Reading Pride Celebration (RPC) is proud to announce the selection of City Council Woman, Donna Reed and the director of the Gender Affirming Medical and Surgical Program at Reading Hospital, Dr. Ashley Brandt, O.D. as Grand Marshalls of the Reading Pride Festival 2021.

“As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, it was very important for us this year to recognize that, while we are celebrating a milestone 15th Pride, there are many others in the community whose dedication and impact have helped make this celebration possible,”, Said Enrique Castro Jr, President of RPC. “Celebrating 15 years of Pride would not be possible without the work of community members who help to make our City and County a more inclusive place to live.”

Councilwoman Reed has been a long-time dedicated supporter of RPC and the community. She has helped make many of the accomplishments we celebrate as an LGBTQ+ community in Reading, a reality.

"It is quite an unexpected honor to be named co-grand marshal for this 15th-anniversary celebration of Reading Pride,” said City Council Woman Reed. “The important work this group does to honor the wonderful diversity of folks in Greater Reading and the dignity of Pride's efforts in accepting and loving those around us -- and ourselves -- can never be praised highly enough. I am humbled by this honor and accept it gratefully in a true rainbow of happiness.”

In the other hand, Dr. Brandt and her work at the transgender clinic has really solidified our community as an accepting and wonderful place to live. Her work and dedication to our community has ensured that our Transgender siblings who call our county home, now have a dedicated clinic with health professionals who truly care and understand their needs.

“I am so deeply humbled and honored to serve as a Co-Grand Marshall for Pride this year. The LGBTQ community, particularly in Berks County, is one of the more diverse and resilient communities I have had the pleasure of working with. My patients are my daily inspiration and being a part of their transition and care is an honor that words cannot describe. I look forward to continuing to serve this incredible community and advocating for them, both in and outside of the office,” said Dr. Brandt.

Donna Reed

City Council Woman

Donna Reed, now in her fifth term on Reading City Council representing District 5 – Reading’s Great Northwest, is a graduate of Muhlenberg Township High School and of The American University, Washington, DC, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree with the dual major of political science and communication.

As a college student, she interned on Capitol Hill for a former Kentucky congressman and also for the Copley News Service assigned to the Congressional correspondent. She also spent one year with the Washington bureau of the Baltimore Sun as a copy girl.

She logged 23 years as a Reading Eagle reporter, editor and columnist. After leaving the Eagle, she was elected to Reading City Council. Her blog, “City Hall Revisited,” appeared from 2010 through the first half of 2012 on www.readingeagle.com. She also worked as assignment editor for the Berks Edition of Channel 69 News. Prior to rejoining City Council in January 2010, she also contributed articles to the then-fledgling BCTV.org news Web site.Donna has written for local, state and national publications. Editor of the 2008 “Pagoda Centennial Tales,” she is founder of the Pagoda Writers Group.

She has researched the biography of the late state Sen. Mike O’Pake. She is as past editor of The Historical Review of Berks County and is a decade-plus-long member of the board of Crime Alert Berks County.

Donna has also served as an editor at The Ephrata Review and garnered two first-place Keystone Press Awards in that capacity. She continues as a free-lance writer contributing monthly to Berks County Living magazine and other publications.

She is the City Council liaison to the BCTV board, a member of the Pagoda Foundation, and a member of the GRCA Women2Women Council. She was recently appointed as a trustee of the Berks History Center.

About Dr. Ashley Brandt, O.D.

Dr. Ashley Brandt, O.D.

Tower Health/Reading Hospital

K. Ashley Brandt,D.O. is a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist and one of the first formal fellowship trained gender affirming surgeons in the country. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Hahnemann University Hospital in 2017 in Philadelphia before briefly entering private practice. In 2018, she was accepted into the second formal gender affirming surgical fellowship in the nation at Hahnemann Hospital, prior to it's closure. Presently, she serves as faculty for both the department of obstetrics/gynecology and plastic surgery at Tower Health/Reading Hospital. Additionally, she is the director of the Gender Affirming Medical and Surgical Program at Reading Hospital where she provides hormone therapy, routine health services, and comprehensive gender affirming surgery for patients. She is an active LGBTQ community member as well, serving on the board of the directors for the Mazzoni Center and is an active member for the Diversity and Inclusion Councils both at Reading Hospital and Phoenixville Hospital. She also gives lectures on LGBTQ and gender affirming healthcare regionally and nationally and is also an editor for OB.GYN news on gender diverse care. In her free time, she is a DJ, enjoys hiking and biking, and loves cooking. She lives in Lancaster City with her fiancée, who is a midwife at Reading, and their lovable bulldog, Alex.