The Quintessential Champion of Community
There aren’t many in the Healdsburg community who contribute more than Circe Sher.
On paper, Sher is the president of Piazza Hospitality, a family business that over the last 20 years has built Hotel Healdsburg, h2hotel, and Harmon Guest House here in Healdsburg.
Behind the scenes, Sher and her family contribute to more than a dozen local nonprofit organizations, and they support countless local artists with programs promoting public art and literacy throughout northern Sonoma County.
“We believe in reinvesting in the place we operate our businesses and live to make it the best place possible for everyone,” she said recently. “We support countless organizations, including Corazon Healdsburg, The Healthcare Foundation, Healdsburg Boys and Girls Club, Farm to Pantry, The Raven Theater, Healdsburg Center for the Arts, and the Healdsburg Education Foundation. Our family has a passion for the arts and culture, so many of our projects reflect this interest.”
Specifically, Sher’s family has been working with the Healdsburg Museum to facilitate a visioning plan that ultimately will direct capital and improvements to the physical space of the museum, so it becomes a more dynamic space both indoors and out.
The Sher family also supports Russian Riverkeeper in its work on the Hanson Restoration project, a project that will ultimately make for restored wetlands and offer public boating and recreational access.
Sher also is involved with AV Film and the Healdsburg Jazz Festival.
In the last few years Sher even has promoted local artists with free public art installations inside Harmon Guest House. Recent exhibits have featured prominent talent such as Jessica Martin and Jake Messing. The current exhibit, “My Native Diaries,” features several point-of-view videos shot from artist Morgania Moore’s Alexander Valley family home. The videos are a poetic diary of the natural rhythms of nature in Sonoma County.
Sher isn’t just building our community; she’s part of it. After growing up in Marin County, she moved to Healdsburg in the mid-1990s following a career in public relations and marketing that included working for former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.
She co-founded Piazza in 2001.
Looking forward, Sher will continue to leave an imprint on the fabric of northern Sonoma County: Piazza Hospitality plans to break ground next spring on a new 66-room hotel in downtown Sebastopol.
“As we do with all our projects, our aim is to be a hub for the residents and visitors to enjoy,” she said. We here at Mill District appreciate that vision wholeheartedly.
