Queer Women We Love, Red Hot Entrepreneurs, Wonder Women

Workin’ It 2011

September 19, 2011 Liz Gold

The Real L Word fans know Romi Klinger from her spot on the Showtime reality series, but this Pasadena, Calif.-born jewelry designer has lived a best-seller life since growing up in the care of two mothers and a father. Our cover girl has been a successful makeup artist, an apothecary buyer for Kitson, a co-creator of the famed lesbian event company PYT and a blogger at tenderomi.com. This year, Klinger and Vanessa Salazar founded HIJA Por Vida, a jewelry and accessories line exclusively sold through Love and Pride. Now solo, Klinger is moving forward with Casa Por Vida, her own jewelry brand inspired by Mexican and Native American designs. Her Web site, casaporvida.com, launches this month. “The best part of owning my own business is that I’m my own boss and I get a chance to do what I love,” Klinger says. “We make all these items by hand on our living room floors. So far, we’ve lost a lot of sleep—but, we’re hustlers and hard-workers. The fact is, when you believe in your product, work is a pleasure.”

2011’s Red Hot Entrepreneurs

Serena Kuo proudly defies labels. The director, videographer and multimedia consultant cofounded her creative firm, Studio Mercury, with business partner Lucas Roy after both had graduated from the MFA program at Rhode Island School of Design. At the time, Kuo was a cinematographer and Roy was a graphic designer. “We were both feeling limited by our previous professions and the notion that we were stuck in mediums we chose to ‘specialize’ in,” Kuo says. “Visual media doesn’t work like that anymore. Mediums merge and evolve, and as long as you know that it can be done, there’s nothing holding you back.” Based in downtown Brooklyn, Studio Mercury houses five permanent staff members with a growing number of freelancers. Her work with the 2008 film Lloyd Neck gained international attention from screenings at the Sundance Film Festival, NewFest LGBT Film Festival and L.A.’s Outfest. Even before putting out her shingle, Kuo sharpened her skills at the New York-based commercial production company Identity on accounts for L’Oreal, Tommy Hilfiger and Hyundai. “Forget about labels when you are discouraged,” she says. “Focus on becoming even better than your best.”