NORWICH — Tiara Waters looks forward to starting a new tradition in Norwich.
“This is an event for everyone to enjoy, and learn a little more about Black history,” said Waters, who owns Flowing Waters Massage.
On Feb. 26, Waters and professional model Shella Jeanty will host the First Annual Black History Month Vendor Fair and Fashion Show in the Sunlight Building at Foundry 66, starting at 1 p.m. The free event will highlight local Black-owned businesses and a fashion show at 5:45 p.m. featuring designers from across the state.
“We’re trying to bring light, joy, and peace to the community though this event,” Waters said.
The idea came to Waters while talking to people about community events at Foundry 66, where her business is located. She realized there weren’t any events there for Black History Month.
“I was like ‘you know what, let’s get something together, even if it’s small,’” Waters said.
While the event will have jewelry, food, and other common sights of a vendor fair, Waters also said there will be health professionals, from doulas to therapists.
“The goal is to connect the community with these people and see what’s going on,” Waters said. “As a minority myself, growing up, I didn’t see that many people that looked like me in certain professions, but they are out there.”
Speaking as a massage therapist and a self-care educator, Waters emphasized the importance of self care and good mental health, especially with COVID-19 and other issues going on.
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“If you’re having a good day, nine times out of ten, you’ll pay it forward and somebody else will have a good day,” Waters said. “If you’re feeling negative and down, that can affect people as well.”
Alongside the fashion show and vendor fair, there will be entertainment from violinists, singers, dancers, spoken word artists and more.
Shiela Hayes, the president of the NAACP Norwich Branch, said there have been more opportunities for minority-owned businesses in the city, through Foundry 66 and other efforts, including the funds for refurbishing retail spaces from the Norwich Community Development Corporation’s Vanilla Box program.
“This is a great way to also educate the community about these opportunities that NCDC is offering,” Hayes said.
Hayes added that, as the demographics of Norwich change, the city should become more reflective of its population, including in the business community.
“We need more Black and minority-owned businesses to open up, to support the foods (and) the culture,” Hayes said.
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Jeanty, a professional model for John Casablanca’s Modeling and Acting Agency, will handle the fashion show. There will be at least five different designers from Connecticut whose work will be featured in the show. Jeanty said Waters first approached her when she was looking for designers to feature. Jeanty ended up taking charge of the fashion show portion due to her experience in it.
“I feel like a lot of people would be interested to see what’s put out there,” Jeanty said.
Looking ahead, Waters, who is organizing this event under the name The Waters Family, Inc., wants her organization to become a non-profit that holds this event yearly, and also have another yearly summer event that’s all-inclusive.
“It’s the first one, so we want to see how it goes,” Jeanty said.
For the first year of an event, Hayes said the fact that it is happening, especially against a pandemic backdrop, is already a success.
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“Right now, it’s hard to determine by people (attending) if something is successful,” Hayes said. “I give credit to (Waters) and the businesses to have the courage, seeing this environment, to host that kind of program.”
Coming out of this event, Waters wants to have more unity and more connections in the community, from people, organizations, and businesses getting to know each other. She also believes that the more people learn about each other, the more people unite and work together “to create an environment that’s better for ourselves, our children and our future generations.”
