A Sheffield woman is supporting International Women’s Day by hosting a pop-up event to showcase women’s small businesses in the city.

International Women’s Day is an annual event held on March 8 to celebrate women’s rights and to raise more awareness towards gender inequality issues and violence against women.

Olivia Tate, 22, a feminist illustrator, small business owner and founder of the pop-up shop said: “Inspiration came to me for the event when I was showcasing my art at a Hallam University-run event and saw a real lack of small businesses in Sheffield, wanting to create a place for all women in this industry, so I curated this pop-up shop.”

The event will be held from 8 to 11 March in Howard Street, Sheffield from 10am to 5pm.

After months of planning going into Miss Tate’s first curated event, she wanted the applicants for the shop to be local, celebrating Northern women’s successes, especially in Sheffield.

Miss Tate said: “The pop up shop is all about celebrating and uplifting Northern women-owned businesses.”

She explained how the pop up shop will showcase handmade products and art pieces from 20 female-owned businesses, although she received many more applications through her website, hoping to use some of these in events years to come.

Miss Tate’s sister and local musician, Delilah Bon, will also be attending the event with a meet and greet as well as a signing session, to bring more awareness and support to the event.

In light of International Women’s Day, Miss Tate said: “I wanted my event to be different and stand out but didn’t just want to showcase myself.”

She said that as a ‘creative’ she believes there is space for everyone in the industry, using her event to ‘uplift other female owned businesses’.

Miss Tate said that her art’s focal point “predominantly focuses on female empowerment and feminist issues, which open’s up conversations around certain topics such as mental health and body positivity”.

Miss Tate sells her merchandise on her website, which is also where applications were open for other business owners.

She went on to say that International Women’s Day is in ‘perfect harmony’ with her ‘own core values’ and hopes to turn this pop- up shop into a yearly event.