First annual Spanglish Small Business Expo held in North Charleston

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD)- Dozens of vendors came to the first annual Spanglish Small Business Expo, an event that the organizer, Roxma Massie, says she put together to help Latino-owned small businesses across the Lowcountry get off their feet.

Massie was an accountant for 25 years when she lost her job and decided to start her own business.

Massie said, “Through that, I saw the opportunity to create a Latina bazaar market and through the market, I saw the need in the community, the Hispanic community is growing so much.”

She says her business has struggled, and she realized how many other Latino-owned businesses around her have also been struggling.

“I created this expo to make an awareness that we need help. Vendor pop-ups, you can’t really network ,we work tirelessly,” Massie said.

One of the struggles being the language barrier, ‘I want to help those businesses that have the language barrier, but let’s work together to break through,” Massie said.

The expo is a way for these businesses to connect with each other and also for the community to rally around them.

“For me as an immigrant in this great nation, I wanted to show my support to the Spanish community,” small business owner, Rose Newman said.

Newman started her own photography business and says events like these help businesses like hers get more exposure, saying she’s thankful for the opportunity to show her work and build her brand as a small business owner.

“I keep asking people how do you want to be remembered in the next generation of your family. It’s the same here, we are immigrants, so we want to make an impact for this nation,” Newman said.