The Madison Black Chamber of Commerce will honor Black-owned businesses and reflect on a decade of community growth at its annual Black Business Awards Recognition and Exhibition on March 26 at Monona Terrace Convention and Conference Center. This year’s event, themed “The Eras Ball,” features a signature dinner, seven business awards, a vendor marketplace and a women’s entrepreneurship panel.
Chamber President Camille Carter said the theme grew out of a desire to take stock of how far the organization and its members have come, particularly at a moment when the work feels more urgent than ever.
“We are just really facing some challenging times, politically and as a community, and so it just seemed appropriate,” Carter said. “We wanted to take this opportunity to really reflect on a lot of the good work we’ve done and a lot of the growth that the businesses have had over the last decade.”
When Carter took the helm, the Chamber had little programming beyond its Black Business Directory and the then-new Black Restaurant Week. Since then, the organization has grown to more than 200 paid members across South Central Wisconsin — from the Dells in the north to the state line in the south — and built out three signature events and an evolving slate of programs and services.
The evening begins with a networking cocktail hour from 4:30 to 6 p.m., during which the Black Wall Street marketplace will feature approximately 25 vendors offering retail goods, African attire, self-care products and more, alongside service-based businesses looking to connect with potential clients. Dinner and the awards program run from 6 to roughly 8:30 p.m., followed by dancing with DJ Fusion Annette of 93.1 Jamz.
Seven awards will be presented across categories recognizing a range of contributions to the Black business community: the Community Impact Award, Creative Spark Award, Legacy Builder Award, Resilient Pillar Award, Rising Star Award, Social Impact Advocacy Award and Youth Entrepreneurial Award, which honors entrepreneurs under 25. Nominees have been selected, and winners will be announced at the event.
The program also includes a “Ripple Effect” women’s panel featuring business owners Myra McNair of Anesis Therapy, Dora Monroe of Class A Cleaning, Dawn Adams of Foster Funeral and Carter herself.
An “Eras Exhibit” will showcase the Chamber’s work and business growth over the past decade.
The event is also a critical fundraiser for the Chamber, which has set a goal of $75,000. Carter said the organization’s success has created higher demand for its services at the same time that some grant funding has dried up.
“One thing that often gets forgotten is that the Chamber is a business as well,” Carter said. “So we suffer with some of the same challenges and struggles right alongside our businesses.”
Carter framed the event as both a celebration and an investment, noting that dollars directed to the Chamber ripple outward.
“When you invest $1 in the chamber, it helps one business,” she said. “We really want to exhibit how that $1 impacts families and communities and other business owners, by networking with one another, by being connected through our events, programs and services, of referrals and networking. This is what fuels our community.”
Asked how the Chamber is navigating the current political landscape, Carter said the focus is on fundamentals.
“For me, this year is about getting back to basics,” she said, “really reallocating your resources, realigning, really understanding what the landscape is and where the opportunities are, because they do look different today than they have historically.”
But on March 26, Carter said, the emphasis will be on the resilience of the businesses the Chamber serves.
“We are corralling around these businesses that have been out there being resilient, keeping their doors open, pivoting, finding ways to be successful against whatever are out there,” she said, “and we’re going to take this one night and kind of bring them together and have a good time and celebrate them.”
Tickets are $150 for Chamber members and $175 for non-members. Sponsorship opportunities are still available. More information and tickets are available at the Madison Black Chamber of Commerce website.
