LGBTQ Business/Professional Networking @ Goldenrod Inn (Worthington, MA)

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

4/15 LGBTQ Business/Professional Networking @ Goldenrod Inn (Worthington, MA)

3rd Wednesdays, 5:30-7:30pm
144 Huntington Rd
Worthington, MA 01098

Join LGBTQ Business, Professional, & Community Leaders from all over the Berkshires at this special monthly networking event at the Goldenrod Country Inn where we will be:

1. LEARNING: Learning how LGBTQ-owned & welcoming businesses in the hill towns have managed to market effectively to locals, the LGBTQ community, & tourists and be successful in more remote areas;
2. CELEBRATING: We'll also be celebrating these Hill Town LGBTQ-owned or welcoming businesses & others less well known: Neon Newt in Becket; Goldenrod Country Inn in Worthington; Jacobs Pillow in Becket, JS Bryant School in Cummington; Becket Arts Center in Becket; Dirt Church Brewing in Charlemont; Zoar Outdoors in Charlemont; Plainfield Pottery in Plainfield (SEND US A NOTE if you know of another LGBTQ-owned or welcoming business in the Hill Towns)
3. SHARING about your businesses a) new offerings in the Spring, and b) any help you'd like from the LGBTQ business & professional community

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.

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

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