Giving back has taken Michael Goodman a long way. 

Lali Safavi saw a gap in South Florida’s queer media scene and filled it with a new publication known as SkirtSoFLo that is focused on arts and culture for LGBTQ women. She is from DC and was inspired by their community publications such as the Washington Blade. Another inspiration was Curve Magazine, a lesbian publication founded in 1990.

Justin Jones is a problem solver. He's also the President of the Rapha Center of Miami. In the Bible, the Hebrew word Rapha translates as healing. 

Before he became SunServe’s Vice President of Programs, Alex Spriggs' career took him from Australia to Japan and, finally, South Florida. 

She’ll sing, hold space for you, make you laugh, and just when you thought she was done, she’ll flip drag on its head for her own amusement and yours. 

Legacy is more than a word to LaTonya Hopson. It is a vision, a mission, and an imperative. Not for herself, but for her community. She founded a nonprofit, The Legacy Project, with the goal of building bridges in BIPOC and LGBTQ communities as change agents through arts and culture to provide holistic care.

In almost two years serving as the Community Outreach Coordinator at Holy Cross Health, within the Community Health and Well-Being Department, Von Biggs has accomplished so much for the LGBTQ community.

In tough times, tough people rise to meet the occasion. That was the case for Karen Kelley. “I decided rather than screaming at the TV, I'd get involved.”

Donna Weinberger is the founder of Transpire Help, a nonprofit focused on substance abuse recovery for members of the LGBTQ+ community. They are also the CEO of Inspire Recovery, an LGBTQ-affirming addiction rehabilitation center, as well as the CEO of Pride Detox, an LGBTQ-affirming detox and rehabilitation center. They also recently opened an LGBTQ-affirming detox and rehabilitation center in Homestead called Q Space Detox.

Ryan Young, a life-long New Yorker, wanted to get out of the cold.

For LGBTQ travelers, Miami begins with Dan Rios.

After working 25 years as a nurse in the trauma intensive care unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Douglas Houghton embarked on a new and exciting adventure as the organization’s first Director of Advanced Practice.

Q-Mitch Jones is a true showman who loves bingo and has a big heart.

Husbands John Mather and Ryan Maloney are the founders of North Beach LGBTQ+ & Friends, a social group serving the LGBTQ community of North Beach and Galt in Fort Lauderdale. 

Diane Pappafotis is the Women with Pride coordinator for The Pride Center at Equality Park in Wilton Manors. Women with Pride is a program at the center that creates spaces for a queer women’s community. Pappafotis is also the marketing director for SkirtSoFlo, a local publication focused on LGBTQ+ women.

In “Fallen Fruit,” filmmaker Chris Molina presents a relatable story of starting over again. 

David Jobin is the President and CEO of the Our Fund Foundation. The organization creates positive community change and addresses urgent issues facing the LGBTQ+ communities.

Caridad Moro-Gronlier was one of OutSFL’s six queer poets featured for National Poetry Month in April. A Cuban-American, her poetry collection "Tortillera" embraces and reclaims the word "tortillera," a term for lesbian in Spanish often regarded as a slur in some Cuban-American homes. Moro-Gronlier moved from Los Angeles to Miami at 9 years old.

Ryan Thompson came to West Palm Beach from his native Atlanta five years ago. For Thompson, choosing to go home-based in 2018 meant being able to live almost anywhere, and it was apparent from his early life that Thomson valued authenticity, involvement, and diversity as keys to life. 

Meet Ground Zero, a transgender male and Latinx variety entertainer Palm Beach County. He has built an impressive reputation for being known as "The Cosplay King" due to his standout performances and stellar costumes.

Steven Butterman understands the LGBTQ community on an academic level. He is a tenured professor at University of Miami who works in gender and cultural studies, immigration, the queer diaspora and queer theory.

Alexis Fernández is a self-described "entertainer and comedian in entertainment." Fernández is a drag veteran with 25 years of experience as a performer. Fernández is best known as his alter ego, Marytrini el Huracan, whom locals call 'the empress of transformism.'

For trans activist Liam Lipham, holding space for someone to be their whole self is more than an occupation, it's a duty. Growing up in small town Missouri, Lipham found little room to explore his identity without scrutiny, only to join the Navy’s “SeaBees” Construction Battalion right out of high school during the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” era. 

Maxx Fenning has accomplished much beyond his years - he recently graduated with his bachelor’s in business administration from University of Florida while also leading PRISM, a nonprofit focused on sexual education for LGBTQ+ youth in South Florida.