Stockton, inspired by 'Oakland First Fridays,' holds Black Businesses Unite pop-up Saturday

The organizers behind an upcoming event at San Joaquin Delta College said they are looking to elevate Black-owned businesses in San Joaquin County.

Over 40 vendors can be found at the pop-up that is being dubbed "Black Businesses Unite" on Saturday. From African food to hair care to massage therapy, there will be something for everyone to enjoy.

Organizers said the event, which will be the first of its kind, took inspiration from Oakland First Fridays — a celebration of arts, culture, food and community that happens on the first Friday of each month in Oakland.

Lauryn Seales, a track and cross country coach at Delta College and the owner of RestHERation Body and Beauty — a business offering body contouring, body scrubs, candles and sports massages — said she hopes the event will help strengthen the Black community in Stockton.

"I was born and raised in Stockton and I don't know many of the Black-owned businesses in our city," Seales said. "I think it's important that we as a Black community support one another."

Seales opened her business in February as "a place where people could go to find themselves and understand the importance of self-care."

As a mother of four, Seales said her life was dedicated to her children for the better part of 10 years. Self-care was not a priority. But once all of her children were old enough to go to school, Seales said she embarked on a journey of self-discovery.

She began to invest more time into herself: working out and getting massages regularly. It was during this time when Seales realized how important self-care is, particularly for women.

"I don't know about other women, but I'm a natural giver," Seales said. "A lot of times I give, give, give and I forget to take time for myself. We find ourselves under a lot of stress because we're not taking time for ourselves so we have to make sure that when we give, we also give back to ourselves."

At Saturday's pop-up, Seales will be offering chair massages and selling her self-care products.

"It wasn't until I had to get massages when I actually understood the benefits of them. I don't think I'll ever go through life without massages again," Seales said. "I would wake up after being in the bed with a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old with my back and my neck hurting, and I realized that massages could fix it. I didn't have to be in pain."

Other vendors who will be at Black Businesses Unite include Diamond Party Rentals, WrightWay Fitness, Exquisite Trinketz, All You Need Hair Care and more. African dishes and desserts will be on the menu and a dance performance from Cesar Chavez High School students is scheduled.

"My main hope is that not only African Americans come to our event, but people of all ethnicities come to our event so they could see what our culture has to offer," said Quichon Jones, president of Delta College's Black Student Union and lead organizer of Black Businesses Unite.

Jones said the chances of being Black and owning a business are highly unlikely.

Recent Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data shows that businesses majority-owned by Black or African American people accounted for only 3% of all U.S. firms that were classifiable by the race and ethnicity of their owners in 2020.

"We want to raise those statistics and change our community in the process. We want to promote these businesses so that we can help them expand, and we can have more than just one person that's African American that owns a business," Jones said. "We want multitudes."

If you go

When: 12 p.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25

Where: Dolores Huerta Plaza, San Joaquin Delta College, 5151 Pacific Ave., Stockton

Admission: Free

Record reporter Hannah Workman covers news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at hworkman@recordnet.com or on Twitter @byhannahworkman. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Black Businesses Unite to support Black community comes to Stockton