By Amanda Koehn
Like all of Jstyle magazine’s Singles Issues, the most recent photoshoot in winter 2019 highlighted single Jewish community members.
One Jewish Clevelander featured, Erica Glazer, quickly caught the eye of Josh Small – who was also featured in the Singles Issue a couple editions earlier in 2017.
“I saw Erica’s issue of the Singles magazine and I thought she looked cute and I decided to reach out to her the only way I knew how – through Facebook,” Small told Jstyle during a March Zoom interview. “I asked her to go out, and we did and then we hit it off.”
The pair initially chatted about a song she mentioned in her magazine profile, “Is It Love?” by Above & Beyond. They realized they had similar taste in electronic music, which was an easy branching off point.
They met for their first date at Paladar Latin Kitchen & Rum Bar in Woodmere in December 2019.
“It was funny – I ended up telling one of my really good friends that I went out with this guy (and) she happened to know his family really well,” says Glazer, now 29, adding that her friend vouched for Small.
Fast forward two years and a pandemic later, Glazer and Small are now engaged.
“I liked her from the start,” says Small, 34. “It grew over time – our feelings and love for each other.”
A turning point in their relationship was their first Passover together a few months after they met.
“This was a really special moment for us – for him to meet my parents, meet my family and have a really nice like Jewish holiday together for the first time,” Glazer says. “I feel like we really grew from there at that point.”
Small says it was around that time he first told Glazer he loved her.
As the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic occurred early in their relationship, it factored into how they spent time together – which may have actually been in their favor. Small is introverted and enjoyed getting to know Glazer while hanging out at each other’s houses rather than a booming social setting, he says. They learned they balance each other out well, Glazer adds.
“He always jokes that we made it through COVID,” she says.
They got engaged on Glazer’s birthday, Nov. 29, 2021.
With a hectic career in wine sales, Glazer says Small is patient and supportive of the busyness in her life.
“Being in sales I can have a lot of busy days – I have a busy career,” she says. “… And he’s just really patient with me between my career and everything else, and just kind of brings me to calm at some of the hard moments at times. He’s just such a loving person. I have no doubt he’s going to make a great husband, great father eventually. He’s just such a supportive person and my partner forever.”
Small, who works in consulting and financial analytics, says he values Glazer’s drive, organizational skills and their shared love for animals. Together, they adopted three cats, Hawthorn, Snickers and Chloe.
In their free time, the pair enjoys hiking, going to concerts and checking out Cleveland’s restaurants. Their favorite date spots include The Fairmount and Gigi’s on Fairmount, both in Cleveland Heights.
Small is from Beachwood and Glazer is from Orange Village. They now live together in Solon and are planning a September wedding at Landerhaven in Mayfield Heights. The wedding will be officiated by Rabbi Sruly Koval of Jewish Family Experience (JFX).
While they planned the major aspects of the wedding quickly, like nearly any couple many months out from their wedding, Glazer says there are still a “billion little things” to figure out.
“It’s going to be here before we know it,” she says.