ASHTABULA — Celebrating Black-owned businesses was the theme for the Ashtabula NAACP’s Black Americans and Labor event. The expo featured a panel on how to start a business and more than 20 vendors participated, showcasing different Black-owned businesses in Ashtabula.
“We’re an underserved community here and people don’t realize how many black businesses that are here, and the different crafts that people do to make a living here,” said Ashtabula NAACP President Lice Penna.
Tasha Sheffey is the owner of Tasha’s Closet Boutique, she says she wants to see more Black-owned businesses in the area that serve the black community.
“You must go out of town to different cities to be able to shop and get things, and I don’t think that’s how it should be. I think there should be something to accommodate everyone in [the] city that they live in,” Sheffey said.
Sheffey said the lack of Black-owned …