About this event
The Essentials
- Date: Thursday, October 22, 2026
- Time: 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (Eastern Time)
- Place: Jaho Coffee Roaster & Wine Bar, 116 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA (Back Bay)
- Cost: Admission has not been announced. Check the organizer's Instagram, @maas.besa, or maasbesa.org before you go.
- Organizer: Massachusetts Albanian American Society "Besa" (MAAS BESA)
- Weather: Late October evenings in Boston are cool, often in the 40s°F, with wind and a chance of rain. The event is indoors, so a jacket for the walk is enough.
What It Is
MAAS BESA's Fall Networking is an evening for Albanian American professionals, students and anyone who wants to meet them. The format is simple: a coffee and wine bar, three hours, and conversation. There is no announced speaker program, so treat it as a chance to meet people rather than to sit through a presentation.
The organizer is the Massachusetts Albanian American Society "Besa", a community group based in Braintree. Besa is the Albanian word for a pledge of honor, a promise you keep.
Getting There
Jaho's Back Bay location sits on Huntington Avenue, a short walk from the Prudential Center. The MBTA Green Line stops nearby, and Back Bay station (Orange Line and commuter rail) is within walking distance. Street parking in Back Bay is metered and scarce on a weeknight; the garages around the Prudential Center are the easier option. Confirm current fares and garage rates before you leave.
How to Make the Most of It
- Arrive early. The first hour is when introductions are easiest.
- Bring a few lines about yourself. What you do, and what you are looking for: a job, a hire, a mentor, a co-founder, or just people from home.
- Follow up. Exchange contacts and send a short note the next day. That is where most of the value of an evening like this shows up.
Boston's Albanian Community and Why It Matters
Boston is home to one of the oldest Albanian communities in the United States. St. George Albanian Orthodox Cathedral in South Boston is the cathedral of the Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America, and generations of families have built lives across Greater Boston since.
That community is bigger than any official number shows. The U.S. Census records about 230,000 Albanian Americans, but the real community is close to a million. The Census stays essential; NAR is the parallel count beside it. Evenings like this are where that wider community becomes visible to itself.
If you are Albanian, or have Albanian roots of any generation, Kosovar, Macedonian, Montenegrin or Çam included, you can be counted. The National Albanian Registry is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and registering is free and takes about two minutes at albanianregistry.org/register.
