My Shade and Texture in northeast Tampa has been on a mission to build community while providing access to hair and body care products you may not find everywhere.
The owner, Pamela Thompson, told ABC Action News they've been hard at work for five years.
"Our 'Blend and Glow' bar is the highlight of the store. This is where customers—men, women, kids—of all ages and backgrounds come to just be their own chemist. So they can create their own skincare products, haircare products, and everything is refillable. So, we're all about being sustainable at 'My Shade and Texture,'" she said.
But come next week, Thompson is looking to expand their reach to welcome new customers brought in by a major event.
"We're getting calls, we're getting emails about places where they can go or can they come in to book an appointment," she said.
Al Sheriff is the leader of the Pi Iota chapter of Omega Psi Phi Inc. The historic Black fraternity will be holding its 84th Grand Conclave—or convention—in Tampa from June 26th to July 2nd.
"A conclave to the layman, or to the regular person, I would say, it's just a gathering," said Sheriff, "The last time Florida hosted omegas as an international event was 1982 in Miami."
The Grand Marshal for this year's Grand Conclave, Anthony Perkins, said the organization is also planning things like book drives, forums, and youth programs to leave Tampa better than it found it.
"This conclave we're calling it 'Conclave with a purpose.' And we're really trying to give back to the community," he said.
That said, with about 25,000 people expected to attend—the group also knows one of its most powerful tools is money.
And it's an economic boost that the President and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay, Santiago Corrada, said benefits us all.
"That equates to anywhere from 25 to 30 million dollars in direct spending," he said, "Everyone should be thrilled that the omegas are here, right? Because when they get their paycheck on Friday or every other week there's no income tax on there. That means that the sales tax and the taxes raised by these visitors to our state, these very, very important visitors, makes sure we don't have an income tax."
But Sheriff told us the fraternity wants to make sure small black businesses also get a piece of that pie.
"We definitely want to share that with our community. More specifically folks that look like me, sound like me, we want to make sure they have an opportunity to taste a bit of that," he said.
So they created a special directory featuring Black businesses—like 'My Shade and Texture'—to help direct customers their way.
"This is going to bring so much traffic. Whether it's financial support, but it's the support of our community near and far and that's what I'm looking forward to," said Thompson.
A state report says hundreds of frail elderly nursing home residents were stacked side by side, head to toe in a small church with no working air conditioning or refrigerator during Hurricane Helene.
