Chamber Connection
June 2019
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Hello chamber,
This year, we solidified our strategic partnership with
Boston Pride and we've seen so many members of our LGBTQ+ community coming together to plan incredible events throughout May and June. Here's a recap of where we’ve been:
BOSTON PRIDE
Festivities began with the Flag Raising Ceremony on May 31 at City Hall Plaza. Deborah Drew, chamber founding member and Boston Pride board member, offered inspiring words as our community waited in anticipation for Pride Week to officially begin.
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Pride has given us the opportunity to see our members collaborate in new ways to create spaces for queer dialogue and connection. On June 3, Lou Rod Cueva, founder of
MLR Artist Management, connected with Sean Driscoll, founder and principal of
BBsquared, and the
Trans Club of New England to hold space for a discussion on trans rights in the fashion industry and around the globe. The event featured a conversation with Carmen Carrera, trans activist and model, and MALGBTCC Board President James Lopata to unpack the evolution of media and the way trans stories fit into its narratives.
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In addition to cosponsoring the Queer Me Out conversation on transgender rights, our chamber was also at the BNEG’s Out Professional Executive Networking (O.P.E.N) event on the same night. Let’s continue to create these spaces for the LGBT community to come together, connect, and support one another.
BOSTON PRIDE JOB FAIR
June 5 marked the first annual Boston Pride Job Fair, which was hosted downtown at 50 Milk Street. We brought together 28 organizations and companies looking to hire LGBTQ+ job seekers, and we're confident that this event will continue to grow in the coming years. Thank you to everyone who attended and good luck with interviewing and job fair follow-up.
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Due to the overwhelmingly positive response, we will be planning another job fair in the fall in addition to our fair at the First Event Conference in January. Stay tuned for details.
PARADE & FESTIVAL
It was a wonderful feeling to experience Pride in the city of Boston with the LGBTQ+ community and allies coming together for a day of celebration and reflection.
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Being a relatively new chamber of commerce, this is the first year that we have had a public presence at Pride events across the state. On behalf of our chamber team, I would like to thank everyone who welcomed us and reinvigorated our drive to support and advocate for LGBT professionals, job seekers, business owners, and individuals across the state. It was a pleasure to meet so many of you over the last month and we are proud to represent this community and its allies.
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OUR GROWING CHAMBER
STRATEGIC PARTNERS
We're thrilled to announce that
Womxn of Color Weekend will become one of our strategic partners. Founded in 2007, WoCW is a 4 day Provincetown event designed to elevate, strengthen, educate, and celebrate LGBTQIA women of color, trans, non-binary, and gender-fluid people of color, and our accomplices. We're excited to work with this fantastic organization to expand their programming and create business development opportunities for this community.
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SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHTS
OJC ARTISAN OF SOUND LAUNCHES
OJC Artisan of Sound held its official launch this past week at the M Fine Arts Galerie. Company founder Olivier Jamin Changeart extended the launch invitation to all chamber members, creating an opportunity to connect while celebrating OJC's milestone.
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To learn more about Artisan of Sound’s work with sonic branding,
check out Olivier’s blog post on how businesses can broaden their marketing horizons by making better use of audio.
ASG EARNS SPOT ON STATEWIDE MARKETING CONTRACT
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This spring, marketing agency Archipelago Strategies Group (ASG) became the first LGBT-certified business to be accepted into the Commonwealth's statewide contract for marketing, advertising, and events services. Access to the PRF60 allows ASG to compete for the millions of dollars that the state spends on marketing campaigns to promote public health, education, and other important initiatives.
ASG's work for the Commonwealth will include marketing, advertising, public relations, event planning, social and ethnic media, video production, digital marketing, and graphic design services. ASG is partnering with fellow chamber founding member Tomo360 as a digital marketing subcontractor.
Our chamber of commerce worked closely with the Baker Administration's Operational Services Division to build awareness of the need to include LGBT-owned businesses at this level of contracting. We anticipate this will be the first of many such opportunities and we will continue to make this work a priority.
"It's great that the Commonwealth now has access to the unique creative and cultural expertise that LGBT-owned businesses like ours can provide," said Martinez. "I want to thank the Operational Services Division, the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce, and Senator Julian Cyr for their critical support in this process."
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IN THE MEDIA
Our chamber’s work was recently highlighted in short segments on NECN and Telemundo. Visit each link below to hear more about the mission of our chamber and what we’ve been working on.
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STAY CONNECTED
We're in the process of planning events and business opportunities for our corporate partners, small business owners, and members of the public. Thank you for following along! We're excited to announce upcoming opportunities soon.
Proudly,
Grace R. Moreno
Executive Director
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What do you want to see from our chamber? How can it be more effective? That’s a question we ask ourselves continually, but now is your turn!
Please complete the survey by July 3.
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Cape Cod Pride
June 22
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Noon
Hyannis Village Green
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The Fourth Annual Cape Cod PRIDE Festival is on Saturday, June 22, 2019 at the Hyannis Village Green.
The festival is followed by PRIDE Dance Party at Cape Cod Beer 6–9PM.
Everyone is welcome. Admission is free.
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