100 Women We Love: Class of 2015

You know Piper, Alex and Big Boo. Soon, avid Orange Is the New Black fans will get to know Stella Carlin, a charismatic new face on Netflix´s hit show, played by Ruby Rose. This emerging actress considers herself a “multi-hyphenate creative spirit,” with forays into fashion design, music and modeling. She is one of the faces of Maybelline in Australia, but her face is about to be all over TV here. In addition to the OITNB gig, Rose will appear as a “dangerously beautiful android” named Wendy in David Hewlett´s Syfy show Dark Matter, an adaptation of the graphic novel premiering this month. She´s played opposite Christina Ricci in an indie film, and her self-made short film Break Free-a “tribute to gender fluidity”-has garnered more than 18 million online views. Having been beaten up and bullied at school, Rose says she often felt alone and depressed. But in her career, staying in the closet was never an option, she says. “I didn´t grow up with any out role models, and it affected my life dramatically,” Rose says. “It was important for me that I be out so I could be myself and inspire others to do the same.” -SJ

On January 21, 2015, Maura Healey was sworn in as Massachusetts´ attorney general and America´s first openly gay state AG. The Harvard-trained litigator is used to setting precedents-she was once a starting point guard for a professional women´s basketball team in Europe, despite being five feet four inches tall. Prior to her landmark election-culminating her first-ever run for public office-Healey was head of the Civil Rights Division and chief of the Public Protection and Business & Labor Bureaus in the attorney general´s office, where she led the state´s challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act. Healey has also shut down predatory lenders and worked with banks to restructure homeowners´ mortgages, preventing foreclosures. She also supports women´s unfettered access to reproductive healthcare, clean energy development, fighting the growing problem of opiate addiction in the state, and improving mental health care in the criminal justice system. “It´s a sign of progress here in the state that [being gay] wasn´t the first thing every time,” Healey told The Boston Globe, referring to her campaign and the attention it earned from the media. -KL

Abby Wambach is one of the most successful athletes the US has ever seen, with more international goals (182!) than any soccer star ever. (She also has two Olympic gold medals and has been named a FIFA World Player of the Year.) Another soccer player might sit back and admire those accomplishments, but Wambach is driven. She wants the ultimate prize, which has hovered, ever so tantalizingly, just out of her reach. “I want to finish my career off on a high note, play in this World Cup and bring home the World Cup to the United States,” she told the LA Times recently. “That would be absolutely a dream come true and a perfect way to end a career.” If she wins, it would not only be a life-changing personal victory but a significant national one, giving America its first Women´s World Cup title since 1999. The 35-year-old plays on our team as well, married since October 2013 to Sarah Huffman. “No matter who you are, how successful you are, you have to have a positive environment around you that keeps you balanced,” Wambach continued. “It´s nice having somebody in your corner [who] doesn´t look at you as a famous soccer star.” -GH

Broadway audiences are just now discovering what lesbians have known for years: Alison Bechdel is freaking awesome! Fun Home, the Tony-winning musical based on her 2006 graphic novel, is, following its transfer from the Public Theater, the hottest ticket in town. It´s also the first Broadway show to feature a lead lesbian character (hopefully, the first of many). Bechdel probably could not have imagined this reality when her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For began over 30 years ago. Bechdel syndicated the strip, which commented on lesbian love and politics through a cast of regular characters, from 1983 to 2008. In 2006, she released her first graphic memoir Fun Home, about her complicated relationship with her closeted dad, and that move shot her into the publishing stratosphere: The book won the Publishing Triangle´s Judy Grahn Nonfiction Award, a Lambda, an Eisner and an American Library Association award, and was named a best book by many publications. Her second graphic memoir, Are You My Mother?, focuses on Bechdel´s artistic mom and was also well-received. In 2014, Bechdel won the coveted MacArthur Genius Grant. Of her recent success, she told The New York Times Magazine, “I´m so glad it didn´t happen when I was younger, because then it would have been all downhill.” -GH

If Nevin Caple has her way, inequality in sports will be a thing of the past. The Brooklyn resident is: a founding member of the Nike LGBT Sports Coalition; on the Wade Trophy Committee for women´s college basketball; and a co-founder and the executive director of Br{ache the Silence, a campaign aiming to stop discrimination against queer and female athletes and coaches. The campaign provides a number of valuable resources, including diversity consulting. Among its projects is the Tour of Champions, which encourages Division I, II and III national champion student-athletes and coaches to make a video about queer acceptance in women´s sports. As part of the Tour, Caple co-produced a 13-minute online public service announcement called All In, starring Paralympian Stephanie Wheeler, Hall of Fame coach Lin Dunn and Olympian Jennifer Molina. “When [Colleen McCaffrey and I] founded BTS in 2011 we didn´t set out to speak for the sports community,” says Caple, “but rather give coaches, athletic administrators and student-athletes a platform to speak for themselves. The community is responding in such a positive and powerful way, changing the narrative about what it means to be strong and athletic and a woman.” -GH

Patricia Velasquez describes herself as “constantly in motion,” and she must be, to sustain a whopping six careers. A Venezuela native, Velasquez rose from poverty to the heights of the fashion industry as one of the first Latina supermodels, appearing in Sports Illustrated´s swimsuit issue and Covergirl´s ads. Her acting career has spanned everything from foreign films to blockbusters (The Mummy), Arrested Development to Celebrity Apprentice. She also produces films; wrote a memoir, Straight Walk; founded a cosmetics line, Taya Beauty; and is an activist both for UNESCO and her own nonprofit, Wayúu Taya Foundation, which helps improve the living conditions of indigenous groups in Latin America. Despite her accomplishments, being out as an actress and having it affect her career “is still a fear,” Velasquez says. “As an actress, you like to remain a canvas, and once you are labeled gay, it´s harder for the audience to see you playing a straight woman.” But Velasquez, whose work is seen in many countries where homosexuality is still very much not accepted, hopes for change. “My message is about being gay and it´s also about being a minority, whatever shape that takes, and the importance of fighting for what you believe and not hiding who you are,” she says. “Feel proud of it. That is the only thing that can generate change.” -SJ

Singer-songwriter Laura Cheadle´s tough breakup at age 16 inspired her to connect with people through her addictive, bluesy-funk music. Now a little older and wiser, Cheadle is the vocalist and rhythm guitarist in her family band with her dad Jim, a veteran soul and jazz producer, and her twin brothers. The Laura Cheadle Band has grown its fan base by playing shows and festivals around Philly and New York, for which they´ve won a slew of awards by fan vote; competed on the NBC/Cozi reality series The Next Great Family Band; and opened for national acts like The Jonas Brothers, Sister Hazel, Spin Doctors, Ryan Cabrera, Kasim Sulton, Terrence Simien, Garland Jeffreys, John Oates of Hall and Oates and the Average White Band. Her fans seem to connect with the groove as well as her honest lyrics. “I have learned that the more I am completely myself, the more successful I become,” Cheadle says. “My song about equality, ´It´s Not Okay,´ has received fantastic praise from my fellow LGBT community, and I love that I am able to perform it with my amazing, open and accepting family band.” What´s next for the Cheadles? Catch them June 27 at the Sidewalk Café in NYC. -KL

During a lull in Danielle Egnew´s music career, the award-winning folk artist received a gift. It wasn´t tangible. Instead, it was the gift of channeling messages from beyond. “My current field chose me,” Egnew says. Though she says she was born a psychic and medium, it was during that lull that she felt called into spiritual work, which entails communicating with angels and departed loved ones. Now, she pursues both careers simultaneously while owning a gallery with her wife, photographer Rebecca Douglas, in her home state of Montana. A woman of many talents, Egnew is also an oil painter and an actor, having appeared alongside Jennifer Beals and Ally Sheedy in The Vagina Monologues. Her work as a medium has been featured on television and radio; she has worked as a content consultant on shows such as Supernatural, and she´s written a memoir and directed a documentary about her paranormal experiences. Working with people is the most rewarding, she says. “I love to watch people´s spirits light up as they realize that their life paths are indeed full of hope and wonder. It´s an amazing experience to be part of someone´s healing journey. It´s very humbling to be entrusted with such a responsibility.” -SJ

The founder and producer of Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend, Mariah Hanson has been bringing women together to revel in the Palm Springs sunshine for 25 years. What started as a one-night event for 1,500 participants has grown into a massive, world-renowned party drawing some 15,000 attendees to the most lavish and deluxe locations in the desert, becoming one of the largest tourism boosters to the Coachella Valley. Hanson´s brainchild “is designed to celebrate our culture, our lives, our womanhood, our community and our legacy in the most joyful way possible,” she says. The five-day extravaganza features entertainment, pool parties and a platform for humanitarian activism. The event also has proven to be a crystal ball into the future of the music industry; some of the “unknown” talent Hanson has chosen to headline in past years, like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, the Pussycat Dolls and Iggy Azalea, all broke out into superstardom. Besides the top-notch entertainment, the main attraction has been the freedom for women from all over the world to come together and be themselves, Hanson says. “We change lives,” she says. “I see it every year. We offer a space where lesbian women and their friends can live out loud in the most celebratory way possible, and it changes people.” -SJ

Up-and-coming entertainment mogul Hina Chow could never be considered a shrinking violet. For her big coming out moment, she stood on top of a crowded bar “and announced my gayness to my friends,” she laughs. They looked at her, like, duh. “I really wanted a bit more shock and awe-I guess I had been the last to find out!” The Denver resident spends half of her time in New York as the tour manager/driver/merch vendor for Lez Zeppelin, the all-female Led Zeppelin cover band. When not wrangling groupies for the popular act, Chow is the executive producer of Neal Cassady: The Denver Years, a critically acclaimed doc about the openly bisexual muse to Beat legends like Jack Kerouac (Cassady inspired the character Dean Moriarty in On the Road) and Allen Ginsberg (Cassady´s one-time lover). Directed by Heather Dalton, the film debuted last year at Denver´s Sie FilmCenter, and was named Best Colorado History Documentary by Westword, Denver´s influential arts and entertainment magazine. Chow is looking forward to screening the doc at the Beat Museum in San Francisco this June. -KL

Emma Willmann´s coming out moment was made for comedy. She and her mom were at a yoga retreat, where “everyone ate in silence to honor the food. I whispered that I had to tell her something important. Of course she said, ´Shhh, it´s a silent lunch!´ I kept whispering, and finally said, ´I´m gay.´ My mom yelled, ´What!´ and I followed up with, ´Shhh, silent lunch.´” Clearly, a star was born. Willmann started performing in comedy clubs and at open mics in Boston in 2010, and quickly rose through the ranks to win first place in the Boston Comedy Riots two years later. After moving to NYC in 2012, she appeared on the cover of Time Out NY as one of the “10 Funniest Females in NYC,” headlined a sold-out show at the 2014 New York Comedy Festival and killed it in other festivals from here to Europe. The multitalented performer also dove into acting: in one year, Willmann has appeared in two series on ID Discovery (playing a cop on True Crime, she uttered the immortal line, “Is that…a dog…in your freezer?”), starred as a rugby coach on Oxygen, and shot commercials. This year, Willmann has shot four potential pilots and is headlining colleges around the country. -KL

Urvashi Vaid has been a social justice warrior for more than 30 years. Highlights of her career include being a staff attorney for ACLU´s National Prison Project, Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force´s Policy Institute and Senior Fellow at the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia Law School. In between, she´s somehow managed to find the time to write two books (Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay & Lesbian Liberation and Irresistible Revolution: Confronting Race, Class and the Assumptions of LGBT Politics); co-edit another one (Creating Change: Public Policy, Sexuality and Civil Rights); start LPAC, a political action committee for lesbians; and fall in love with one of our favorite comedians, Kate Clinton. (And they´ve been going strong for over a quarter of a century!) Currently, Vaid is the CEO of The Vaid Group, a company that helps social justice leaders, movements and organizations. “To reconstitute the world [and] to end violence of all kinds-physical, economic, racial, gender-based, anti-queer, police, military, cultural, nationalist, environmental and more-we need a new, energetic, progressive movement that is feminist, queer and anti-racist, and that is about taking power once and for all to defeat the boring, decaying, decadent, destructive patriarchy,” she says. “It won´t be easy. But it can be done.” -GH

In her spare time from running clinical trials with the aim of improving outcomes and the quality of life for people with cancer, Anita Dolce Vita is pushing the fashion envelope as the owner and editor-in-chief of dapperQ.com, a website for masculine-presenting women, genderqueers and trans-identified individuals. The site features style tips, wedding galleries and interviews with activists, stylists and models who challenge the gender binary. Dolce Vita calls the site a “queer fashion revolution, one of the most stylish forms of protest of our generation,” for its work serving the people who have long been underserved by mainstream menswear designers. Through her work on the site and in her writings across the Internet, Dolce Vita says she is “using fashion as a springboard to facilitate conversations and change around gender identity, gender expression, intersectionality and equality.” She even brought the conversation to the Brooklyn Museum for a celebration called (un)Heeled. But that´s only part of her accomplishments. By day, Dolce Vita is an oncology clinical research nurse, working with healthcare teams to study the effectiveness of cancer treatments. The most rewarding aspect of her work? “That I get to do what I love and in the process create positive change,” she says. -SJ

“I always loved dance,” says Casie Goshow, “but I had amazing parents who told me I could literally be anything I wanted to be and that they would support me. … After I booked a few jobs in New York City, I knew I had what it took to be successful, but I had to be smart about it. I needed to brand myself and create something memorable besides just dancing and choreography. That is when I met [Ann] Elyse [Urquidi] and we created GoShow Yourself.” The clothing line encourages customers to be authentic and feel good about themselves: two things that haven´t always been easy for Goshow. “As a dancer in the industry, it is really hard to have confidence in yourself 100 percent of the time when people are constantly telling you no. … It was also difficult being from a small town [Harleysville, Pennsylvania]. I was scared to truly be myself as well as love who I wanted to love.” She now enjoys helping kids going through similar challenges. “There will always be people who don´t approve of things, from something as small as your clothing to as big as your lifestyle, but at the end of the day this is the only life we get and I plan on living it fully and for myself.” -GH

Julie Bolcer went from chronicling the news to helping reporters cover it. A graduate of Seton Hall University with a master´s degree in diplomacy and international relations, Bolcer was a journalist for years with publications like The Advocate, The Village Voice and LOGO before becoming, in early 2013, a spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in the Southern District of New York. That experience helped lead her to her current role as director of public affairs for the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner. Her job requires her to speak to the press, giving them vital information about suspicious and untimely deaths, missing persons, and the city´s DNA crime laboratory, often concerning high-profile investigations. It´s a job that may sound challenging to some, but it´s fulfilling work for Bolcer, who reminds us that “loss and grief are universal aspects of the human experience and can touch anyone without warning. I am grateful to work for an agency that brings independent and scientific answers to people from all walks of life affected by tragedy, in an administration committed to the equitable delivery of services to all New Yorkers.” When not working, Bolcer enjoys hanging out with her partner, Sivan, their cat, Margot, and their dog, Polly Jean, in Brooklyn. -GH

Living in her hometown of Nassau, Bahamas, filmmaker Sekiya Dorsett found it hard to tell authentic stories about the queer experience. She successfully sought asylum in the U.S. and has made queer women of color her artistic inspiration. “As women, we are the life givers. As black people, we have already proved our strength and our power. As lesbians, we bring a unique voice that adds color to the world,” Dorsett says. “Even though I am fighting against all odds and have to prove myself every time, I know that every step I take is a step in the right direction.” In 2008, her first short, Wisdom and Understanding, made its debut at NewFest Film Festival, and her short Sisters screened at the Austin LGBT Film Festival the following year. More recently, Dorsett was a launch producer for Oxygen´s The Prancing Elites Project, a reality series about a black gay and gender-nonconforming dance team in Mobile, Alabama. Dorsett is also putting the finishing touches on her feature doc, The Revival Movie: Woman and the Word, which was fully funded on Kickstarter and makes its debut later this year. “People underestimate how powerful it is to see yourself reflected” in films and the media, Dorsett says. “I love making work for the LGBT community and having the audience see themselves.” -KL

Michelle C. Bonilla is a familiar face to TV viewers. The out Latina actress played Teresa Morales on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and Christine Harms on ER. If you weren´t an avid watcher of those shows, then you might recognize her from guest shots on Castle, The Bold and the Beautiful, Jane the Virgin, or the award-winning lesbian short that she wrote, Slip Away. And, if you have ever played video games, you´ve probably heard her vocal talents on projects such as Call of Duty, Dead Rising 3, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. In addition to acting, voice-overs, writing and producing, she also helps other thespians as a private acting coach. “It´s one thing to be on the set, already have the job, and just blissfully go about the work,” she tells GO, “however, for many actors, including myself, being able to ´book the room´ and feel great about what you do in an audition setting is a completely different beast! So being able to be of service to other actors by providing them a forum to work out the kinks, get past nerves and make strong choices makes me feel great! … Inspiring others, whether it´s through my own work or helping other actors find the inspiration in theirs, is why I chose to do what I do.” -GH

Pamela Means is a Jill of many trades: singer, songwriter, composer and producer. And though not a household name yet, this Boston-based folk and jazz artist has shared the stage with some major musical heavyweights, such as Ani DiFranco, the Indigo Girls and Janis Ian. Her albums have sold thousands, and she is currently getting ready to release an eighth; her most recent, Precedent, tackles everything from the romantic to the political. “This is a good time to be a political artist,” she says. “As an independent artist who has dedicated my life to the fight against injustice-through and with music-I am moved daily by and re-awakened to the struggles of our times. These movements are fueled by [and] dependent upon our collective energy; I am constantly reminded that activism is a joint means of moving the world, reshaping it, or at the least reshaping the way we want to live within it.” To the queer community, Means offers the following: “I want to say hello; I love you; I am inspired by you. I hope we connect as I launch my new album project this June/July followed by a tour (in 2016) where I can see you in person and be uplifted by your gorgeous smiling faces on every coast and in between.” -GH

Anja Paerson´s confidence and outspokenness match her phenomenal skiing career. The decorated Swedish Alpine athlete has a roster of wins that any pro would envy. Paerson made her professional debut in 1998, when she was just 17 years old, at the World Cup in Switzerland. Between that year and 2012, Paerson went on to compete in 42 World Cup races and took home 19 championship medals, including 7 golds. She also competed in three Winter Olympics-2002 in Salt Lake City, 2006 in Turin, and 2010 in Vancouver-and won one gold, one silver, and four bronze medals. After retiring in 2012, Paerson opened up about her private life; she told Swedish media that not only had she been in a relationship with a woman for five years, but that she was expecting her first child. She had her son Elvis on July 4, 2012, and married her girlfriend Filippa in August 2014. That year, Paerson spoke out against Russia´s anti-gay laws and the International Olympic Committee´s reluctance to address homophobia at the Sochi Olympics. “The Olympic Committee had a huge responsibility in Sochi and they didn´t stand up for human rights,” she later told CNN. “They were hiding from the difficult questions.” She´s still urging the international sports community to get with the times. “Hopefully they have learned from Sochi Olympics and will get better in the future,” she said. -KL

If you only know Angel Haze as Ireland Baldwin´s ex, then you don´t know Angel Haze. An artist on the rise, this rapper has accomplished more in a few years than many will in a lifetime-and Haze is still only 23! Identifying as pansexual and agender (and preferring the pronoun “they”), Haze is one of the few visibly queer artists on the hip-hop scene. Their career began in their late teens, when they released the mixtape New Moon. In 2013, they received major-label attention with the full-length studio album Dirty Gold. Online, their fan base is impressive, with almost 214,000 followers on Twitter and more than 1,000,000 YouTube views. Haze has also attracted notice from major music blogs and sites like TheSource.com, Pitchfork and XXL.com, and from artists like Sia, who collaborated on their single “Battle Cry,” which would eventually be nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Video with a Social Message. That song, like others in Haze´s catalogue, was inspired by an abusive childhood. In a 2014 interview with The Guardian, Haze said, “Two years ago it was very difficult to be in the same room as me. You could feel everything, all the trauma, weighing me down. Through music I´ve let go. Projectile-vomited my demons all over the place.”-GH

The world has Green Day to thank for the artistry of Cristy C. Road. The Cuban-American illustrator and novelist (and member of the queercore/pop-punk band, The Homewreckers) was so obsessed with the punk rock group that rose to prominence in the 1990s, that she adopted her pen name from the song, “Christie Road” and started a fanzine devoted to the group. She launched “GREEN´ZINE” in 1997 and illustrated and published it for 10 years, during which time it evolved to touch on issues of race, gender and eliminating oppression in punk rock and activist communities. Her travails during those years are detailed in Spit and Passion, Road´s latest graphic novel, which also explores coming out and maintaining Cuban roots. She hopes her story can lend power to youth and others in their coming out process. Road came out to her family at 26, and she says it took her that long to “find peace” between her queer and Cuban identities. “Youth are still self-harming, and as culture-makers, it´s our role to carve out space for their anger,” Road says. “Tons of people, young and old, need the strength to make it past the point of systematic self-hate, and [we] queers who are publishing and have found power in our identity can do a lot for the world.” -SJ

C.C. Carter is a writer and poet whose work has been published in numerous anthologies-including two separate editions of Best Lesbian Erotica-and her own Lambda-nominated book, Body Language. She´s performed at poetry slams, on Olivia vacations, at women´s music festivals-and even opened for Maya Angelou. She also created the spoken word venue POW-WOW, Inc., a weekly women´s performance space that ran for ten years. And then there´s her day job: Carter has worked for more than a quarter of a century as a teacher and administrator. She began her performing career when she had the time, on nights and weekends. “Back then [1990s] many people hadn´t seen a black, full-figured, vixen femme on stage,” she says. Carter soon became a favorite of the audience, and still loves the fact that she can inspire people just by doing what she loves: “So when I come off stage and women say ´thank you´ or a woman is crying because she watched her partner strutting so confidently on stage with me (as part of the Curve-a-licious Crew), then I am rewarded, and affirmed that this is my calling that just happens to be my passion and my art.” -GH

“For many years I worked with queer youth, and it is now such an honor to be able to work with LGBT older adults at SAGE,” says Katie Liederman, who designs and implements programming at the SAGE Center in midtown Manhattan. “Even though there is so much conflict in the LGBT community, I am constantly moved by our commonalities.” Working at SAGE has allowed Katie to learn about queer life way before Stonewall. (“I know things that you can´t find in any history book or read about on any website.”) Liederman has what may be the queerest resume in the world, including gigs as a case manager and youth services coordinator at the Bronx Community Pride Center, a volunteer for queer youth shelter Sylvia´s Place and a writer for publications like Velvetpark, Prettyqueer.com, and GO, in addition to Penthouse Forum, Nerve, The Huffington Post, BlackBook, and others. Right now, she has a monthly queer travel reading series, TRIPS, at Metropolitan, and she´s directing and producing her latest play, Romancing Daniel. (Way to make us feel like slackers, Katie!) Catch it July 30 through August 1 at Under St. Marks. -GH

With Jincey Lumpkin (see her Woman We Love profile in this issue), Natalia Ramirez is one half of the writing duo Jincey + Natalia and hard at work creating the Dreamspinners series of magic-themed novels. For Ramirez, who has a background in fashion and advertising, the partnership concept just clicked. “We got the opportunity to work on an advertising gig together, and through that experience, we realized that we are creative soulmates. We felt the special connection that we imagine is what musicians feel when they jam together,” she says. Ramirez is also the U.S. editor of Lash magazine, a Paris-based digital fashion publication. Before accepting that editorial position, she created the Enter Pronoun collection of gender-neutral cosmetics, which were featured in German Vogue, Women´s Wear Daily and xoJane. “Writing for fashion wasn´t enough,” Ramirez confides. “I realized that my true desire is to write fiction. What I love about working with Jincey is that in our partnership, we challenge each other. Seeing the world through her lens opens my perspective. We are constantly learning from each other, and knowledge is a big source of inspiration for me.” The pair is currently pitching the series-so stay tuned! -KL

This folk acoustic singer-songwriter has come a long way since belting the Pocahontas soundtrack in the back of her mom´s van. Since then, Natalie Ceva has sung on the Today show and is releasing her first independent EP, Atlas, this summer. The Los Angeleno knows she followed the right path when she locks eyes with an audience member who is engaged in her music. “I´m not just talking about the head bobbing or swaying, but the apparent shift in their eyes. They seem to soften and look at you as if you´ve known them for years. As if every word you are singing to them was their own, picked out of their mind and given back to them in song.” On an even more personal note, Ceva confides that her coming out process was a long one, although she wasn´t aware of it at the time: “I went through the classic signs of kissing girls when I was drunk to actually dating a girl my sophomore year in college but just thinking it was a phase. I finally admitted to myself that I was gay a year later and came out to my parents…By no means was this an easy time…but, over the years, we are becoming stronger than we ever were before.”-SJ

Growing up on the south side of Chicago, in a mixed-race family, Sam Kirk says it was unusual to think she´d grow up to be a successful artist. But she uses her lived experience and travel through similar communities as inspiration for her multidisciplinary work, which explores culture, identity and urban politics. Drawing cues from contemporary artists like Wangechi Mutu, Kara Walker and Kehinde Wiley in her vibrantly colored paintings and illustrations, Kirk has exhibited in Chicago, New York, Miami, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Minneapolis, and maintains studios in Chicago and Brooklyn. She designed the Chicago Made space for SXSW this year, and won the Curator´s Choice award in the 2014 Red Bull Curates Chicago competition. Global brands like Guinness, Don Julio, Smirnoff, Ciroc, Rolling Stone and Proctor & Gamble have commissioned her work, but she says the best thing about her career is being able to donate 25 percent of her profits from direct art sales to organizations that help the LGBT community and women in need. “My work has become a tool to communicate about social issues that impact our community,” Kirk says. “It has opened doors for me to connect with youth who have had a similar upbringing, and help them realize their potential.” -KL

Dating is rarely simple, but it can be particularly tough after a bad breakup. Kate Walter, whose writing has appeared everywhere from Ms. to The New York Times, delves into the emotionally and financially challenging end of a 26-year romance in Looking for a Kiss: A Chronicle of Downtown Heartbreak and Healing. Called “the queer, low-budget Eat Pray Love” by author Susan Lander, it follows the NYC-based Walter as she does yoga, attends a gay affirming church and dates at 60. “Writing about my life and reflecting upon it helps me understand what has happened,” she says. “Penning the memoir was cathartic and part of my healing process.” What it wasn´t was easy. “It took three drafts to find the right container for my story, and then it took a while to find a publisher. But I persisted. I needed therapy (my lesbian shrink is a character in my book) to push through my fears about publishing intimate details. If you believe in your project, keep going.” Something else that was important was her weekly writing workshop, which provided “invaluable feedback and moral support.” Walter suggests other artists find a similarly encouraging community. And to those facing heartbreak after a long-term relationship, she offers the following message of hope: “You can heal your life and land in a better place.” -GH

Born and raised in the Mormon faith, Summer Brighton tried hard to be “the perfect Mormon wife and mother.” She went through reparative therapy and tried to suppress her feelings toward women, doing whatever she could possibly do to “overcome” them. But inside, she knew it wasn´t working. In her mid-20s, she left her religion, ended her marriage, lost some important relationships, and followed her heart. “It was one of the best, most difficult, most amazing decisions I ever made in my life,” she says. Now, having “broken free,” she says, “I am absolutely on fire.” She certainly is! Brighton owns a creative agency and production company in Los Angeles working with innovative companies and creating original content. She also started a creative collective and is stepping into the film industry. Her motivation, she says, “is to help other people´s dreams come true as I accomplish my own.” -SJ

“I chose to become a psychotherapist because I wanted to provide support and guidance to my community in navigating all the challenges that walking through the world as an LGBTQ individual entails,” says Tara Lombardo, LMHC. “I feel that so much emphasis is based on coming out and how important it is psychologically to do so, but I also am deeply interested in helping people with all that comes after this critical phase of life.” Lombardo is the associate director, staff therapist, and clinical supervisor at the Institute for Human Identity Therapy Center, which has provided counseling to the queer community for over 40 years. (Its founder was also part of a team that helped get homosexuality taken out of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-a major gay rights victory in the 1970s.) Lombardo, who has a private practice in Manhattan, received her M.A. in mental health counseling from Brooklyn College, an M.A. in psychology from New York University and a B.S. in psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her therapy focuses on tackling topics “from a psychodynamic and existential perspective. … Therapy proves to be a great place to not only uncover the parts of ourselves which have gone unseen, but to also construct how we´d like to show up in this world.” -GH

“A great voice, even better enthusiasm and an almost giddy delight at entertaining audiences that, if bottled, would make every anti-depressant on the market obsolete.” That´s how the publication Steppin´ Out summed up Suede, who, like Cher and Madonna, needs only one name. The out pop, jazz and blues singer (and piano, guitar and trumpet player) began professionally performing in bars all the way back in high school and graduated from college with a bachelor´s degree in music. She then-as so many singers do-went on the road, working in clubs seven nights a week. Rejected by record labels, Suede founded her own, Easily Suede Music, in 1988. She also faced rejection from mainstream audiences, producers and venues since she “didn´t fit their preferred image for a female jazz singer. They were uncomfortable with me. … Femme. Glam. Singing about the man who got away. That was never me. I´ve always been honest about who I am and what I sing about. Thankfully, the world-and our culture-have grown up significantly. It´s shifted now. I have a great, loyal, incredibly loving, ever-growing mainstream pop/jazz audience, but the LGBT community has given me my career, my childhood dream, and I am forever grateful.” -GH

We admit we´re more than a bit biased when it comes to Lexii Fish, our amazing volunteer coordinator and Instagram picture maker. But we swear she does great work even when not assisting us here at GO. Her day job is photo producer for the media production company Splashlight, which means she´s responsible for helping to create images for high-profile retail clients like Bloomingdale´s, Ann Taylor and David Yurman. She also has her own photography and production company, Lexii Fish NYC, which has attracted companies such as Joonbug.com, Complex Media and Lacoste. In the past, she´s worked in the photography and bookings department at Harper´s Bazaar and as an interim New York regional director for American Photo-graphic Artists, a non-profit organization that fights for the rights of commercial photographers. She says she loves “making something out of nothing. My job requires me to think fast and innovatively, and be assertive. It´s really exciting to see something go from an idea on paper to someone´s home. Photography has such a strong influence on the consumer; I´m glad I can help drive both commerce and shoppers´ satisfaction.” When not working, this coffee lover can be found “roaming the East Village” or pitching in at one of GO´s event booths. -GH

Michal Weiner is a Jerusalem-born-and-raised composer, songwriter and vocalist. This recent grad (of the Berklee College of Music) has already built up quite the resume, including working with the CanvaSounds Collective and co-organizing the first Women Composers´ Concert at Berklee. (She´s also been a teacher and translator.) Currently, she´s working on an indie folk album with producer Daniel Alba. One thing she really enjoys about music is the creativity. “Working in the genre of contemporary concert music allows me to explore new scales, new tonal relationships and new colors. It allows me to constantly evolve the ways in which I express my ideas and to create a unique blueprint for each piece. I´m never bored, always looking for new entry points into the music.” She also loves working with others. “I´ve always found that the communication and cross-pollination of ideas, especially across artistic disciplines, brings me to more understanding and ideas than I would ever have otherwise.” One recent collaborative highlight occurred at an Asylum Arts Retreat, an educational and networking event for Jewish artists. “My head is still spinning from the enlightening and inspiring conversations I had with the artists in attendance-people from all disciplines with interesting ideas about the world and for new projects. I am already in touch with some people about project ideas moving forward, and I can´t wait to see where it all ends up.” -GH

When we say Samantha Abby lives, breathes and eats digital video, we really mean it. As the founder and producer of Penny Lane Pictures, a New York-based production company, Abby is the creator of The Curious Cook, an award-winning, web-based LGBT cooking show hosted by chefs Athena Reich and Jase Grimm. The series has earned accolades from the Huffington Post, NewNowNext, Broadway World and the L.A. Web Fest, to name a few outlets. Penny Lane Pictures produces reality and scripted television and digital content including another web series, Love, Abby, a comedy/advice show and a show for Sony´s digital company Astronauts Wanted; Abby also runs a subsidiary that provides video production services for professionals and students. Did we mention she´s also a cast member, with her wife Laura Leigh Abby, on Bravo´s hit reality series, Newlyweds: The First Year? Abby says her success comes from her strong connection to the LGBT community, not in spite of it. “We live in a society that celebrates diversity and should maintain an environment that protects our rights. We don´t need to strive to be perfect, or to fit a stereotype,” she says. “We simply need to support our LGBT community and promote equality for all people, everywhere, as we each follow our own unique path.” -KL

Pro soccer player Lianne Sanderson is poised to be “one of the breakout stars” of the Women´s World Cup this summer, according to the British newspaper The Independent. With her dynamic playing style and vertical shock of bleached hair, Sanderson is one of the most recognizable players on England´s national team, which is competing in Canada for the title. Sanderson has been a lightning rod for attention since her professional debut in the 2003-2004 season, playing for the British football club Arsenal. Her high point with the club came in the 2007-2008 season, when she scored the fifth and final goal against Leeds United to win the national championship. She left the team after that season to play for Chelsea in the U.K., Philadelphia Independence, Espanyol in Spain, D.C. United Women and Boston Breakers before returning to Arsenal in 2014. While playing for the Boston Breakers, Sanderson and her then-partner were profiled in The Boston Globe for being the only same-sex couple to play on the same team in any American sport. “It is not about waving a gay flag,” Sanderson told The Independent earlier this year. “It is about being a role model. I get messages and letters from kids and parents on a daily basis saying, ´Thank you for being who you are.´” -KL

“I wanted to be heard,” says writer Nicole Dennis-Benn. “As a dark-skinned girl from a working-class family, growing up in Vineyard Town, Kingston, I was muted. … I was often flogged into submission by teachers and elders who were too afraid of rebellious spirits and had to constantly remind me of my place. Perhaps it was then that I learned to write fiction, as a means to escape.” Today, Dennis-Benn is a writing professor for the City University of New York and Founder of the Stuyvesant Writing Workshop. She has been awarded prestigious fellowships and recognition from the Lambda Foundation, MacDowell Colony, Sewanee Writers´ Conference, Barbara Deming Memorial Fund for Women Writers, Hedgebrook Residency, and the Hurston/Wright Foundation. Two of her stories, published in Kweli Journal and Red Rock Review, have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in Fiction. Dennis-Benn´s debut novel, Here Comes the Sun, was recently sold to Norton/Liveright. She believes writing fiction has allowed her to “give people a voice, especially women and girls of the working-class Jamaican society and LGBT individuals, who are most affected by silences. I never knew my words could have such an impact on the lives of others.” -GH

If you´re talented, fame can find you anywhere. Doria Roberts´ career began while she was playing guitar as a form of meditation at the University of Pennsylvania. Another student heard her, and that led to her first gig-for 500 people! Invites to a radio station and local venue followed. “It was a classic ´beginner´s luck´ scenario,” she says. “So I said, ´Okay, I got it. I hear you,´ and figured out how to make a living from it. It wound up literally saving my life. That´s why I´ve been so fiercely protective of it.” Roberts has also put together events that have benefitted various causes and started #ThisIsWhatALesbianLooksLike, which took off like wildfire. Still, Roberts admits that being out has sometimes gotten in the way of her career. “I had to navigate waters and negotiate choices that straight artists would never have to consider. Couple that with the fact that I wasn´t afraid to address topical issues like gun control, AIDS and domestic violence in my music, and you´ve got a recipe for the slowest rising star ever! But going back into the closet was never an option for me and I don´t regret it because I´ve been able to be exactly who I am, doing exactly what I love to do for the last 22 years. That´s real success to me.” We couldn´t agree more. -GH

“I am a poet first and a poet last,” Jade Foster said in an online interview with GLAAD. But in between those poles, Foster is also a literary entrepreneur: she founded and then produced the traveling poetry salon The Revival for five years. The grassroots series brought new and established queer women of color poets to people´s living rooms, basement apartments and other intimate spaces from Toronto to Atlanta. Speakers like t´ai freedom ford, Natasha T. Miller and Nikky Finney performed searingly honest works that explored the experiences of queer women of color, a community that Foster says is often ignored by the mainstream. “It´s important for me to create spaces where black women are loving up on each other,” Foster says. The tour´s DIY ethos was both a challenge and a thrill. “The 9-5 life was not for us, and if we plan and promote and have the right intention, it never has to be.” Foster has appeared in the web series The Peculiar Kind and Terence Nance´s short film How to Recall What I Already Knew in addition to the upcoming documentary The Revival Movie: Woman and the Word (directed by another Woman We Love this year, Sekiya Dorsett). Foster is looking forward to breaking ground with her next project, Chloe, in 2016. -KL

Back in 2003, our world was a very different place. Only one state acknowledged civil unions, no state allowed same-sex marriage, and there was little indication that LGBT families would gain greater legal recognition. It was the same year that marketing executive Kelli Carpenter and her business partner Gregg Kaminsky created a bold company-R Family Vacations, the first cruise line catering to LGBT families. Carpenter brought Broadway performers and top-name entertainers to each voyage, and gave parents and kids a once-in-a-lifetime vacation (though many returned to do it again!) “We have seen these children grow up before our eyes over the years, and are proud to have been pioneers in this movement,” Carpenter says. “R Family Vacations was built on the premise that all are welcome on our trips. We wanted to create a vacation experience that was reflective of our own lives”-meaning that aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and friends come, too. With her wife Anne Steele (another Woman We Love this year), who performs regularly on the cruises, Carpenter has four children, and she says their support “has allowed me to create trips to encourage an openness to all types of families who travel with us.” They´re looking forward to next July, when R Family Vacations teams up with Olivia Travel to offer their biggest resort vacation to date in Vallarta, Mexico. -KL

Toni Atkins is an embodiment of the American dream. Raised in poverty, the Democrat is now the 69th Speaker of the California State Assembly-and the first open lesbian to hold that office. (She even kissed her wife, Jennifer, after being sworn in.) Atkins was also the first lesbian mayor of San Diego for a short time after Mayor Dick Murphy resigned in 2005, and was the first lesbian governor of California when she temporarily took over that position on July 30, 2014, after several other politicians had to travel for various reasons. In her current role, Atkins fights for the rights of women, queer folk, veterans and the homeless; before taking on the gig she held a variety of jobs such as San Diego City Councilmember, director of clinic services at Womancare Health Center and staff representative of City Councilmember Christine Kehoe. “I´m from southwestern Virginia-the mountains,” she told The Los Angeles Times last year, “and really proud of the Appalachian culture. My parents were working-class people. We carried water from a spring; we had a smokehouse; we had an outhouse. … I got to represent folks in parts of San Diego who needed the same support and structure that I needed growing up in rural Virginia. When I see constituents with their stories, I see my mom, [and] I see my dad.” -GH

If you haven´t yet discovered Arielle Scarcella, well, you´re in for a very good time. Part comic, part sex educator and part fount of wisdom, Scarcella posts videos on things you´re dying to understand but too embarrassed to ask about: lesbian bed death, oral sex etiquette and what not to say in bed. She´s goofy yet down-to-earth with a cool, old-school Brooklyn vibe. And she´s not afraid to get personal, even talking about the first time she slept with a woman. The videos were born almost six years ago following a sad period in her personal life. “I soon realized the few people who [were] watching were laughing and asking me to make more, so I did,” she says. As time went on, she explains on her Tumblr, “I realized that this form of self-expression was helping me to feel better about myself and was also helping others,” Today, Scarcella is a YouTube phenomenon; videos on her two channels have more than 70 million views. She´s also a nonprofit founder and director (of Project Toasty), life coach and author. Her first book, Selfie vs. Self: The Internet´s Intro to Spirituality was just released. “I´ve gotten to a point in my career and life where I can say, ´I´m a professional lesbian´ and have it be the truth. I´m incredibly grateful.” -GH

“Audre Lorde has taught us all that difference within our community is not only OK, but should be celebrated and made visible. My research and activism, I hope, lets LGBTQ folks know that we are always at our best when we work on things that empower our community together,” says Kaila Adia Story, Ph.D. An associate professor in the Departments of Women´s & Gender Studies and Pan-African Studies, and the Audre Lorde Chair in Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Louisville, she does research that explores the intersections of black queer studies and pan-African studies, and their relationship with black feminist theory. Story is widely published in journals and released her first book, Patricia Hill Collins: Receiving Motherhood, last year. She also co-hosts a weekly radio show, “Strange Fruit: Musings on Politics, Pop Culture, and Black Gay Life” on WFPL, the Louisville affiliate of NPR, with Jaison Gardner. “My mama was a great example of empowered black womanhood to me. My father, who loves teaching and mentoring young students of color at the University of Michigan, showed me that intellectual work has the ability to not only enlighten thought, but transform it,” Story says. “I embrace teaching as an opportunity to inspire and transform. I often explain to my students that if they are ideologically comfortable in a classroom, transformative learning is not taking place.” -KL

It isn´t always easy being an openly gay singer-songwriter in the country/folk vein, especially in Nashville, but Steff Mahan wouldn´t have it any other way. Years ago, she left a high-paying job as an advertising executive to become a songwriter at $150 per week. Playing her honest and soulful brand of Americana in Nashville clubs eventually earned her attention from a record label, but there was a hitch. “I wanted to be successful so badly, I led them to believe I was someone I wasn´t. I realized if I had to play straight to be successful in the music business, I would be miserable,” Mahan says. She told the label as much, and they dropped the deal-but Mahan had proven something to herself. “I believe being myself and standing side-by-side through bad and good with that one person who will always love you is true success.” Mahan plays more than 200 live shows a year in support of her most recent album, Where I´m Coming From. It´s an exhausting but exhilarating way to earn a living. “There may always be times when I wonder why I chose this path, but I also know that I would not totally be happy unless I was playing and writing. It´s not just what I do, it´s who I am.” -KL

Nikki Carr started doing professional stand-up at 34 and has been on the rise ever since. Her appearances on BET´s Comic View and Starz´s Martin Lawrence Presents 1st Amendment Stand-Up have fueled her ascension, but her biggest exposure was on last year´s Last Comic Standing. Though she didn´t win, she made it to the final round-the last female comic standing-so it´s surprising she wasn´t even going to try out for it until a friend convinced her to send in a clip. “They saw it, liked it, and the rest is history,” she told Windy City Times. Like other successful comics, Carr is not afraid to be controversial, but, as she revealed to WCT, being out hasn´t been easy. “I always wanted to, however, there are a lot of homophobes out there. … Throughout my career I tried a little bit every now [and] then. Sometimes it would go over well, and sometimes the audience would shut down; then I [would] have to go get them back. Even now, it is still difficult because I don´t like to be disliked by anyone. At this point, it doesn´t really matter. My kids are fine with me; my mother was fine before she left; God is fine-he created me. I can´t hide anymore.” -GH

Leanne Pittsford is the founder of Lesbians Who Tech, a global community of queer women in technology and their friends. “I started Lesbians Who Tech for two reasons,” she says. “I was tired of going to LGBTQ and tech events that had no queer women representation, and I believed that we had to rethink the way we provided value to queer women if we wanted them to engage in either community.” Lesbians Who Tech features regular happy hours, incredible summits and will be launching a mentoring program called Bring a Lesbian to Work Day. (Upcoming summits include Berlin on August 29 and in New York on October 2.) The summit positions itself as a fun, educational and inspiring event, with the focus on non-painful networking, “badass speakers” and parties.  “Lesbians Who Tech has made thousands of connections and increased the visibility of queer women in technology, and making those incredible stories and people in our community more visible is one of the most important and rewarding parts of what I do. Megan Smith, the chief technology officer of the United States, is just one example of visibility in our community, but there are hundreds more we´ve been able to put on a stage in front of thousands of people. And seeing the impact from those stories and those connections is definitely the [thing] that keeps me focused and moving forward.” -GH

Kelly Cogswell was a member of the Lesbian Avengers, a direct action group formed in 1992 in New York City. During their most active years, they demonstrated against a radio station, a women´s magazine and the Board of Ed, even eating fire to bring attention to their cause. Cogswell wrote about the group, and her romance with co-founder Ana Maria Simo, in her 2014 memoir Eating Fire: My Life as a Lesbian Avenger. She also began recording the group´s history in 2010 for The Lesbian Avenger Documentary Project (lesbianavengers.com). “I went online to check some facts about the group, and there was almost nothing there,” she says. “We´d pretty much been erased, which was ironic considering that the Lesbian Avengers were all about visibility. And the Avengers weren´t small. We had 60 chapters all over the world. … My memoir grew out of that project, thinking about the Lesbian Avengers, why we started, and how our history was intertwined with everybody else that has had to step out into the street to demand their rights. Or even celebrate.” In 1993, the Avengers founded the Dyke March, which survives, says Cogswell, because we continue to need the visibility it provides. “We´re still hungry for opportunities to claim public space and be seen as ourselves.” -GH

Burned out from long hours and back-breaking work as a reality TV sound mixer, Christina Bly realized she needed a vacation. So she and her close friend Lauren Aadland packed up and headed from Los Angeles to Europe “for the first time with no set plans or real direction,” as they put it. The pair filmed their adventures and posted them online, and it turned out, more than just their friends and family were watching. “I did not expect it to take off how it did,” Bly says. “We decided this needed to be what we put our efforts into.” Now with over 10,000 YouTube subscribers and 400,000 views, Bly and her co-creator travel the world for “Button and Bly´s Travel Show,” which sheds a light on global LGBTQ culture while inspiring other young people to hit the road. Bly says she has received “countless emails about how we have encouraged someone to travel or feel as though they can be out and themselves and not worry about it.” -SJ

If you go to the Brooklyn Museum now through November 1, you´ll see an exhibit that will take your breath away. It features photographs of queer South Africans, along with testimonies about anti-gay violence and rape, and reminds us, so close to Pride, that there are still places in the world where queer folk must live under the most awful circumstances. The exhibit is called “Isibonelo/Evidence” and the photographer, South African native Zanele Muholi, is taking the art world by storm. Shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, Muholi considers herself a “visual activist.” (“Fine artists deal with finery,” she explained to the BBC, “but I deal with painful material. I´m an artist who uses visuals for activism to deal with the many political issues that affect human beings.”) Muholi has exhibited many times since her first solo show in 2004, and her work has been collected in numerous publications. Her goal is not only to reflect a light on the inhumane conditions the South African LGBT population faces, but also to use the money she receives to give back to young artists, as part of her mentoring program. “It´s not just me who is here at the museum; we are here,” she recently told The New Yorker. “My photographs portray people who are participating in making their own history.” -GH

Born a singing, two-spirit tomboy of mixed heritage in the midst of the blue-collar Bible Belt, independent musician Marca Cassity says her life has been filled with challenging adventures-one of which was coming out in her small town on the Osage reservation in Oklahoma. But instead of being cowed by adversity, she used her experiences as inspiration. Cassity has written and produced music since her early 20s-her fourth independent album, Songs from the Well, is a collection of eleven folk-rock spirit songs funded with an artist grant from the Osage Nation. With nods to musical contemporaries Joan Armatrading, Mary Gauthier and Gillian Welch, Cassity´s songs use nuances of Osage singing and drumming to deliver a positive message about “overcoming hardship through connections with nature, humor, love, compassion, spirituality and heritage.” She was honored to sing her song “Bells” at the inauguration of the Osage Chief and Congress in the summer of 2014, and this summer, Cassity will be part of the video crew at the final Michigan Womyn´s Music Festival. When she isn´t recording and performing, Cassity is a therapist specializing in trauma counseling for Native American families and in LGBTQ issues in Durham, N.C. “It is important that we, the LGBTQ community, consistently, intelligently find our strength in our hearts and minds, and be allies to one another,” she says. -KL

Listening to an inspirational speaker on campus is a highlight of any college experience, but as a student at the University of Georgia, Tia N. Williams didn´t see a lot of speakers who looked like her or shared her orientation. So she decided to start her own speaking agency called The Buddha In Me Management. That alone would be enough to land her on our list, but Williams also manages to make time for two other fabulous jobs: academic services coordinator at Emory University and staff writer for the African-American LBT magazine Elixher-plus, she was the production manager on the 2013 documentary Al Nisa: Black Muslim Women in Atlanta´s Gay Mecca. And while today Williams is out and proud, she struggled, like so many other young queer women do, with revealing her sexuality. “When I told her [my best friend from college] I was attracted to and interested in women, her response was, ´I hope you didn´t think this would make me love you any less.´ After that, I officially told a few other people, but it made me realize I was doing it more for them and not me because nothing in my life had really changed. I was just more accepting of myself and a lot happier. I no longer sought anyone else´s approval of who I was as a person.” -GH