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

Don’t call Carolyn M. Brown (left) and D.E. Womack drama queens, even if they did meet in high school and bond over their love of theater. They both felt drawn to working on stage and behind the scenes as set designers, and in 2006, the duo teamed up again to establish All in Black and White Productions. They see the company as a launching pad for promising new multicultural artists in theater, film, video, spoken word and fine arts, and a forum to challenge mainstream conventional thinking. The duo has coauthored three plays and several video shorts. Their most recent production, Flowers: A Thorny Romance Story, went from an idea conceived in a New York restaurant in 2007 to a full-length production at Center Stage NY in 2010, then on to The WorkShop Theater in July 2011 as part of the 12th Annual Midtown International Theatre Festival. Brown advises up-and-coming entrepreneurs to “know what you are good at, as well as your shortcomings, then surround yourself with skilled people to help you build your business. When someone says no, find someone who will say yes.”