Networking event brings together LGBTQ business community, local candidates and officials

An estimated 75 attendees gathered Monday evening at the Edmonds office of First Financial Northwest Bank for the first-ever GSBA Power Connect networking event to be held in Edmonds.

Organizers include First Financial Northwest Bank staff Yusef Hansai, Ashley Davis and Nikki Dickerson.

Many local candidates were in attendance. Here Snohomish County Superior Court judges Paul Thompson and Edirin Okoloko, both running to retain their seats, pause for a photo with public defender Whitney Rivera.

Event sponsors included Peggy and Ralph Sanders of Edmonds’ Sanders Law Group.

Edmonds mayoral candidate Mike Nelson pauses to answer a question from a citizen.

Edmonds mayoral candidate Neil Tibbott pauses for a photo with Yusef Hansai of event sponsor First Financial Northwest Bank.

GSBA’s Ilone Lohrey (center) is joined by event sponsors Ralph Sanders of Sanders Law Group and Nikki Dickerson of First Financial Northwest Bank to welcome attendees to the event.

The first-ever GSBA networking event in Snohomish County got underway Monday afternoon at the offices of First Financial Northwest Bank located in Edmonds’ Salish Crossing complex.

Formed in 1981, the GSBA is Washington state’s LGBTQ and allies chamber of commerce. It is the largest LGBTQ chamber in North America, representing more than 1,300 small-business, corporate and nonprofit members who share the values of promoting equality and diversity in the workplace. GSBA serves as a connector across the state, bringing the community together through business while advocating for civil rights and small business, promoting LGBTQ tourism, and investing in the next generation of leaders through the GSBA Scholarship Fund.

The organization hosts quarterly after-hours mixers called “Power Connect” designed to foster meaningful business and social connections between our members, allies, and community.

Monday’s event, Power Connect:North, was the first to be held in Snohomish County and drew an estimated 75 participants from Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Shoreline and Mukilteo. Attendees included business owners, neighborhood advocates, elected officials and candidates for local office. Sponsored by First Financial Northwest Bank and the Sanders Law Group, the event provided the opportunity for all to meet, exchange ideas, share priorities and make new contacts.

“We originally called ourselves the Greater Seattle Business Association – hence the acronym GSBA,” explained Matt Landers, Director of Public Policy and Governmental Affairs for the organization. “But as the LGBTQ community became more mainstream, we felt it increasingly appropriate to be clear that we are, and have been from the start, and organization that combines business development, leadership and social action to expand economic opportunities for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community and those who support equality for all. We’ve really become more of a community than a business chamber, stressing our core value that equality is good for business.”

Accordingly, GSBA provides an array of resources for member businesses including access to print and digital media, assistance in marketing to the LGBTQ and allied community, representing your business to elected officials, awarding scholarships and sponsoring leadership development for students and young entrepreneurs. Learn more here.

— Story and photos by Larry Vogel

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

My Edmonds News