Oakland goes virtual for annual holiday marketplace

OAKLAND » What normally would be an in-person holiday market has become a virtual-only event this year, highlighting Black- owned female businesses in the Bay Area.

The fifth annual For the Culture Market features more than 50 Black female creators and makers in a two- day online shopping event that also includes interactive workshops, virtual shop tours and entertainment.

The marketplace that would have occurred at Evolve Oakland on Broadway in Oakland was modified because of the pandemic but still will bring shoppers together — just in a different format. Blackowned businesses have especially been hit hard during the COVID-19 pandemic, and nearly half have been wiped out, according to a report by the New York Fed. The market offers a way to buy local products as well as support local Blackowned female businesses.

It’s free to log on and shop at the online marketplace, which will take place today and Small Business Saturday, though registration is required. A general admission ticket ($20) provides a two-day pass to the marketplace, plus invites to virtual events, workshops and the closing night dance party. A VIP full experience ($50) comes with early shopping access to the online market, two raffle tickets, plus the invites to the events, workshops and dance party.

The marketplace is cohosted by the Oaklandbased Just BE, a team of a dozen women that has been supporting women of color businesses and entrepreneurs since 2016.

Small- business owner Marisol Catchings, founder of Azteca Negra, will help kick off today’s events with an 11 a.m. Instragram Live “meet the maker” event. She said For the Culture Market hopes to top $100,000 in online sales this year.

Event organizers said the vendors include ElectroSpit, the first Black- owned, female-founded, music technology hardware company and creator of the electronic musical instrument called the ESX-1, a mobile talk box; Two Chicks in the

Mix, an Oakland-based organic bakery; We Wield the Hammer, a metalsmith training program for women and girls of African descent; CanDid Art, a jewelry, home decor and kids lifestyle brand; and Urembo Asili, luxury skincare products by a founder born and raised in Kenya.

For more information, go to justbeoak.com.