Women at the Helm 2014
Director, Forty to None Project at the True Colors Fund
There is a crisis of LGBT youth homelessness in this country and Jama Shelton, LMSW, PhD, has been fighting to end it for more than a decade. A former homeless youth herself, Shelton’s life goal was forged while working with queer kids as a community-based artist in Texas. “Young people would disclose things that had happened to them in their lives that I did not have the skill set to address. It felt irresponsible to continue doing that work without learning more about how to handle such disclosures, so I decided to pursue an MSW,” she says. “After years of providing direct services to LGBT youth experiencing homelessness, I knew I wanted to do more.” She went back to school to work on her PhD, which she completed. Currently, she is the director of the Forty to None Project at the True Colors Fund, an LGBT organization co-founded by Cyndi Lauper. She’s also a professor at Hunter College and NYU School of Social Work. “I remember the first young woman of transgender experience who I helped get her own apartment 10 years ago,” she says. “I think about how hard she worked and how many barriers she broke through to get there. Her story, and countless others like hers, keep me going.”
Meet the next wave of out leaders!
MARCY P. ROSE
Financial Advisor and Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor, The Rose Soranno Group at Morgan Stanley
A financial advisor and partner in the Rose Soranno group at Morgan Stanley, Marcy P. Rose spends a lot of time helping the LGBT community better understand and manage their finances. For two-and-a-half years she hosted (along with business partner Joe Soranno) a radio program called “The LGBT Money Show”; currently she and her team speak to employee resource groups about financial issues. “Although DOMA has been overturned, the struggles still exist and our work is more important than ever,” she says. “So many believe that with this change there is now an even playing field and that’s not the case. It’s a false sense of security. Members of the community must not only be aware of their rights in the states in which they live, but other states that they travel to or travel through. Through our past radio show, guest speaking engagements and client meetings, we know that we are making a positive impact on people’s lives and that inspires us to continue the work we do on a daily basis.”
