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Cosmetic tattoo artist Ashley Ciepiela and licensed esthetician Rebecca Moore stand beside the separate signs of their cosmetic tattoo and facial treatment businesses that share a location in the Union Block in Dalton.
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Ciepiela and Moore say they wanted to create a welcoming and accepting environment for their patrons.

Arch and Rose Quartz SPAtique Opens in Dalton

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
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Ciepiela and Moore said they have been working on the space since first seeing it in March. They opened for business on Saturday. 
DALTON, Mass. — The Arch and Rose Quartz SPAtique, located at 395 Main St., opened its doors this weekend. 
 
Cosmetic tattoo artist Ashley Ciepiela and licensed esthetician Rebecca Moore have worked together on this dual business venture to create an inviting space where people feel comfortable sharing their insecurities. 
 
"Being a cosmetic tattoo artist, I'm asking people to come in and let me stare at their insecurities. I'm asking them to come in and talk about something that they probably don't like about themselves. That's why they're coming in," Ciepiela said. 
 
"So to have that safe space where people can come as they are, and leave even better is probably everything that we've ever dreamed of. Because we want people to feel comfortable, and we want them to come in and feel safe in the skin that they might not feel is theirs." 
 
Rose Quartz SPAtique provides services such as facial treatments, eyelash extensions, facial waxing, reiki services, and more. 
 
In the next month or so, Moore plans to have her favorite professional-grade skincare lines available for purchase which includes HydroPeptide, Sorella Apothecary, Green Envy, and SkinCareRx. 
 
"They're all clean, nontoxic, beautiful products that are results driven. I have all sorts of price ranges so it is affordable, and I want people to feel comfortable knowing that they can come here instead of a big box store and playing the guessing game," Moore said. 
 
"So many people use drugstore quality products but they don't realize how many toxic ingredients and hormone disruptors and nasty stuff is in there because the FDA is not the best, so to be able to offer beautiful clean beauty products is huge for me."
 
Moore was inspired by her grandmother, who would always wear makeup — even just to get mail. 
 
"My passion for the most part is facials. I love being able to help people feel comfortable in their skin ... my Nanny was actually the one that got me into skincare and makeup," she said. "She inspired me because she's like, if your skin is good your makeup is gonna look good."
 
Book an appointment with Rose Quartz SPAtique to receive facials and skin care treatments here
 
The Arch provides microblading and faux freckles services but is looking to expand to include paramedical aspects, such as scar camouflage.
 
Ciepiela's ultimate goal with paramedical would be to provide breast and areola tattoos for breast cancer survivors. 
 
Each category for paramedical services has separate training courses. She hopes to have scar camouflage by spring and a few other services by summer. 
 
Book an appointment with The Arch to receive microblading or faux freckles services here
 
In an effort to collaborate with smaller local businesses, they decorate their storefront with homemade goods. 
 
"We just want to lift people up by giving them that space to do their thing. I mean, we love the look of everything that is handmade by them so why not decorate our space with them," Ciepiela said.
 
"Like we don't want to sell people's things. We want them to sell their own things. But in a space where people will see them a little bit more."
 
Berkshire County has a lot of small businesses and they want to be able to lift each other, which is different from the competitive business rivalry mindset that existed when they were growing up, Moore said.
 
"I'm in competition with myself every day to better myself. So to be able to offer space for other small businesses to come and sell their products that they make with love and passion it really makes our hearts happy to offer that to the public," Moore said.
 
The duo leased the space in March and since then have worked often into the night to make it their own. 
 
"We signed the lease for this space, when we saw it in March, immediately. The character that this place has feels like home to us," Ciepiela said.
 
"We've put so much work into this since then. It is absolutely our baby, for sure. This is a place we want to be when we're done working. And we don't even want to go home."
 
Ciepiela and Moore put their "blood, sweat, and tears" into renovating the space to suit their needs and create an accepting environment for their patrons. 
 
The duo painted over the once green walls to white. They received help from New Moon Gifts owner  Robert Bourdon, who sprayed the ceiling black. 
 
They hired a licensed contractor to build another room so that they were able to house both their businesses under one roof.
 
Both businesses will be open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 until 5:30 by appointment only but people are welcome to request an appointment later in the day or on a day that they are closed if it works better for them. 
 
Ciepiela and Moore noted that serving the community is important to them and that making their services as accessible as possible is a way they can do that. 

Tags: new business,   spa,   tattoos,   

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Social Service Organizations Highlight Challenges, Successes at Poverty Talk

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Dr. Jennifer Michaels of the Brien Center demonstrates how to use Narcan. Easy access to the drug has cut overdose deaths in the county by nearly half. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Recent actions at the federal level are making it harder for people to climb out of poverty.

Brad Gordon, executive director of Upside413, said he felt like he was doing a disservice by not recognizing national challenges and how they draw a direct line from choices being made by the Trump administration and the challenges the United States is facing. 

"They more generally impact people's ability to work their way out of poverty, and that's really, that's really the overarching dynamic," he said. 

"Poverty is incredibly corrosive, and it impacts all the topics that we'll talk about today." 

His comments came during a conversation on poverty hosted by Berkshire Community Action Council. Eight local service agency leaders detailed how they are supporting people during the current housing and affordability crisis, and the Berkshire state delegation spoke to their own efforts.

The event held on March 27 at the Berkshire Athenaeum included a working lunch and encouraged public feedback. 

"All of this information that we're going to gather today from both you and the panelists is going to drive our next three-year strategic plan," explained Deborah Leonczyk, BCAC's executive director. 

The conversation ranged from health care and housing production to financial literacy and child care.  Participating agencies included Upside 413, The Brien Center, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, MassHire Berkshire Career Center, Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Child Care of the Berkshires. 

The federal choices Gordon spoke about included allocating $140 billion for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investing $38 billion to convert warehouses into detention centers, cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid over 10 years, a proposed 50 percent increase in the defense budget, and cutting federal funding for supportive housing programs. 

Gordon pointed to past comments about how the region can't build its way out of the housing crisis because of money. He withdrew that statement, explaining, "You know what? That's bullshit, actually."

"I'm going to be honest with you, that is absolute bullshit. I have just observed over the last year or so how we're spending our money and the amount of money that we're spending on the federal side, and I'm no longer saying in good conscience that we can't build our way out of this," he said. 

Upside 413 provided a "Housing Demand in Western Massachusetts" report that was done in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Donahue Institute of Economic and Public Policy Research. It states that around 23,400 units are needed to meet current housing demand in Western Mass; 1,900 in Berkshire County in 2025. 

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