Berkshire County Partners to Celebrate Fall 2025 EforAll Cohort

07:33AM / Wednesday, December 10, 2025Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — 1Berkshire, in partnership with the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network's Berkshire Office and EforAll, announced the final presentations and cohort celebration of the final Berkshire County EforAll cohort happening on Tuesday Dec.16 at 6pm at the Berkshire Innovation Center.

Cohort participants have completed a 3-month accelerator program (including workshops, connections to local resource providers and mentorship relationship development) to help start, grow, or reinvent their small business in the Berkshires.

This celebration event is the capstone of those 3 months, with ongoing support, navigation, and technical assistance from partner organizations rooted in the Berkshires and across Massachusetts. Cohort graduates will be celebrated together and four special grant awards will be announced.

The members of this final Berkshire County EforAll cohort are:

Christine Bilé (Sea Blue Wellness & Therapy) Sea Blue Wellness & Therapy is a telehealth psychotherapy practice serving adults across the Berkshires and Massachusetts. Founded by musician and psychotherapist Christine Bilé, LICSW, the practice supports busy creatives and professionals in finding balance and improving their wellbeing, one session at a time.

Samantha Blau (Blue Rose Media) Founded by Samantha Blau, a Berkshire County native and marketing professional, Blue Rose Media is a full-service digital marketing agency that helps local businesses grow through social media, content creation, digital ads, and branding. She brings fresh, modern, effective marketing within reach, making it personal, accessible, and tailored for small businesses with big stories.

Jacqueline Cornette Schwartz (Moose Chocolates Berkshires) Lee-based Moose Chocolates Berkshires is filling a gap in the region's artisan food scene as the first chocolatier creating hand-crafted bonbons locally, with founder Jacqueline Cornette Schwartz combining her visual arts background and professional chocolate training to produce one-of-a-kind confections using Berkshire-sourced ingredients while planning to offer community workshops and tasting experiences at a downtown Lee studio opening Fall 2027.

Laura Harbin-Waters (Sanctuary Skin and Body Care) Sanctuary Skin and Body Care offers 30 years of experience treating all skin care concerns with skin care consults, customized treatment plans and personal care for all ages, in a tranquil and nurturing environment, healing, to promote healthy, glowing skin.

Gene Hyatt (Gene's Machines) Gene Hyatt is the owner of Gene's Machines, a sewing machine repair and service business for both domestic and commercial machines and equipment in the Berkshires and beyond.

Emily Kloeblen (All That Matters LLC) All That Matters LLC guides people through complex life transitions that involve a change in living arrangements with a sense of ease and purpose by providing services to support right sizing belongings, managing complex moves, and resettling into your new home. All That Matters LLC was founded in May 2025 by Emily Kloeblen, a former biomedical engineer who graduated with distinction from Harvard Business School MBA program and spent over two decades building innovative, patient centered services as a senior executive with leading healthcare companies.

Alyssa LaPointe (The Glow Lounge) Alyssa LaPointe is a Licensed Cosmetologist Specializing in skincare who opened The Glow Lounge to create a sanctuary of skincare wellness and health with a focus on connection, customization, and overall wellness while targeting specific skin care concerns! The Glow Lounge stands by the idea that everyone deserves a space for mental wellness and that skincare is for all!

Marianthy Posadas-Nava and Aaron Oster (Evergreen Education) Evergreen Education's Skills Assessment clarifies the capabilities within your business so you can prioritize investments, strengthen operations, and plan for sustainable growth.

Sara Reese (Fascia Flow) Fascia Flow announces its debut in Pittsfield, laying the foundation for a growing wellness hub centered on future fascia-focused services, with a commitment to accessible, high-quality massage services that support the health and well-being of the local community.

Noel Staples-Freeman (Berkshire African Dance and Drum Collective) Sister Noel is an arts educator and cultural tradition bearer with more than 45 years of experience preserving and sharing African diasporic dance traditions. She founded Uprising Dance Theatre in 1983 and serves as the artistic director of the Berkshire African Dance and Drum Collective (BADD), a community-rooted initiative based in Pittsfield, MA. Through intergenerational classes, workshops, and performances, Sister Noel celebrates rhythm, cultural memory, and embodied joy while honoring African, Caribbean, and African American traditions

Sofija Sutton (Find a Feeling) Sofija Sutton, a children's illustrator and software engineer, is launching Find a Feeling, a social-emotional learning app that helps children connect body sensations to emotions while building self-awareness and communication skills, giving parents a practical tool to support emotional growth and connection at home.

Ed Valentine (Writing Wizardry) Join Ed Valentine, a 4-time Emmy winning writer for Sesame Street, as he launches an online teaching and coaching portal designed to help people get their stories out of their heads, bring forth their best writing selves, and create new work they can send out into the world.

After 6+ years of operations with EforAll Berkshire County, beginning in 2026 the national EforAll program will be shifting to a fully-virtual program without specific localized branches.

To attend this celebration of these inspiring entrepreneurs, register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eforall-berkshire-county-fall-2025-showcase-and-celebration-tickets-1975040121169?aff=oddtdtcreator

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Lanesborough Board Looks to Pontoosuc Island Safety and Cleanup

By Breanna Steele05:50AM / Thursday, October 01, 2026

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Friends of Pontoosuc cleaned up the two islands on the lake and shared concerns of what they saw.

Kevin McGinnis, Friends board member, spoke to the Select Board last week about how the cleanup went and erosion the group discovered.

"We particularly wanted to go out and take a peek at the islands and it was seven bags of garbage and a lot of refuse from geese that we actually removed from both islands," he said. "The Keeler Island, particularly in Lanesborough, that had a Sheetrock bucket full of nails that we actually removed from there, too, and that was from probably multiple years of pallet burning out there."

McGinnis added that there is significant erosion on the east side of the islands, facing the deepest part of the channel.

He said Lee Popovich, who knows horticulture, suggested plantings along the edges to hold the soil and filter runoff that may help with the E. coli outbreaks on the lake.

"These are things that we can discuss on trying to keep those islands in enjoyable shape, and for people to be able to enjoy," McGinnis said, by reducing risks such as geese deposits, and plantings that can help filter some of the debris.

"We can't control how hard our rain comes, but we can mitigate some of that filtering processes to keep bacteria count lower. Because if you notice, pretty much the E. coli breakouts that we do have are right after heavy rain."

He wants to help keep the islands safe and healthy. He introduced the cleanup group, saying the cleanup was enjoyable and those who volunteered help make a difference.

"Look forward to in the future bringing more information back, and with a lot of moving parts to talk about mitigating erosion and certain things," McGinnis said. "But it's something that we all need to be kind of aware of, and this body of water is so enjoyable, and we definitely want to try to keep it as healthy as possible, and keep control or keep an eye on certain things."

Select Board member Jason Breault asked about what the insurance is for the islands to which Town Administrator Gina Dario responded that the island is a public park, so it's covered the same way as other town land, like Glaston Park. There's no added liability.

Breault then asked from a patrol aspect what that means.

"Obviously, if we have an underage drinking party, we have no mechanism to address it, or if there's a medical emergency on that area, we would have to get a boat from Pittsfield, so obviously we have some sort of a delay there," Police Chief Rob Derksen said. "That's the only concern, I guess, is it's a park that we can't patrol and we can't regulate on a regular basis,"

Breault wondered if they could get funding for a boat down the line but Derksen said it would be difficult with his small force.

"That's pulling the thread on a sweater because then I have to have certified boat officers and, I mean, so that's training that's time away and then I would have to be able to actually put them on the boat, which again as you've heard me say a million times, most of the time I have one officer on duty so I can't split them in half and put half on a boat, half in a car, so it would be a challenge."

He added that the lake is patrolled by the state Environmental Police but with recent funding challenges, it's not that much.

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