GO! Presents 100 Women We Love: Class of 2024

THE CULTURAL ROADMAP FOR CITY GIRLS EVERYWHERE

Class of 2021

100 Women We Love: Class of 2021

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Every June, GO Magazine compiles a select list of talented tastemakers, influencers, and all-around inspirational women who are making their mark on the LGBTQ+ community and on the world at large. If you aren’t seeing someone you feel should have been included, go back through our archives and you’ll probably find her listed there, or in one of our many round-ups featuring out entrepreneurs, or women at the helm of successful businesses or vital nonprofits. And if not, with an abundance of incredible out women in the world, there’s always next year.

Remember, we don’t rank our honorees numerically—every Woman We Love is tied for number one! Instead, we’ve listed the honorees alphabetically by first name.

Abby Sugar

Abby Sugar is the founder and CEO of Play Out Apparel, a gender-equal clothing brand. The brand came out of a personal struggle to find gender- expression affirming apparel, and from her entrepreneurial spirit, which was nurtured in The Founder Institute startup accelerator. As an “outgoing, unapologetically queer startup founder,” she says, Sugar strives to be a leading voice for the LGBTQ+ community. In fact, when faced with adversity within the startup world, she didn’t back down. In 2020, only 2.3% of venture capital funding went to women-led startups, and for LGBTQ+ led ones, the number was even smaller. “I think a lot about the obstacles to success that LGBTQ+ founders face in the startup industry when I think about being an out startup entrepreneur,” says Sugar. “I am determined not to be limited by these numbers and to succeed in the face of adversity.” Her current role allows her to not only plant a flag for LGBTQ+ led startups, but give back to the community through comfort and fashion. “The most rewarding aspect of my work is hearing from customers and members of our community that they feel represented and seen by our brand and can fully express themselves authentically by wearing Play Out,” Sugar tells GO. “It really touches me when we receive messages that our website and social media is a safe space, and that they truly see that we are making the world a kinder and more accepting place. It inspires me to keep doing what we’re doing!” —IL

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Adriana Pierce

“The more I lean into who I am, the more it enriches my work and inspires me to continue,” Adriana Pierce tells GO. “Accepting the power and strength in my identity and speaking about it openly allows me to claim my space in my profession with confidence and grace and encourages me to pave the way for other marginalized artists.” As an openly queer woman in the professional ballet world, grace and confidence are necessities for her success. Pierce began her career as a New York City Ballet apprentice before completing seven seasons with the Miami City Ballet, where she also worked as a choreographer. She performed in the original cast of Broadway’s 2018 revival of “Carousel” and the FX miniseries “Fosse/Verdon,” and she can be seen in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming remake of “West Side Story.” Pierce is also the founder of #QueerTheBallet, an initiative to make classical ballet more inclusive of LGBTQ+ performers and creatives. Its first project was a pas de deux created by Pierce, which was performed by dancers Sierra Armstrong and Remy Young in Catskill, NY. “I remember the way it feels to be alone in an art form that did not have room for me and my identity,” Pierce recalls. “My work with #QueertheBallet is driven by a desire to make sure that no one ever has to feel that way.” Since starting the initiative, she’s heard from LGBTQ+ people from all over the world who’ve been touched by the work she does. “Reading those testimonials not only reaffirms my commitment to the work but also creates the community that I have always craved,” she says. “And it is an honor to reply to those messages: ‘You are seen, you matter, and you are not alone.’” —RK

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Aisha Shaibu

Founder of Moonlight Experiences, Aisha Shaibu is an LGBTQ+ activist whose award-winning company is dedicated to uplifting marginalized voices through nightlife and tourism. Moonlight Experiences aims to create intersectional events that challenge the traditional lack of diversity in these spaces by promoting queer, POC, and women-owned venues for queer and ally tourists. Moonlight Experiences was named LGBTQ+ Company of the Year in 2021 for London and South East England. Shaibu also heads the Community Engagement for UK Black Pride and is a Board of Trustees member for GiveOut. In 2019, she was recognized by the Mayor of London for her work in nightlife activism. The decision to volunteer one’s time, Shaibu believes, can make a difference in one’s life and in the lives of others, leading to an invaluable experience for all parties involved. “Volunteering our time in person or virtually to uplift others using our resources, skills, and privileges truly can empower our community,” she tells GO. She believes that everyone, no matter what stage they are at in life, has the opportunity to make an impact. As a Black queer woman from a Muslim conservative household, she didn’t believe she would be able to ever live authentically. However, “once I removed the shackles of my own doubts, cultural beliefs, and fear from what my family would think, I didn’t just feel free, but I began flourishing in my work, in my activism, and also in supporting and making a difference in other people’s lives.” —NT

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Alexandra Grey

Actress, musician and screenwriter Alexandra Grey is proud to be blazing a trail as a visible trans woman. “Art is a very powerful tool,” she tells GO, “and it’s rewarding to me to know that not only do I get to do what I love, but that I get to give hope and visibility to a group that almost never gets the chance to see themselves and stories reflected.” Grey has recently starred as Parker Phillips in CBS’ “MacGyver” and as Lucy Hicks Anderson in HBO Max’s docu-series “Equal.” Grey’s notable roles in the past include Elizah Parks on the hit Amazon comedy series “Transparent” and superstar singer Melody Barnes on the Fox musical drama series “Empire.” Grey has also guest-starred on shows like “Angel of Darkness,” “How to Get Away with Murder,” “Drunk History,” and the ABC miniseries “When We Rise.” She’s also been tapped to play the title role in the upcoming film “Gossamer Folds.” Throughout her career, Grey has positioned herself as a visible, proud trans woman of color, representing those like her who have rarely seen themselves portrayed in popular culture. To her, that makes all the hard work worth it. “Ever since I started out as an actress working on television, I’ve gotten so many messages from young trans folks and other queer kids telling me how much my characters have inspired them in their lives,” she tells GO. “I’m eternally grateful that I get to use my platform to allow my community to be able to see themselves reflected in this medium.” —IL

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Alina Carson

Alina Carson has appeared in Jess Dunn’s “@DatingZoe” and “Gray Ground” and the Instagram scripted series “Besties: The Ultra Mini-Series.” All of these indie roles are the precursor to her TikTok career-making dark yet comical videos about intersection racism, capitalism, and her queer existence. Carson’s TikTok has since blossomed into a platform that people were able to truly identify with. “I wasn’t accustomed to taking up space with my own ideas or opinions because my whole life I’ve been conditioned to keep myself small,” she says. Now, no longer content to be “small,” she’s become more invested in creating her own work and exploring the complexities of queer identity in addition to acting. While workshopping new scripts, she enjoys the input of her peers, telling GO: “Sometimes I’m wrong about things, and it’s great! I’m always learning and listening. I’m only one person with one set of experiences to pull from, and queerness is not a monolithic experience.” This authentic depiction of queerness is important to Carson, who finds big-budget scripts uninspiring and their agendas transparent. “My favorite involvements have been with small, passion projects,” she says. “I find that with indie films, the creators have a clear vision; there is no weird agenda to reach a certain demographic or pioneer diversity in a way that feels performative.” Carson is currently working on a new web series, a dark comedy about a book club whose members are less interested in novels than they are in discussing their own problems. The pilot drops on August 1. —NT

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Allison Hope

When writer Allison Hope first entered the job market, she chose to work for smaller, independent Dyke TV rather than NBC because she believed that the community needed more representation. Hope has been actively fighting for that representation in a number of ways throughout the years. “As I’ve moved through my career path, I’ve been privileged to raise the platform on which my queer voice is shared,” she tells GO. “I’ve been fortunate that my LGBTQ identity has been viewed as an asset, and one I’ve been able to leverage to help drive equity and inclusion.” Her writing, which focuses on LGBTQ+, women’s rights, social issues, parenting, and lifestyle trends, has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Buzzfeed, Cosmopolitan, and New York Magazine. Hope also boasts over 17 years of marketing and digital media experience, working with brands including Mastercard, JetBlue, JPMorgan Chase, and the ACLU, focusing primarily on diversity, equity, and inclusion. In addition to writing, Hope currently teaches marketing and communications classes at Hunter College, CUNY and SUNY Purchase. “I’ve always had a strong sense of justice, and the sense that I must speak up and out on behalf of those who are being silenced or marginalized” says Hope. “It was natural for me to lean into journalism and communications, whether for a civil rights cause, niche LGBTQ outlet, or at a large company or media entity focused on inclusion work.” —IL

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Andrea Himmel

Andrea Himmel’s career has been a big circle, starting and ending — or, currently, situating — in real estate. Himmel studied the field at the Joseph Wharton Scholars program at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating, however, she entered the world of hedge funds, where she was part of a founding team and one of seven investment professionals who worked at Sanders Capital. Seven years later, she left to launch her own oil company, Tierra Resource Partners. Two years after that, she launched Revere Resources, a successor fund investing in oil and gas royalties. From the fund’s success, she built Revere Resources into a thriving company. Then in 2018, Himmel joined Himmel & Meringoff Properties, a real estate firm founded by her mother; she now runs acquisitions and growth for the company. “I chose to go into real estate because of my passions for the creation of unique spaces in which people from all walks of life live, work, and play; the ability for us to reimagine and shape the skyline and communities with creativity; and the need to create equity and safety in affordable housing,” she tells GO. She speaks regularly on panels and is recognized as a thought leader in the New York real estate community. Himmel also serves on the Diversity Committee of the Real Estate Board of New York, where she advocates for equity within the industry. “Being out, proud, and accountable to oneself is both predicated upon and the source of confidence,” she says. “Conviction in myself translates to the confidence that I carry with me in all aspects of my life — in the workplace, on the yoga mat, and in personal connections.” —IL

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Angela Daniels-Lewis

“We can change our world one conversation at a time,” Angela Daniels-Lewis tells GO, “if you speak from a place of authenticity and truth.” Daniels-Lewis, herself, put these words into practice when she founded BluBlaze T.I.M.E., a consultancy agency that helps companies, nonprofits, and corporations diversify their work cultures. She founded the agency, which is named after her and her wife Sarah’s two sons, after retiring from New York Life Insurance in 2019, where she had worked as a corporate vice president. She brought with her three decades of experience in community-building through diversity, helping organizations to build cultural bridges in order to make their environments more conducive to creativity and ideas, and subsequently become more productive. A licensed Intercultural Development Inventory Assessments Qualified Administrator, Daniels-Lewis champions diversity and inclusivity, and she is committed to helping both individuals and work environments effectively become better versions of themselves by diversifying their communities and spaces. For her efforts, Business Equality Magazine named Daniels-Lewis one of its Legacy Leaders Over 50, commemorating Stonewall 50, in 2019. The most rewarding thing about her work coaching people “is watching them realize their potential and seeing them find out how amazing they are.” —RK

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Angela Lowe

For chef Angela Lowe, coming out wasn’t her choice. After being outed by a relative, Lowe went through a period where she didn’t speak to her family. But that experience didn’t cause her to retreat back into the closet — instead, she chose to live out loud. “I have never been a person that would live anything but my truth, so [since] I came out, I haven’t turned back, and being gay is one of my favorite things about myself,” she tells GO. “I love being a badass gay businesswoman.” Now, Lowe is an acclaimed chef, international restaurant consultant, and recipe developer with eight new restaurant concepts set to launch across the country. She just launched two companies with her partner: Vegan Sunday Supper, a full line of vegan products, and Plant Based Sandwich (PBS), which sells vegan gourmet-style sandwiches. Lowe recently began a partnership with Gaia Women Lead, a women’s conference, in which she will serve as a keynote speaker offering recipe content and mentorship. Her list of accomplishments includes an eclectic mix of culinary career experiences, including hosting the first vegan dinner at the New York Food and Wine Festival, serving as Ryan Seacrest’s personal chef, and being featured at the Seed Food and Wine Festival in Los Angeles. —IL

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Angelica Crisi

“DEI isn’t a clear-cut, linear process,” says Angelica Crisi, Partner and COO at Coston Consulting, a Black-owned business advisory firm where Crisi’s DEI (Diversity Equity Inclusion) work includes workshops, trainings, assessments, and strategic planning to help companies foster DEI professional environments. In addition to her DEI work, Crisi advises on multiple fronts, including strategy, marketing, and business development. “There can be many ups and downs and even missteps for clients,” she says, “[but] we’re able to help [clients] along their journey to identify actionable steps and make real, sustainable progress.” The Coston staff is extremely diverse, and Crisi credits this diversity with her team’s ability to think through problems from a variety of perspectives. “I think our differences complement each other so well,” she says, “and because of these varied backgrounds and skill sets, we can offer clients a truly intersectional approach.” She has been recognized as one of the “Top 40 under 40” LGBTQ+ Leaders by Business Equality Pride Magazine for her ongoing efforts. No stranger to success, Crisi previously led marketing and client development efforts at a nationally-renowned plaintiff law firm, as well as three Am Law 100 international law firms. As a member of both the LGBT Chamber of Commerce of New York and The National LGBT Bar Association, she is not afraid to work for, and stand up for members of her community. —NT

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Ann Johnson

“Being a member of the LGBTQ community has allowed me to speak from a personal level on legislation that impacts us,” State Representative Ann Johnson tells GO. “It is important to have representation of all communities at every level of government.” Johnson, a teacher, small business owner, and attorney, was elected to represent Texas House District 134 in November, defeating the Republican incumbent. She is a former chief human trafficking prosecutor, and as an attorney, represents victims of sexual exploitation and those who cannot afford a lawyer; one of her cases went to the Texas Supreme Court and resulted in the creation of a framework to protect minors who are victims of human trafficking. “I ran for State Representative to continue my fight for the vulnerable and was proud to fight this session against the attacks we saw on our democracy, our trans community, and access to abortion,” she says. She was honored to earn Texas House Democratic Caucus Freshman of the Year as well as the Texas House LGBTQ Caucus Freshman of the Year for her outstanding efforts. She lives with her wife, Sonya, and their three rescue dogs. —NT

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Arielle Solomon

A lesbian couple in a rural area might not be able to find an affirming adoption coach without some serious legwork. But with Maven, a virtual clinic for women and families on the journey to parenthood, they can easily connect with the help they need in just 20 minutes. Stories like those are what make Arielle Solomon proudest. She leads partnerships at Maven Clinics, a fast-growing company that has expanded 400% in two-and-a-half years — during which time Solomon started out as one of the most junior employees and moved up to a leadership role. Solomon represents Maven Clinics at Out & Equal, the largest LGBTQ+ business-focused conference — but that’s not where the company’s LGBTQ+-friendliness ends. She herself is “unapologetically” out and proud at work. Why? “I think people are often disarmed and grateful to be trusted when someone comes out to them,” she tells GO. “I also think being out has actually made many people more comfortable around me, which makes for more collaborative work and more open, vulnerable relationships with my direct reports.” Then, there are the stories that flow in from Maven’s members about how the clinic has helped them. When they come from people in the LGBTQ+ community, Solomon sees her impact firsthand. —SJ

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Aubree Calvin

“It’s important to remember that there are more of our stories out there hidden deep down, and slowly, we are uncovering them,” Aubree Calvin tells GO. “For so long, we’ve been denied knowing our full LGBTQ history, and so many of us are working to bring those stories to light.” Calvin brings those stories to light with the podcast “Southern Queeries,” which shares “stories that celebrate our accomplishments and contributions to society,” she says. Calvin, a proud LGBTQ+ southerner who lives in Texas with her wife and daughter, is an assistant professor of government at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth and a freelance writer who focuses on race, mental health, LGBTQ+ issues, and the myriad ways those topics intersect. Her work has appeared in The Dallas Voice, Gay Parent, and Nerdist. Being out and open about her identity as a trans woman in a supportive environment has made her a better teacher, she says, because it’s allowed her to be honest about herself. It’s also allowed her to recognize her own mental health needs and to thrive in her writing career. “Coming out gave me the space to get the proper medical help I needed for my ADHD, anxiety, and depression, which has led to my greater focus on my goals,” she says. “Taking care of my mental health now is what allows me to write articles, produce a growing podcast, and channel my ever-present creative energy in a way that I can use to help the LGBTQ community.” —RK

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B. Lindsey Deaton

Creator, artistic director, public servant, and trans and LGBTQIA+ youth advocate B. Lindsey Deaton has made a name for herself in the music world. She’s one of the leading experts on the transgender singing voice and is widely recognized as a leader in building the global trans choral movement. She currently serves as a Commissioner for the City of West Hollywood Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission and is the founder and Artistic Director of the San Diego Queer Youth Chorus. Deaton is also Creator and Artistic Director of The TransDiaries, a theater project produced by the Hollywood chapter of the National Organization for Women. In 2015, she founded the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles, which quickly became the largest chorus of trans and non-binary people in the world. While she’s achieved prolific success, Deaton’s transition wasn’t easy. Before coming out, she worked as a music director at a number of Catholic churches. She lost her job after coming out. However, she doesn’t have any regrets. “In many ways, my ‘coming out’ created a life for me that I once thought impossible,” Deaton tells GO. “Being out has provided me an opportunity to amplify and center trans/non-binary/BIPOC folx voices, and to create the spaces, provide the resources and the time for their faces to be seen, and for their voices to be heard.” —IL

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Bishakh Som

“Realizing my transness and womanhood has been an integral part of achieving my artistic ambitions,” graphic novelist Bishakh Som tells GO. “I’ve been drawing, painting, and making comics all my life, but it was only when I quit my full-time job in architecture that I was able to seriously consider making art for a living.” Around this time, she began her debut graphic novel, “Apsara Engine,” which would later win the L.A. Times Book Prize for Best Graphic Novel as well as a Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBTQ Comics. She also recognized something about herself: “I had always written and drawn women as the protagonists of my comics, not knowing quite why, but now they seemed to be calling to me, beckoning me, embracing me as one of their own.” “For most of my life, I never thought I would be able to sharpen my love of drawing, art and comics into a life’s work, but coming out as trans and becoming a trans femme has honed that process and given me a divine sense that my gender and my art are inseparable,” she tells GO. Her graphic memoir “Spellbound” was a 2021 Lambda Literary Award finalist, the same year “Apsara Engine” won the prize for Best LGBTQ Comics. Her work has appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, The Boston Review, Black Warrior Review, VICE, and Huffington Post. But the most rewarding part of her work isn’t the success; it’s “being able to jumpstart the images of queer/femme utopias into being, to have joyous femmes fully inhabiting, dancing, frolicking, thriving in a queer landscape.” —RK

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Brenda Risch

“It’s beautiful to see a person blossom with hope and purpose when they see the evidence of how they can make a difference,” says Brenda Risch, founding member and Executive Director of the Borderland Rainbow Center (BRC) in El Paso, Texas. “Folks don’t need to have a fancy education or a lot of money to help others, they just need the will to help.” The BRC fosters healing, empowerment, and growth for LGBTQ+ people and allies wanting to live substance free. Risch helped launch the organization out of a desire to provide concrete solutions to problems faced by those living in the region including, but not limited to, substance abuse and addiction. She’s also brought visibility for the queer community in El Paso by founding the Frontera Pride Film Festival and Engendering Community, the first museum exhibit focused on the lives of LGBTQ+ people in the Paso del Norte region. Her message to the LGBTQ+ community at large is simple: every single person can create change. “Everyone needs something, and everyone has something to offer,” Risch tells GO. “Never turn away someone who shows up saying, ‘I want to help.’ We have built a strong network and a vibrant community organization by using whatever resources we can find, building individual and organizational relationships, and honoring each person’s contributions.” —IL

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Brittany Howard

When Brittany Howard was growing up in rural Athens, Alabama, it was a carefree and simple time for her until Jaime, her older sister, began to suffer from retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eye. Eventually, her sister died from the disease, and Howard moved in with her mom in Madison, Alabama after her parents split up. “I still talk to her every day, think about her every day,” Howard told Pitchfork. It was there that she really got into music — Jaime had taught her how to write poetry and play piano, but Howard figured out the rest on her own. She started going to concerts regularly, and sneaking out to watch bands at night. Eventually, she and members Heath Fogg, Steve Johnson, and Zac Cockrell formed their own band. They went on to become Alabama Shakes, and rocketed to both popular and critical acclaim with two albums: “Boys and Girls” and “Sound & Color,” the latter of which won three Grammy Awards. In 2018, Howard put the band on hiatus to release “Jaime,” her solo album. She also married Jesse Lafser, a member of the Bermuda Triangle Band, another band which Howard is also part of. “My identity is very clear to me and I don’t have to make it clear to anyone else, because I don’t think that’s important — what anyone else thinks about me or what box they want to put me in,” she told NPR. —IL

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Brooke Eden

When she began her country music career, Brooke Eden wasn’t encouraged to speak openly about her sexuality. But things have changed in the five years since the release of her debut EP, “Welcome to the Weekend.” She has a new sound, and thanks to her fiancé, a new outlook on life. “Before I met my fiancé, I had never written a love song,” Brooke Eden tells GO. “A lot of my songs were very cynical and dark and angsty. When I met Hilary, everything changed. Even though we were terrified of the outside world, when it was just the two of us in our bubble, nothing was easier. Nothing was lighter or happier. My whole perspective on life changed when I met her.” Eden just released three new songs — “No Shade,” “Sunroof,” and “Got No Choice” — which reflect a happier, up-tempo, and lighter sound. “I felt like if this is going to be my music and these are going to be my songs, then I need to live this life out loud, and I need to live this love out loud,” she says. Her new songs, sound, and love make the year a promising one for her. “What’s cool about my story is that I’ve already gotten to do this one time,” Eden says, reflecting back on the first part of her career while looking forward to the next. “I think it’s cool that I get to do this again with music that I love so much and music that says something that I want to say.” —RK

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Carmen Neely

Harlem Pride was one of the first LGBTQ+ organizations in Harlem, but “now, there are many,” says Harlem Pride co-founder, President, and CEO Carmen Neely. As a community-focused leader, Neely understands the importance of visibility to the LGBTQ+ community; her own presence has been a force for change. “In the community, being out exposes larger society to the beauty that is being a Black Lesbian,” she tells GO. “They’re able to see that we are everywhere. … They can see we’re just as human as they are.” In addition to co-founding Harlem Pride, she helps plan for the Harlem SGL•LGBTQ Center and is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, and other Harlem-based LGBTQ+ organizations. She is also a co-chair of the LGBTQ Committee of the Mid-Manhattan Branch of the NAACP, a Co-Chair of the Black & Latino LGBTQ Coalition, a board member of the Harlem SGL•LGBTQ Center, and a Co-Chair of NYC Pride & Power. Additionally, she has recently begun a new position as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of The Center For Black Equity, based in Washington D.C., aimed at promoting a multinational LGBTQ+ network to improve health and wellness opportunities, economic empowerment, and equal rights. But her wide-ranging work doesn’t stop Neely from seeing the impact her life has on the small scale as well. “Even within my family, my visibility has made it easier for the next generation of my LGBTQ family members to be loved, respected, and valued,” she says. —NT

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Cassie Duprey

Healthcare professional by day and LGBTQ+ nightlife promoter by night, Cassie Duprey strives to practice what she preaches in all her endeavors. “It’s important to treat each other with love and compassion,” she says. “We all have our own personal battles in the world.” During the height of the COVID crisis, Duprey expanded her role in the medical community as a medical office manager at New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery, where she took on a front line position as a registrar at a New Jersey urgent care facility. There, she screened and registered ill and frightened walk-in patients prior to their appointments. Throughout her 13-year career with NY Dreamgyrl, her nightlife organization, Duprey has also worked hard to serve the needs of New York’s BIPOC LBTQ+ women by producing hundreds of exceptional parties, local events and destination events that serve to provide essential and safe spaces for her community. Most recently, Duprey has established the Dreams Become Reality Foundation, an LGBTQ+ foundation dedicated to raising funds and awareness for several important charitable organizations including Princess Janae Place, which provides housing assistance for trans persons, and New York’s Hetrick Martin Institute, which provides a huge array of services for LGBTQ+ youth. Through both her professional work and her philanthropic efforts, Duprey believes that it’s fundamental to “always try to show compassion and be kind to one another.” —RK

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Claire Elisan

Entrepreneurship was going well for Claire Elisan. “I owned my own business and made pretty good money,” she says. However, despite her financial stability, she realized that the money she earned didn’t bring with it the happiness she thought it would. Instead, she tells GO, “I realized my true passion was to help people.” She traded the for-profit world for the nonprofit one, founding Project No Labels in 2015. Its mission: To unite the LGBTQ+ community with straight allies through positive activities and events while promoting volunteerism and activism. They also offer high-quality, affordable mental health therapy through Dear Self, You Are Worth It, a program which launched in January 2020. Project No Labels was the recipient of Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Business of Pride Award in 2018 and was named 3rd Most Effective Local Nonprofit by Watermark Magazine in 2020. In 2020, Elisan was named second Favorite Local Activist by Watermark and one of Business Equality’s 40 LGBTQ Leaders Under 40. But her biggest accomplishment, she says, is helping establish the Trans Pride March with both St. Pete Pride and Equality Florida in 2017. In 2019, the March had over 2,000 participants pre-registered. This success is part of her privilege, which Elisan knows not everyone shares. “Being able to feel free to be who I am has been a privilege I don’t take lightly,” she says. “I know there are many countries around the world where it’s not legal to be LGBTQ+ and some places where you can still be killed. These are the places I would really like to see Project No Labels in, places where people can find community and feel safe to be who they are.” —RK

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criibaby (Jae Riley)

Jae Riley, the voice behind Billboard-featured queer musician Criibaby, is bringing inclusivity to music with her gender-neutral lyrics. By avoiding pronouns like “she” or “he,” Criibaby enables listeners to connect with lyrics that transcend the gender binary. Her unique songwriting method is for more than just inclusivity — it’s also for queer representation. “While it’s true that my intentionally gender-neutral music is for everyone,” she tells GO, “it’s also meant to fill a void for LGBTQ+ people who don’t feel like they relate to popular love songs because of the pronouns and heteronormativity most of that music is drenched in.” On National Coming Out Day, Criibaby released her debut EP “love songs for everyone,” just the first of many projects she’s creating to make music more inclusive. Like many artists, she deals with “constant rejection,” “imposter syndrome,” and “people trying to take advantage of your art,” but all that washes away when she hears from fans in the LGBTQ+ community about how her music made them feel seen and appreciated. “Reading stories that queer folks send me about how my art has brought a sense of belonging into their lives at times when they needed it most makes it all worth it.” —IL

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Daria Berenato (Sonya Deville)

Daria Berenato has always been a fighter. It’s what she’s known for. Berenato is currently a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar known as Sonya Deville, and is the first openly lesbian wrestler in WWE history. As part of a tag team with fellow wrestling superstar Mandy Rose on WWE’s “SmackDown Live,” Berenato is not afraid to be out and proud, because that’s who she is. It’s a philosophy she wants to pass on to the entire community: be yourself unapologetically. “Nothing is more important than living as the person that you can love, not who or what anyone else wants you to be,” Berenato says. “We have to be us because everyone else is already taken. There shouldn’t be pressure around your coming out. Take your time, do it when it feels right and safe for you, but know that doing so is a beautiful thing. Don’t allow the naysayers to put a negative connotation on such a beautiful experience.” That passion for helping people realize just how amazing they are is one of the reasons Berenato chose her career, which she loves as much as the queer community she represents. “The most rewarding aspect of my work is being able to do what I love and use that platform to spread love at the same time,” she tells GO. “I can genuinely say what I do doesn’t feel like work. I love what I do, and I’m grateful I can help in making this world a more inclusive place in the process.” —IL

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Erica Rose and Elina Street

With the pandemic bringing lives to a halt last year, Brooklyn-based filmmakers Erica Rose (L) and Elina Street found themselves with more time on their hands. To fill it, they created the Lesbian Bar Project (LBP), which raised funds to keep the country’s remaining lesbian bars alive during the shutdown. The initiative launched last fall with a PSA narrated and executive produced by Lea DeLaria and supported by Jägermeister; it raised $117,000 for the bars involved. This year, the LBP has been relaunched for Pride with “The Lesbian Bar Project,” a 20-minute documentary also in collaboration with DeLaria and Jägermeister. For both Street and Rose, telling queer stories is part of their mission as filmmakers. For Rose — who has showcased her work to critical acclaim at national and international film festivals, including Tribeca Film Festival, New York Film Festival, and Aspen Shortsfest — the most rewarding aspect of her work “is that I get to tell stories about queer people who have shaped culture, politics, and have helped me navigate my own personal identity.” Street, too, draws inspiration from her identity and uses her filmmaking skills to give back to the LGBTQ+ community. “I chose to become a filmmaker because you can merge so many different types of art in one,” she tells GO. “It’s such a rich, infinite art, and I love finding new ways to express myself — should it be through a music video, a film, a documentary film where you elevate the stories of others. I always feel challenged and endlessly curious.” Rose and Street’s collaborative documentary, “The Lesbian Bar Project,” can be seen for free on Jägermeister’s Global YouTube channel or on the LBP website. —RK

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Erin Cech

Dr. Erin Cech, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, sees science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) as an area that could use more LGBTQ+ leaders. The most rewarding aspect of her work “is the opportunity to give voice to the experiences of LGBTQ-identifying folks in STEM,” she tells GO. “When someone at a talk I give or someone who has read an article I wrote reaches out to me to say, ‘Thank you for seeing me,’ or ‘Thank you for helping me see I’m not alone,’ that is a powerful experience.” Prior to her professorship, Dr. Cech studied at both UC San Diego and Montana State University and completed her Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University. From there, she joined the faculty at Rice University. Her work has appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science Advances, the American Journal of Sociology, and the American Sociological Review. Dr. Cech’s goal in her research focuses on creating and maintaining opportunities for women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people in STEM programs and other professional careers. While she is focused on professional development, Dr. Cech also sees opportunities in all areas of life to create space for LGBTQ+ individuals. “As you move through your life — whether up through grades in high school or up through the ranks of your career — provide help and encouragement to the LGBTQ folks who are coming behind you,” she says. “Don’t take for granted the wisdom you have to offer, nor the power of your encouragement, to those who are more junior than you.” —NT

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Fanny Chu

For 17 years, Fanny Chu worked in the medical field, a path that she found stifled her personal life. Now, as a bartender, going to work makes her feel “like I’m ‘going out’ while making money,” she says. Chu, former Head Bartender of Donna Cocktail Club in Brooklyn and host of Ketel One’s “Marvelous Mondays,” a feature of Portland Cocktail Week, uses her platform as a bartender and as a queer Asian to make lasting impacts on the hospitality industry. “I get to have a voice in the bartending community and make an impact for people like us,” she tells GO. “I strongly believe with the given political climate we are facing, it’s really important to create a safe space for everyone.” Her work has been acknowledged by The New York Times, Wine Enthusiast, Bar Business, Departures, and Edge Media Network. She was also PUNCH Drink’s Bartender in Residence for the month of July 2019. Her most recent venture, Makers of Marvelous, shines a spotlight on members of the hospitality industry who have suffered during COVID-19. Ultimately, she chose her current field not just because it was fun, but because it allowed her to make a tangible difference. “I also dreamt of creating an inclusive and safe space for my fellow LGBTQIA folx,” she says. “When I came out, there weren’t many places that were like that for me. I always felt like I couldn’t be myself without feeling threatened.” Now, thanks to people like Chu, the rest of us might feel more safe going out, too. —NT

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Franco Stevens

When she launched the lesbian magazine Deneuve — later to become Curve — back in 1991, “so many lesbians felt completely alone,” Franco Stevens tells GO. “Back then, with no internet, you might not even know there was another queer person living just a few miles away.” She started the magazine as a way to increase awareness of, and give space to, queer and lesbian women, and made what was at the time a radical decision: to put the word “lesbian” on the cover. “I wanted to say ‘Hey, we’re here, we look every kind of way, and we are beautiful.’ That was controversial even from within our own community,” she says. “People warned me that it was a death sentence for the magazine because putting the word ‘lesbian’ on the cover meant readers would essentially have to come out every time they went to buy it or read it in public. But, crucially, it also made us visible to each other, and visible to the rest of the world.” The publication thrived, making queer women visible to the mainstream and opening up conversations about sexual orientation, identity, queer families, LGBTQ+ rights, and other issues that are still on the forefront of our cultural discourse today. Recently, Franco has evolved Curve into part of The Curve Foundation, a philanthropic organization that elevates and empowers lesbian, trans, queer women and non-binary persons through storytelling and journalism. “We need to lift up the most marginalized voices in our movement now, focusing on inclusion and on cross-movement work around racial justice, immigration, and disability rights,” Franco says. “The Curve Foundation will be a powerful platform for this work.” —RK

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Galit Ben Simhon

Coming out “made me bold and smart,” says Panthera CEO and founder Galit Ben Simhon. Panthera is a women’s co-working space in Tel Aviv that offers mentorship, networking, and support for businesswomen. As a former corporate vice president, Ben Simhon saw firsthand how the corporate world still favors men. With Panthera, she wanted to shift that paradigm by helping women entrepreneurs earn financial success through their own businesses. “I am focusing on accelerating businesses that are led by women, and those that have a social and economic impact on our world,” she tells GO. “I work for an egalitarian world in which women and minorities in business have equal opportunities to reach influence and key positions.” Panthera isn’t Ben Simhon’s only women-focused entrepreneurial venture; she was previously the owner of the lesbian bar Minerva, which she ran while working as a VP. Now, Ben Simhon gives women the opportunity not only to gather, but to refine their business strategies, learn from others, and make valuable contacts within the entrepreneurial community. Her goal is “to raise strong women by teaching them how to build strong businesses,” she says. “I admire women of all kinds, so I want them to be at the top of everything. This is the best way to change our world for good.” —RK

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Grace Chu and Nicole Hoschuetzky

Grace Chu (R) and Nicole Hoschuetzky were part of the New York City Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine trials last year. The couple received their first shot the day of the Phase II/III trial in July 2020. “At the time, there was a lot of vaccine hesitancy and fear, and we wanted to be part of the solution, so we could help provide data to bring an end to this pandemic,” Chu tells GO. Chu, a lawyer/photographer, and Hoschuetzky, who works in finance, then reported back to their clinic at scheduled intervals over the course of testing in order to get tested for antibodies and checked for COVID symptoms. While 50% of the trial participants received the vaccine and the other 50% received a placebo, both Chu and Hoschuetzky learned they had each received the real thing when they were unblinded in January 2021. The two remain a part of the ongoing trial, which is now focused on testing for long-term protection into 2022. —IL

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Grace Kuhlenschmidt

New York-based comedian Grace Kuhlenschmidt amassed a huge following thanks to her absurd, often-confusing, and always-hilarious monologues and short character sketches. Kuhlenschmidt got into comedy in college, when she joined first an improv group, then a sketch group, before turning to stand-up. Quickly, she realized she wanted to do comedy professionally. Much of the comedian’s content centers around her lesbian identity, which she made public when she was 19. “When I finally realized I was gay, I made sure the process went as quickly as possible,” Kuhlenschmidt tells GO. “I basically told my friends to spread it like it was a rumor so that as many people knew in the shortest amount of time, and I could go about my gay day.” And as a lesbian, she’s more than happy to provide such vocal and hilarious representation for the queer community, because both comedy and queerness are a major part of who she is. “Being a lesbian is interspersed in every piece of comedy I do, whether that be online or on stage or in my writing,” she says. “Comedy, also, is gay. If I were straight, I not only think I wouldn’t have succeeded at this rate, but I also wouldn’t be cool. And that would be really hard to live through.” —IL

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Indyra Mendoza

Indyra Mendoza has been fighting for LGBTQ+ human rights in Honduras for 20 years. She is the founder of Red Lesbica Cattrachas, the country’s only organization dedicated to tracking anti-LGBTQ+ crimes and providing empirical, data-driven evidence for legal cases in defense of the LGBTQ+ community. With statistics gathered through its Violent Death Observatory, which charts anti-LGBTQ+ violence in Honduras, Cattrachas was able to present the case of Vicky Hernandez, a trans woman murdered during the country’s 2009 coup, before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights last November. “With evidence-based advocacy,” Mendoza tells GO, “nothing stands between the human rights defender and the desired target.” Cattrachas has become a force thanks to its evidence-based approach, and Mendoza and her team frequently collaborate with other organizations worldwide to advocate for protections and anti-discriminatory measures. The most rewarding aspect of her work, Mendoza says, is getting to see the “new fearless generation of LGBTQ+ people. This new generation is free and has overcome the horror associated with the closet. They do not worry about how they express themselves.” She also owes much to her own generation, which paved the way for fearlessness by fighting for “equality in the access of basic human rights.” —RK

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Jacquelyn Piazza

“Who dances all the way to work every morning?” Jacquelyn Piazza asks GO. Her answer? “I do!” Despite the fact that her work — owning and operating two of Cherry Grove’s premiere entertainment venues, Cherry’s and The Sand Castle — is fairly stressful, especially following the COVID pandemic, she loves what she does. She has for a long time, too. “I started working in bars and clubs when I was a teenager,” she says. “I fell in love with the industry and worked my ass off while everyone around me was goofing off and partying.” After working through bars and clubs in Long Island and Manhattan, including the Cubbyhole, she found her way to Cherry Grove, purchasing Cherry’s on the Bay when it came onto the market. She transformed it into a premiere LGBTQ+ destination venue and then opened The Sand Castle as a dining establishment. The most rewarding part of her work is sort of difficult to pinpoint, given that she has so many. However, one of the highlights is “being able to provide members of the LGBTQ+ community with opportunities, particularly the drag performers,” she tells GO. “I love drag, and being able to give these performers a place to be themselves and do what they do is incredibly gratifying.” If one of them tells her they’re earning enough to stop waiting tables, or if she sees one on TV, “I’m filled with a sense of pride and happiness that no paycheck could ever match.” —RK

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Javiera Mena

“My philosophy has always been to show myself as I am,” says Javiera Mena. “I believe that whenever I have shown my art, I have always been asked about my life and I have always answered honestly.” For the Chilean electro-pop singer-songwriter and producer, living honest and out loud has always come naturally. Her career began over a decade ago with her debut album, “Esquemas Juveniles,” which was followed by “Mena,” “Primeras Composiciones,” “Otra Era,” “Espejo” and most recently, “I. Entusiasmo.” Her work has been nominated for several awards, including for a Latin Grammy in 2015. The most rewarding aspect of her career is having the ability “to create a work of art that awakens emotions, states of mind, and changes my own or someone else’s state of mind,” Mena says. “Music has a sound that penetrates through the ears, but it can also enable you to heal, sing your sorrows, and even provide substantial support. So I’ve always felt like a kind of healer because of the work that I create, which is almost mystical, almost esoteric. I feel like my music can reach out to people, reach out to this world, and even cure someone, which is really beautiful.” —IL

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Jean Chou

“When I started my law practice, I was in my 20s, DOMA was still in effect, and I was uncertain if clients would be open to working with a young, gay, female minority,” says Jean Chou. “I was very selective with who I came out to and skirted questions around my relationship status in professional settings.” Now, Chou doesn’t mind being out. If anything, it makes her a more empathetic leader. She is the principal attorney of JLC & Associates, a NYC law firm specializing in residential and commercial real estate transactions. She also works as a volunteer with New Women New Yorkers and as pro bono counsel to GLAAD and The City Bar Justice Center’s Homeowner Stability Project. Chou can often be seen speaking at real estate events about new developments, market fluctuations, and risk mitigation strategies. Her work requires dipping into many buckets, but Chou is happy to help so many clients navigate critical junctions in their lives. “The most rewarding aspect of my work is experiencing the gratitude from my clients during some of the most momentous times of their lives,” she tells GO. “With real estate, I am often involved in milestone events, like marriages, babies and even divorces and death. Each of these life milestones, whether joyous or sad, is a very human experience. I feel lucky to be a small part of someone else’s life, whether it’s to help navigate them into a new home or provide closure for settling an old one.” —IL

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Jenna Laurenzo

Jenna Laurenzo has loved movies since she was a child because they have “the power to ignite the imagination and inspire dreams, action, and create change,” she tells GO. “Stories allow access to experience a vast spectrum of the human condition, while also entertaining and hopefully delivering a powerful message. There’s something magical about stories, and I wanted to get involved in that magic.” Her love of film may have led her to dive into the industry, but once there, she found that she wanted to see more stories that were reflective of her own experience. “Not being able to find them lit a fire to want to create them,” she says. Now, as a writer, actor, and director, Laurenzo has capitalized on the opportunity to generate content that reflects her experiences as a queer woman. She’s the award-winning director, writer, and star of the 2018 film “Lez Bomb,” a romantic comedy about a woman’s attempts to come out to her conservative family during Thanksgiving. She also directed the internet hit, “Girl Night Stand” — the inspiration behind “Lez Bomb” — and its sequel, “Girl Night Stand: Chapter 2,” which dropped on YouTube this year. But the most rewarding aspect of filmmaking “is when stories resonate with someone on a deep level, and they feel seen and understood and then reach out to share their own stories,” Laurenzo says. “I’m always so grateful to hear that one of my projects has encouraged someone to step into their own truth and authenticity.” She is currently developing her next feature film with Ben Stiller’s Red House Films and awaiting “the day we’re back in theaters, laughing and crying as an audience, all together again.” —RK

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Jessica L. Ransom

“When I was three years old, I used to walk around with a box over my head saying, ‘I want to be in TV,’” Jessica L. Ransom says. The sentiment didn’t change as she got older. Following her internship at a local cable access station, she embarked on a career in production, learning the elements for television, commercial, film, and digital media. She spent over six years in reality TV, working on shows like “Alaskan Bush People,” “Teen Mom,” and “16 and Pregnant,” and as a commercial and branded content producer with over eight years of experience, she created spots for companies like Panera, Google, Kit Kat, and Diet Coke. Now, she is the owner and operator of The Gig Media, which she co-runs with Leyla T. Rosario. Under The Gig Media, Ransom helps create, write, and produce an array of diverse projects for Netflix, Vox, and other platforms. “My quest to create awareness, break the status quo, and my focus on creating content that features BIPOC, LGBTQ, age diversity, and body positivity remains my true mission in life,” Ransom tells GO. “Television is my first love, but diversity is my passion.” With her web series under The Gig Media umbrella, similarly titled, “The Gig” — which she writes, produces, and co-hosts — Ransom discusses film and TV on the screen and behind the scenes from a diverse lens and interviews BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and female talent in the entertainment industry. Of all that she has done, Ransom is most proud of her work at The Gig Media, which “focuses on having film and TV production reflect the world. … The world includes gay, straight, queer, trans, bi, Black, white, Asian, and Indian people,” she says. “The Gig embodies the voices that have been silenced for decades.” —RK

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Jessy Fusco

Being Director of Operations at Terra Vite North Fork Winery and Vineyard is a dream come true for Jessy Fusco, who is able to work alongside her sister at the Long Island winery. Her career in the wine world began in 2008 in the tasting room at Macari Vineyards on the North Fork. She went on to continue her American Sommelier training in NYC. After completing the program, Fusco joined the ranks of the historic Waldorf Astoria and Intercontinental New York Barclay Hotels, progressing from a floor sommelier to the Assistant Director of Food & Beverage. She also holds a Master in Clinical Social Work from NYU and is a Certified Sommelier by the Court of Master Sommeliers. According to Fusco, being out since 2007 was not always an easy road to follow, but she attributes her ability to feel confident as a gay professional to visiting a cousin in Los Angeles in her early 20s and attending women-centered nightlife events with her, including “Truckstop.” Her love of enology, the study of wines, gave her a professional purpose, and her hope is “for other strong female professionals to also be pillars for those who struggle with visibility in their workplace,” she tells GO. “I hope that by sharing my creativity and passion for hospitality that it may help others shine through and come out as out and proud, talented professionals.” She knows that visibility in the workplace is vital for young LGBTQ+ individuals to succeed. —NT

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Juanita Erb

As the current Clinical Research Operations and Nurse Manager at the NYU Langone Vaccine Center, Juanita Erb leads community engagement and oversees COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, including the most recent Pfizer and AstraZeneca clinical trials in the United States. “In my most recent leadership role, I oversee a team of MDs, Nurse Practitioners, Research RNs, Research Coordinators, and Data Associates, helping to find solutions to COVID-19,” she tells GO. “The most rewarding aspect so far has been seeing individuals all over the world posting on social media that they received their vaccines and have been able to connect with their loved ones again. But, there is still work to be done with turning vaccines into vaccinations, and ensuring that all people who want and need the vaccine have access to it. This is why I am so proud to spearhead community engagement at our center, in addition to managing our clinical trials.” In addition to her decade’s worth of research work, Erb writes about LGBTQ+ identity in Huffington Post, and has been a featured speaker at the New York Department of Mental Health & Hygiene Women’s Health Activism Summit, South by Southwest, and more. As a current member of NYC Pride’s advisory council, Erb is proud to be an LGBTQ+ individual in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and strongly encourages more of the community to get involved. “Society discourages BIPOC and SOGI minorities from pursuing interest in STEM; if you have an interest, do not doubt yourself,” says Erb. “For many years, I grew up believing society’s expectations that I, as a queer Black femme, could not be good at science, math, or leadership. Turns out, I proved them all wrong!” —IL

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Julia Scotti

In her biography, Julia Scotti describes her comedy career as “corposo” — Italian for “a rich, full-bodied wine.” It’s an apt metaphor for someone who, like a rich wine, improves with age. After performing the first 20 years of her career as Rick Scotti, she came out as Julia after a 10-year hiatus. Her comedy, she tells GO, “became more honest and more relatable” after she came out as a trans woman. “The great comedy writer Bill Persky had four rules for writing comedy: be truthful, stay human, don’t reach for ugly, and be vulnerable,” she says. “Coming out allowed me to do all of those things and grow as an artist. That is my success. Anything that comes from living that authentic life is a byproduct.” So far, the byproduct has been pretty good for Scotti. Her return to comedy has been met with critical acclaim from high places. Recently, she was a quarter finalist on “America’s Got Talent,” earning praise from the notoriously hard-nosed Simon Cowell, who told her: “You genuinely made me laugh.” She also has a best-selling comedy CD, “Hello Boys … I’m Back!” and appeared in Showtime’s “More Funny Women of a Certain Age” in 2020. But despite the accolades, the most rewarding part of her career, she says, is really the audience. “As a comedian, hearing audiences roar with laughter really lights me up,” Scotti says. “In the past, audience members have come up to me after the show and told me that they had lost a loved one recently, and my show was their first night out. I had one person tell me that they had just been diagnosed with cancer earlier that week and needed to laugh again just to feel like there was hope. Things like that make it all worthwhile.” —RK

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Kalima McKenzie-Simms

“I have always been a sharer,” says Kalima Mckenzie-Simms, Program Manager for PFLAG NYC. “Ever since I was a child, I was a chatterbox, never hesitant to express my feelings to others — whether verbally or in my creative writing. When I was a teenager, however, coming out was difficult for me because I did not think I would be accepted by the people I cared about the most.” However, with the help of a close friend and her supportive mother, Mckenzie-Simms found that coming out wasn’t so bad. Now with PFLAG, the country’s largest LGBTQ+ and ally support organization, Mckenzie-Simms is in a position to provide aid for other LGBTQ+ youth who are navigating the complexities of coming out. As Program Manager, Mckenzie-Simms is responsible for program content and development and for shaping the Safe Schools program, a resource that guides the city’s schools in creating welcoming and supportive learning environments. She is also the Lead Facilitator of Black Family Circle, an online support group for Black families with LGBTQ+ loved ones. In the fall, Mckenzie-Simms will receive her Master of Public Administration from the Colin Powell School of Civic and Global Leadership at CCNY — a huge stepping stone towards continuing her advocacy work for the LGBTQ+ community. “My coming out process started out with a lot of self-doubt and uncertainty about whether I would be accepted,” she tells GO. “Thankfully, I found myself again. I was happier, and extremely passionate about helping others get to a place of self-love and acceptance, so that they would not have the same difficulties I had.” —RK

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Karen Williams

As the first openly lesbian Black comic in the United States to include specifically lesbian material in her act, Karen Williams changed the game for a number of communities. Since then, she’s had a prolific career in comedy. She’s released “I Need A Snack,” a one-hour comedy special that regularly aired on Logo TV; is featured in “Laughing Matters,” an award-winning film about four lesbian comic pioneers (Karen Williams, Kate Clinton, Marga Gomez, and Suzanne Westenhoeffer); and “We’re Funny That Way,” an internationally-acclaimed film that put Williams on the world comedy scene. Known for her quick repartee, insightful commentary, and audience rapport, it all comes naturally to Williams thanks to her passion for comedy and for being unabashedly herself. In addition to her stand-up, the comedian —who created her own major in “Humor and Healing” — is also the founder and CEO of the International Institute of Humor and Healing Arts (HaHA), which offers live and virtual educational programs, workshops, and seminars on the healing powers of humor. She put the humor and healing to good use this past year, performing a series of solo shows like “Karen Williams Alive” and “Heart Healing: From Pookie to Pandemic;” she also hosted comedy panels, brunches, and student shows, sponsored by the HaHA Institute and other organizations like NOBLA, the National Organization of Black Lesbians on Aging. “The most rewarding aspect of my work is sharing the healing power of humor with the world to relieve suffering and to bring out individual and collective happiness and enlightenment,” Williams tells GO. “To my beloved LGBT Community: You are beloved as you are! You are loved as you are! Love yourself as you are!” —IL

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Karine Jean-Pierre

When Karine Jean-Pierre stepped up to the podium in the White House’s James S. Brady Briefing Room in May 2021, she smashed through a glass ceiling. As the Principal Deputy Press Secretary for the Biden Administration, Jean-Pierre is the first openly gay spokesperson — and only the second Black woman — to lead a formal White House briefing. “It’s a real honor to be standing here today,” Jean-Pierre said. “Clearly the president believes that representation matters, and I appreciate him giving me this opportunity.” Jean-Pierre has been pushing for diverse representation throughout her career. Prior to her White House post, she served as chief of staff for Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential campaign, making her the first Black person and first out lesbian to hold that position. Her political career dates back to the Obama Administration, and she also served as the national spokesperson for MoveOn.org. She has lectured at Columbia University in international and public affairs, and she has offered her political analysis on MSNBC. “As a Black gay immigrant who comes from a working-class family, I know that America hasn’t always worked for everyone,” Jean-Pierre told Out Magazine. “And I know that America still doesn’t work for everyone. The truth of the matter is we have a long way to go.” Her vision is a nation that works for and supports all of its people. “That’s what I’m working toward,” she says. —SJ

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Kayla Gore

Kayla Rena Gore actively works toward the day when her services are no longer needed — what she calls her “end game.” As a coordinator of homeless services and an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, particularly the rights of Black transgender women, it’s no wonder she longs to be out of work. “Through life experiences, I often found myself in organizing spaces addressing harm and violence at the hands of the state,” she tells GO. These experiences led her to work first with OUTMEMPHIS, then with the Transgender Law Center, where she was a regional organizer. Most recently, she co-founded My Sistah’s House, an organization that provides emergency housing for trans and queer people of color in need. The organization also offers other services to trans individuals, aiding them in their quest to legally change their names, obtain hormone replacement therapy, and gender-affirming surgery.” In addition to aiding people who are transitioning or who are experiencing homelessness, she provides trans-inclusivity training for community-based organizations, educational institutions, and healthcare organizations. She also advocates for the rights of transgender people in their dealings with law enforcement. Gore tells GO that the most rewarding part of her work “has been seeing the elevation of the lives of people just like me.”—NT

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Kaylan Rexer

Kaylan Rexer’s professional path started in a New York editing house, where she worked on visual design for Roger Water’s “The Wall” tour. But in 2006, when her uncle John was about to launch a new mezcal brand, Ilegal Mezcal, she made a quick career change. She joined the team and moved to a “beat-up old NYC loft, with no stove or fridge,” Rexer recalls. But the modest dwelling quickly became more than that. “It became home, office, and a creative haven for the brand.” Now, ten years later, Rexer works as the Chief Marketing Officer at Ilegal Mezcal and is proud of both the success of the brand and the work it’s done for the community. “Knowing I helped create a brand that is not afraid to make a statement is an incredible feeling,” Rexer tells GO. “Ilegal is an activist brand that takes to the streets and walls to support freedom, human dignity, uninhibited creativity, and a habitable planet.” Since launching, the brand has won numerous awards, including a Gold Honor Shorty Award in Brand Identity, and is recognized as the number one mezcal brand by recognition in the world. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Rexer is conscious of her privilege in being able to be out, which is another driving force behind her activism. “I have always felt safe to be myself, and I know that is not the case for everyone,” she says. “So, I feel a responsibility to be very open about who I am and who I love, as well as work with educators and organizations fighting to make the world a better place for the entire LGBTQIA+ community.” —IL

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Kayleigh Scott

“Since coming out, I have been given a platform where I can speak up about trans visibility and trans rights, and I do not take that for granted,” says Kayleigh Scott, a flight attendant and trans activist who works with United Airlines. “I am in a position where I can use my voice, and I do so for those who do not share the same privilege.” Part of that privilege, she tells GO, is working in an environment that is supportive, giving her the opportunity to openly transition. “If I was going to come out, I would do it as a flight attendant where I knew I could do it comfortably, safely, and confidently surrounded by a group that would support me along the way,” she says, noting that it was United’s diversity and inclusion policies — and the support offered through their LGBTQ+ resource group, EQUAL — that convinced her to work for them. Not only did she come out, she also serves as a brand ambassador for the airline, using her platform to provide representation, awareness, and educational opportunities to the company’s more than 80,000 employees. Being an out flight attendant isn’t simply a job for her, she says; it has also given her a voice, a life, and a family — providing her the support she was missing from home. “It’s made me feel like Kayleigh,” she says. For other LGBTQ+ people out there, who might themselves be afraid of coming out, Scott offers this advice: “Your time in the closet can be dark and scary, but it doesn’t have to be. You are seen, you are heard, you are validated. Come out. Be counted. Be uniquely you and do not allow anyone to stop you.” —RK

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Kellie Jasso

When she began working with international infrastructure group Balfour Beatty in 2010, first as an intern and then as a project engineer, Kellie Jasso was reluctant to come out. While she had no doubt that the friends she’d made in her workplace would accept her authentic self, she wasn’t sure how it would be perceived on a broader level. However, she realized, “I couldn’t be the best version of myself at Balfour Beatty until I felt comfortable in my own skin.” She took the plunge when she brought a date to the office holiday party. “I was welcomed with encouraging words and excitement, a milestone that changed everything for me,” she tells GO. “Were there disapprovals? Maybe. But for the first time in years, I honestly stopped caring what others thought, which released so much pent-up anxiety and fears seemingly overnight.” Since then, she has “felt incredible support and encouragement from my colleagues,” and her career has thrived. She has worked through the ranks, earning a promotion in 2020 to Lead Preconstruction Manager for the education group in Texas, a role which requires her to work closely with local school districts. “The diversity of our markets has allowed me to challenge myself in different areas throughout my career and work with various clients, design partners, and end-users — all from different backgrounds and experiences,” she says. The company “has also fostered a people-first culture that celebrates our diverse mix of employees for their unique talents, perspectives, personalities, and identities,” she says. “And it truly shines through in the work we do.” —RK

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Kelly Cogswell

Kelly Cogswell has lived a number of lives, but each one comes back to the same purpose: to advocate for the rights of lesbians and the LGBTQ+ community. At the start of her journey, when she moved from Kentucky to New York with a willingness to work hard and learn, she took on any job she could get, from prep cook to temporary secretary. Eventually, she found her way into the Lesbian Avengers, a 90s-era direct action group dedicated to bringing awareness to lesbian issues and lives. Her role with the group rocketed her to a career in writing, as she found a practical way to direct her skills. “When I joined the Lesbian Avengers in New York in 1992 I was doing performance art and writing poetry,” says Cogswell. “Everybody contributed what they could, and since I was a writer, it made sense for me to sometimes work with the ‘Propaganda’ committee doing newsletters and press releases.” From 2000- 2006, Cogswell co-founded and co-edited The Gully, an online magazine for queer thoughts and opinions. In 2014, she published “Eating Fire: My Life as a Lesbian Avenger,” a memoir about her experience with the organization. She was also awarded a Poynter journalism fellowship at Yale University in 2018. Most recently, Cogswell published a new edition of the 1993 “Lesbian Avenger Handbook: A Handy Guide to Homemade Revolution” that serves as a resource for activists and scholars who want to learn and put in the work for the lesbian community. —IL

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Kristen Arnett

“It’s so exciting to see books by LGBTQ authors being appreciated, ultimately making room for even more work,” queer fiction and essay writer Kristen Arnett tells GO. “I hope that my success has allowed the door to crack open even further for other queer writers. It’s wonderful to see.” She has paved the way for LGBTQ+ literary success with her novels “With Teeth” and “Mostly Dead Things,” a New York Times bestseller and finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Fiction. Among her other credentials, she was awarded Ninth Letter’s Literary Award in Fiction, was a Spring 2020 Shearing Fellow at Black Mountain Institute, and has been featured as a columnist for Literary Hub. Her work has appeared in numerous news publications and literary journals, including The Guardian, The New York Times, McSweeney’s, Gulf Coast, TriQuarterly, and The Rumpus. But the most rewarding aspect of her work as a writer — and as a proud Floridian — is the opportunity it allows her “to share queerness and Florida with readers who might not understand that we have a thriving, exciting LGBTQ community in the Sunshine State.” Up next for Arnett: an untitled collection of short stories which will be published by Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin Random House. —RK

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Lady Glamb

Gayle Rabinowitz, who goes by the moniker “Lady Glamb,” was born again at the age of 60. While she had recognized her attraction to women since she was a child and came out at the age of 16, she returned to the closet and toward a life of celibacy when she was ordained as a Pentecostal minister. The decision was difficult, she tells GO, “but I lived in celibacy because I believed there was something wrong with me. I lived in fear all those years that I was going to hell because of what I was taught.” The message was devastating and caused her to turn away from who she was for a great deal of her life. However, as she learned more about how homosexuality had been politicized by the Church’s interpretation of Biblical scriptures, she realized that “God not only loved us but embraced us and that he loves all people.” So, at the age of 60, she chose to return openly to the LGBTQ+ community, able to reconcile her faith and her sexuality. Now, Lady Glamb, who is also a writer and a silver model, ministers not with the Church, but one-on-one with LGBTQ+ individuals and “others who have been broken by people who claimed to be God’s messengers but didn’t understand what God’s love was,” she says. “Even the LGBTQIA community needed to know that God loved them.” Although cancer treatments left Lady Glamb unable to have children of her own, she considers everyone in the LGBTQ+ community to be one of her children, and she is happy fulfilling her purpose in life: “leaving a legacy of faith, hope, and love.” —NT and RK

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Leslye Headland

Emmy-nominated writer, producer, and director Leslye Headland finds that the most rewarding aspect of her work is, “seeing audiences connected with the final product.” Such final products include the critically-acclaimed “Russian Doll” (co-created by Natasha Lyonne and Amy Poehler), which was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards and nine Creative Arts Emmy Awards (of which it won three). To Headland, these awards show that her audiences are very much connecting with what she has to say. She began her career with the “Seven Deadly Plays” series, including “Bachelorette” and “Assistance.” “Bachelorette” became the basis for her directorial film debut, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012 and starred Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, and Rebel Wilson. Connecting to audiences is important to Headland, who found that, at points in her life, she wasn’t being authentic to herself. It took her some time, she says, “to uncover what was blocking me and, finally, to discard the beliefs, behaviors, and people that were unsupportive and damaging to my heart.” One of the reasons that it is so important for her to connect to her audience is that she writes about intense emotions, which can feel isolating. “When I see others relate, I feel less alone,” she tells GO. “I am lucky I get to do this for a living.” Recently, Headland directed and executive produced the Freeform pilot “Single Drunk Female,” written by Simone Finch. Among her next projects is the “Star Wars” series, “The Acolyte,” for the Disney+ streaming platform, on which she will serve as writer, executive producer, and showrunner. —NT

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Liana DeMasi

Although Liana DeMasi loves classics, “so many of our stories are about the forbidden aspects of our love and identities,” she tells GO. “I wonder [what] it would’ve been like for me, growing up in the very heterosexual suburbs, to have been exposed to people like me.” Now, as a writer, DeMasi tells stories about queer characters that transcend their sexual identities and focus on more than queer tragedies. “I do often write very tragic and queer work, but it’s not tragedy as it relates to queer identity,” she says. “Sometimes we need a story about hardship that’s not about how hard it was to come out. So much of who we are is about that, but we’re so much more and deserve representation that’s accurate and expansive.” DeMasi’s first book of poetry, “In Which She Takes Multiple Lovers,” explores a queer person’s journey through love. She is also a member of Tactile Movement Collective, an artist collective and company, which holds gallery shows and events, and serves as an independent publisher. Her written work has appeared in The Boston Globe, GO Magazine, Prometheus Dreaming, Musèe Magazine, and other publications. This fall, she will be attending the City College of New York to pursue an MFA in Fiction Writing. DeMasi wants the community to know that, “We so concretely matter. … As marginalized people, we’ve faced — and will continue to face — adversity, but we have something our non-marginalized counterparts don’t have: We have the ability to rise above all odds.” —RK

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Liquid (Marisol King)

In her “vanilla life,” kink activist Liquid is a social worker who currently works with the elderly. While social work might not have an obvious connection to the kink world, the most rewarding part of both, Liquid tells GO, “is having the ability to amplify voices while providing education, resources, and tools that empower those in marginalized communities at various stages of their lives.” In her social work, Liquid has helped some of society’s most vulnerable, including the elderly and HIV/AIDS patients. As a Black femme-presenting gender fluid competitor, she has been dismantling misogyny and racism in the world of Leather and BDSM for the last 25 years. She was the only woman and the only competitor of color in the first-ever Mr/Ms. New York City Leather contest. She’s been a participant in the We Are Leather Women project, which draws attention to the contributions of women in the leather community, and uses her platform as the current Northeast Leather Person 2020-2021 “to educate, empower, and amplify voices of other Sex Workers, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, GNC/NB folx in and outside of the BDSM/Leather community.” Although she hadn’t intended to go into social work permanently, Liquid discovered she had an aptitude for it. “I was able to connect with people differently because I was able to show compassion and empathy to those who never received it from a social worker,” she says. It was a happy coincidence that this work “intersected with the work I was doing in the BDSM/Leather community.” —RK

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Lisa Menichino

Cubbyhole might just be one of the best bars in the world although owner Lisa Menichino admits she might be a little biased. She hadn’t started out with the intention of becoming Cubbyhole’s owner; she’d simply taken a job as a bartender while contemplating her career as a social worker. From bartender, she became manager, and then temporary owner. Now, she is the full-time owner and has no regrets about her career shift. The New York lesbian and queer community has no regrets about it, either; anyone who has been to Cubbyhole has experienced the magic. We’ve missed this magic over the past year, but thankfully, Menichino was able to sustain Cubbyhole’s space through the pandemic and reopen this spring. “There has always been a connectivity between the lesbian bar and the celebration of our identities,” she tells GO. While the reasons why lesbians frequent bars may have evolved, “they still represent a safe space in which to gather with other lesbians, to enjoy milestones, or just an ordinary day with other people like us.” However, she notes with caution that we can’t always expect that they will be around, a lesson the pandemic has made painfully clear. These spaces “depend on you to nurture and support them, or they will not survive,” she says, “and with their loss a vital part of our visibility, contributions, and history fades as well.” —NT

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Malea Sterling

When the pandemic hit, Malea Sterling wondered what she could do during the shutdown with the skills she’d acquired from years of customer service, banking, and executive administration. “How could I use these skills to fight a pandemic that took us all by surprise?” she asked. Then, she was asked by the Clinical Research Operations Manager of NYU Langone Vaccine Center Division of Infectious Diseases to be a part of the Pfizer vaccine study. Her response was immediate; she instantly said yes. “I jumped at the opportunity to help the Black and Brown communities so heavily affected by the virus,” she tells GO. She was soon asked to join the Pfizer Community Advisory Board to perform outreach with vulnerable communities, ensuring them access to information and support. In her work with vaccine research and her advocacy work, her purpose is the same: to make sure she is bringing accurate information and resources to the people who need it. “I set out to challenge the misinformation being circulated through social media, the antivaxxers, and conspiracy theorists in general with the facts to persuade unserved communities to … mask up and get vaccinated.” —IL

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Marilyn Schuh

Attentive Counseling Services, LLC is the only LGBTQ+ owned and operated Mental Health Clinic in Rock County, Wisconsin. Marilyn Schuh decided to build the clinic because she wanted to create a safe space for people like her. She also founded Yellow Brick Road Organization, a nonprofit dedicated to providing support and safe, affirming spaces for LGBTQ+ individuals and families, for a similar reason. “I wish I had these same safe spaces to go to when I was younger,” Schuh tells GO. Since such spaces are rare, members of the LGBTQ+ community are often hard-pressed to find a place that is knowledgeable about their specific needs. It comes as a relief to know there are people like Schuh, and places like Attentive Counseling Services, where they can feel safe and welcome. “Facilitating these spaces where someone feels safe to start their healing journey and start loving themselves is the most rewarding work,” Schuh says. “It’s incomparable to anything else I’ve ever done.” Though the COVID shutdown took a toll on both the Counseling Services and the nonprofit, she says she’s “excited that both organizations made it out of the pandemic and are starting to see growth again.” That’s a good sign for the LGBTQ+ community, who rely on services like Schuh’s for their well-being. —NT

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Marisa Corvo

The most rewarding part of Marissa Corvo’s musical career is the impact she makes in the lives of those struggling with adversity. “My heart never stopped believing in myself when everyone else on the planet did, including my own family,” she tells GO. “I get to share my message everyday through my music and my lyrics, and I get to change lives.” After coming out, Corvo was dropped by the Christian record label she’d been signed with and disowned by her family. Eventually, she was allowed to return home under the condition that she attend conversion therapy. She did at first, but she quickly realized she couldn’t keep pretending. Fortunately, she was not only able to start over, but her career thrived. Since appearing on “The Voice” in 2019, Corvo has performed with Gloria Estefan, Toby Keith, The Jonas Brothers, Stevie Wonder, and other recording artists. She performs regularly in Las Vegas and took the iHeartRadio Wango Tango stage this June, performing her new single, “Top Down,” which dropped on June 19. Her story is a reminder that we can persevere, no matter the odds. “Love yourself and accept yourself and also be kind to yourself because when you do that, you will be able to love and accept others,” she says. “Be strong in what you stand for. “Believe in yourself and that God made you exactly the way you were supposed to be made — you are perfect the exact way you are.” —RK

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Maxine Spencer

While at Vanderbilt University, Maxine Spencer founded the affinity group BlackOut, which operated as a space for Black LGBTQ+ students to gather and support each other. Spencer also developed a love of activism that led her to Advocates for Youth, where she is currently a member of the YouthResource program and Advocates for Youth’s Youth Activist Network. After graduating, Spencer joined the Oasis Center, where she served as the More to Me Program Specialist, bringing positive youth development programming to high school age LGBTQ+ youth of color in middle Tennessee. She also established the Middle TN College GSA Network in association with local college GSAs, Fisk OUTLoud, TSU’s Gender and Sexualities Alliance, and the Vanderbilt Lambda Association. Currently, Spencer is also part of the Nashville chapter of the New Leaders Council, which trains progressive leaders across the country, and Stand Up Nashville’s Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute, which focuses on putting local leaders from marginalized groups on boards and commissions. Her work does more than keep her busy — it makes a difference. “One of the most rewarding aspects of the work that I’ve done has been seeing the little changes that happen,” she tells GO. “I have enjoyed seeing a young person grow and change and to be able to notice the small nuances that, as an individual, you don’t think about, but to someone else it shows a world of change. I am so grateful to have had that opportunity.” —IL

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Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Etheridge had no doubts when she came out as a lesbian at the Triangle Ball, a part of Bill Clinton’s 1993 inaugural celebration. “It was kind of obvious to anyone who knew me,” she told TODAY. “I never tried to be anyone I wasn’t.” The two-time Grammy Award-winner released multi-platinum album “Yes I Am” just months later, which featured the iconic hit “Come to My Window.” And while Etheridge eventually found major success, when she first moved to California at 21, she couldn’t find any venue to let her play. But it was women’s bars and clubs around Los Angeles, Pasadena, Long Beach that gave her the space to play, which she did five nights a week for five years. Eventually, in 1987, she was signed to Island Records by Chris Blackwell. Reflecting on her struggles, Etheridge is thrilled to see the young queer talent populating the mass market. “I love the way this younger generation has relaxed,” she told TODAY. “For us, it was that you were supposed to be straight. Then, it was either you were straight or you were gay. Now, there’s this beautiful spectrum of people who don’t have to make up their minds. They can be, like, whatever they want.” Most recently in her own career, Etheridge has released “One Way Out,” a new single, as part of a project set to bring back songs that weren’t quite right for her early ’90s and 2000s albums. “These songs are really fun, kind of pure rock ‘n’ roll,” she said. “I just think my fans will love it.” —IL

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Melissa Lucashenko

Melissa Lucashenko became a writer “because my people — Australian Aboriginal or First Nations people — seemed absent from the literature I saw and read,” she tells GO. “That’s changed over the three decades I’ve been writing, but I love telling stories of fierce and proud Aboriginal peeps, so I keep writing novels and spending lots of time in my imagination with incredible warriors and adventurers.” Lucashenko, a Goorie writer of Bundjalung and European heritage, has paved the way for this change with her own critically-acclaimed novels, starting with her 1997 debut, “Steam Pigs.” Her sixth novel, “Too Much Lip,” won both the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Queensland Premier’s Award for a Work of State Significance. It was also shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Stella Prize, two Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, two Queensland Literary Awards, and two New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards. Her essay, “Sinking Below Sight: Down and Out in Brisbane and Logan,” won the 2013 Walkley Award for Long Form Journalism, Australia’s equivalent of the Pulitzer. Lucashenko serves as a founding member of Sisters Inside, a human rights organization that advocates for the rights of imprisoned women and girls. For the LGBTQ+ community, she has warm words of encouragement and self-love: “Celebrate exactly who you are and don’t give even one second of your precious time to haters, homophobes, or people who want to control your identity. The world is full of miserable souls who are frightened of free humans and whose crippling terror wants to shut us down. Just smile and wave on your way to fabulousness, sibs!” —RK

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Michelle Reiner

For Michelle Reiner, Vice President at Balfour Beatty, the most rewarding part of her job “is being able to give back through mentorship and advocacy of all my teammates and creating safe workplace environments where diverse employees feel respected, accepted, and empowered to be the best version of themselves every day.” As one of the general contracting company’s first female executives, she uses her position to help create a safe, inclusive, and diverse working environment for her colleagues and employees. In addition to her professional accomplishments, she has helped create support networks at Balfour for women, Black, and LGBTQ+ employees. She serves on the company’s National Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Council. She is also the recipient of Balfour Beatty’s 2017 Legacy Award in California, which she was awarded for her contributions to the company and local community. In 2019, the San Diego Business Journal awarded her the Outstanding Women in Construction Award. Her success has motivated her to come out and advocate for others, something which — as one of the company’s first POC, female, and LGBTQ+ executives — she is in a key position to do. “It takes a lot of courage and work to break the mold of an industry set in its ways,” she tells GO, “but with the support of my colleagues I am able to leverage my leadership position to advocate and empower diverse individuals and follow through on my mission in creating a safe, acceptable environment where everyone’s voice matters.” —RK

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Millie Acosta and Jenn Gellman

“The most rewarding part of our work is that we get to work with dogs all day, seven days a week,” says Millie Acosta(L) who, along with Jenn Gellman, owns Paws For A Cause Dog Training, LLC. The couple, who have been together for 22 years, helps owners find solutions to improve the lives of dogs and their families, offering force-free obedience training and education about dog behavior; they also help animal rescue groups assess dog behaviors and prepare foster families and their dogs for adoption. To date, they have found foster homes for over 1,000 dogs. Their business sprung out of their own love of dogs — they’ve fostered over 400 dogs together and own three of their own. Paws For A Cause Dog Training, LLC strives to make dog training fun for everyone while making a difference in the lives of dogs and their families. The couple’s positive outlook on life is the driving force (besides a love of dogs) behind their work, and it’s a message they want to pass on to the greater queer community. “Life is too short and one has to enjoy life to its fullest,” Acosta says. “Life has so many amazing things to offer us. We just need to know how to find all the goodness in these crazy times we are living in. There is good in everything.” —IL

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Natalie Diaz

“Poetry is a lucky space to enter and to exist within, because it has the (sometimes overwhelming) capacity to hold tension — love and desire alongside ache and wound,” Natalie Diaz says. “Through poetry, I have learned to love myself best, to love my beloveds and strangers better. Poems hold me when I am having trouble holding myself.” For Diaz, poetry is not just a passion, but a career in which she has thrived. In 2020, she published “Postcolonial Love Poem,” which became the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and a finalist for the National Book Award and the Forward Prize in Poetry. Her previous collection, “When My Brother Was An Aztec,” won an American Book Award. She’s been recognized with fellowships from the MacArthur Foundation, the Lannan Literary Foundation, the Native Arts Council Foundation, and Princeton University. In 2014, she was awarded the Princeton Holmes National Poetry Prize. Diaz also works as a language activist, serving as the Director of the Center for Imagination in the Borderlands, and as the Maxine and Jonathan Marshall Chair in Modern and Contemporary Poetry at Arizona State University. In 2021, she was elected the youngest ever Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. And as accomplished as Diaz is, being a part of something — both the poetry world and the queer community — is what truly drives her. “It is essential to know who we mean when we say, ‘We’ and ‘Us.’ The ‘They’ is less important than the many ‘We’ constellated among us,” she says. —IL

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Nicola Chubb

Nicola Chubb has been working hard in the UK’s queer women’s nightlife scene since 2003, and her success has rocketed her to the forefront of the industry. After opening a lesbian bar in London, Chubb followed her entrepreneurial spirit and created Mint Events, a party for queer women based out of some of the most sought-after members’ bars in London. “Queer women don’t belong in basements,” she tells GO. “We should be strutting our stuff in the most sought-after venues around.” Mint aims to create inclusive, safe, and diverse space for queer and trans women and non-binary people. They also host large-scale events for the wider LGBTQ+ community. While Chubb has found professional success with Mint, what makes the work most worthwhile is that it gives her the chance to bring queer women together, offering them space and support and even, sometimes, a chance to fall in love. “The most rewarding aspect of my work is seeing queer women enjoying themselves — especially if they get together romantically,” she tells GO. Chubb is currently creating the UK’s first queer wellness festival and developing an online network that offers a safe space for women to build connections and explore their identity with community support. —IL

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Niecy Nash

Niecy Nash (pleasantly) surprised us all when she came “out” by marrying singer-songwriter Jessica Betts last fall. But for Nash, she didn’t exactly come out. “I went INTO myself,” she tells GO, “which allowed me to be free to return love where I received it.” Her marriage to Betts wasn’t the only thing Nash was celebrating in 2020. The actress starred in the Netflix drama, “Uncorked,” was a guest host on “The Masked Singer,” appeared as civil rights’ activist Flo Kennedy in the hit miniseries “Mrs. America,” and landed a recurring role in Mindy Kaling’s “Never Have I Ever.” 2021 is shaping up to be a pretty big year for her, too. In April, Nash hosted the 32nd annual GLAAD Media Awards, which featured a musical performance by her wife, Betts, whom Nash introduced as “the greatest thing to ever happen to me.” As if things weren’t already pretty great for her, Nash has an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Delores Wise in Ava DuVernay’s drama series “When They See Us,” an Emmy win for her reality series “Clean House,” and a Satellite Award for her work in the TNT drama “Claws.” She’s also directed an episode of “Claws,” executive-produced 12 episodes of the rebooted “Reno! 911,” (on which she also plays series regular Raineesha Williams), and has written a best-selling relationship book, “It’s Hard to Fight Naked.” Oh, and she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Still, coming out — or more appropriately, going into oneself — is pretty momentous for anyone, regardless of their resume. “Thank you LGBTQ community for your warm, loving and heartfelt message of support and encouragement,” Nash says. “I love it here!” —RK

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Paloma Pujol Mayo

When Paloma Pujol Mayo was growing up in Mexico in the 1990s, girls weren’t encouraged to play football (a.k.a. “soccer,” for Americans). Not that Pujol Mayo let traditional social norms stop her; instead, she trained with the boys. When it came time for her first game and the referee told her she couldn’t play because of her gender, she and her coach found a convenient way for her to work around the technicality: They created a fake player’s card that identified her as a boy. “Being a girl was a disadvantage,” she tells GO. Early on, she adopted a masculine look that allowed her greater access to the types of things girls weren’t supposed to do — like play in local football matches. It wasn’t until she moved to the more liberal Spain with her mom that she could play football on a girl’s team. Although she no longer plays football in the traditional sense, Pujol Mayo is now among the best in the world at freestyle juggling, an individualized sport that requires the juggler to artfully control, or “juggle,” a special soccer ball with only their feet. She is also a five-time Footbag World Champion, star of the short film “All I Need is a Ball,” and one of the founders of the Instagram handle @WeAreFemaleFreestylers, which connects over 750 female freestyle jugglers worldwide. In her free time, Pujol Mayo, known in the freestyle world by the moniker “Paloma Freestyle,” runs workshops for girls who, thanks to her efforts, can now play football. “The world has changed so much,” she says, “and it feels amazing.” —RK

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Park Cannon

“Every little resistance matters,” says Georgia State Representative Park Cannon. “In Georgia, LGBTQ+ people had zero legal status or recognition as a community until the recent passage of the state hate crime bill.” This relationship between resistance and law-making was what led Cannon to seek office. She decided to run after the Black Lives Matter protests forced her to contemplate who currently has the power to make change in the world. Subsequently, she realized that as a young queer woman, she had the power to step up and work for change. Cannon now serves a diverse cross-section of Atlanta, where her legislative efforts include health care, housing, and education. These basic tenets of human needs are, to her, the foundations of social stability; the most vulnerable of society — women, children, the elderly, and the LGBTQ+ community — are often at a higher risk of losing their homes and access to health care. In addition to focusing on health care and housing, Cannon has been involved in efforts that address maternal mortality rates and the HIV epidemic in Georgia, helping to ensure access to preventive treatment and to PrEP. She also worked to extend protections to victims of family violence and sexual assault. For Cannon, representation in government is an important way to fight for LGBTQ+ rights, which are still fragile. “Our power as a community is growing, which is beautiful,” she tells GO. “But we need so much more to reach some semblance of representation under the Gold Dome.” —NT

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Priscilla Colon (DJ Cilla Bk)

DJ Cilla Bk got her start in the music scene as a studio manager and owner in 2013 while she was working for the New York Fire Department. After being involved in a life-changing 911 emergency, she retired from the department and began working full-time as a radio host for Dwild Music Radio. The change suited her, and DJ Cillia Bk was born. As her career grew, so did her LGBTQ+ following, which motivated her to work harder in her newfound vocation. “The most rewarding aspect of my work is bringing the LGTBQIA community together through music,” she tells GO. Noticing a lack of support for other LGBTQ+ artists, she opened Haus Of Madusa, a creative space for all artists to work freely and for all queer people to gather, make music, and be themselves. “The best response I’ve heard from an artist after a session at Haus of Madusa is, ‘Thank you, I’ve never felt so comfortable and it just feels like home,’” she says. “That response is worth every sleepless night and hard work that is put into this studio.” Haus of Madusa also serves as a reminder that you can do anything you put your mind to. “When you discover your true self, accept and love yourself, you can truly accomplish anything,” DJ Cilla Bk says. “Success is for you to define.” —IL

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Rachel Einbund

Rachel Einbund has fought for LGBTQ+ immigration rights for over a decade. After the Marriage Equality Act was passed in 2011, she opened her own law practice centered around LGBTQ+ married couples and families. In addition to arguing for the repeal of DOMA with a case before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, Einbund has secured green cards and visas for thousands of same-sex couples, including many from countries where LGBTQ+ individuals face persecution. “The most rewarding aspect of my work is when I get to witness someone’s entire life change in an instant,” she tells GO. “Hearing the joy in their voice, seeing the tears in their eyes, and feeling their overwhelming sense of relief and safety — it’s a game changer for them, and knowing that I was a small part of that, well, it gets me every time.” Although she works with clients from over 100 countries, Einbund happily spends her free time mentoring college and law students, volunteering at DACA and citizenship workshops, and working alongside nonprofit organizations to help secure medical and social services for her newly-arrived refugee clients. And being a lesbian never slowed Einbund down; if anything, it helped her connect more to her clients. “Being out and proud, and working directly with our community has been the honor of a lifetime,” Einbund says. “Very often, my LGBTQ+ clients prefer to work with someone who understands firsthand what they are going through, someone whom they can trust to use their preferred pronouns, and someone who truly has their best interests at heart. I always have strived to shine my light as bright as possible in order to be a beacon for those in need.” —IL

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Rachel Mason

Los Angeles-based artist, musician, and filmmaker Rachel Mason recently received an Emmy nomination for the Netflix documentary “Circus of Books,” which chronicles her life story about growing up as the child of pornographers who were at the center of the gay community. Mason’s first feature film, “The Lives of Hamilton Fish,” premiered at the Raindance Film Festival in 2016. Aside from filmmaking, Mason is also a prolific musician who has written three operas, recorded 14 albums, and performed or exhibited at venues like the Whitney Museum, the Hammer Museum, the Queens Museum, LACMA, the New Museum, the Park Avenue Armory, La Mama, and Dixon Place. Her last large-scale performance, a meditation on black holes, premiered at the Disney Redcat Theater in Los Angeles and featured a collaboration between Oguri, a famous Butoh dancer, and Kip Thorne, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. While she has a lot of irons in the fire, Mason’s connection to the queer community runs through it all. Her message to the community is clear: find who you are and be that person. “There is no one way to be queer and there is no rulebook for coming out,” Mason tells GO. “Every single person is entitled to their unique choices that work for only themselves and their own situation. And coming out is also not mandatory to one’s family, work, or any other social group. It is entirely your decision.” —IL

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Rachel Smallman and Sheila Smallman

While on a road trip, Rachel(r) and Sheila Smallman realized an unpleasant truth about gay bars in the southeastern United States. “There is an unspoken rule that gay bars are for men,” Rachel tells GO. “Lesbians can come in, but it’s not our place.” That hypothesis was proven true when the couple was ejected from a gay bar in New Orleans. “That was the day Herz was formed in my heart,” Rachel says. Two years later, Rachel and Sheila opened Herz in Mobile, Alabama, one of the few lesbian bars in the country and one of fewer still in the American South. “I wanted to provide a bar for the lesbian community based on what I seek in any public space,” Rachel says. “I want to be able to have fun and enjoy myself without feeling unsafe or being judged.” Likewise, having experienced her share of not-so-friendly neighborhood bars, Sheila says her mission with Herz is “to make it a safe, warm, and welcoming place. I want people in our community to know that we are there to listen when they need an ear. We are there to celebrate your successes and to encourage you through your disappointments.” In other words, she wanted to make Herz the kind of place where everyone really does know your name. Their experience has been largely positive, although the Smallmans have suffered some setbacks because of the pandemic. They’ve also seen their share of success. They are the recipients of the Human Rights Campaign’s and Showtime’s grant, Queer to Stay, and are currently featured in the short documentary, “The Lesbian Bar Project.” But the most rewarding aspect of the work, Sheila tells GO, “is knowing that [we] accomplished yet another goal, reached a milestone, made a difference in someone else’s life.” —RK

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Rebecca Black

While you may know Rebecca Black from her 2011 cultural hit “Friday,” the singer wants you to know she’s more than just a viral YouTube video. This year, Black released “Girlfriend,” the first track offering from her project “Rebecca Black Was Here.” Black is also a strong advocate for anti-bullying, mental health initiatives, and the LGBTQ+ community who has partnered with the AdCouncil, GLAAD, and Best Buddies in recent campaigns. “I feel it’s important that as queer people we are just as cognizant to the work that still needs to be done to provide equity, freedom and support to all aspects of our community, especially to its most vulnerable members, including Black trans women and homeless LGBTQ+ youth,” Black tells GO. “Whatever means or resources we have to help provide support to those is vital to the health of our community as a whole.” Now, as she is preparing to head out on her Rebecca Black Was Here tour early next year, Black continues to work for the community and is glad to see that, like her, others are being accepted and welcomed for their identity. “As the queer community grows every year, I am so happy and proud to see more and more queer people feeling comfortable sharing their stories, feeling confident in who they are, and encouraging others to do the same.” —IL

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Risa Tanania

Risa Tanania wants young queer people to know that she is making change. Co-founder of The House that Casting Built — a feminist, queer-owned, boutique casting house for unscripted television — Tanania’s vision is to greatly improve inclusion and representation on TV. “When an audience sees someone that looks or sounds like them [or] has had a similar journey to theirs, it can alter what they deem possible and can help people — certainly young people — to know they can dream a bit bigger,” she tells GO. Her plan seems to be working. Her most recent project, Netflix’s “Dating Around,” features LGBTQ+ daters, people of color, and participants over 70, which caught the attention of both The New York Times and Vanity Fair. The most rewarding aspect of her work is “Seeing it. Seeing different body shapes, people of color, and a fluid band of queers,” she says. “A spectrum of ages and identities on the screen is quite powerful, even life-changing, to those at home watching.” In addition to working toward a fix in the media’s representation gap, Tanania is on the Board of Directors at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, the world’s largest queer synagogue. When she’s not changing how marginalized people are reflected in the media, she’s in her Chelsea home with her wife, Anna, and their two fur babies: Artie, a Havanese, and Barbra Streisand, a rescue mutt. —NT

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Rose Wood

Being known as “The Queen of Filth” isn’t something that happens overnight; for Wood, it’s taken years. Known for her extreme physical acts that are meant to strike an emotional nerve, the performance artist addresses a number of issues in her work, including variant gender identities, societal constructs, under-represented individuals and hidden personal struggles. As an artist, Wood says that her passion for art comes from the healing nature it brings to the world, especially during or after a particularly rough time. An artist is “an essential worker,” she says, but unlike doctors or even teachers, artists “have the job of restoring the often dented and bruised humanity of our audience.” For the past 14 years, Wood has headlined both the New York and London locations of The Box, a theater of varieties. She was also awarded the “Queer Icon” by the Guadalajara International Film Festival in 2018. Looking forward, Wood believes that “our community [which] has formed as a response to trauma, plague, and oppression… can also be unified in homage to the great members of the community.” In doing so, “we can be united by honoring and recognizing our unique value to our society.” —IL

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Samantha Ruddy

“I love crafting a joke,” says comedian Samantha Ruddy. “Writing a misdirection that makes a crowd or viewer laugh gives me such a huge sense of accomplishment, and I’m constantly chasing that feeling, for better or for worse.” Her love of the chase landed her a job as a digital producer at “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,” and has put her on the path to a lucrative career in comedy. She’s performed on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” and her debut comedy album, “Logging Out,” was named one of the best albums of 2020 by NPR. Much like her desire to make people laugh, Ruddy’s queerness came naturally and publicly. “I had an epiphany that I was queer in my late teens and immediately told everyone I could as if it were a breaking news story,” she says. While her queerness has become an integral part of her life and career, her science background has been put to less use, although it does help a bit with her comedy. “I have a STEM degree and go about joke-writing in a somewhat technical manner which sounds boring and pretentious, but it’s extremely rewarding to figure out a formula using words and execute it well — or subvert it,” Ruddy tells GO. This ability to craft jokes, and make the audience laugh, might just be the most rewarding part of her career. “It’s either that or all the free drinks.” —IL

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Sändra Washington

“I’ve been in public service for most of my professional life, and the only way I know to build trust with the public is to be authentic,” says Sändra Washington, who, as a member of the Lincoln City Council, is the first out Black woman elected in the state of Nebraska. “Being myself gave me a foundation on which to build honest relationships with conservation partners, coworkers, and now with constituents. Even though I’ve been out for over 40 years, it still feels like I’m frequently in situations where I need to come out again, but I do so now from a more confident place than I did in my 20s and 30s. Being out has given me practice in truth-telling, and I think it’s made me a more compassionately honest public servant.” Originally appointed to the council to fill a vacancy in 2019, she easily won re-election earlier this year as the top vote-getter for one of three vacant seats. Her focus on the council has been to address concerns such as affordable housing, climate resiliency, and pandemic response. Among her accomplishments, she worked with her colleagues to pass a ban on conversion therapy for minors, developed a community platform to talk about race and equity, revised the community police advisory board for greater transparency, and increased funding for emergency mental health response. The most rewarding part of her work is community-building, “whether it’s helping to build stronger neighborhoods, tackling policies to ensure our city is welcoming to all, improving government transparency, building a more robust emergency mental health system or adding to our terrific system of local parks and trails. If I can assist in bringing groups of people together to creatively solve problems that improve the lives of our residents,” she says, “then I’ve had a good day.” —RK

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Sara Rips

Sara Rips, Legal and Policy Counsel for the ACLU of Nebraska, is the state’s first and only attorney dedicated solely to LGBTQ+ rights. Her work has long reach, most notably in the Nebraska Supreme Court decision that favored a same-sex couple denied an adoption. For her work on the case, Rips was recognized as a Champion of Pride by The Advocate. Prior to her work at the ACLU, she practiced civil litigation at Legal Aid of Nebraska, where she litigated issues related to housing and domestic abuse. A graduate of the University of Nebraska College of Law and member of the Nebraska State Bar Association, Rips promotes the importance of resilience in the fight for civil rights. “The fight for civil rights is not won overnight,” she says. “It requires tenacity and patience and effort.” However, we still have a long way to go to achieve true equality. “There are still stark differences in rights and treatment for members of the LGBTQ community,” she tells GO. “We must stay vigilant and continue to work to make sure that all LGBTQ people are treated equally before the law. Our struggle for equality not only improves the quality of our lives, but the lives of LGBTQ+ people to come.” —NT

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Sarah Hallonquist and Loretta Andro Chung

For Loretta Andro Chung (r), co-founding Dyke Beer gave them a chance “to meet and connect with fellow queers.” “There is such a nice energy that comes out of seeing people’s faces light up when they are drinking Dyke Beer.” Chung and cofounder Sarah Hallonquist launched Dyke Beer in 2020 in partnership with local breweries to create delicious farmhouse ale housed in artfully designed cans; their first Dyke Beer Saison launched in 2021. Sales of Dyke Beer are used to help fund future dyke/queer spaces, something Hallonquist and Chung both know something about. The duo is behind Dyke Bar Takeover, which promotes LGBTQ+ artists and the creation of lesbian/queer events, venues, and spaces. “It’s super nice to have people come up to me and thank me for creating spaces for them,” Chung tells GO. “I really want everybody to get together and meet in real life because I think it’s so important to have chosen family and a solid friend network.” For Hallonquist, who worked in corporate America for more than a decade, co-founding the Takeover gave her an opportunity to finally do something that she was passionate about. “It gave me such life,” she tells GO. And she brought that passion to Dyke Beer as well. “I love the reactions folks have when they see the art on the can and they can enjoy the beer inside, too,” she says. “I’m so grateful for the positive response from our community.” Hallonquist and Chung are also working with Greenspoint Ale to produce a new beer, Tall Girl Gose, which launched this Pride month. —RK

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Sepi Shyne

While all eyes were on the U.S. Presidential election in November 2020, Sepi Shyne was making history as the first-ever LGBTQ+ Iranian person elected to office and the first woman of color elected to the West Hollywood City Council. Shyne initiated the creation of a social justice task force made up of BIPOC community members that recommend policies in the quest for social equity. She has also passed items that will provide incentives to LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs in West Hollywood and greater protections for renters, who make up 78% of West Hollywood’s residents. Before the election, Shyne spent more than two decades as an LGBTQ+ community leader, serving on the City of West Hollywood’s Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board and the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles. She also served as a Board of Governor and Steering Committee leader with the Human Rights Campaign of Los Angeles. Locally, she helped co-organize WeHo Neighbors Helping Neighbors, a community group that coordinates resources for seniors, people with disabilities, and those in immunosuppressed households during the pandemic. Shyne credits her success to “being able to live my most authentic self” after coming out at 19. She’s pursued a career in politics and public policy “to be a voice for the people, create progressive change in West Hollywood, and expand representation and pave the way for others to shine.” —RK

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Shana Zucker

For Shana Zucker, being out is part of the job. “Being queer is not only central to my personal identity, but also my professional identity,” she tells GO. Her identity as a queer physician and her interest in queer health equity and education led her to create the “Queericulum,” a curriculum designed to teach sexual and gender minority health to medical students. “Being out has enabled me to connect to a network of fellow out health professionals. We’re here, we’re queer, and we are working to make sure that all patients — especially our LGBTQ+ community — feel comfortable being their authentic selves, and that they will be met with healthcare providers who will provide the highest quality care.” She also co-authored “Teaching LGBTQ+ Health,” a free, open-access curriculum for healthcare providers and educators that covers the basics of teaching queer health concepts. Zucker, who is currently an internal medicine resident at University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Health, was awarded the LGBT Health Achievement Award from both the American Medical Student Association and GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality. She’s also the recipient of two Changemaker Catalyst Awards from Tulane University’s Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking, and the Junior Leadership Award from the Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians LGBT Health Workforce. Based on her work and success, Zucker wants the LGBTQ+ community to know that “there are providers (including myself) who are out here working to make the healthcare space more inclusive and safe for people of all genders, sexes, and sexualities.” She tells GO, “It is our responsibility as healthcare providers to create a safe environment and to learn everything we need to know to address your unique health needs — and there are those of us out there working to get our peers to catch up!” —RK

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Sharni Tapuke-O’Neal

Sharni Tapuke-O’Neal came on board as the general manager for front of house at Henrietta Hudson, the country’s longest-standing lesbian-owned bar, for the iconic venue’s May reopening. In her new position, Tapuke-O’Neal works hard to give back to the LGBTQ+ community, starting by creating a safe space for her hires. “Everyone stated to me that they wanted to work somewhere they would feel accepted as their authentic selves,” she tells GO. Through “accepting and using their correct pronouns… [and] giving them the space to speak freely about themselves without judgment,” she’s been able to do just that. For Tapuke-O’Neal, working in hospitality came naturally, as she found she enjoyed making genuine connections with people. Managing a team allows her to lift others up within the community, something she thinks is desperately needed in the industry. “From a young age, I noticed the disparity between roles held by male and female managers, let alone people within the LGBTQIA community,” Tapuke-O’Neal says. “It was not until six years into my career that I had ever met or worked for a female business owner.” Now, she is the leader she always wanted to work for and is creating space for others to work their way up, too. —NT

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Shea Diamond

“Most people live their whole lives feeling unseen, unheard, or silenced,” Shea Diamond tells GO. “I was one of those people before I discovered the power of music.” The singer-songwriter might now be living her dream, but as a Black transgender woman, she has lived through some difficult times to get here. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Diamond found herself putting on a masculine front for her family and society, even though she knew she was a girl. “I should have gotten an Oscar,” she says of that time in her life. At 14, unable to deal with the pressures of living in secret, Diamond ran away from home. After a desperate burglary attempt to obtain funds for sex reassignment surgery, she was incarcerated in the men’s prison system for 10 years. Ironically, it was during this time that she found her identity — and her voice — by writing songs. After being released, she moved to NYC and got involved with trans activism. A performance of her hit song “I Am Her” at a Black Trans Lives Matter event caught the attention of her now-producer Justin Tranter. Since the release of her GLAAD Media Award-nominated EP “Seen It All,” Diamond and Tranter have co-written a number of stand-alone singles including “Smile” and “Presence of a Legend,” a tribute to Chicago transgender icon Gloria Allen. —NT

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Shelby Wolstein

To Shelby Wolstein, an anticlimactic coming out is ideal. The writer, actor, and comedian says most of the heavy lifting was done by her brother, “who was so incredibly gay there was no way around it,” which made her own subtle version of queerness just seem, well, normal. “I had no idea I was queer. I was like, ‘Sure, girls are hot, but like, everyone thinks that,” she tells GO. That is, until she moved to Chicago and her queer group of friends gently informed her that no, not everyone is attracted to people of the same sex. Now the host of “Keeping Records,” a podcast where Wolstein and Caleb Hearon, her friend, roommate, and “platonic gay husband,” discuss with each episode’s guest what an updated version of the Golden Record, the 1977 Voyager documentation of human life, should contain. While the comedian is enjoying her time discussing art, media, and culture, the podcast is really plan B. “As soon as I came out, a big-time Hollywood producer approached me on the street and offered me three million dollars to produce the project of my dreams,” she says. “I told them I wanted more, and I’m still waiting to hear back.” —NT

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Stacy Lentz

“It has been an honor and huge responsibility to carry on The Stonewall Inn legacy and to spread that legacy to the faces, spaces, and places that need it the most,” Stacy Lentz tells GO. As the co-owner of The Stonewall Inn and an LGBTQ+ activist, Lentz has helped organize hundreds of events and fundraisers for LGBTQ+ organizations. In 2013, Lentz also helped organize the March for Marriage rally, which united over 80 LGBTQ+ organizations and thousands of people in a call for the repeal of DOMA. She was among a group of investors who stepped in to save the beloved Stonewall Inn from closing in 2006; in 2016, a decade after it was saved, the iconic bar was named a National Monument, making it the first LGBTQ+ national monument in U.S. history. In addition to co-owning the bar, Lentz serves as the CEO and co-founder of The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, a nonprofit that seeks to help the most underserved members of the LGBTQ+ community. No matter how much success she or the bar achieves, Lentz says she’ll keep working to uplift and give back to the community. “We have to continue the fight that started at The Stonewall Inn in 1969, as the fight isn’t over until we will reach full global equality and raise up the most marginalized among us.” —IL

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Stephanie Byers

Stephanie Byers has dedicated her life to the young people of Kansas and has recently extended her reach by becoming both the first openly transgender woman elected to the Kansas House of Representatives and the first transgender Indigenous person elected in the United States. Byers started as a teacher after receiving her Bachelor of Music Education from Oklahoma Christian University and Master of Music from Kansas State University. She taught for 29 years for Wichita Public Schools, and was named GLSEN-Kansas State Educator of the Year and GLSEN National Educator of the Year during her career. During her time at Wichita Public Schools, she was the award-winning Director of Bands and Orchestras at Wichita North High School, as well as Director of the Fine Arts Department Chair. She is a member of the Chickasaw Nation and has called Wichita home for over three decades. In addition to her responsibilities as a State Representative and impressive tenure as a teacher, Byers, along with her wife Lori, owns and operates a company that informs corporations, community groups, and schools about diverse communities. Byers sees her position as an opportunity to continue her work that has involved speaking at community organizations, serving as the communications director for Wichita Pride, and volunteering for Wichita nonprofits. For Byers, living her authentic life has “had no negative impact on my success,” she tells GO. “If anything, it amplified it to a larger audience. It gives me the opportunity to use my voice to speak out on behalf of trans people and especially trans youth.” —NT

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Susan Burdian

New York native Susan Burdian developed her cooking style by absorbing the nuances of the diverse cuisines available in New York City. From Southeast Asian cuisine to rustic Italian, Mexican BBQ, Filipino, Vegan, Vegetarian, and Farm to Table cuisines, Burdian took in the myriad tastes to create her own flavor. She brought this flavor to notable NYC restaurants The Flatiron Room, Superfine, and Vinateria. In 2017, Burdian moved to North Florida and opened a series of restaurants in Amelia Island, Jacksonville, and Tampa. Most recently, she was selected to create a new menu for Social Roost in St. Petersburg, a restaurant featuring a globally-inspired kitchen with a focus on poultry. The diverse menu is reminiscent of a fine New York eatery, and Burdian strives to give guests a similarly fabulous experience. “I hope our guests feel like it’s an extension of home, where they can get the most delicious, satisfying version of whatever they are craving,” she says. It’s extremely important to Burdian that she gives back to her community, and she does so by mentoring young cooks and chefs. “I love to get those phone calls from former employees, excited to tell me that they just got some big opportunity, or that they’re finally running their own kitchen,” she tells GO. “It is deeply gratifying.” —NT

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Susan Morabito

“Considering [that] music is constantly evolving, and there’s fresh, new music out weekly, there isn’t redundancy or a boredom in what I do,” says DJ Susan Morabito. Perhaps this view explains why Morabito’s career is still as relevant now as it was when she started DJing three decades ago. In 2014, Susan began to shift her sound towards progressive tech house, infused with elements drawn from her deep well of experience and guided by her rare ability to correctly sense, gauge, guide, and fuel the energy of a room. Her love of DJing is matched by her success on the stages she’s spun, from her start at the Pavilion on Fire Island Pines to international performances in Toronto, Montreal, Italy, and Australia, among others. Morabito sees DJing as a way to connect with her community. “DJing is not just about choosing a few tunes,” she tells GO. “It is about generating shared moods; it’s about understanding the feelings of a group of people and directing them to a better place.” Her view of DJing as an art form creates space for her to express herself to the community she loves, and the community loves her right back. Now, a new generation of fans is enjoying Morabito’s command of musical creativity, and lucky for us, she doesn’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. “After almost 40 years of being a professional DJ, I love it just as much now as I ever did,” she says. —NT

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Suzanne Westenhoefer

In May 2022, comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer will have been touring for 30 years, an accomplishment that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Having been out since the 1990s, Westenhoefer has proven that being yourself isn’t an obstacle — it’s a benefit. “I’m delighted to say that ‘being out’ is the reason I have a career,” she tells GO. “Being openly lesbian in the 1990s was beyond rare in the entertainment world. It made me stand out, get noticed, and succeed.” Her advice to the LGBTQ+ community? “Community first. We are not each other’s enemy. We come in all colors and creeds, so there are real enemies and your energy should focus only on fighting/teaching them.” She takes this advice seriously herself, using her comedy to poke fun at her own community while creating an intimacy and openness with audiences. Her sets include jokes about her partner’s conservative family, something many in her audiences can relate to. Westenhoefer speaks the truth that sometimes life can be difficult for LGBTQ+ people, but she also shows that we are still able to laugh it off — a key aspect in living life loud and proud. Her ability to talk openly about her experiences gives her power in any room, as she commands audiences’ respect while earning their laughs. —NT

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Tatenda Ngwaru

“While it is not always easy, to stand in your truth and be kind to yourself is the most joyous thing anyone can do,” Tatenda Ngwaru tells GO. “Be yourself. Seek no validation, and the rest of the world will catch up.” It’s a philosophy that’s shaped Ngwaru’s work as an actress, public speaker, intersex activist, and international human rights champion. As an immigrant and refugee, Ngwaru has promoted community awareness of intersex issues in three different countries, and advocates for the dignity, rights, and well-being of underrepresented communities. She’s also the subject of “She’s Not a Boy,” a short film that was officially selected at the Boston LGBT Film Festival in 2019. But what Ngwaru most enjoys is making a real difference in peoples’ lives. She has spent this month contemplating what Pride means to her, and she’s realized just how much her work has “inspired listeners to look beyond the black and white when it comes to sex, gender, and sexuality and to find the beauty between,” she says. The most rewarding aspect of her work would be “the connections I have built with thousands of people who reach out to me after seeing my work or hearing me talk,” Ngwaru tells GO. “Every soul I touch is a definition of my existence.” —IL

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Taylor Small

Taylor Small sought elected office after a call from Diana Gonzalez, the first openly queer woman of color in the Vermont state legislature. Gonzalez, an incumbent, was stepping down; someone needed to run for her seat. Enter Small, a local drag artist and the Pride Center of Vermont’s Health and Wellness Program Director. “It was just the push I needed to step up and run,” Small tells GO. “I didn’t know that I could successfully run a political campaign as a young, working class, transgender woman, but with community support and strong advocacy, I did.” After winning the seat in last November’s election, Small is now the first transgender legislator in the state. Her focus is to advocate for LGBTQ+ and marginalized Vermonters and improve access to health and wellness care. She also co-sponsored HB 128, a bill that bans the use of the “trans panic” defense in criminal cases, which passed into law this past May with unanimous support from both the Vermont House and Senate. Small received a letter of recognition from the state’s Republican governor, along with the pen that was used to sign the bill into law. The most rewarding aspect of her work, she says, is “hearing from young queer and transgender youth across the country saying, ‘I now see a future for myself in politics.’ Our youth are not only our future, but our present, and I think it is imperative that we give them a strong platform to be able to share their voice with the world.” —RK

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Tiffanie Barriere

When it comes to cocktails, Tiffanie Barriere is at the top of her game. Known as “The Drinking Coach,” Barriere spent seven years as the beverage director of Atlanta’s “One Flew South” — voted the Best Airport Bar in the World. She’s presented and spoken on panels at prestigious food and hospitality events, contributed recipes to mixology books, been featured in a number of magazines, including Forbes and The Washington Post, and collaborated with numerous famous culinary artists. The most rewarding aspect of her career isn’t who she’s worked with or where, though; it’s who she is. “It is so rewarding to be a Black woman, to be a lesbian, to be from the south and be in the food and beverage industry, because those traits are the soul … of American food and beverage,” she tells GO. “The connection of natural healing, attention to detail, and history are the flavors in what we take and feel in a cocktail or a plate of food.” The independent bartender, who hosts mixology classes around the country, is also a cocktail historian. We don’t always recognize “the help, endurance, and creativity the service industry has given to this world,” Barriere says. “I am allowed to not only represent that, but raise as many glasses as I want and say their names with pride.”—RK

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Tig Notaro

When you imagine a post-apocalyptic zombie fighter, Tig Notaro might not come to mind — but that was before the trailer for Zach Snyder’s “Army of the Dead” dropped earlier this year. As ammo-packing badass Marianne Peters, Notaro’s “first look” set the internet ablaze. The new role is a departure for the Grammy and Emmy-nominated Notaro, who is known for her sardonic, observational wit and willingness to share her personal struggles with breast cancer in her standup. But it’s also a sign of her versatility as a performer. Her career has included everything from stand-up specials like “Boyish Girl Interrupted” to scripted shows like “Star Trek: Discovery,” where she plays chief engineer of the USS Hiawatha Jett Reno. She’s also the host of two podcasts: “Don’t Ask Tig,” where she talks candidly with guests, and “Tig and Cheryl: True Story,” where she and co-host Cheryl Hines discuss a documentary each week. Her next venture, the comedy special “Drawn,” is set to premiere on HBO on July 24. Her message for the LGBTQ+ community — who has always known she was a badass — is a call to arms against anything from zombie hordes to haters: “Living free allows others to as well.” —RK

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Vanessa Angeles

The banking industry is evolving, says Vanessa Angeles, and she is here for it. An innovative product leader for U.S. Bank, Angeles heads new product development with a focus on emerging banking solutions for treasury management clients. “Fundamentally, we take concepts and bring them to reality,” she explains. Angeles helps her clients solve business problems by applying a cutting-edge take on all the ways banks can guide those clients toward innovation. “More and more banks are working like tech companies, delivering solutions quickly with a deep focus on client experience,” she tells GO. In addition to exercising her creativity and her analytical side, her position gives her the opportunity to guide others on her team toward reaching their own career goals. Outside of work, Angeles has held leadership and mentor roles at various nonprofit organizations in the New York area, including being selected as part of the Out Next Talent Accelerator by the New York chapter of Out Leadership, an organization that focuses on developing the next generation of LGBTQ+ talent. For Angeles, her work is personal. “My career gives me a platform, and that’s an extension of who I am and how I’ve always approached my personal life,” she says. —SJ

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Veronica Kirin

Veronica Kirin is many things: anthropologist, author, serial entrepreneur. This past year, she created “Stories of COVID,” an ethnographic (story-based) study that documents the pandemic in real time through worldwide interviews and follows her award-winning book, “Stories of Elders.” But though she wears many hats, Kirin identifies strongly as a socially conscious entrepreneur. Her entrepreneurial career began after she was laid off from a corporate position following a buy-out, and she “swore to never again put my livelihood in the fickle hands of someone who cared only about the bottom line.” She hasn’t looked back since. Owning a business, she believes, offers freedom from the discrimination that often leads to unfair job loss. She shares these ideals by teaching small business owners about the power of their own finances, which they can leverage to fight imposter syndrome, work against discriminatory practices in the workplace, and create job spaces for LGBTQ+ professionals. Kirin has been featured on BEQ’s 40 LGBTQ Leaders Under 40, has presented her research on the TEDx stage, and was recently recognized by Forbes as a NEXT 1000 honoree. “Entrepreneurship spells freedom, empowerment, voice, and leverage for our community,” she tells GO. “It gives our community the power to say no to bigots, to leverage finances against outdated discriminatory practices, and creates the flexibility to choose how to invest their talents, all without the dangerous repercussions of being fired for who we love. That is the future I want for us.” —NT

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Veronica Paige

A few years ago, Veronica Paige created Spectrum Wellness 360 “to help marginalized women, cis and trans, and minorities in the LGBT community to master interpersonal and professional success, to find stability and peace of mind and to navigate through the unique challenges presented not just by society, but by our own community itself,” she tells GO. Unfortunately, 2020 put a pause on Paige’s plans, causing her to postpone her company’s relaunch in Costa Rica. However, she didn’t let a pandemic stop her. Paige had already begun scouting for possible retreat locations when she and her fiancè decided to convert their Jamaican farmland into an eco-lodge retreat space. “Our dream upon completion is to expand the concept of queer-owned transformational travel safe spaces into other remote areas of the world,” she tells GO. Paige’s work directly supports her desire to see queer role models giving back and leading by example, even in non-LGBTQ+-dominated fields. “I love to bring my fiancé to mixers, galas, and business dinners, because we have something to contribute to the professional landscape,” says Paige. “Our input as queer women of color deserve[s] to be heard, and our communities and those who live in them deserve protection and development. I am proud to ensure this in any and all business dealings on which I work.” —IL

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Yao Xiao

“As a first-generation immigrant, I think of being queer as part of my process of defining myself instead of letting my definition be decided by spectators,” Yao Xiao tells GO. “As I mature as an artist, I make work to express myself fully, instead of trying to please a mainstream, white, and straight audience. With my comics, I get to express my idea about my own person, contemplating questions that trouble or move me in a way that isn’t tied to a gender or racial stereotype, or the trauma they leave in my life.” While self-described as “goal-driven” as a young artist, she found balance in a gentler, self-affirming approach to making art in recent years. This progression in mindset was followed by her critical success as an artist, with 2020 being a big year for her. Her debut graphic novel “Everything Is Beautiful, And I’m Not Afraid” received critical accolades and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. The children’s book, “How To Solve a Problem,” which Xiao illustrated, also debuted last year and was named a Best Book of 2020 by Publishers Weekly. Her illustrations and art have appeared in Time, The Washington Post, National Geographic, and other publications, and her comic “Baopu” has run in Autostraddle since 2014. Xiao, who emigrated to the U.S. from China, used graphic art to capture her experiences as a queer immigrant. “When I first started writing comics, I was anxious about not having an audience at all. I thought I would be writing into a void, only confirming my own isolation,” she says. “I feel more confident about myself because I feel that my voice is heard and reflected back, and I helped build a community through my messages, the intersectional, transnational, fluid community I was searching for and could not find.” —RK

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