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Westchester/Fairfield County Times, August 2005
"Playdates for grownups"
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Kate T. Berg is attractive and vivacious. She adores river rafting, dining out, hiking, climbing, playing tennis. Cordial and enthusiastic, she is one of those game, “up for anything,” people who enjoys meeting new people and doing fun things in groups.
That’s the main reason she became the founder and president of Avenue B, a social club for singles or quasi-singles who could use a little boost finding fun things to do on the weekends or simply to get out of their homes at night.
According to Berg’s research statistics, and before anyone starts an enterprise such as hers, they tend to do the research, the U.S. 2000 census data revealed that a whopping 40% of the population of Fairfield county is single. “Singles aren’t my only target but singles have more time, they may have just moved into town and don’t know people, they don’t have the attachments that are formed through family-related activities,” Berg said. Suburbia, she said, can be awfully isolating. “You leave your house or your apartment and you get into your car and you drive to your little cube in your office complex. You’re not on foot. You rarely meet anyone.” She said that every single person with whom she dared to broach the subject agreed this is a problem. “It’s not just me who has noticed this is an issue. There are books out there on the topic. There’s that book ‘Bowling Alone.’ There are the people who study social stuff and communities. What struck me as ironic is how technology has actually sucked more time from us than it really was supposed to and in more isolating ways.”
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Her club, Avenue B, is targeted to working professionals in Fairfield and Westchester County aged 30 to 50 who are hoping to connect. The age thing, she says, is “flexible.” And so is the single aspect. “I am just looking for people who are interested in getting out and doing more, finding out more about what’s happening where they live. You don’t have to be single. I just signed up two married couples who recently moved to the area who just want to establish themselves.”
Berg’s work history is in marketing and public relations and technology. “My career has been in the internet and before that IT (Information Technology). I decided to create Avenue B because I grew up in New Canaan and then moved away for many years.” It was when she returned to the area that she was struck with the difficulty of establishing a circle of friends. “I thought if it was so hard for somebody like me who basically knew the area, by gosh, how hard was it for somebody who did not?”
Avenue B is named for Berg’s New York City neighborhood where she quickly made friends. “Contrary to my suburban prejudices that the city is impersonal, it turned out the just the opposite was true. I immediately made a great circle of friends around Tompkin Square park and the Avenue B neighborhood. Her club, she said, is, “A marriage of my marketing skills and my connector type personality. With my technology know-how, I thought I could create a bridge.” In fact what she has created is a kind of country club for the new millennium. “When you apply to a country club you might have more married people or you might have more singles. This is nondiscriminatory. You’re a lot of things when you’re single. I’m single but I have a boyfriend. I also have many hobbies and a new career. A person is more than just their single-hood and through my club you can form attachments and bond.”
Berg enjoys fostering an atmosphere that principally brings people together. “I focus on a wide variety of events. I pride myself for coming from a variety of different directions to appeal to a broad spectrum. To not be easily bucketed.” Wine tasting dinners are a preferred event. “I’m a real foodie and so is my boyfriend. We’ve turned so many people on to Valencia, a Venezuelan restaurant in Norwalk. There’s nothing fancy about it. You bring your own bottle. It’s a small little ethnic place, like something you’d find in New York City. They close the place down for us when we have an event because we fill the place with 25 people.” She often teams up with a Fairfield and Westchester county restaurant events planner, Linda Kavenaugh to host unique dining experiences. Another example is an upcoming river rafting trip that will draw fifteen members. “They’ll meet up and spend the whole day together.”
Avenue B has a trip scheduled to the MOMA. “We’re going to see the renovations, have a tour, get some dinner. We’ve done Caramoor. Nothing could be more beautiful than Caramoor on a summer night. Last spring we did a barn tour in Bedford where we did five different barns to benefit the Westchester Land Trust. We’ve had events at Taste of the Nation. We’ve done major hikes in the Pound Ridge reservation and played tennis in Pound Ridge and Westport. We’ve done vertical climbing in Stamford. I have a couple of members who are Pilates instructors who turned us on to Pilates and yoga. Because I’m a big wine enthusiast, I’m planning events with two vineyards. What’s amazing is that I’ve had so many people say afterwards, “Thank you. I’m so glad you did that event. If you hadn’t, I’d have never tried doing that.”
Because so many events are member driven, Berg invites members to create their own events and post them online. “I worked with a data base company in Maryland to develop an idea I had that anybody could be an event planner.” Her vision is that the community of Avenue B will eventually take a major role in determining events. “For example, I have a member who has a goal to become more investment savvy. She told me that she wanted to start an investment club. I walked her through what it takes to create an investment event. Now she has a club that meets once a month through the Avenue B site for people who are interested in learning more about how to manage their finances.”
Berg cites the success of Craig’s List as, “a great example of what can be done.” As anyone familiar with Craig’s List knows, the site went from being an ad hoc bulletin board with a few postings to a major operation that runs the gamut from everything from apartment rentals to human to human hook ups. “I got an apartment off Craig’s List. I bought a mountain bike. I’ve gotten people to rent my house.” Craig’s List was such an inspiration that Berg even took a class with the founder. “I would say I’m a little bit Craig’s List and a teeny bit Daily Candy.” But for Craig’s List you don’t have to be a member. “What I’m doing with my community is that once you get past the critical mass, exclusivity is an issue. The difference between me and Linkster or Friendster or even Craig’s List is that there is this concept of ‘best of breed.’ I am a local operator overseeing the growth of the club. I think people appreciate that, at least anecdotally. People have written to me and said that they’re glad I’m looking out for them. They’re glad I’m willing to be their social organizer.”
As American Express says, member ship has its privileges. For the privilege of belonging to Avenue B, it’ll run you $99 a year, or $59 for six months. “You will likely save money by doing the events because you’ll get more for less when you do them.” A deep discount is given to those who do an event through their membership with Avenue B. A choice list of corporations are jumping on Berg’s bandwagon. “What I never counted on when I started this club was all the companies and individuals who are willing to give a lot because I can bring a ready audience.”
To that end, Berg has chosen what she believes to be are the best partners. “I’ve got partners on the merchant side. Restaurants are my partners. They advertise and market their services through my club. Likewise I chose some of best corporations in the area. Thomson is a model company. They’re an information services company like a Reuters with a learning division for data management information services. Thomson is a privately held company with 40,000 employees worldwide and 400 in Stamford. Pitney Bowes is also an award winning company. I’ve been talking to them about Avenue B as a perk for either new employees or busy employees who want a fresh avenue to explore fun stuff.” What she offers potential partners is product placement for dynamic interactions throughout the year.
“Once the companies wrap their arms around the idea they find it is very beneficial to their employees. There is that healthy component of getting people out of the office and doing things.” Leisure time in America, Berg said, has shrunk. “We went from having approximately 26 hours of leisure time a week to 19 hours in the last five years.” Berg’s understanding of the mindset of her club members is rooted in her own experience. “It’s so hard to get people out to do anything. Even just emailing five friends to ask them what they’re doing on the weekend is really tough. I like looking at a calendar and knowing something fun is happening. And even if you don’t make a romantic connection, hey, you’ll meet some new people and try some new things.” That’s a win-win, right?
For more information, contact Kate Berg at kateb@aveb.net or log on to the site at www.aveb.net. Her phone is 914 509 5166. And you don’t need to be in Fairfield County to apply.
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