By Jim Brassord
Director of Facilities and Associate Treasurer, Amherst College
At-Large Member of Chamber's Executive Committee 

Editor's Note: This is the third in a series of blog posts by the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors

Sure, the After 5’s are great opportunities for keeping up with friends and colleagues but they can be and are much more than that. 

At an After 5 last year I struck up a conversation with a young new member, Jacob Lefton, who looked a bit like a fish out of water as it was his first Chamber event.  I was fascinated to learn about his company, Artist Blacksmith, and his ties to the local community as a recent Hampshire College grad.  Jacob’s passion and enthusiasm for his work and for the local area was just palpable.  He impressed me as the type of young entrepreneur who we were fortunate had stayed in the Valley. After Jacob learned of my  role in managing the Lord Jeff Inn project he made a strong pitch for providing artisan services to craft wrought iron hardware elements.  I took  a leap of faith and engaged Artist Blacksmith to fabricate architectural elements for the LJI.  No surprise, Jacob’s work was exquisite!!!  We are now looking forward to using Jacob on many more Amherst College projects and hope that the local business community will use Artist Blacksmith for their projects. 

Buy local….   your Chamber at work!!!!