Brandie Balken: Executive Director, Equality Utah As the head of Equality Utah—the state’s largest political advocacy organization for LGBT people and their families—Brandie Balken believes that the best reward is witnessing change, one person at a time. “When someone moves from opposition to understanding and sees me, my family and members of the LGBTQ community as human beings, not as ‘threats,’ I know that I am doing my job,” Balken says—no small feat in a state known for its conservative population and influence of the Mormon church. She credits her mother’s “outspoken advocacy for marginalized populations and the environment” with inspiring her to follow the same path. “I did an immense amount of volunteer work in my twenties and thirties while I was working at a local business. When the opportunity opened up to serve my community as my profession, I was thrilled to have my day job and ‘night’ job combined.” Balken began working on social, economic and environmental justice issues after graduating college with organizations like Seeds of Peace, Food Not Bombs and the Western Shoshone Defense Project. Her career in nonprofit administration and advisement led Balken to serve on the Utah Pride Center’s Board of Directors and the Salt Lake Art Center’s Board of Trustees. She was also the Board Chair of sWerve, a non-profit organizing resource for queer, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender womenfocused social and civic activity in Utah.
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