Monday, we mapped potential collaboration partners. Tuesday, we narrowed that list to the strongest fits. Today, it’s time to move from identifying opportunities to actually starting the conversation. A good collaboration pitch should be clear, specific, and mutually beneficial. Avoid vague outreach like: “Would you like to collaborate sometime?” Instead, give the other person something concrete to react to. Try this simple framework: 1. Start with the connection. Why are you reaching out to them specifically? 2. Show the fit. Mention the audience, mission, topic, or community you have in common. 3. Suggest one clear idea. A podcast guest spot, shared livestream, workshop, referral relationship, event appearance, sponsorship, cross-promotion, or community project. 4. Explain the mutual value. How could this benefit both audiences, not just your business? Wednesday Action: Send ONE Collaboration Invitation Choose one of the strong-fit partners you identified yesterday and create a simple outreach message using this formula: “I appreciate what you’re doing with ______. We both serve ______, and I think there may be an opportunity to create something valuable together. What would you think about ______?” Keep it short. Keep it personal. And remember: the goal of the first message is not necessarily to close a deal. It is to start a conversation. You can also build relationships before making an ask. Comment thoughtfully on their work. Share their content. Attend their event. Introduce yourself. Strong collaborations rarely begin with, “What can you do for me?” They begin with: “I see what you’re building. Here’s an idea for what we could build together.” Tomorrow, during our Coffee Chat at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, we’ll talk about taking collaboration into the community through events, appearances, sponsorships, and shared visibility. More Pride. More Profit. More Power.

Yesterday, we started building our Collaboration Map by identifying people, businesses, organizations, events, and platforms that already reach the audiences we want to connect with. Today, we take the next step: Who should you actually collaborate with? Not every partnership is a good fit. The strongest collaborations happen when there is alignment between audience, values, credibility, and opportunity. Start by looking for people or organizations that serve a similar audience without directly competing with you. That could be: • Another LGBTQ+ business owner with a complementary service • A local nonprofit or community organization • A podcast, livestream, newsletter, or publication • A Pride organization or chamber of commerce • An event producer, speaker, coach, creator, or educator • A business that may benefit from a referral relationship Then ask yourself: Do we serve similar people? Do our values align? Could we genuinely help each other? Would this collaboration make sense to both audiences? A good partnership should feel natural, not forced. Tuesday Action: Identify 3 Strong-Fit Partners Go back to the five names you listed yesterday and choose the three strongest opportunities. Next to each one, write down: 1. Why are we a good fit? 2. What could I offer them? 3. What could we create together? Maybe it’s a guest interview, shared workshop, referral partnership, event appearance, social media collaboration, sponsorship, or cross-promotion. Then choose ONE person or organization you can begin building a relationship with this week. You do not have to pitch immediately. Follow them. Engage with their work. Share something useful. Introduce yourself. Strategic collaborations usually begin with relationships before they become opportunities. Tomorrow, we’ll focus on how to actually reach out and make the collaboration ask without sounding transactional or awkward. More Pride. More Profit. More Power.

Some of you may know, but for those that don't, I have been a voting member of the Gay And Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (GALECA), for the past 4 years. Each year we nominate and vote on the television shows, movies, and theatre productions that offer queer-themed content and mainstream. I love this organization and have been able to interview some amazing people on my podcast through the connections I have made there. This year I was about 54% in my nominations with the group and 76% in my winner selections. Look over the attached list and let me know some of your favorites in television over the past year.

Hey everyone! I am the guest speaker at the Social Queer Connects event at Lucy's Bottle Shop in Ballard on Thursday. It's geared toward entrepreneurship and queer business owners. I'll be talking about my company, myself and my story, and answering any questions anyone might have. I'm super excited and wanted to invite everyone. And I should be able to make the coffee meet up this week also 😁 I also was invited on stage at Alki Beach Pride and got some mic time to talk about my app. It was such a great experience. It's been a week full of wins and I wanted to extend the invite to not just this event but all of the social queer events. It's a great resource for professionals and networking. https://partiful.com/e/8OldPxahI8PKuleVRLX3?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZnRzaATxoZpwZG9mAmZkaWQWUMsuKQ6JEG7VCRMr8AYLpEH2b2ALOGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDzEyNDAyNDU3NDI4NzQxNAABp_g_cJx7gCGsYfP40HRs8azvbQKcu_H-MHVH2CXtKdgfuCnPsMQgldw9lapy_aem_6sqdVAjsjpu0rj8qHH33zg

TODAY I ASKED GEMINI "What is the largest online resource for gay bar history?" THE RESPONSE: The most comprehensive online source dedicated entirely to gay bar history is GayBarchives, which documents over 5,000 clubs globally. It features a vast digital collection of historical logos, an active community storytelling forum, and hundreds of hours of video interviews. For more targeted research and specific regions, several other major digital archives and projects lead the field:⁠ GayBarchives: The largest crowdsourced, digital-first archive dedicated to preserving the logos, memorabilia, and stories of "queer bars gone by" across the United States and internationally. Lesbian Bar Project: A documentary and digital archive specifically dedicated to mapping, preserving, and celebrating the shrinking number of lesbian and queer women's bars. ⁠LGBTQ History Project: An extensive digital archive preserving primary source oral history testimonies, tracing liberation spaces from pre-Stonewall to the present day.⁠ Digital Transgender Archive: A massive hub for digitized historical materials that documents worldwide archival holdings, providing essential context on the intersection of transgender history and nightlife. Additionally, major brick-and-mortar research institutions offer significant digitized catalogs, finding aids, and online exhibitions: Stonewall National Museum, Archives, & Library: Located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, this institution hosts one of the largest LGBTQ+ archives in the United States. Its massive collection includes decades of vintage pulp fiction, historic periodicals, organizational records, and rare bar ephemera available through their digital research tools. ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at USC Libraries: The largest repository of LGBTQ+ materials in the world, which includes vast collections of vintage bar ephemera, guides, and advertisements.⁠ The GLBT Historical Society: Based in San Francisco, this organization provides extensive digitized historical documents and a searchable archive of decades of the Bay Area Reporter, an essential LGBTQ+ newspaper chronicling bar culture and the AIDS crisis.