Callaway Gable
Innovators
Jeff Consoletti
Meet one of the artists, disruptors, educators, groundbreakers, innovators, and storytellers who all helped make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people.
As JJLA’s founder and CEO (and Outloud Music Festival’s founder and executive producer), Jeff Consoletti describes his role as a “ fun maker,” “confetti blaster,” and “community builder.” Indeed, those seeking a blast of queer joy this year had only to swing by Outloud at WeHo Pride. Kesha, Janelle Monae, Kylie Minogue — they were all there, along with a buoyant and inclusive crowd.
Consoletti, who has also produced Oscars and Super Bowl activations, described this event as a “pinnacle moment of success…. Watching the diverse crowd of attendees come together to experience pure joy, it doesn’t get better than that for a music fan and an event producer.”
Be it a party or politics, Consoletti knows the power of showing up. “Whether continuing to work for marriage equality, gender-affirming care, women’s rights, adoption, or the many facets of everyday life that still impact so many LGBTQ+ persons here in America and globally, we must realize we are stronger together in that fight, and we must never let our guards down. We can’t leave a single queer person behind.” @jeffcons
Raffy Ermac
Raffy is a Los Angeles-based writer, editor, video creator, and critic.
Raffy is a Los Angeles-based writer, editor, video creator, and critic.
Melissa Simpson
Stacey YvonneStacey Yvonne is a critic and entertainment journalist who can be found in Los Angeles eating snacks at events. She loves to uplift the LGBTQIA+ community and specifically highlight Black and female members. She can be found at SYvonneCreative.com
Stacey Yvonne is a critic and entertainment journalist who can be found in Los Angeles eating snacks at events. She loves to uplift the LGBTQIA+ community and specifically highlight Black and female members. She can be found at SYvonneCreative.com
Stacey Yvonne is a critic and entertainment journalist who can be found in Los Angeles eating snacks at events. She loves to uplift the LGBTQIA+ community and specifically highlight Black and female members. She can be found at SYvonneCreative.com
Mars Sharrock
Meet one of the artists, disruptors, educators, groundbreakers, innovators, and storytellers who all helped make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people.
Melissa Simpson
Becoming who you are — and showing people your true self — is essential for queer people, “but it’s also fun!” says Mars Sharrock, program director for The Wardrobe, a Philadelphia nonprofit combating clothing insecurity. Whether you need clothes for a job interview or to affirm your gender transition, The Wardrobe makes sure that you are kitted from head to toe.
“Fashion — feeling good in what you wear — is an expression of self. Self-determination goes beyond basic needs and is about creativity, expression, and freedom,” Sharrock says. And it’s self-determination that they want everyone to have access to, regardless of income, race, religion, or even criminal record.
The organization launched a program called “Returning Wardrobe,” which focuses on clothing and education services for formerly incarcerated people. And Sharrock has helped the program increase its services to transgender and queer community members by over 50 percent in just the past few years. “Clothing is a basic need, so I see the work The Wardrobe does as helping people get their basic needs met,” Sharrock says. @_sharrockin_