Becca Bernstein
“One message I’d love to share with the LGBTQ+ community is to have the courage to queer not just your sexuality, but your life,” says Becca Bernstein, Community Director of The Dinner Party. “Queer people throughout history have had to look society in the face and say, ‘You know what, I might do things a little differently than how you’ve trained me to think about doing things.’” It’s that ability to look from a different perspective that led to the development of The Dinner Party, an organization that provides peer support to people in their 20s, 30s, and early 40s in over 100 cities worldwide who have experienced the loss of a parent, sibling, partner, friend, or other important loved one. Bernstein discovered The Dinner Party in her late 20s after her mother died of Frontotemporal Dementia and ALS. Finding that community in an extremely isolating period of time helped Becca in insurmountable ways, but she’s extremely proud of all the work that’s gone into making the organization what it is today. She has recently taken a leave of absence at The Dinner Party as a result of the highly uncertain and draining time COVID-19 has presented, but she’s certain that the community she’s built will keep her strong. “It has been really disorienting!” she says of the leave of absence. “But coming out — and losing a parent at a young age — have given me the courage to trust my inner voice, to explore beyond a cookie-cutter life, and to do what I have to do to live a life of health, heart, and meaning.” —GP
