FROM LEFT, JENNI GERHOLD AND MARAH HOCK, FOUNDERS OF BURGH BOOK BADDIES, AT THE CHEESE QUEEN IN MT. OLIVER. | COURTESY JENNI GERHOLD
While sitting outside Coop De Ville in the Strip District in October 2023, small-business owners Jenni Gerhold and Maura Hoch were discussing ways to connect their customers and community of women.
“Maura was like, ‘Wait, book clubs are kinda in, what if we did a book club?’ and I was like ‘Oh yeah, let’s do a book club,’” says Gerhold, owner of Jenni G Jewelry. “We created the Instagram account that night.”
From there, Burgh Book Baddies was born, and its popularity grew. Now, 50 to 60 women attend their monthly meetings at local restaurants and bars, typically in the Strip District. Their main audience is women 21 and over, but younger girls are welcome if accompanied by an adult.
“We love to bring women together and build a community for people to make new friends,” Gerhold says.
Gerhold and Hoch, who operates a clothing boutique, appear on KDKA’s “Talk Pittsburgh” monthly to share their top four book choices for the club gathering. Members can then go to the @burghbookbaddies Instagram account to vote on the book of the month.
The choice for April is “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” by V.E. Schwab, and the meet-up will be held 7 p.m. May 1 at Condado Tacos in Lawrenceville.
Ashley Yourick, of Greenfield, joined the group in March 2024 after seeing a post on Instagram. At the time, reading was part of her daily routine, which is what initially drew her in.
Now, after being an active member for over a year, the club has had a much larger impact on her social life. “When you are a woman in your 20s and up, it is harder to make new friends,” Yourick says.
She and several others started a group chat and recently went on a book retreat together, spending the whole weekend reading and bonding with one another.The club has also been a space for women to get out of their comfort zone by meeting new people, like Rebecca Lopez of the South Hills. Lopez is a former co-worker of Gerhold, and liked how the club was for both casual and non-casual readers.
“Most of our meetings I sit with people I’ve never met before,” Lopez says. “I also never thought I’d read fiction books.”
New members are always joining, like Katie Staroschuck of the South Hills, and Morgan Tarbrake of the North Hills, co-workers at SMS group USA and recent college graduates. They attended a meeting for the first time on March 27, making the decision to go just the week prior.
“It’s free, we aren’t making any money off of this,” Gerhold says. “It’s just solely something that we are passionate about.”
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
