Collections by Michelle Brown

Evangeline Weiss is an artist, poet, and mother, and to her, being her full-self means embracing those parts of her while practicing love for everyone. She turned her television off in 1984 and describes herself as a queer, white, anti-racist social change agent with a twinkle in her eye! If that doesn't get your attention, she is also the Leadership Programs Director at the National LGBTQ Task Force. She works on the Creating Change Conference helping the Task Force building relationships in the host city which will be Detroit, MI in January 2019. As part of the build-up to the conference, the Task Force will host the Queering Racial Justice in Detroit September 8th.

Before working at the Task Force, Evangeline worked in HIV/AIDS advocacy projects in the 1990s in New York. She worked at the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and the local needle exchange in the East Village, and at Act Up. She has worked in human resources and spent 5 years as the Director of Diversity & Equity for Duke University’s Office for Institutional Equity. Working internationally, she has a great deal of experience in collaborating with interpreters and is also fluent in Spanish and French.

Evangeline is an artist, poet, and mother, and to her, being her full-self means embracing those parts of her while practicing love for everyone. Now, outside of work, Evangeline volunteers her time organizing White People Against Racism in her community as well as teaching workshops at other organizations.

Sharon Harris, founder and director of Lupus Detroit, and Lupus Warrior, Francine Houston are here to talk about the 6th Lupus Detroit Walk for Warriors/ It takes place Saturday, September 1st. Walkers will gather at the New Center Park at 9AM for registration, warm-ups, and festivities before beginning the 1K walk.

Lupus Detroit believes that no Lupus Warrior should have to decide between purchasing their medication and buying food for their families. Everyone needs assistance from time to time. Lupus Detroit offers emergency financial assistance grants in addition to awareness and advocacy events. The fundraising goal for this year's walk is $50,000.  Participants can form teams or just walk with others. The registration fee is $20 for Walkers over 12 years of age.

Sharon Harris is the founder of Lupus Detroit. Shortly after graduating from FAMU, she was diagnosed with lupus. She not only lives with Lupus but thrives and provides support an encouragement for others living with this chronic autoimmune disease.

Francine Lakeisha Houston is a lupus survivor. She wrote a book for people with lupus called “Lupus Journey”.  A multitalented individual who enjoys fashion, graphic/media and writing, she has founded two businesses. She has a bachelor’s degree in communication design and associate 's degrees in applied graphic design and fashion design. from College for Creative Studies.

Ken Mejia-Beal is first and foremost an activist and a supporter of the underdog. He is a concerned citizen, who cares deeply for his country and wants to make the world a better place for all people.

This Chicago native is a capitalist with a heart who believes in free thinking and human rights. Ken wants to use his words in order to shine a light on political ventures in order to allow those without knowledge to form strong positions through fact-based conversation.  Ken resides in DuPage County, within Illinois with his husband singer/songwriter Michael Mejia-Beal.

Ken is a member of the Democratic National Committee a Political Strategist and Organizer for several candidates over the last 5 years. He is a contributing editor at Dem Write Press where his Chronicles of an Outsider” series explores his journey as an everyday American who happens to be African American and a member of the LGBTQ community.  He is also a contributing editor for Patriot Not Partisan, an online magazine launched by actress and political activist Alyssa Milano. aimed at providing voters with tools to contact their Congressional representatives.  His July 21st article, a must read, addressed White Fragility.

He has given speeches to small and large audiences across America about resisting, persisting and badassery!

Vanessa Sheridan is an expert business consultant, respected author, and transgender activist. This US air force veteran lives in Chicago after relocating from Minneapolis, Minnesota to join the staff or center on Halstead. She is the organization's Director of Gender Equity and Inclusion.

Vanessa's been providing public outreach, speaking, presenting, writing, consulting, and offering transgender awareness training services nationally for major corporations, nonprofit organizations, and federal government agencies. 

She's the author of three published books, including the complete guide to transgender in the workplace. The first full length, hard covered book on this topic ever released by a mainstream publisher. In addition, she's twice been a national lambda literary award finalist for other Trans related books she's written. She was the first transgender member of the board of directors for the Stonewall National Museum and archives, and she currently serves as a member of a national transgender advisory committee for out and equal workplace advocates.

Vanessa graduated from Metropolitan State University in St Paul, Minnesota, where she was subsequently named one of the 40 alumni who are making a difference. She did graduate work at United Theological Seminary in the twin cities. She was profiled as a leader in religious movements for justice for LGBTQ persons by the LGBT religious archives networks in 1991.

Vanessa's been providing public outreach, speaking, presenting, writing, consulting, and offering transgender awareness training services nationally for major corporations, nonprofit organizations, and federal government agencies.

A resident of Chicago, IL Author & Publisher Eddie S. Pierce Jr.received his Master's of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Chicago State University. He is the founder of Rainbow Room Publishing, LLC.,

When he learned he was HIV positive, Pierce was also diagnosed with clinical depression. It was through this time of despair that he found a safe-haven through his writing. Pierce says he went from exhaustion, anger, and depression to what he often describes as “pure black boy joy.”

Writing allowed Pierce to explore his emotions, reflect on the past, and look to the future. This sense of serenity and safety lit a fire inside him to further his education and continue to “add to the voices of those living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.

He was inspired to start Rainbow Room Publishing Company out of pure necessity. His Love series now includes LOVE: Changes 1.0, LOVE: From Behind, and LOVE: Changes 2.0 and 3.0. He is currently drafting and promoting works which discuss the events surrounding our flawed criminal justice system, Marriage Equality, and sexism in Corporate America. Wearing both hats, author and publisher is admittedly no small feat.

As a public speaker, he speaks of the challenges he faces as a Christian HIV positive SGL (same gender loving) writer and publisher. What keeps him going/ Pierce says “I keep pushing because someone needs to see me succeed. To make something intangible, tangible is worth it all.”

After working in the newspaper and magazine industry for nearly her entire career, Gia Cilento knew that one day, she’d start a publishing house. Today, Cilento is an award-winning writer, noted publisher, life-coach, and communications expert.

Her career in publishing spans nearly 30 years. She has extensive experience in print and digital media, writing, editing, coaching, as well as leading. Her book “How to Go From Frazzled to Fantastic” is a step-by-step guide to managing stress, stopping worry, and feeling fantastic every day.

In 2014, after about 20 years of planning, wanting and waiting, she finally incorporated her publishing house - Mad Hatter Publishing.

Mad Hatter Publishing, Inc., partnering with talented and passionate writers and. also writing her own books, she aims to help people create a fantastic life.

With a passion for words and creating, she spends her spare time (when she stumbles upon it) staring at blank pages, imagining the joy of filling them up with her thoughts and imaginings. 

Her family moved about the United States and by the time she was ten years old, she'd moved approximately 20 times. The people she met along the way and the experiences she gained sparked her imagination and created a love for the written word that would shape her life.

After witnessing repeated acts of discrimination and abuses, Cynthia Thornton was drawn by her a strong belief in basic fairness and humankind's obligation to itself to get involved in working for civil rights especially for members of the LGBTQ community. She was especially motivated by the suicide of a young, co-worker who presented as a lesbian.

She serves as President of Pride at Work Michigan.  Pride at Work Michigan is the local branch of a national nonprofit organization that represents LGBTQ union members and their allies and is officially recognized by the AFL-CIO. Earlier this year Thornton, received the University of Michigan-Dearborn’s Rebel With A Cause Award for her “exemplary demonstration of leadership and inspiration to young workers everywhere, especially here Michigan.”

Thornton believes that nothing’s going to change without going through a political platform.” So, she works to build personal relationships while building understanding and acceptance. Thornton is working to educate LGBTQ communities of color and others about the candidates in the upcoming elections as well as getting out the vote in the LGBTQ community. Her new enterprise “Say it Proud LGBTQ POC” recognizes the compounded daily concerns that exist for people whose lives are lived at the intersection of two or more marginalized characteristics.

Willy Wilkinson is an award-winning, Asian American, transgender writer, public health consultant, cultural competency trainer, public speaker, and spoken word performer. He is the author of the book Born on the Edge of Race and Gender: A Voice for Cultural Competency, which transforms the memoir genre into a cultural competency tool.

He is the recipient of a National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association excellence in writing award, the Transgender Law Center Vanguard Award, and is recognized on the Trans 100.

This poetic, journalistic memoir shines an intersectional beacon on the ambiguity and complexity of mixed heritage, transgender, and disability experience, and offers an intimate window into how current legislative and policy battles impact the lives of transgender people.

A dynamic and engaging speaker Willy earned a master’s in public health in Community Health Education from UC Berkeley, and a BA in Women's Studies from UC Santa Cruz. He lives in Oakland, California with his three vibrant young children. Whether navigating the men's locker room like a "stealth trans Houdini," accessing lifesaving health care, or appreciating his son's recognition of him as a "transformer," he illustrates the unique, difficult, and sometimes comical experiences of transgender life.

Dr. Tim Retzloff graduated from the University of Michigan in 2006 before getting his Ph.D. from Yale University in 2014. He teaches LGBTQ studies and U.S. history at Michigan State University.

His engagement with U-M’s LGBTQ past began while a student at UM-Flint when a political science professor asked him to write a history appendix of LGBTQ history in Michigan. Retzloff authored the history appendix for the 1991 study commonly known as The Lavender Report.

The Tim Retzloff oral history interviews (1993-2012) consist of over eighty oral histories conducted by Retzloff with members of Detroit's LGBTQ community to further his knowledge of what LGBT life was like between 1945 and 1985. His first book is based on these interviews.

His research on queer life in Michigan has appeared in the journal GLQ, the collection Making Suburbia, Between the Lines Newspaper and the anthology Creating a Place for Ourselves.

Speaking from the perspective of an LGBTQ professor, Retzloff recently participated in a panel in honor of its sesquicentennial at Wayne State University. Retzloff believes “There’s a lot of LGBBTQ history that’s not known because we haven’t pursued and asked people their stories, “For him, one of the purposes of panels like the one at Wayne State University is to share those stories so that we know them and, while we can, we get them firsthand.”

StatusSexy.com, a program of UNIFIED HIV Health and Beyond, started as a place to increase testing and decrease the stigma around HIV for young men. The site is a place to get the facts on HIV and for individuals to express themselves as the generation that has only known the world with HIV/AIDS as part of it.

Akilah Benton, is a public health professional with extensive experience in practical and research-based work with persons living with HIV, both domestically and abroad. Early on, she developed a passion for understanding cultural differences in the context of health care. While pursuing her master’s degree in Florida, she had an opportunity to work with a research study that adapted the renowned HIV behavioral health intervention, Healthy Relationships.  She currently serves as Interim Vice President of Community Research and Innovation of UNIFIED HIV Health and Beyond. Ka’Juan D. Hill is a Community Outreach Specialist at UNIFIED-HIV Health and Beyond. He uses his passion for public speaking and HIV to develop innovative sex-positive outreach strategies to reach communities of color. Using social media as a tool he has built a platform amongst the community reaching people in large numbers speaking on the topics of safe sex and risk reduction, 

StatusSexy.com believes that there is nothing sexier than confidence; confidence in yourself, in your partners and in the bedroom. The only way to get that confidence is to know your HIV status. Whether you're negative or positive knowing your status is always sexy when you know it.