Preferred Name

Alan

Why are you excited to volunteer for InterPride?

Helping to create safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ community has been my work for 35 years. It’s how I self-identify. I want to continue this work globally as best as I can. InterPride is my conduit to keep doing such in a leadership role.

Biography

Retired ESL teacher, a multi-lingual world traveler with a post-graduate degree in Linguistics & Diplomacy who wants to help make the world a better place.

Alan has had 30 years of Pride involvement in the U.S. and internationally and has been a volunteer with Heritage of Pride for more than 30 years. Positions he has held include Co-Chair, Secretary, Outreach and PrideFest Director, Acting Treasurer, Staff Implementing Committee, and he has served on the March, Rally, and Stonewall 50 Committees.

On the Executive Board of Queens Pride, Alan’s roles have been Co-Chair, Pridefest Director, and Northeast Regional Prides (NERP) 2015 Programming Director. Working with Dirk McCall (Founder and Director) to produce OUTBronx, they’ve built a networking LGBT+ organization that creates safe spaces to increase visibility in the Bronx. Alan speaks English, Spanish, French, and some Portuguese.

Preferred Name

Barry Karlenzig

Why are you excited to work with/at/volunteer for InterPride?

To help bring input to CSIC and make sure conferences are a success.

Biography

Barry Karlenzig has worked tirelessly for the 2SLGBTTQIA+ community as a Board Member with the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, President of the Snowy Owl Monarchist Society, Co-Chair of the Conference Structure & Integrity Committee with InterPride, and for more than a decade in many capacities with Pride Winnipeg.

Preferred Name

Dave

Why are you excited to work with/at/volunteer for InterPride?

To be able to provide a venue for pride organizers to learn from each other on how to grow their organization and events.

Biography

Dave Wait began his involvement with the pride movement in 2004 when he first volunteered for a ‘shift’ at Motor City Pride. That four-hour shift led to being Chairperson of MCP. With his event planning and advocacy experience, he has grown MCP from an afternoon street fair attracting 8,000 people to a regional weekend festival attracting over 55,000 participants each year.

In addition to coordinating Detroit’s annual LGBTQ pride festival, he works to empower others around the globe to offer pride activities in their community as a Board Member of InterPride: The International Association of Pride Coordinators. Dave is completing his second term as treasurer.

Dave has also served eight years on the board of Equality Michigan: Michigan’s statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization, and fourteen years at a national level on the Management Team of the National LGBT Task Force’s Creating Change Conference.

When not volunteering, Dave has been employed by Eastern Michigan University since 1986. He serves as the Executive Director of three career and technical student organizations: DECA, SkillsUSA, and FCCLA, which annually provides leadership and career development conferences for over 14,000 Michigan high school students. He has served four non-consecutive terms on the DECA Inc. Board of Directors. DECA Inc. is a not-for-profit international educational association with 195,000 members.

Preferred Name

Debbie

Why are you excited to work with/at/volunteer for InterPride?

Because I genuinely believe that we can achieve so much more if we all work together.

Biography

Proud Welsh Lesbian committed to accessibility and visibility for all. Chair of Oxford Pride, Committee member of Witney Pride. Passionate about using my privilege for good.

While in London, Debbie worked in publishing and marketing. In 2000 she decided to change careers to become a freelance IT tutor, specializing in working with older people (usually 80+) and people with disabilities. She has continued working in this field with people with visual impairments and learning disabilities (including dyslexia). Debbie worked with the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, to create accessible courseware for blind users and screen reader modules for some examining bodies in the UK. She currently works with several companies to deliver online and in-person training and is a consultant on disability matters to several training organizations. She is passionate about accessibility and equality for people with disabilities.

In 2018 Debbie joined the committee of Oxford Pride as Communications Officer and took on the role of Sponsorship and Fundraising Officer later in the same year. As Chair of Oxford Pride in 2019, she oversaw the biggest event to date with a two-week festival and a lot of community engagement in the months leading up to Pride Day. In addition, Debbie has actively helped new smaller Prides develop around Oxfordshire and sits on the committee of Witney Pride.

Preferred Name

Hadi

Biography

Born in Beirut in 1989, Hadi Damien is the initiator and organizer of Beirut Pride, the first Pride in the Arabic-speaking world. Arrested in May 2018 and placed in custody following the homophobic fabrication of a fake, sensational program attributed to Beirut Pride, he was released after initiating criminal proceedings against him relative to the organization of “events that incite to debauchery,” and that is still ongoing. In addition, he authored the multi-sectoral framework for the LGBTIQ+ file in Lebanon (featuring a 10-year plan that responds to LGBTIQ+ challenges). Member of InterPride (Representative of Region 18, CSIC co-chair, committee member), he also sits on the International Advisory Boards of both AllOut NGO and the Human Rights Conference of the WorldPride Copenhagen 2021.

Postgraduate lecturer at the Jesuit Saint Joseph University in Beirut, he designs events and communications for the private and public sectors and practices political communication. In this capacity, he lobbied during the Lebanese Parliament elections of May 2018 for LGBTIQ+ inclusion, succeeded in getting candidates and MPs to pledge support for decriminalizing LGBTIQ status, then authored the decriminalization parliament bill. He also wrote a bill for the national HIV response with 72 sections, including a large part about non-discrimination procedures.

Preferred Name

Jen

Biography

Jen LaBarbera is the Co-Chair of CSIC with InterPride. They are also the Director of Education & Advocacy at San Diego Pride, where they oversee the organization’s community partnerships, education & advocacy programs, civic engagement, and international diplomacy work. As a queer multiracial nonbinary femme of color, Jen works to advocate for policy to shape and change lives and is invested in the grassroots organizing and community engagement necessary to further true social justice and liberation. Jen has over 15 years of experience as a librarian, archivist, political and community organizer, and advocate for LGBTQ+ equality and reproductive justice in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, and Massachusetts.

Preferred Name

Kevin

Biography

Preferred Name

Linda

Biography

Linda began volunteering with Boston Pride Committee (BPC) in 1998. A year later, she became President, growing BPC while wearing many hats. She is readily known as the “one on the golf cart.” As one of its founding members, BPC is an active member of the North East Region (NERP) of InterPride. Linda was voted in as Treasurer of InterPride in 2012 and co-president in 2018. In her “spare” time, Linda runs a small business in Boston and is a member of other business associations. When not active in the community, Linda, her wife, Anna, and their cats Pinky and Maximus enjoy quiet nights at home together.

Preferred Name

Madonna

Why are you excited to work for InterPride?

The depth and breadth of global services and community are everything to me.

Biography

I am an activist for humans and animals. I’ve been in the non-profit fundraising world for more than 17 years and vegan for 15.

Preferred Name

Marsha

Why are you excited to volunteer for InterPride?

When I founded this organization in 1982, it was to get national Pride organizers networked, but today, to see its growth and longevity and how we help each other inspires me to continue working side-b-side with my peers from all over the world.

Biography

A Pride-organizing veteran since 1980, she is the Founder of InterPride and a co-founder of CAPI, Inc. (Consolidated Associations of Pride, Inc.). Currently, Marsha also serves as InterPride’s Governance Committee Co-Chair. For 18 years, she was San Francisco Pride’s Parade Manager, on top of a similar period as a volunteer for the organization in various roles, including President and Vice President on their Board of Directors. In January 2018, Marsha accepted the position of Community Relations Manager for SF Pride, responsible for coordinating community partners, volunteers, politicians, VIPs, and Grand Marshals. Before 1985, she was a member of Boston Pride for five years, the last three of which she served consecutively as their President. An activist since high school, Marsha has always been a strong advocate for human and civil rights.

Preferred Name

Michael

Biography

Michael K. Lavers is the award-winning International News Editor for the Washington Blade. He has been with the newspaper since 2012.

Michael has reported from the Deep South, the United Nations, Cuba, Israel, Brazil, and more than a dozen other countries and territories. He has appeared on Al Jazeera, BBC, Sirius XM, and other English and Spanish-language media outlets to discuss LGBTQ-specific issues.

Michael holds a degree in journalism and Spanish from the University of New Hampshire. He grew up in Manchester, N.H., and currently lives in Dupont Circle with his husband.

Preferred Name

Michelle

Biography

Michelle Meow, host and producer of “The Michelle Meow Show,” is your A-Z, covering the LGBT, LMNOP, and everyone in between. She attended San Francisco State University and received a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism and shortly after started her career in radio. Michelle’s show can be heard in San Francisco and nationally on the Progressive Voices Network. The local TV show can be seen on KBCW TV, Ch 44/ Cable 712 Sunday nights at 1030pm.

In late 2017, Michelle began producing programs at the iconic Commonwealth Club of CA- dedicated to conversations around social justice with an intersectional lens. She has interviewed notable thought leaders such as Olympic medalist Adam Rippon, NFL’s first out LGBTQ coach Katie Sowers, a first American woman in space, Sally Ride’s widow Tam O’Shaughnessy, and actresses Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, and Lily Tomlin, and more. Her interviews also include local dignitaries, community advocates, and elected leaders. Michelle has also been a co-host of the San Francisco Pride Parade broadcast since 2006. She served as Board President of the San Francisco Pride Board of Directors from 2015-2018. She is a self-described LGBTQI+ history geek, information sponge, and a lover, not a fighter.

Preferred Name

Natalie

Biography

Natalie serves on InterPride’s Board as a Co-President. She has previously served as Co-Chair for Global Pride 2022 and a member of the IPTF, the ad hoc committee that made recommendations to improve operations and governance in InterPride. Natalie joined the Capital Pride Alliance Board in 2018. She currently serves as the VP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She is the Chair of the DEI committee, responsible for organizing the #StillWe Lead program, and assists with programming for the Pride Talks series. Professionally, Natalie is the Director of Programs for the SF LGBT Center, addressing the community’s needs to increase access to housing, employment, mental health services, nutritional resources, etc. Through her work and volunteerism, Natalie is dedicated to building community sufficiency, reducing barriers, and celebrating our diversity.

Preferred Name

Nicolás

Why are you excited to volunteer for InterPride?

I am excited to share my knowledge as a Latino from the global south for a global vision of the world.

Biography

Nicolas is part of PRIDE SV – Marcha Por la Diversidad en El Salvador. At 42 years old, he came out of the closet when he was 19; at that precise moment, his family rejected him from home; being alone, he tried to find information about LGBTIQ issues in Spanish, which was a real challenge at that time. For that reason, he promised to create a Spanish webpage with LGBTIQ resources. After finishing his journalist/advertising career, he found the webpage: ELSALVADORG, the LGBTIQ news media in Central America; started covering in Spanish: the AIDS world conferences and the GAY GAMES. Suddenly he became the PRIDE logistic manager in San Salvador in 2009, creating the Pridefest, call to action events, doing rainbow crosswalks, revealing big flags on iconic buildings, etc. After this, He got an Internship at the Los Angeles LGBT center in 2012; years later, he did a “Self Internship” on Heritage Of pride NYC in 2016; after this, he met InterPride, becoming a member in 2018. Since then, he has helped créate with other Latino colleagues a virtual gathering of Latino countries pride organizers group (Orgullo Latinoamerica).

In 2020’s Quarantine, the Pandemic year, he developed ORGULLO EN CASA, a local version of “virtual global pride” for El Salvador; then, in 2021, knowing that the pandemic was not going away, he made a pride march with social distance. Still, at the same time, broadcast all the march on the internet for all people couldn’t be on pride for seen from their homes. In 2021, Nicholas was elected as VP of Global Outreach & Partnership Management in the last months.

Preferred Name

Rahul

Biography

Preferred Name

Rick Andre

Why are you excited to work with/at/volunteer for InterPride?

I get to assist membership.

Biography

He was born and raised to settlers in the traditional unceded territory of the Okanagan Syilx people in South Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada. He identifies as a gay white male. He has been involved in the pride movement for many years and has held several positions on pride boards.

Preferred Name

Richard

Biography

Richard was raised in South Central Los Angeles, California. At age 12, he became one of the few inner-city students chosen to attend school in the affluent West San Fernando Valley of L.A. County. After graduating high school, Richard could not afford to attend college. However, the dream of becoming a college graduate never left him. After struggling with his sexuality for decades, Richard began to live his authentic life in his 30s. He met his partner James Brethour in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2008, and the two married in James’ native Toronto, Canada, in 2010. They now live in Los Alamos, NM.  The moment Richard accepted his truth, he began to fight for equality. He spoke before the New Mexico State Senate, demanding the right to marry after witnessing friends lose their homes and financial security when a partner died. He joined the Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance (HRA), the organization that produces Santa Fe Pride, and became president. The organization created an LGBT+ Presidential Scholarship for the local community college.

In addition to leading the HRA, Richard has served as Region 3 director, CAPI VP, and WorldPride Co-Chair. Richard and James started a small business, and Richard completed college, earned a Master’s in Healthcare Administration, received a Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Disabilities (LEND) fellowship, and is now in the process of completing a Special Education Teaching certification. He currently works for the New Mexico Corrections Department Health Services Bureau. There, Richard provides workshops for inmates and their families on Substance Use Disorders, Opioid Overdose Prevention, Trauma, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Cultural Humility, and a variety of other topics in a combined effort with the Department of Health to reduce overdose deaths, and recidivism. Richard’s public speaking extends outside of his secular position. He has given workshops on Implicit Bias Awareness, Rainbow Racism, Misandry and Misogyny, and Autism and the LGBT+ Community to multiple pride organizations, businesses, and schools, domestic and international. As V.P. of Accessibility, Diversity & Inclusion, I will continue to promote equality and equity to continue the evolution of InterPride. We’ve made strides, but now is not the time to rest on our laurels and continue striving for growth, inclusion, and accessibility. When InterPride is strong, we’re in a better position to support membership.

Preferred Name

Ryan

Why are you excited to work for InterPride?

He is excited to work at InterPride because “InterPride is a global icon of equality. I am honored to join the international pride family in the fight to advance equal rights worldwide!”

Who is your favorite historical or present-day Queer icon, and why?

Phill Wilson is an internationally renowned HIV/AIDS advocate and activist. His dedication to fighting for communities of color transformed public policy and highlighted the severe inequalities present in our healthcare system. I admire his commitment, activism, and genuine spirit toward supporting our African-American communities.

Biography

With over 15 years of experience in project management, business innovation, and stakeholder engagement, Dr. Ryan A. Starzyk (Dr. Ryan) is a Global Project Manager, Communications and Technology at InterPride. This international organization empowers and connects Pride organizations worldwide. Dr. Ryan provides the necessary research, information, materials, and communications to effectively engage with staff, board, donors, partners, and potential partners and define and advance the organization’s annual and quarterly priorities. Dr. Ryan also manages the production of the InterPod, The Global Voices of Pride Podcast, Powered by InterPride, leveraging strategic partnerships and marketing to amplify the voice and visibility of the LGBTQIA+ community globally.

Dr. Ryan is a combat military Veteran, having served honorably in the United States Air Force from 2003–2007 with multiple deployments to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Dr. Ryan is also the owner and founder of BlueFire Group, a social-purpose business promoting a radical transformation from strict profit motives to community-focused local economic development to create a more sustainable and equitable future. Dr. Ryan holds a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree with expertise in digital transformation and big data and is a Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM), Certified SCRUM Master (CSM), and ITIL practitioner. Dr. Ryan is also a champion of Pride 365, a distinction that honors his commitment to fostering inclusion and equity for the LGBTQIA+ community in all aspects of life. Additionally, Dr. Ryan is the former Vice President of the Phoenix Pride Board of Directors, having served for six years while increasing equitable representation, sponsorships, and fiscal stability.

What is your life motto?

Only the people who say it can’t be done will be the reason it can’t get done.

Preferred Name

Trisha Clymore

Why are you excited to work with/at/volunteer for InterPride?

Good to be back!

Biography

I am a volunteer with The Atlanta Pride Committee. I have been involved with InterPride since 1999 and previously served as a Vice President, Co-President, and Treasurer. Also volunteers with the United States Association of Prides (USAP).

Preferred Name

Uwe

Why are you excited to work with/at/volunteer for InterPride?

Importance of networking of Pride organizers globally.

Biography

I’ve been volunteering for pride for more than 15 years. I’m keen on networking, exchanging experiences, and learning from other Prides, locally, nationally, and internationally. I’m the representative for the International affairs of CSD Deutschland ( german pride network) and a board member of the European Pride Organisers Association (EPOA).