As our family approaches 10 years in Westport, we can’t help but feel grateful to live in such a wonderful town.
Prior to Westport, we were nomads in search of a place to call home. We spent a decade living between New York, China, and Boston. As our children approached elementary school, we renewed our search for a vibrant and safe town with outstanding public schools. Westport topped that list.
Within weeks of moving here, we were blown away by how much Westport has to offer — Compo Beach, Longshore, a vibrant downtown, easy access to hiking trails, the dog park, a state-of-the-art library, the Levitt Pavilion… the list goes on.
But what makes Westport truly unique is the clear sense of community, and how so many of us choose to live here to engage with vibrant, driven, and open-minded people.
A clear example is the creation of StartUp Westport. Pillars of our business community, such as our co-founder Cliff Sirlin, joined forces with First Selectwoman Jen Tooker with the mission of enabling and activating entrepreneurship and innovation in Westport. In under 18 months, StartUp Westport has grown to over 1500 members across Fairfield County. Each of our events at The Westport Library are attended by hundreds of people with a strong desire to learn and connect.
The value StartUp Westport has unlocked, paired with the caliber of seasoned professionals who want to “pay it forward”, led us to develop a Mentorship Program – an initiative to nurture the next wave of entrepreneurship in Westport and surrounding communities, foster local collaboration, and bridge the opportunity gap for historically marginalized groups.
In less than 6 months, our Mentorship Program has grown to over 180 people. We have facilitated over 45 1:1 mentorship pairings, host monthly Mentorship Circles, and support a quarterly large-group education series with topics ranging from Diverse Entrepreneurship (partnering with Westport 10) and Female Founders & Funders (partnering with the Tidal River Fund).
The opportunity to lead this initiative – and experience its rapid growth and impact – is a gift made possible by the unwavering support, generosity, and passion of our local community and public leadership. And we are just getting started!
If you feel as passionately as we do about the value of mentorship and coming together as a community to help each other thrive, please consider joining StartUp Westport
and our Mentorship Program by visiting www.startupwestport.org.