Collections by Michelle Brown

Originally from Detroit, MI Charzette has been recognized for her positive portrayals of people whom mainstream media has tried to marginalize. .  She received her B.F.A in Fine Art Photography from the College for Creative Studies. She was selected as an Artist-in-Residence at the world-renowned Maine Photography Workshop. A native New Yorker Danielle grew up in the Bronx during the early days of Hip Hop. Danielle is a musician in her own right. She started playing drums at the age of six and expanded her musical talents to playing other instruments including guitar, bass, saxophone, and keyboards. Together they started their own music production company  “DeeJay & Cats Production."

In 2010 Chazette started transitioning from photography into becoming a filmmaker. Danielle also caught the filmmaking bug. They both wanted to learn as much as they could about films.

Their first project as content creators was “Jillian’s Peak.” Jillian’s Peak depicts African American lesbians and LGBTQI as positive realistic people and is inspired by Charzette’s life as a lesbian.

2018 was a phenomenal year taking them to new places, looking at the world through their unique lens and introducing new audiences to their artistry. Coming into the homestretch, they share the knowledge about business and filmmaking along the way.

Partners in love, art, and production, this dynamic duo stays on the go bringing life to LGBTQ culture.

Moon OneLuv is a Detroit original – an African American vocalist, actress, storyteller, and Trans Activist.

Born Erica Shantel Carter, she has a unique sound drawing from personal experience and blending an extremely visual appearance and a dramatic flair with a charismatic presence that draws in her audience into each performance. She has been profoundly inspired by the rich musical climate that Detroit has to offer, and it shows in the diversity of her music.

As an actress, she is known for her role as Zunay in the 2016 film “Black Petunia” – a dystopian story about a corrupt government that is erasing people’s memories through contaminated drinking water.

An activist in the transgender community Carter has shared the story of her transition speaking openly on how she has embraced her identity knowing the stigma that surrounds trans women. Her message is that there needs to be more conversation involving trans women, that they need a seat at the table and need to be present in more workspaces.

In 2016, Carter took to the stage as part of the Secret Society of Twisted Storytellers. The topic was “JUSTICE!"Moon One Luv shares the story of an incident where she had been faced with transphobic discrimination in a Black-owned business. What is Justice and the many factors affecting her decision and the outcomes put her directly in the crosshairs of her intersectionality as an African American, a Transwoman, an African American and a member of the LGBTQ community with wisdom and grace.

What does the A stand for in your LGBTQA community? For Nathan William Brown it can stand for Ability or Asexuality and Ally.

Nathan is a peer mentor in the community mental health field. Being a peer mentor is a lot different than your typical caseworker/client relationship. Peer Mentors are advocates who have been through the system themselves and know what it is like. They work with the individual to help them learn how to advocate for themselves and become more independent.

He recently organized LGBTQ Abilities to help serve the needs of LGBTQ people with disabilities. LGBTQ Abilities is an advocacy and support organization for LGBTQ individuals who are differently-abled and struggled to find real support for our communities. The purpose of LGBTQ Abilities is to bridge the gap between the LGBTQ communities and the disability communities.

LGBTQ Abilities will provide advocacy to build networks to connect the LGBTQA and the Disability community, as well as helping create supports within the community while helping all communities be fully inclusive

Nathan is on the autism spectrum and has struggled for years with his mental health, including battling severe depression and anxiety disorders.  He also identifies as a Pan-romantic Grey-Asexual, which means he can be romantically attracted to people of all genders, but not sexually attracted to others. Many are just hearing about the Asexual community and because of lack of information or misinformation, individuals identifying as Asexual are stigmatized similar to those who are differently-abled.

LGBTQ Abilities offers support group exclusively for LGBTQ individuals as well as a support group for these individuals’ partners, family, and allies.

Phoebe Hopps became an accidental activist, tiptoeing into politics after the 2016 presidential election by simply creating a website for Michigan women interested in attending the Women’s March on Washington.

Originally from Smithtown, New York, she has called Michigan home for over six years. Phoebe studied Business Management at Marymount Manhattan College then went on to study Project Management at New York University. She traded a career in project management and global travel to dedicate herself full-time to community organizing.

She organized thousands of women and their allies who took more than 100 buses from around the state to Washington, for the 2017 Women’s March. A few weeks after the 2017Women's March she partnered with other organizations to stage a massive protest at Detroit Metro Airport.

Phoebe’s focus is on social justice, civil rights, racial equity, access to healthcare and environmental protection as she prepares for the 2019 march. Participation in women's marches is an affirmation of the worth and dignity of all women and their families.

Roland Leggett is smart, strategic, politically savvy, suave and oh so dapper. This nationally recognized movement leader joins Collections by Michelle Brown-Blog Radio on Thursday, January 10th to share his over two decades of social justice advocacy and management experience

He’s worked as an organizer with Obama for America, with the Detroit Branch of the ACLU, Equality Michigan, Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, Working America and MI Time to Care. He's also an outspoken LGBT advocate serving on the LGBTQ and Allies Caucus of the Michigan Democratic Party.

Through his consultancy firm "Roland Leggett Strategies" he works at building inclusive communities and making the tradition from artist to activist right here in Detroit

Why Detroit? Roland believes it’s because there’s unlimited potential for innovation here. If you are dedicated, if you are responsible, and if you are thoughtful in the way you plan things, you can make incredible things happen here.

Kim has over 20 years’ experience working with grassroots, community-based, and national nonprofit organizations. Her work has been intergenerational.

She’s been engaged with the Third Wave Fund ensuring young women, queer, and trans youth of color have the tools and resources they need to lead powerful movements, and that they have a seat at the table within philanthropy. She’s worked with GRIOT Circle Inc.; In Our Own Voices. a community-based, multigenerational organization serving LGBTQ elders of color.

Her work has crossed boundaries working with many organizations including Fierce!!, Stonewall Community Foundation’s Racial Equity Initiative; Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues; and the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.

She has worked with pioneering organizations and is the co-founder of Beyond Bold & Brave, Black Lesbian Conference 2016 and 2018; and founder of Kitchen Table Giving Circle: A Black/African Descent Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Women Philanthropic Initiative.

She has facilitated workshops; moderated and spoken at events, panels and readings; presented on various topics including organizing in the LGBTQ POC communities, racism within LGBTQ communities, women’s health and wellness, and sexuality.

She is now focusing her energies in a new direction making a commitment to invest in herself. As a health and fitness coach, she uses her journey to assist and motivate others to find Mind Body and soul balance.

The National Conference for LGBT Equality: Creating Change is the premier annual event of the National LGBTQ Task Force.

Creating Change was started in 1988, one year after the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay rights. The message of the 1987 March was clear: go home and get to work. It was because of this message that the Task Force soon found itself deluged with requests for resources, advice, and assistance. In order to deal with all these requests, they started a national organizing and training conference that organizers and activists could gather and teach each other – and build a stronger movement. The name of that conference was Creating Change.

Today, Creating Change has grown to over 3,500 attendees from all over the country, and from all walks of life. And it’s getting bigger every year. The five-day program will be held at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center January 23rd to 29th. A host committee working with dedicated task Force staff work tirelessly to put together the schedule. 

These activities have been led in part by host committee co-chair Bridie Mae Johnson and the Task Force’s Director of Creating Change Andy Garcia.

Andy joined the Task Force in May 2018 taking over the conference from  Sue Hyde who had served the Task Force since 1986, overseeing a range of initiatives in addition to the Creating Change Conference.  Bridie Mae Johnson is a licensed social worker who grew up in Saginaw, Michigan. With Native American, Caucasian and African American lineage, Johnson brings a unique perspective to all. She draws upon her roots to build spaces where diversity and inclusion can flourish.

Michelle Regalado Deatrick is a poet, a community advocate and an elected official. She lives with her family on an 80-acre farm in southeast Michigan, where she cares for a large organic garden, an orchard and a 20-acre native prairie surrounded by stands of native trees.

An activist for the environment, small farm rights, women and fair wages she has served as Vice Chair of the Washtenaw County Commission.

In 2017 and 2018, she was a lead organizer of the Women's March in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In October 2018, she was co-organizer of the Stand with Survivors Rally and March, a response to the Supreme Court nomination of Brent Kavanaugh also in Ann Arbor.

In 2018 Deatrick ran for State Senate stating she was running for State Senator because we need a leader who believes that politics should be about people, not profit. Deatrick narrowly lost her primary race for Michigan State Senate-District 18 but continues her commitment by working with Michigan One Fair Wage

Michigan One Fair Wage has a mission to make sure that every working person in Michigan can take of themselves and their family.

This former Peace Corps volunteer is also an educator and award-winning poet.

Originally from Brooklyn, New York Betty Couvertier called the Atlanta area home for many years. Now in retirement, she travels between Georgia and Florida RVing with her dogs.

This year her travels gave her a unique perspective of two of the more interesting elections in Georgia and Florida.

She witnessed first hand some of the challenges voters had in Georgia. She had to get involved with the postal service and election officials to locate her absentee ballot so her vote would be counted.

She joins us to share her experiences and observations on the politics, the candidates and what’s next from her unique perspective. An advocate for grassroots activism, Couvertier believes politicians at all levels must be held accountable. She sees the end of patriarchy on the horizon and a future that will be led by women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ community.

Couvertier was the founder, producer and host of “Alternative Perspectives,” an LGBT radio show that continues to air on WRFG “Radio Free Georgia” a community-owned and operated station. She has served in various capacities on a number of non-profit organizations over the years in the Atlanta area  and is the recipient of many awards for her service to the community.

Aundaray Guess has worked in service to the LGBTQ community for 20 years. He is currently the Deputy Director for GRIOT Circle and the Site Manager for the partnership between GRIOT Circle and SAGE USA. 

Gay Reunion In Our Time, GRIOT Circle was founded as an informal gathering of elders and was officially recognized as a nonprofit in 1996. GRIOT Circle remains the only organization exclusively dedicated to serving the needs of elder LGBTQ people of color.

He helped create and design, ‘Still Standing’, an interactive presentation in which older adults discuss living with HIV. This is a community-wide program and recently was conducted in additional states including New Jersey and California. He also helped create “joy of Intimacy”, a program similar to “Still Standing” that provides an older adult female perspective of living with HIV.

He has a Bachelor of Science degree from New York University in Media Studies as well as a Master of Science in Public Relations and Corporate Communications. In addition to completing his studies, Guess is a contributing writer for the Huffington Post and a regularly featured writer for Poz Magazine.

 As a writer and actor he has acted in several productions. His last work was a one-man play called, “Naked”, a lens on what it means to be black, gay and a man.