
Leading the Way - A Night of Music and Play at Portland Community Squash
Join us for an evening of music and squash lessons - the perfect combination - as we celebrate community and female empowerment.
The young athletes of Portland Community Squash will show us how to play, how to move, and how to lead. The students of Palaver Strings will teach us how to listen deeply and communicate through sound.
Collectively, we will ask ourselves:
What kind of community do we want?
What kind of space creates community?
What do our girls need for this community to thrive?
Details
Date: Thursday, October 23 2025
Time: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Location: Portland Community Squash, 66 Noyes Street, Portland, ME, street parking availa
Fee: $50 - small bites and beverages provided. Special thanks to Orange Bike Brewing for providing drinks.
Attire - Comfortable clothing for movement, should you choose to participate in the 30-minute squash lesson
*As we develop different types of events, we are working on prices to make these events sustainable. If cost is a factor, we want to help. For each event, we set aside tickets just for this purpose. Please email us at hello@heldportland.com.
Cancellation policy: All sales are final and non-refundable. However, your tickets are transferable to an individual. If transferred to someone, please email us their name and email address at hello@heldportland.com.
About our partners
Portland Community Squash
Portland Community Squash (PCS) aims to build an accessible community center that holistically supports and unites its members. We envision a community with enough social and human capital to overcome ever-changing societal challenges and prosper.
PCS Values:
Respect - We support our teammates
Effort - We work hard together
Positivity - We use our energy to uplift others
PCS Principles:
Access - Remove barriers to reflect the city's population
Equity - Prepare members to thrive
Cohesion - Unite and empower a strong community
Palaver Strings
Palaver Strings is a musician-led string ensemble and nonprofit organization based in Portland, ME. Founded in 2014, Palaver has established itself as a forward-thinking ensemble whose mission is to strengthen and inspire community through music. In our musician-led model, Palaver’s musicians share artistic and administrative leadership, guided by a passion for engaging new audiences, addressing social justice issues, and amplifying underrepresented voices. Each year, Palaver presents a full series of live performances featuring diverse musical programming, cross-genre projects, and community collaborations. Equally committed to education, Palaver offers quality music instruction through the Palaver Music Center in Portland, serving hundreds of students each year. Palaver has toured widely throughout the United States, performing at the Kennedy Center and a celebration of the Lullaby Project at Carnegie Hall. The ensemble recently released its third album, Ready or Not, in partnership with Azica Records. Palaver has enjoyed residencies at Rockport Music, Boston Center for the Arts, and Bay Chamber Concerts, and Longy School of Music (2022-2023). Palaver’s current residency at Longy includes regular performances and teaching a graduate course on music and community engagement.
Orange Bike
For-Profit. For-Good | Brewing a Better World Together.
Orange Bike Brewing is Portland, Maine’s first dedicated gluten-free brewery, founded on the belief that business can — and must — be a force for good.
Inspired by the theory of change and social capital model first shared by Barrett Takesian and Portland Community Squash, Orange Bike was built as a modern gathering place to strengthen community cohesion.
Backed by the State of Maine and the Maine Venture Fund, and in partnership with 11 universities and 72 college students, Orange Bike operates on the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit — brewing world-class beer while modeling a more just and equitable way of doing business.

Burn the Script
As women, we move through a system that was never made for us.
Inherited, not chosen. Shaped without our voices in the room.
And yet, we’re expected to bend ourselves to fit.
To show up just right, to say the right thing.
Unspoken rules. Silent pressure. Constant performance.
It’s no wonder so many of us are constantly comparing, questioning, second-guessing.
We shrink, edit, overthink. Not because we’re weak, but because we’ve been conditioned to believe we are.
Together with Conscious Revolution, we’re creating a place to pause. To reflect. To see who we are beneath the noise and possibly take a step towards something liberating.

Motherhood Brain & Body
What if the changes in your postpartum brain and body weren’t something to “bounce back” from but an invitation to understand and honor everything you’ve been through?
Join us for an evening of guided breathwork and thoughtful conversation with Chelsea Conaboy, author of the Mother Brain, and Ruth Macy and Courtney Naliboff, authors of Your Post-partum Body. We’ll explore how our bodies and minds evolve postpartum, including the profound neurological shifts that occur when we become mothers.

Unlock Creativity
Creativity isn’t limited to artists—it’s a part of all of us. It fuels innovation, strengthens adaptability, and enriches our well-being. Yet, many of us hesitate to create, convinced we’re not “creative.” The truth? Creativity is innate; it’s already within you.
Join us for an evening of conversation and creation as we explore the flow of creativity together.

Celebrating 1 Year
Held began with a vision: to bring together women of diverse backgrounds and foster a thoughtfully connected community. Whether you’ve been with us since the beginning or are new to the community, we’d love for you to join us in raising a glass!

Intentionally Cultivating Self-Love
For 2025, we’re setting the intention of self-love. Why? Self-love is not a practice inherent to women. By cultivating it as a daily exercise, we can build healthy boundaries with the world, break negative cycles, and improve our mental and physical health to become more emotionally resilient.

Giving Back, The Meaning of Community, & Communing Over Craft Beer
The end of the year is when friends, family, and communities come together to feast and fete. This December, held will host its last event of 2024 at the mission-driven Orange Bike Brewing Company and reflect on what community means to all of us and how we can collectively maximize our impact. Our focus will be on The Locker Project, a non-profit that connects food-insecure children in Maine with nourishing food, which all event proceeds will go towards.

A Private Art Tour and Timely Discussion
Experience an after-hours private tour with a curator of the Portland Museum of Art’s Peggy Bacon exhibit. The evening will be spent discussing and creatively expressing how Bacon’s satirical window into the social structures of the United States still holds relevance today, particularly in areas of gender, education, and class.

Hormonal Changes and How to Regulate the Imbalance
Held is partnering with Abbie Gross, an herbalist, postpartum doula, and holistic natural foods chef, for our October event. Attendees will walk away with a better understanding of how hormonal changes can impact multiple aspects of a woman’s well-being, what causes those changes besides age, how to detect the signs and symptoms, and the types of nourishment needed to help regulate the imbalance.
Music Pink and Blue, by Georgia O’Keeffe

The Art of Gathering and Entertaining
Attendees will learn how to create more meaningful gatherings for both themselves and guests as well how to elevate their aesthetic. Those who attend will leave knowing how to develop an architecturally designed charcuterie, fruit, and crudités board and become proficient in making a shrub: the go-to event drink.

Communication and Sexual Empowerment
Attendees will leave this thought-provoking tutorial led by nationally renowned sex therapist Jennifer Wiessner more sexually empowered, less burdened, more knowledgeable on how to improve connection, and equipped with additional resources to help support them on their journey.

Convos & Candy - Oh, the Places We (Should) Go! Sharing our Favorite Maine Gems.
Join Mary Beth, Tenaya, and Chelsea Diehl of Gadabout Maine for a night of mingling and sharing our favorite Maine adventure spots and destinations.

The Roux Institute at Northeastern University x held Entrepreneurship Bootcamp
Those who attend will hear inspiring stories from female business owners, learn a business framework to turn a passion into a viable business, put pen to paper in writing their business plan, and walk away with a network of business owners.

Personal Finance - a Framework and Steps to Build Wealth
Hosted by Tenaya and Mary Beth, join financial advisors Michelle Santiago Esq., CFP® and Molly Reinfried, CFP® for an evening discussion and tutorial around the financial mistakes we’ve all made and steps to gain control of personal finances and well-being. No financial knowledge required! Before we delve in, we’ll loosen up, dance, and have some fun with instructor, Maggy Bassingthwaite.

Convos & Candy - Let’s Play!
Hosted by Tenaya and Mary Beth, join Jess Barzell, Pilates instructor, dancer, artist, and play guru for an incredibly fun evening that will inspire us all to be more playful.

Sharing Your Intentions for 2024
You’re invited for apps, drinks, and collective conversation.