Want To Make A Difference In Ditmas Park's Business Landscape? Check Out This Meeting On Thursday, March 12

Melanie Severo. Photo via Karuna Acupuncture.

A little more than a year ago, the Prospect Park South Networking Group held its first meeting, bringing together local entrepreneurs with the hope that they could help support one another and spread the word about all the cool businesses that operate in our own back yard. Since then, the group has quickly grown and now boasts more than 90 members, from local business owners to neighbors who work from home.

The networking group’s next meeting is this Thursday, March 12 at 6:30pm at EzraGuitar (785 Coney Island Avenue). In honor of April’s looming tax deadline (ugh), the group has invited Jeffrey Gilfix, a local certified public accountant, to speak to neighbors about taxes for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Before the gathering, which is free and open to anyone, we wanted to catch up with Melanie Severo, one of the group’s founders who’s a licensed acupuncturist and registered nurse based at 1011 Beverley Road, about the organization and how it’s helping to shape our neighborhood’s business landscape.

Can you tell us more about the group? What inspired its creation in the first place?

The Prospect Park South Networking Group was started in January 2014 as a collaboration between myself and Mark Anthony, owner of Primo Health Solutions, who also lives in the neighborhood. We met at a local health fair, and decided we would start the group in an effort to get to know other business owners in the neighborhood. We also want to let people who live in Brooklyn (and specifically in Ditmas Park, Kensington, and Windsor Terrace) know that many of the services they use on a regular basis are available very close to home. We like to meet in various businesses in the area to help them showcase what they have to offer to the community. A couple of our favorites are Lark Cafe and Ezra Guitar.

Who can come to the meetings? Is anyone interested in business in the area welcome to join?

We welcome all local small business owners, entrepreneurs, and anyone interested in local businesses.

Mark Anthony, who helped to found the networking group alongside Melanie. Photo via Mark Anthony.

What sorts of topics do you guys talk about?

We have had speakers ranging from a success and abundance coach to a local video producer who works with promoting small to medium sized businesses. We have also had a business/marketing coach, as well as two separate visits from NYC Business Solutions. Future presentations will be from a CPA (at our March 12 meeting), with pending visits from the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and a lawyer who specializes in working with small businesses.

What are some of the other careers of people in the group?

We have a wide range of people who attend, including: personal trainers, health coaches, business coaches, psychotherapists, illustrators, organizers, adventure travel specialists, lawyers, bankers, musicians, videographers, financial planners, web developers, graphics designers, marketing specialists, and copy editors.

Over the past year, how have you seen the group evolve?

Though we started out as a way to meet and provide education to other business owners in the neighborhood (and this continues to be our primary emphasis), it has also grown to be a great way to make friends with our neighbors. Several times a year, we will just meet in a local restaurant or bar to chat and get to know each other on a more personal level. We all have families and the stress that comes along with being self-employed, so we often serve as a support network to each other.

If you have a question about the upcoming meeting, or about the group in general, you can email Melanie at melanie@karuna-acupunctureny.com, or visit their meetup page here. If you plan on attending Wednesday night’s gathering, the organizers ask that you RSVP here.