The Transportation First Series offers a platform to discuss the challenges faced by our region, with the input of experts and changemakers.
02/12/2025
2:45pm - 4:30pm
Hybrid | Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
Hear from James E. Rooney about the state of the economy, and how it all matters to businesses, residents, and policymakers.
02/13/2025
10:00am - 10:30am
Virtual
Join us for our first Words of Wisdom dinner of the year featuring Callie Crossley, host & commentor at GBH.
02/20/2025
5:00pm - 7:00pm
Dorchester Brewing Company
Go deeper than basic DEI training to achieve higher productivity, satisfaction, and revenue growth with our new corporate workshop.
This program is in redevelopment. Click this page for DEI resources.
Our Women’s Leadership Program enables you to take your leadership to the next level by arming you with the most in-demand leadership toolkit.
Our Boston’s Future Leaders (BFL) program provides emerging leaders with a socially conscious and civically engaged leadership toolkit, as well as the opportunity to apply their knowledge through experiential assignments.
City Awake empowers young professionals in a variety of ways that encourages these rising leaders to stay invested in the region’s future success.
We are developing an ecosystem of corporations and partners with the influence and buying power to transform economic inclusion for minority business enterprises (MBEs).
Small businesses are the backbone of the Boston economy. Learn more about the resources available through the Chamber.
BIMA (the Boston Interactive Media Association) serves a vibrant community of like-minded professionals from agencies, brands, publishers, and ad-tech companies with business interests in the New England market.
For 30 years, the Chamber’s Women’s Network has connected female professionals of all background and career levels. Today, our Women’s Network is the largest in New England, strengthening the professional networks of women each year.
The Massachusetts Apprentice Network convenes employers, training providers, and talent sources interested in developing and implementing apprenticeship programs in occupations across industries and statewide in fields such as tech, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and more.
Explore our mission and values to better understand how we are leading the business community forward.
Our member directory is your resource to discover, connect, and engage with Boston’s businesses from every industry and sector.
As a Boston native and lifetime resident, I’ve grown up very fond of the fact there are two different sides of Boston. The side I grew up on was very rich in culture, diversity, and art. I grew up in Hyde Park and often visited family and friends in Mattapan, Dorchester and Roxbury where walking down the street you could hear a variety of music from Bachata, Kompa or reggae blasting from different houses on the same block. You could also smell the different foods coming from the Jamaican restaurant around the corner, to the soul food spot across the street.
Almost everyone and everything looked familiar whether I was headed to the bodega to grab some snacks or riding in my dad’s car to the gas station. I just always remember feeling the culture. This feeling filled me with a sense of pride that I was in a place that occupied so many different types of ethnicities and yet it always felt like love. I believe that the Boston I grew up in paved the way for me to truly value community – a state where everyone’s differences are recognized and yet still honored with love and respect.
This sense of community was often lost as I would make my way towards what many outsiders believe is the real Boston. I’m talking about the parts where tourists frequented with cameras in hand to visit what they were taught are the only historical parts of Boston – Downtown Crossing, Boston Common, Faneuil Hall, Beacon Hill, and/or Newbury Street. While I too, have always appreciated having the privilege of being able to access the Freedom Trail in my city and walk the nostalgic areas of where the Boston Tea Party occurred. These parts of the city never really felt like home as there were few people who looked like me and acknowledged my presence with the same warmth and love I was welcomed with in the neighborhoods I grew up in.
As a young working professional and entrepreneur in Boston, having to occupy both of those spaces can be tricky. In my neighborhood, I felt like I could always be my authentic self, however when I stepped into what is deemed as the more “professional” areas of Boston, I’m forced to put on a façade to interact in a space that not only lacks representation of my identity and culture but a lack of understanding of who I actually am.
Navigating these two roles can be exhausting and make you feel like you’re never enough but it’s a sad truth that many millennials of color in Boston face. This is among the reasons why a 2017 City Awake report confirmed the ongoing narrative of Greater Boston as an unwelcoming destination for young professionals of color.
However, City Awake is taking the initiative to change this narrative with their second annual Fierce Urgency of Now (F.U.N.) Festival which seeks to create a welcoming and inspiring experience for millennials of color in Greater Boston. The festival, organized in partnership with the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, features more than 30 unique events that will highlight the experiences of, challenges, and possibilities for young professionals of color in Boston. I had the pleasure of attending a number of these events that are intentionally hosted by millennials of color in the city but in spaces that we tend not to voluntarily occupy.
(Jessicah Pierre pictured left at One Day Only Fest)
For example, I attended a networking event at the Boston Public Library specifically intended to welcome artists of color and musicians in the city. We were greeted with warm words from the Boston Public Library President, David Leonard, who was not shy about addressing our city’s lack of engagement with talented millennials of color. He assured us at our presence will always be welcome in this space. I also had the opportunity to be present at the One Day Only Festival hosted by Kickback Boston at Dewey Square, a location in which I often walk past when heading over to South Station to take the commuter rail back to my resident neighborhood of Dorchester.
The festival featured a diverse line up of Boston talent ranging from spoken word artists, rappers, singers, DJs, and more. The millennials of color present at Dewey Square that day brought an energy that attracted not only those walking by but those who were interested in joining in on the fun, lively music and eclectic crowd.
For the first time in a long time, the FUN festival events allowed a cross cultural phenomenon of both Boston’s coming together and created an unforgettable experience for many millennials like me.
For the first time in a long time, the F.U.N. festival events allowed a cross cultural phenomenon of both Boston’s coming together and created an unforgettable experience for many millennials like me. As the founder and CEO of the organization, Queens Company, where we work to empower women of color in the greater Boston area, our motto is building community over competition. This motto was perfectly captured at the FUN festival where both sides of Boston collided to, at last, create a welcoming city for all of us.
I’m looking forward to partnering with many of the organizations that made this festival possible to ensure that we continue to do the necessary work to build the bridge that provides a community and home for everyone, no matter what part of the city they’re in.
This is my vision for #MyBoston.
Jessicah Pierre is a Public Relations Professional, Political Blogger, and Social Entrepreneur. She is the President & CEO of The Queens Company, an organization that works to empower women of color in the Greater Boston area.
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