LGBTQ Business/Professional Networking Event @ Brazzucas Market Pittsfield

LGBTQ business, professional, community leaders get to know one another, their businesses & how to support one another in changing times

FEEBRUARY THEME: Despite rising economic and political headwinds, on Wednesday, February 18, Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti, Executive Director of Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce Alexandra Eberhardt, & LGBTQ business and professional leaders from all over the region will gather to recognize a surge of LGBTQ-owned small businesses that are transforming downtown Pittsfield into an inclusive economic hub, and a similar Rainbow Wave of new & established businesses in the Berkshires revitalizing multiple towns in the region.

THE "GAYBORHOOD" BOOM The event highlights a distinct cluster of LGBTQ-owned businesses & organizations helping to drive vitality in downtown Pittsfield, including:

• Brazzucas Market (Hosts): A Brazilian cultural hub and market owned by partners Raquel Atherton and Nazira Vargas
• Wander Berkshires: A trans-owned café and community space. Owner Jay Santangelo who was recently honored with the 2026 Mass LGBT Chamber Neighborhood Anchor Award.
• Indie Readery & Records: An independent shop featuring progressive books, vinyl records, & creative gifts owned by Laurie & Emma Lenski.
• District Kitchen & Bar: A modern American dining destination owned by Jared Decoteau.
• Berkshire Pride, non-profit based in Pittsfield that hosts Berkshire Pride, North Adams Pride, Lee Pride, & year-round community events, resources, and educational programs to combat marginalization & empower local LGBTQIA+ community
• Q-MoB, a non-profit based in Pittsfield that hosts more than 25 social/networking, recreation/wellness, & arts/culture activities for rural queer men & the whole LGBT community in Berkshire County & the 7 surrounding rural counties. Bart Church, Q-MoB Executive Director will be awarded the 2026 Mass LGBT Chamber Champion Award for his work connecting hundreds of LGBTQ business leaders across the Greater Berkshire Region in monthly networking events.

QUOTE: “The Berkshires are becoming a magnet for new business and innovation because diversity is a long-held value in the region AND is good for business,” said Alexandra Eberhardt, Executive Director of the Mass LGBT Chamber of Commerce. “We are seeing LGBTQ+ leaders moving here from more repressive parts of the country because they are not just tolerated, but welcomed. Diversity and creativity are contagious.”

SPONSORS & REGISTRATION This event is jointly sponsored by Mass LGBT Chamber of Commerce, Q-MoB, and Berkshire Magazine, with funding support from the Berkshire United Way Venture Fund and Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.

Berkshire LGBTQ+ business owners and professionals are coming together at a different queer-owned business each month to get to know one another and increase the community’s capacity to respond to political, economic, and demographic challenges that are especially impacting our rural LGBTQ+ community and its businesses. It also provides another opportunity to celebrate new LGBTQ+ businesses and leaders setting up shop in the Berkshires because of the region’s long-term and growing public support of diversity and equity.

The monthly networking event is designed to foster connection, collaboration, and creative dialogue among local LGBTQ+ business owners, professionals, community leaders, and allies. In partnership with the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce, Q-MoB, and media sponsor Berkshire Magazine, the networking events offer a platform to reflect on the rich history, the vibrant present, and the promising future of LGBTQ+ business in the Berkshires. Each gathering will feature insights from LGBTQ+ business owners, entrepreneurs, andallied leaders in the region.

“In this time of tumultuous change, it’s vital that our local LGBTQ+ business owners and professionals come together to support one another and work in solidarity with our many allied businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations," said Q-MoB Executive Director Bart Church.

“The Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce is proud of the Berkshire’s leaders and ordinary citizens who are standing up for the business innovation and growth that a community’s long-term commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion bring,” said Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Alexandra Eberhardt. “The Berkshires and the whole state of Massachusetts are becoming magnets for new businesses and innovation because diversity and equity are really good for business—and we are seeing LGBTQ business leaders from more repressive parts of the country moving to places like the Berkshires, where they are not just tolerated, but welcomed with open arms. Courage is contagious!”

About Monthly Western Mass LGBTQ+ Business & Professional Networking Events: Through a partnership between Q-MoB). the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce, & their Media Sponsor Berkshire Magazine (publisher of the Berkshire LGBTQ Resource Guide), and supported by grants from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation South Berkshire Fund, Central Berkshire Fund, Barrett Fund (North Berkshires), and Berkshire United Way Venture Fund, these organizations work to ensure that LGBTQ-owned businesses have the resources, visibility, and community support necessary to drive economic development throughout Western Massachusetts. Starting in March they will begin offering a 2nd monthly LGBTQ Business & Professional Networking Event on the 2nd Wednesdays at a different LGBT-owned business each month in the Pioneer Valley, while continuing these 3rd Wednesday networking events at the following LGBTQ-owned businesses in the Berkshires:

Please register for each individual networking event here on Eventbrite so our hosts will know how many people to expect. And if your Berkshire-based queer-owned business would like to host a monthly networking event, please email Angie Montalvo-Greene at or email Bart Church

• 2/18 @ Brazuca's Market (Pittsfield)
• 3/18 @ Wander Berkshires (Pittsfield

THANK YOUS: The Co-sponsoring organizations are grateful to the following organizations for their strong support of the Berkshire LGBTQ Business, Professional & Community Leaders Networking Series:

• Berkshire United Way for a Venture Grant to Q-MoB to foster intergenerational collaboration in the LGBTQ community
• Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation's South Berkshire Fund, Central Berkshire Fund, & Barrett Fund (North Berkshires) that supports Q-MoB's efforts to build community among LGBTQ business, professional, & community leaders.
• One Berkshire for all their support of new and established LGBTQ businesses in the Berkshires
• Berkshire Magazine's LGBTQ Guide, which remains the most comprehensive listing of LGBTQ businesses and organizations in the Berkshires

CARPOOLING/RIDE-SHARE: If you need a ride or are open to carpooling, please indicate that when you are registering, & our ride coordinator will try to match you with people nearby who are interested in carpooling or offering rides.

REACHING US DAY OF THE EVENT: If you have trouble finding us, will be late, or need to cancel the day of the event, please call/text Bart at 413-344-8162