Trenton women came together on Saturday to empower each other at the Third Annual Trenton Women’s Gathering.
The event was created by Yolanda L Robinson, founder of Trenton Women’s Gathering. “It got started because during a pandemic, we weren’t getting together, and it was about to get hot outside, so I said… let’s get together and let’s gather women and let’s have a wonderful time outside in the park,” Robinson said.
A couple of Robinson’s friends got together to test out the park on Filmore street. “I said, let’s test the park out, so we’ve got out to the property to do jump rope, Double Dutch, all those different kinds of things just to test the park out until we got to this day,” Robinson said.
Trenton Women’s Gathering Day was created to get Trenton women together to network alongside other business owners. Robinson’s team includes Tynisha Duncan, Events Coordinator; Rose Wright, Events Coordinator; Kolaya Weeks, Administrative Assistant; Cherry Wardy, Logistics; and Jnai Williams, Promotions, and dozens of volunteers who helped manage the day.
As residents entered the park, they were greeted by a large sign saying black sign with a diamond at the top and a quote saying, “when women get together, something magical happens.” Next to the sign, under a red tent, was Wardy handing out flyers and diamond rings.
“It’s about when they come together to secure versus better understand each other. If you need support with something, if I don’t have information, somebody knows where to get the information from… So we tried to come together for ourselves,” Wardy said.
Speakers at the event included Cormen Robinson, Kia Richardson, Tona Buck, Demetria N. Mason, and Diana McNeill-Brown. It wasn’t all networking. Trenton residents came out of the woodwork to shop as well. Trenton resident Linda Barber, met Robinson on a bus trip and learned about this event through being friends on Facebook. She was here for the vendors.
“I just bought a nice t-shirt that says My black is beautiful. I have been wanting something similar to this,” Barber said. “I think it’s nice for women to support each other.”
Every vendor was woman founded, funded, and led. Residents could choose Ty’Ni Treats, Dedicated Vibration, Pretty Waist, Pick Your Poison, The Business Visionary, and many more young women entrepreneurs. Licensed Mixologist Tasheka Brewer is Owner and CEO of Pick Your Poison. She started her company during the pandemic and has been going strong since then. She explains how she was able to get her business off the ground.
“I always say networking is the best work, and you never know what somebody’s going through and what you could bring to somebody. So I say, stay excited. Stay committed, Stay consistent,” Brewer said
Mercer Street Friends Food Bank, Children’s Futures, Center for Child and Family Achievement, Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds Jackson, 1911 Smokehouse BBQ, and Outdoor Flicks and Concessions, all sponsored the event.
“It’s really important because as women, we are the caregivers. We try to make sure everyone is steered in the right direction. But we also need a… time to meet other women so we can have a good conversation and learn from one another, learn how to put on eyelashes, and makeup, learn how to cook, whatever it is. We’re here to learn from each other,” Robinson said.