And my stall returns! It has been ages since I had my products up with a stall and joined an indoor marketplace trying to attract customers to make a purchase and promote my things, which somewhat felt strange having come back into to it after so long.
I honestly have much respect for people who do this on a regular basis. I have only done it a few times and it is not my favourite thing. Although I love the idea of seeing a well presented stall or stand, particularly at high end expo's where they put in ALL the effort or "Pull out all the stops" which is an expression that'll never made sense to me. As a former media student I naturally love marketing, and as a product developer in my own right, I love the promotion and direct sales opportunities that come with it. However logistically, stall days are not ideal, especially by yourself and without a vehicle. Whereas if I had a minivan if not large car, and assistance on hand for each occasion then I would not complain.
I am just glad that I get to make more use of my roller poster that I adore. Always happy to promote my products and share my gifts (inform potential customers of what I can do for them with my art and creative writing talent where my bespoke greeting cards are concerned especially).
That being said, I mainly wanted to promote my greeting cards as it has been a while since my frequent orders and printing, not just because I have had other work and things to attend to, but also because of printing services. I am happy to get back into it now as they do make me happy. More so, they make my customers and their recipients SOOOO VERY HAPPY :-)
As difficult as it was to get back into upon my return to England 2021/22, where I felt artistically inept- which was absolutely AWFUL as that's worse than a writer's block! I was artistically constipated I tell you!!! I interestingly ended up making some of the best and most expensive cards of my life! Such a proud yet exhausting time that was (July-Oct 2022 in particular).
On this occasion I was accepting an invitation from the Black 360 organisation via London Met University, to return as I performed at one of the BHM events last October. They liked what they saw and heard of me at the time (where I bombarded their student audience with a wealth of uplifting history and history in the making in regard to Black progression), thus they invited me to perform again at this following event where I was welcome to bring my products for sale.
Last time was fun, it remains particularly memorable for three things; one for the intense debate that I had with a amiable strong-minded woman from Uganda (not photographed above), who was arguing the use of word "Black" among self-descriptions of the African diaspora, as opposed to calling ourselves "African." Of which I put forth my insightful, multi-layered, sufficient justifications and we came to a healthy, intellectual understanding with the acknowledgement of our ethnic and historical differences. One of the best debates I have ever had actually.
Two; because of the good Caribbean food that I largely missed out on due to personal inconvenience. No actually, the second memorable thing was when I was shown a great deal of appreciation for my poem from a student from Cape Verde (and as I often experience, she was shocked that I could speak some of her language- with a convincing accent) who let me know how grateful she was for my poem and how happy it made her in regard to its international references, current political figures whom she admires and some empowering things that she had not heard of before. It is always a wonderful thing to inspire and inform the youth, more so when they see the value in it.
Thirdly, there was a highly impressionable (leaving a great impression on us) young woman who had the most attention grabbing curvy physique, who (out of love) I just had to approach after the show to both credit her and warn her as a "big sis" so to speak, of self-defence and the dangers of the world that women experience with sexual harassment, which unfortunately is encouraged by certain appearances. Like the respectful Cape Verdean student, this student took in my warm advice with kindness, appreciation and most of all, comprehension. There is a actually a series of videos that I want to do on these issues and relatively unspoken conversation but my time and patience is limited. Especially with the consideration of the likely backlash or annoyingly unhelpful (sexist and no doubt violent- sad but true) comments that are likely to follow which I don't care for, least of all in regard to SAFETY OF WOMEN....we'll see.
The point is that I had a good time then, and met nice people between the organisers and attendees. Therefore, I was looking forward to another good time despite not really having the time to spare.
This event was far more punctual and packed than the other one which I did not anticipate at all. Thus, my adapted time arrival did not meet their new early start and I could not join the open mic to perform as a result. However, I was given a squeeze of an area to set-up a stall. Funnily enough, the team were too busy to help or guide me to resources for my stall, but being the resourceful person that I am who never expects much help from others (no disrespect to anyone it's just what I have experienced many times over), I saw the round high bar table as initially desired (which wasn't even meant for us) and set-up shop not too dissimilar to my very first stall in 2014 just with without the extra dressing (table cloth and added props). WOW THAT WAS NEARLY A DECADE AGO!!
The other vendors were friendly, social and ambitious. There was a self-publishing Author opposite me, who had published children's books with a focus on empowering Black children with their own representations. Naturally there were jewellery and organic skin products on sale, which is something you see often at similar events. The same Caribbean buffet was laid directly next to my stand but of course all had sold out by then but I didn't care this time.
What I loved and was equally shocked at, was when the DJ played Candy and there were actually young people in the room that knew the group dance and got down! Bear in mind that this is the same generation who largely do not know TLC, Ludcaris, Busta Rhymes and even some of Michael Jackson songs- MICHEAL! And yet some of them seem to know Cameo......WTF!? Regardless, Candy has always been a Black family event favourite and a joy to see or participate in. However, I kept my behind next to my stall monitoring my things and ready to speak to customers.
Everything was all good, until a fire alarm went off and we all had to vacate the premises. What got to me, is that as there was no smoke or fumes to been seen or smelt I suspected that it was a false alarm, which I would not have worried about had I not had to leave much of my personal items behind- at risk of theft or damage. The joke was, that this was the SECOND event that I have attended within two weeks of where the fire brigade had to come, clear the building and asses the premises while we stay out in the cold in speculation or angst. The coincidence was alarming, no pun intended.
I got some beautiful freebies from another vendor too! Like I said, I was looking forward to the same good vibes and nice people as last time and this one almost matched up. Good times.
Find more pictures on my Gram ;-)
