PORTLAND, Ore. — This story is courtesy of the Portland Business Journal, a KGW news partner. Click here for the full version.
A new social club is taking root in Portland aimed at queer and lesbian women to help foster real-life connections and community.
Called Lesbian Culture Club, it soft launched over the summer with a website and activities gathering attention through Instagram and word of mouth. At the end of September, it launched a Kickstarter campaign to help build out events and eventually a space.
The group is designed to offer a place where people in the community can either find an event or activity or find like-minded folks to connect with, said founder and CEO Carrie Ritchie.
“A big driver is, honestly, just trying to create the thing that I felt like I was missing and needing in my own life and to have kind of a one-stop shop for those things,” she said.
Ritchie is also the founder and CEO of Good & Gold Marketing and former advertising director and publisher of Portland Monthly. She said her roles have given her professional connections but maybe not the kind of connection where she could ask someone to play tennis on a random afternoon or go backpacking.
The Kickstarter runs through the end of this month and has a $64,575 goal. In the next couple of weeks, she hopes to launch a mobile app for the community that will feature profiles for members and the ability to post invites for activities for people nearby or create groups with shared interests. The goal is to have communities in different cities so when members travel, they can find local groups to hook into or local happenings.
