expo.
“We’ve had a booth here the entire 11 years,” he told The Informer. “The clothes that we make are specifically tailored to a Black woman’s physique, so this is a perfect space to showcase the things that we make.”
For Sydnie Collins, a Ubiquitous ambassador, seeing the plethora of women-owned businesses at the expo served as a major source of inspiration.
“Having an event where everything is highlighted [like] beauty, skin, hair, and healthcare [is] so inspiring to me,” said Collins. “This event is important for women overall because representation is important.”
Tackling Health Disparities Head-On
Many health organizations were present to help educate women, particularly about health disparities affecting women of color.
The mortality rate for Black women diagnosed with breast cancer is 42% higher than the comparable rate for white women. Further, Black women possess the highest breast cancer mortality rate of any other U.S. racial or ethnic group– at 40%.
Because of these statistics, Uzo Osameka, program manager with TOUCH, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance, felt it was necessary to inform young and middle-aged women about how Black women can work to combat such statistics.
“We’re here specifically for our population between the ages of 18 and 35 because unfortunately, we’re getting diagnosed with breast cancer more often [than other races] and at younger ages,” Osameka told The Informer. “Our older ladies are coming to their doctor’s office and they are [at] stage 3 or 4, which is treatable but obviously harder to treat.”
She hopes attending the Ubiquitous Women’s Expo is a step toward saving the life of someone who may unknowingly be at risk.
“We’re here to educate the community,” she said, “and our main mission is to eradicate Black breast cancer.”
Olivia Lane, founder of Higher Purpose Consulting, emphasized the importance of focusing more on the emotional health of Black women.
“We’re so honored to be a part of the Ubiquitous Expo,” she told The Informer. “We specialize in offering training sessions to help individuals and groups facilitate healing where they live, work, and worship.”
Lane’s mission is to provide emotional support and additional resources, particularly for women of color.
“What we found out is that [Black women] can’t do this alone. We found through our research that we’re not always overcoming our emotional pain. We’re unique, given the statistics around our healthcare disparities, and emotional pain can impact our physical bodies,” she explained. Through holistic strategies, [we think] that we can help women on their journey of wellness.”
‘This is a Sisterhood‘
As a young woman, Collins attended the expo ready to soak up knowledge from the speakers and fellow attendees who are more established in their careers.
“[The expo is] especially important to [Gen Z], to see people who look like them in high places. There’s millionaires here,” Collins told The Informer. “There’s people that we can connect [with].”
Reflecting on the camaraderie and turnout at this year’s Ubiquitous Women’s Expo, Osameka said she was grateful to be surrounded by a strong group of women.
“I think it’s important for all of us anytime we have an opportunity to be in community with each other,” she said. “This is a sisterhood, it feels like family, so I think it’s healing in itself to be surrounded by like-minded women.”