Business & Brews has casual professional networking on tap for 2025

Local Charleston area professionals will have more monthly opportunities to rub elbows with community leaders over a couple of cold ones starting Jan. 14th at Harbour Club at WestEdge.

Jan 07, 2025

After a banner year for Charleston Business & Brews in 2024, we’re looking forward to taking the Holy City’s fastest growing casual professional happy hour to a new heights in the New Year.

We believe no other networking or social group in the Lowcountry is delivering the content that B&B brings to the 8-5 community on a regular basis. Our top goal is connecting community leaders with community engaged professionals from various industries and all walks of life. Nothing satisfies us more than seeing folks who may otherwise not cross paths sharing a conversation over a cold beer or glass of whiskey at one of our events.

In 2024, we saw more elected and appointed city and county officials rubbing elbows with members of the private sector of our community than ever before. We had city and county council members and department heads attending B&B events they weren’t even speaking at, engaging with everyone from accountants and graphic designers, to attorneys and insurance agents, to bankers and musicians, to sports executives and nonprofit directors, to realtors and landscapers, to techies and restauranteurs and all kinds of professionals in-between. The entrepreneurial spirit was alive and well, and collaborations were many among the B&B crowd last year. That’s what Business & Brews is all about.

We’re kicking off 2025 Tuesday, Jan. 14th at the Harbour Club at WestEdge with SC Council on Competitiveness Director of Technology and Cyber Security Initiatives Jamie DeMent and Charleston Women in Tech Programs Chair Kaity Miller. As always, we’ll be there from 5-7:30 p.m., with our presentation starting around 6 p.m. Free admission and open to the public. If you haven’t been to the Harbour Club since they relocated, you’re in for a damn good time. They have an immaculate bar and one of the best views in Charleston.

We have two sponsorships left for this event if your business would like to participate and have a vendor booth. Contact us at Bounds@follywood.live for more details.

Our next event will be Tuesday, Feb. 11th with Charleston Regional Development Alliance President & CEO David Ginn. Venue TBA. And we’re going to be announcing some more big-time heavy hitters as special guest speakers in the coming months, so stay tuned. If you’re interested in getting to know the people who hold key positions in our community, what their organizations’ plans are for the coming year and how it may affect you personally or professionally, or how you may be able participate or contribute, we hope to see you at one of our upcoming events. And feel free to bring a coworker, friend or neighbor. Cheers!

We averaged over 120 attendees per event in 2024, with our largest turnout eclipsing 250 guests at the South Carolina Aquarium for Charleston Mayor William Cogswell in August. To see the wide range of speakers we like to feature, here’s our full list of participants dating back to August of 2022:

Charleston Mayor William Cogswell

Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Haynie

South Carolina Ports Authority President & CEO Barbara Melvin

South Carolina State House Representative Mark Smith

Charleston County Councilwoman Jenny Costa Honeycutt

University of South Carolina Athletic Director Ray Tanner

College of Charleston Athletic Director Matt Roberts

Congressional Candidate Duke Buckner

South Carolina Film Commissioner Matt Storm

North Charleston Director of Tourism Amy Heath

South Carolina Aquarium President & CEO Kevin Mills

Charleston Riverdogs Team President & General Manager Dave Echols