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Bard College Alum to Speak at Simon's Rock Final Commencement

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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Chloe Demrovsky, class of 2001, will address graduates at the 56th commencement ceremony of Bard College at Simon's Rock on Saturday, May 17, at 11 a.m. 
 
The ceremony will be held on the Blodgett Lawn. Additional seating will be available in the McConnell Theater. The event will be live-streamed for those unable to attend in person. Seating will be on a first-come basis. More information here.
 
Demrovsky is an experienced executive leader with a career advising Fortune 100 companies, startups, consortia, and government on all aspects of emergency management. Recognized for her forward-thinking approach, she leverages present market fundamentals and technological innovation to drive transformation across industries. 
 
She is currently Executive in Residence in Global Business and Economy at New York University, where she oversees research on topics from geoeconomics and weaponized interdependence to emerging advanced technologies and cryptocurrency. She is also the founder of Edgewood Insights, an advisory firm at the nexus of risk and resilience. 
 
From 2017 to 2024, she was the president and CEO of Disaster Recovery Institute International, the global leader in operational resilience and business continuity training and credentialing after having served since 2014 as executive director. Under her leadership, the institute doubled in size to support over 20,000 certified professionals in operational risk, business continuity and cyber resilience across more than 110 countries, including at 95 percent of Fortune 100 and 60 percent of Global 2000 companies. 
 
She provided training services primarily for financial services, technology, healthcare, government, and consulting. She built strategic partnerships and represented the brand in important forums including ISO Technical Committee 292 for Societal Security and Resilience and annual research with Harvard University's National Preparedness Leadership Initiative.
 
As a senior Forbes contributor, Demrovsky's insights have been featured across major media outlets like Fox News, CBS News, CNBC, Newsmax, News Nation, CNN, MSNBC, Bloomberg, and Sky News. She's also been a source for leading publications, including The Financial Times, AP, BBC, USA Today, and ABC News. She has presented at more than 150 events on five continents and briefed government bodies such as Congress, the European Commission, and the United Nations. In 2024, she served on the FEMA National Advisory Council, evidencing her impact and recognition in her field.
 
Demrovsky's affiliations reflect her dedication to global and community engagement. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Crain's New York 2023 Notable Leader, and holds fellowships with the U.S.-Japan Foundation, the French-American Foundation and the British-American Project. Her work has been recognized with current board appointments at the French-American Foundation as vice chair of the Executive Committee and Tier 1 automotive supplier OPmobility's (EPA: POM) Global Advisory Board and previously at the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction Global ARISE private sector partnerships board (2020-23) and vice chair of the Board of Oversees at Bard College at Simon's Rock from 2019-24. 
 
She holds a bachelor of arts summa cum laude from Bard College at Simon's Rock and a master of science with distinction in global affairs: international business, economics and development from new York University.
 
Fluent in four languages and a world traveler with visits to more than 55 countries, Demrovsky resides in New York with her husband and family.
 
Simon's Rock looks forward to honoring this year's graduating students. This will be the last commencement held at the Great Barrington campus, which will close this year and shift to Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.

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Pryor & Peacock's Whimsical Furniture Environmentally Friendly

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
 

The company uses digital printing to create the upholstery fabric, saving water and saving vintage furniture from ending up in landfills.

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — A unique furniture store has popped up on Elm Street this month.

Mom-and-daughter store Pryor & Peacock is hosting the pop-up storefront from Aug. 13 to Aug. 25 at 6 Elm. The New Marlborough business is co-founded by Rosalina Wright and Luca Shapiro, who is also the creative director. 

Their online shop was created in 2024 but they wanted people to see the pieces in person, so they're renting the space for a limited time before a long-term tenant moves in.

The store sources prints to create unique fabrics and reimagines vintage and antique furniture acquired at auctions, local shops, and online.

"We source prints from all over the world that date from the late 1600s up through mid-20th century, and Luca turns those prints into fabric by manipulating them, scanning them, oftentimes has to add or subtract things, and then we manufacture the fabric using only digital printing, which is very environmentally friendly, unlike traditional textile printing," Wright said.

Upholstering the furniture can take weeks of work. Shapiro looks for the perfect design for each piece and, if need be, uses Adobe Photoshop to extend the art work to fit or enhance the print.

"One of the most difficult parts comes in marrying the fabric to a piece of furniture because we only use antique and vintage frames also to be earth friendly, and they're also more beautiful and durable than new furniture," Wright said. "So the image has to go with the furniture, so that takes a lot of work."

One of Pryor & Peacock's missions is to be environmentally friendly. Digital printing doesn't use the same amount of water as traditional textile productions do nor does it contaminate water with ink according to their website.

Not only are they saving water, but they are saving furniture from going into the landfill while also using more durable furniture that doesn't break as easily as current pieces. They started their business to create something unique and to help the environment together.

"It's creating something nobody else is doing. People can't continue to buy throwaway furniture. Six percent of American landfills is furniture, and digital printing not only opens up the possibility of being able to put unique images on a piece of furniture, but it also is, as I said, environmentally friendly. So, for us, the excitement is to take an old East Lake settee that somebody's going to store in their barn and forget about, and make it something completely new and surprising," Wright said.

They hope their furniture helps bring a pop of fun to someone's home.

"We think our furniture is very whimsical and surprising, and most furniture today is oatmeal colored couches and gray neutral chairs, and it's boring," she said.

The two named their business after their mothers' maiden names to honor them and believe the name reflects their pieces.

Shapiro works in interior design outside of the business and the two liked working together and thought it would be great to start a business together. Shapiro says they can work well together and that her and her mother, Wright, has flipped houses before and have the same eye for design.

"So it's very easy for us to work together. When we see something, generally we agree on whether it works or doesn't work on a piece. We agree on the color schemes and that sort of thing. So it's very fun and fulfilling to work together," Shapiro said. 

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