Queer Business is Better
For those of us running a business right now, it’s a weird time. (Okay, for all of us, this is a weird time.)
Kidnapping our brown neighbors and putting them in detention centers in other countries is a thing we do now. Oh, did you hear? 618 bills were introduced in 2025, meant to harm or reduce safety for LGBTQIA+ individuals? Drilling in our national parks has been fast-tracked for 2026, and 80 million acres are at stake. Also, the economy is now K-shaped, so the rich are, like, super happy, and the rest of us are buying more ramen.
And that was just like Tuesday.
I’m exhausted. The kind humans among us are all exhausted.
I think we all need more cat pics right now.
Here’s Cleocatra.
When I’m talking with other ethical business owners, they’re all saying the same thing: How do I go through the work of promoting my business in the midst of all this chaos? Should I even?
Every new day seems to slap us in the face with a terrible reality. It feels like the worst parts of humanity are on display. It stings my eyes and then overwhelms my senses. That stunned type of foreboding, hard-to-breath-in-your-chest feeling that makes it hard to focus. You're not sure if you should sit in a dark closet in silence, stockpile food, or riot in the streets. (In those moments, I'm thankful for the nervous system work I've incorporated into my life bc there is not enough cookie dough in the world to help this feeling.)
One thing you should: Yes, I was diagnosed with neurodivergence later in life, but I also realized that I’m bisexual only in the last few years. Apparently, those two things are related!! The even crazier thing is that so many people are going through the same thing. Maybe it’s because we’re all at peak feminine rage in the midst of perimenopause, and we can’t take the made-up rules anymore. Or maybe we’re finally getting over our religious trauma. Building a business and making sure every corner of it is aligned with my values has been QUITE THE JOURNEY to say the least.
That brings me to this: What I love about my life as an entrepreneur is that I can choose who I work with (queers, people of color, and allies, thank you). ALL of my clients have been queer. It has made me better in every way.
The difference in queer culture (even in business) is that the human comes first. Always. You can feel it in your soul at queer networking events compared to the sterile, business-first events that I’ve attended in the past.
“How are you?” hits different when you’re talking to a woman, who happens to be trans, whose entire personhood might be legally wiped out by the current administration. The question matters, and so does her answer.
Big Business has shown its true colors, which only fuels my fire for small business. Isn't that how we want it anyway? Didn't we all cry and yell at the screen when Meg Ryan's bookshop closed bc a corporation put her sweet little shop out of business in You've Got Mail? (That was 1998, by the way) . That movie alone was responsible for a shift in how I bought things.
Just like we learned recently with Target, where you choose to spend your money makes a difference.
It’s one of the many reasons I canceled my AI subscription.
In the midst of this time, this epic awfulness, I have to repeatedly remind myself that my business is resistance. There’s resistance when I’m getting ready to do something that might promote HappiAssist (as I HAVE to do to continue being able to eat and smash the patriarchy.)
Sometimes I like to lie down at night and imagine an entirely separate economy full of ethical commerce and not blood money. #justhippiethings
I come to work to support other queer business owners every day, despite the possibility of global nuclear war, because that’s what we need right now: more commerce and less reliance on billionaires.
It’s an honor to support other amazing humans who are doing cool shit and get to do that as a job. A nice side bonus is the lack of masking required, which drained way more energy than I realized.
Did you know that research estimates that 30%-70% of LGBTQ+ people are also neurodivergent? (Don't just take my word for it.) Do you know how hard it is to build a business when your brain is wired differently, much less when you’re ALSO playing hide-and-go-seek with a homophobic, hostile government? It’s not just some people you read about in the news who are being affected. It's people I know. My friends, my family, my neighbors.
Yours too. I know I’m not alone in these sentiments.
When I shine, my clients shine, and we all win. In July 2025, I got to attend a ceremony with Anna Vos, my dear friend and client. The ceremony was lifting up many queer businesses in the city of Rochester, and Anna was celebrated for her work through Anna Parade, which has directly impacted the city of Rochester. (And guess who has a minor hand in that?? Me!) It was a pinch-me moment for my whole body. I get to help a creative mind take her art and get it into the world. I get to help Anna dream big for her business and then figure out a way to achieve those dreams. We can always do bigger things together than alone.
So let’s show up, okay?
Use your knowledge, strengths, and gifts to help other kind humans in their lives and business. I’d much rather help put food on your table or fund your family on vacation than give my help to Bezos to buy another yacht (or send more bombs).
If you feel weird about promoting, know we’re all feeling weird about it. But if I don’t know about you, how can we have our own cool interdependent economy of my hippie dreams??
P.S. Queer and want to get in on that cool queer business culture I was talking about? Check out: HeyFamm.