OUR SCENE | GIFTS
Luxjoy and Comfort Helps You Gift With Style BY LINDA RAINES | PHOTOS COURTESY OF RACHEL SILBERMAN What do you do when you want to send a gift, but cannot seem to find a single thing that is what you were hoping for? Plenty of people would just throw up their hands and loudly complain, then go ahead and find something that is available but doesn’t quite match up to what they had in mind. Or, they could do what Rachel Silberman did, and start up a business that DOES offer those items. When Rachel was searching for gifts that said to the recipient “I’m thinking of you” and “you are seen”, she soon found that it was very difficult to find items that spoke to those outside of regular LGBT spectrum; those who identified as poly, asexual, intersex, and other orientations who tend to be lumped into the larger community in general or who are often forgotten entirely.
Setting that as her goal, she founded her company, Luxjoy and Comfort, in 2019 with the mindset of fostering connection with and bringing joy and recognition to people of all ages and orientations. As a person who identifies as Biromantic (Asexual and Bisexual), she knew what it felt like to want to be seen, to be acknowledged, and to know that there were others out there who needed to know that they were not alone. That set into motion her plan to offer items that represented everyone as being an integral part of the expansive rainbow community. Of course, as anyone who has contemplated the idea of starting a small business can attest, Rachel soon found that one of biggest obstacles in doing so is often finding the capital to get it off the ground and accumulate enough product. That wasn’t an issue when the orders were Continue on page 104
102 LAVENDER JUNE 2-15, 2022
