Hidden Gems: Meet Tasha Lynn Garner of Fishville Farms Events

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Tasha Lynn Garner.

Hi Tasha, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My story has a beautiful evolution with many peaks and valleys! I love to use my story as an example of growth and possibilities! I really feel like the rest of the questions in this interview will highlight the evolution of my story and its lessons, so I would like to take this opportunity to talk about WHY every entrepreneur and their small business story matters. 

Without our backstory, we would not have the opportunity to see our evolution and growth. In 2024, the entire concept of business has changed from what we have been used to. I feel that we are headed back to a simpler time where our growth timeline and our story matter very much to our communities, consumers, and customers, who are showing us that we have their support. 

There was a time when we intimately knew who made our products, and we could go to the farms where our food was grown. There has been essentially a small business revolution going on in Michigan, and we really are getting back to those times. Businesses are now thriving off of their backstories and we are seeing more families and children than ever becoming entrepreneurs. Businesses are now inviting their customers into their businesses, homes, and lives, and the customers are loving it and showing it by supporting the entrepreneurs more than ever! 

Every small business has a backstory, and YOURS matters! 

We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There have been many obstacles and challenges that I have faced along the way, which put me in the perfect position to help and mentor others via my events, mentoring, and experiences. 

It has not been a smooth road for my business at all. I have dealt with a lot of the same challenges that all other small businesses endure. I have been scammed and lost money like too many others, which led to the development of our Anti-Scamming program. I have dealt with the same issues with jealousy and pettiness that every small business has to work through as they build themselves. I have been in positions where I had outgrown the past but have not yet grown into what I am today, which is a struggle, but this is a good example of seeing your growth in real-time progress. 

Before I started my company, I had the challenge of hosting events for other companies in two states, and that gave me the opportunity to learn about the events industry and the small business laws of our state. While these were a chaotic few year, they also gave me a solid foundation from which to grow my own company. I had seen the positives and a lot of negatives, and I could see that there was immense room to grow and do better for the entire industry and this was the basis for our Know Better, Do Better motto and the very ethics of which I run my company. 

The biggest challenge that both my company and I had to overcome was extreme bullying and harassment to a criminal level. This is something that not many businesses have to deal with, but it taught me how to align myself properly and how to protect myself and my business. 

It is very hard to start a business on its own, and I was also working to overcome an anxiety disorder and both mental/physical health challenges at the same time. I had worked myself into a position where I was getting healthier and I was growing professionally at an insane rate but what I didn’t realize what that I had outgrown the situation in which I was, and I was not surrounding myself with people that were positive and healthy for me. I had become a leader with no voice and no outlet, and this allowed others to bully and harass me, my company, my friends, and even my family to the point where I wanted to close my business and almost took my own life twice. 

At my very lowest, I finally had the strength to stand back up and be an example to others. I am very proud to have the opportunity to show others what is truly possible at their lowest. I used to sit and cry about why others wanted to end my business or wallow in what I had done wrong, and I could not make any sense of the situation. In hindsight, I now see that it was a necessary part of my evolution to grow me and move me into the position to be an even louder voice or those who have none. It has taught me who I am and what I stand for as a woman, CEO, veteran, small business owner, and entrepreneur. 

I used to sit and cry, “Why?” and today, as I reply to these interview questions, is my 25th feature in 3 years. I do understand that my Why is the same as many others, and I am thankful that I have the experience and can guide and shade others while they learn and grow. If even one small business has an easier time than I did at starting their business, then every bit of what I’ve endured was worth it to light their way. 

I have learned to use every obstacle and challenge to learn and grow. One obstacle or challenge is that there is ALWAYS going to be an obstacle or challenge to overcome but what you do with those situations is what will make or break you and THAT is where our learning and growth happens. 

As you know, we’re big fans of Fishville Farms Events. What can you tell our readers who might not be as familiar with the brand?
My business’s primary mission is to provide safe, scam-free craft/vendor shows for our local communities, BUT we do so much more than that, and it has continued to evolve several times! 

For our craft/vendor events, we pride ourselves on organizing and hosting shows that highlight our local entrepreneurs and their crafts, BUT our events are used by so many for so much more! These events are where other event planners can come to find new small businesses to grow their own events and are even used to networking! 

Many small businesses will get a booth at our events specifically to use our events to evolve and try new products or displays out. At every event, we have a staff that the vendors can use to learn things like how to set up a booth why or how products sell, or how to advertise. We even have someone who specializes in displays and can custom make what each vendor needs or wants. 

Once our events took off, I realized that there were so many small businesses and individuals who had no idea how to start or run a business, and many of our vendors have never even been to an event such as ours! This showed me that there was a need for mentoring and consulting services, so we opened our two mentorship programs: Ideas to LLC (for adults) and Little Entrepreneurs (for minors/parents). 

These programs are free and via email and are for anyone who wants to learn how to start and run a small business. These programs have been integral to the rapid growth of many of our entrepreneurs and have also allowed me to learn and grow as well. I have been attending/hosting events since 2017, BUT I have only owned the company and been the CEO for three years, so I am continually educating myself as well. 

Once our consulting and mentoring services took off, I realized that there were so many that were being scammed, defrauded and bullied. I am particularly sensitive to the issue as I have previously worked for the NSA and my entire business was founded because of these issues so I took it upon myself to make a difference and work to ultimately change the laws. 

Most of the existing laws do not protect small businesses, and they often have no recourse to protect themselves or their businesses. I have banded together a fraud team, and we have busted 327 scammers in 2024 alone (as of 3/25/24) and over 500 since 2019! These are being complied with and reported to several entities across the state! If we can prove there is a big enough problem, which there is, then we can petition now for state change, and later change at a federal level. 

Over the past three years, I have been getting the attention of Senators, State Representatives, Mayors and there is a lot of support for these changes! I am currently working on petitioning the State of MI, the Governor and the Legislators to make change and better protect the small businesses of our state. 

We have even created a Facebook group called Mitten State Vendor and Craft Shows, where we teach and mentor, work to combat industry scamming and bullying, and share safe, scam-free events across the state. with about 8k members and growing, we network on a massive level. 

A lot do try to discount small businesses, but I am working to bridge the gap between large and small businesses. This can be done, and we are proving it at our Jackson County, Westwood Mall events. We were invited to bring our event into the city’s mall, and our first three events there were the largest events that the venue had seen in over twenty years, and we have been invited back for five more in 2024. 

There are now more small businesses moving into the mall than we’ve seen in many years! We have been so successful in bridging the gap between small and large businesses that our city’s second mall is now hosting small business events too! I am very excited that my small business and our entrepreneurs are motivating large corporations to share space and industry! 

Our very own Ford is a multibillion-dollar international company. Ford was started by one man, Henry Ford. We need to protect all small businesses; we never know who the next Henry Ford will be. In 2023, my small business mentored and helped 22 small businesses get started. One of them MAY be the next Ford. We need to protect them. 

One way that we are able to set ourselves apart from other similar events is through our events Donation Drives! At every event that we host, we also run a donation drive to help out our local communities! Through our mentoring programs, I have learned that there is a huge crisis in our local communities with accessing their basic needs such as food, diapers, clothing, backpacks/school supplies, and even pet food and supplies. 

We use our donation drives to feed several Washtenaw and Jackson County families, we support and donate to the Jackson Interfaith Shelter and Aware Shelters in Jackson as well as the Stockbridge Emergency Needs Pantry with our food drives. We donate and support the Huron Valley Humane Society with our pet supplies drives. 

We also donate and support the State of MI and its foster care programs with our diaper/baby supplies drives, children’s winter clothing drives, and backpack/school supplies drives. 

Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I have an enormous amount of faith in myself, and I simply do not give up. I see “no’s” and “endings” as simple hurdles to cross and I work until I crash through them. That being said, I have never thought of myself as a risk-taker, but it turns out that that is all I have been doing my entire life! The things that I feel are “safe” have turned out to be the riskiest yet the most rewarding for me personally and professionally. 

I took a risk joining the US Navy and the NSA during peacetime. My first day working in the Military District of Washington, D.C., was 9-11 (2001). That decision ultimately led me to where I am today. I am an OIF/OEF Veteran and after my medical discharge I was sent to the Seattle area for years, this is where I had some of the hardest times of my life. I endured over a decade of domestic violence and then homelessness with my children. This is also where I developed my love of learning and passion for myself and others and is where I learned that all of my risk-taking in the past could be a path to a successful future. 

After being mentored by a kind and very successful CEO of a homeless resource center, with a similar past to mine, I learned that I was worth fighting for and I took one more risk and fled across the country with my child and start over once again, with nothing but a purse and the clothes on our backs. After losing 287 pounds and setting myself on the right path, I realized that all of the risks that I had taken to keep myself safe, learn, grow, and blossom were risks that so many others deal with daily and my risk-taking “education” is now being used in a positive manner as I have made it my goal to pay everything forward and help others get themselves safe and successful. 

It was a risk to start my very own business. It almost cost me my very life via bullying and harassment. It continues to be a risk every time I take on a new client or host another event. It is risky every time we launch a new product, event, or idea. However, we can only do our best, and we cannot control the world. I have no idea if that new client will actually work on the program and learn or if customers will come to our events to support our donation drives and our entrepreneurs’ small businesses. I have no idea if someone will scam or bully me again in the future and cause another mental health crisis. 

I do not know the future, but I can still do my best in the face of adversity. By doing my best daily, I am growing resilience and strength and better preparing myself for the future, thereby making me a stronger mentor, friend, and human. 

I cannot let risk-taking, and fear stop me. Yes, there is always going to be a risk, but if I do not take it and show others their possibilities, then I simply am NOT doing my best, and I would be giving up. I do know that there are many others who can teach and mentor and even offer some of the things that my company does, but no one has my experiences and passions, which is what makes this the perfect passion for me. There is no light without the dark, and I am very thankful to be in the position to use my past dark times to light the path for others. 

If I do not take the risks and be a good example for my entrepreneurs and those who look up to me, then I am giving up on them and, by default, myself, and that is something that I absolutely will not do. I will not look at myself in the mirror every morning and tell myself that I am not worth it anymore when I have proven that I am, and I absolutely will not tell our entrepreneurs the same when I know and see that they are worth it, too. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mailchi.mp/6f7364d1fdc4/fishvillefarmsevents
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FishvilleFarmsEvents
• Other: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1524470631053748

Image Credits
Fishville Farms Events and Little Entrepreneurs