Visitors from Brantford and beyond celebrated International Women’s Day at the fourth annual Women in Business Expo in Brantford on Sunday, March 8, 2026.
The six-hour event showcased women in business from communities like Brantford, the County of Brant, Norfolk County and surrounding areas.
The expo featured a photobooth area made of colourful balloons, product give-aways, swag bags, six guest speakers and about 45 to 50 businesses and non-profit organizations.
“As usual, we have a variety of women owned businesses here today,” said Sam Gernhart, event organizer and owner of Clarity Marketing and Design. “We have everything from therapy and counselling to marketing, masonry and photography. We also have candle makers, a doula and a travel agent, and we even have representatives from our local Staples and Costco who wanted to be part of it this year too.”
From Two Jax Cleaning to The Loss Art, Sassy Britches Brewing Co., Coastal Therapy, Fifth Avenue Collection, MacMillan Consulting and more, there were plenty of local entrepreneurs for attendees to meet, and vendors had the chance to talk about their products and services, and make connections with those in attendance.
Gernhart said the overall goal of the event was to bring together a variety of industries and give them a chance to not only showcase their work, but to network with others.
“It’s really one big networking event, and on International Women’s Day it gives the community a chance to see the organizations and businesses in the area that are run by women, or have women involved in different aspects and roles,” she said. “What’s great about this too, is that you don’t have to be a woman in business to be a part or to attend the event. It just about showcasing women in different ways and in different capacities, with different organizations and businesses. It’s really a day to celebrate and it’s a day to learn and network with each other.”
Throughout the day attendees and vendors alike explored the tradeshow room, networked with others, or sat to watch one or even all of the guest speakers including: Gernhart; Daniell Simpson of My Village Collective; City of Brantford Ward 5 Councillor Mandy Samwell; Sophia White of Lymph Connection; Sarah O’Neil of Hansen Equestrian and Denise Lowe, an education consultant.
The six each gave presentations on a variety of topics such as marketing with confidence, the power of connection and meaningful support systems, the journey into public leadership and more.
While Courtney Dorion and Allison Marry of Revel Realty Inc., said they’ve attended the expo in the past as spectators, it was their first time participating in the event as vendors.
“Honestly, it’s been really great for us,” said Dorion. “We’ve had a steady flow of traffic all day and we’ve been talking to people constantly.’”
Marry added that the expo was proving to be a valuable way to engage with others.
“It gives us the opportunity to network with people and gain some visibility in the community, but it’s also so nice to be around other female business owners,” added Marry. “I think it’s great that we’re the only realtors here, but there’s also so many complimentary businesses, so now we potentially have referral partners with the masonry people, the wealth management people and the insurance brokers as well.”
The two said that they were overall happy to be there and would likely participate in next year’s event.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
