When you started as CEO of The Center in 2024, you said it felt like “coming home”. Beyond your extensive professional accomplishments, what is it about your personal experience that made this role feel like the right fit?
When I started as CEO of The Center in 2024, it truly felt like coming home. Part of that feeling stems from the fact that my relationship with The Center began long before I ever imagined leading it.
I first came to The Center in the mid-1990s as a newcomer to New York City. Like so many LGBTQ+ people who come to this city, I was seeking connection, community, and spaces where I could fully be myself. The Center was one of those places. It represented possibility, belonging, and safety at a time when that mattered deeply.
So years later, walking back through those doors as CEO was a profound full circle moment for me. I understood not only the institution itself, but what The Center means to the many people who have passed through over the last four decades.
As a Black queer woman, I also understand deeply what it means to navigate spaces where visibility can come with both pride and pressure. Throughout my career, I have been driven by a commitment to equity, community building, and creating systems where people feel seen, supported, and empowered. Leading The Center allows me to bring together both my professional experience and my lived experience in a way that feels incredibly aligned.
There was also something deeply meaningful about becoming the first CEO of color in The Center’s history. I understood the significance of that moment not simply as a personal milestone, but as part of a broader evolution around representation, leadership, and whose stories are reflected in institutions that shape our community.
So, when I say it felt like coming home, I mean that in every sense: returning to a place that once helped ground me, and now, having the opportunity to help ensure future generations experience that same sense of belonging, affirmation, and possibility.
As the third CEO in 40 years, how has your approach differed from your predecessors? What changes have you made to meet the particular challenges of our time?
I have tremendous respect for the leaders who came before me. Each CEO helped guide The Center, through different moments in both the organization’s history and LGBTQ+ history. I see my role as building upon that legacy while helping prepare the organization
for what comes next.
The challenges facing our community today are incredibly complex. We are navigating coordinated political attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, growing threats to transgender and gender nonconforming people, rising economic instability, mental health crises, housing insecurity, and increasing polarization. At the same time, community needs are evolving rapidly.
So far, my approach centers on balancing defense and growth. We have to protect what generations before us fought to build while preparing for the future.
That has meant strengthening our organizational sustainability, investing in infrastructure, improving financial transparency and operational systems, and positioning The Center to be nimbler and more responsive in a rapidly changing environment. It has also meant increasing visibility and public engagement because organizations like ours cannot afford to be passive right now.
Programmatically, we have expanded our services in key areas. We are also continuing to deepen culturally responsive programming that reflects the diversity of our community.
Leadership today requires creating space for honesty. People are carrying fear, exhaustion, and uncertainty right now. Part of my role is helping our community feel grounded in something larger than the headlines, reminding people that LGBTQ+ communities have always built resilience through connection, collective care, and courage.
Can you walk us through some of the resources available at The Center? Do you have any goals for current or future programs?
One of the things that makes The Center unique is the variety and depth of support we provide the LGBTQ+ community.
We provide mental health and wellness services, recovery support, youth programming, family support services, survivor support, arts and cultural programming, advocacy initiatives, and community organizing space. We also operate one of the largest LGBTQ+ community spaces in the country where people can access affirming resources, build connections, and simply feel a sense of belonging.
Our services have historically reached close to 400,000 people annually through both in-person and virtual programming.
We’re working on expanding behavioral health services, strengthening support for LGBTQ+ survivors of violence, increasing access to culturally specific programming, and ensuring transgender and gender nonconforming people have access to affirming care and resources.
Looking ahead, one of my biggest goals is ensuring that The Center continues evolving alongside the community. LGBTQ+ needs are not static, so service providers cannot remain static. We think deeply about how to expand access, deepen impact, strengthen partnerships, and build long-term sustainability so that future generations inherit an institution that is even stronger than the one we inherited.
The Center is not only a crisis response organization. While we do provide critical services, we are also a historical and cultural institution providing opportunities to creatives, an educational site for leadership and development opportunities, and a space for joy and celebration. Our archives, garden, art exhibitions, and community events create a vibrant environment. That balance matters.
What are some of the moments, through your work at The Center, that continue to inspire you to do what you do?
The moments that stay with me most are often the deeply human ones.
It’s hearing someone say they walked into The Center for the first time and finally felt safe. It’s seeing young people find community in a moment when the world is telling them they should shrink themselves. It’s watching survivors access affirming support after feeling unseen elsewhere. It’s seeing LGBTQ+ elders share stories about surviving decades of discrimination while still showing up with hope and joy.
One moment that was especially meaningful was participating in re-raising the Pride flag at Stonewall after the federal government ordered its removal. New Yorkers from across the city came together in Christopher Park, a reminder of the strength and unity in numbers. Through our presence and determination, we ensured that the flag would remain a permanent fixture.
And honestly, I am inspired every day by our staff, volunteers, and community members who continue doing this work with compassion and commitment, despite the pressures of this moment.
How has personal style impacted your career? What qualities do your clothes need to have to make you feel like your most authentic self?
Personal style has always been an extension of confidence, authenticity, and presence for me. As a Black queer woman in leadership, I learned early on that people often project expectations onto how leaders should look or present themselves. Over time, I became much more intentional about refusing to separate professionalism from authenticity.
Style can be incredibly affirming because it allows people to communicate who they are before they even speak. For many queer people, fashion is a key part of self-definition and visibility.
For me, the most important thing is feeling grounded in myself. More recently, I have gravitated toward clothing that feels powerful, tailored, comfortable, and authentic to how I move through the world. I want to feel confident enough to fully focus on the work, the people in front of me, and the message I’m trying to communicate.
There is something powerful about queer visibility in professional spaces. Every time LGBTQ+ leaders show up authentically, it expands what leadership looks like for someone else watching.
How can members of the community help further The Center’s mission?
The most important thing people can do is stay connected to the community. In moments like this, isolation is dangerous. Community is how we protect each other.
There are so many ways people can support The Center’s mission, donating, volunteering, attending events, advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, amplifying resources, supporting queer-led organizations and businesses, and simply creating affirming spaces in their own communities.
I also encourage people not to underestimate the importance of showing up. Showing up consistently matters. Supporting organizations that serve LGBTQ+ people matters. Investing in spaces that allow our community to gather, heal, organize, and celebrate is essential.
We all have a responsibility to ensure that the most marginalized members of our community are not left behind. That means centering transgender people, people of color, LGBTQ+ youth, immigrants, survivors, disabled community members, and others who are disproportionately impacted by discrimination and systemic barriers.
The Center has existed for more than 40 years because generations of people have understood that sustaining community spaces requires collective responsibility with an ongoing
commitment to ensure there are no spaces between our letters.
As the queer community continues to face attacks, what are the ways you are personally and professionally creating safe spaces for the queer community?
Creating a safe space today requires more than symbolism—it requires action, investment, and consistency.
Professionally, that means ensuring The Center remains a place where LGBTQ+ people
can access affirming services, resources, community support, art, history, and
opportunities for connection.
It also means being intentional about visibility. In moments when people are trying to erase LGBTQ+ people, especially transgender and gender nonconforming people, organizations have a responsibility to stand visibly and unapologetically with the community.
Personally, I try to lead with openness, honesty, and presence. I want people to feel that
they do not have to diminish themselves to belong in these spaces and that our doors are
open to everyone. I also try to model the importance of both resilience and joy.
Queer people deserve more than survival. We deserve safety, celebration, rest, creativity, and the ability to imagine futures beyond fear.
One of the most important things we can do right now is remind people that they are not
alone. LGBTQ+ communities have always faced attempts to push us into silence or
invisibility, and yet we are still here, building community, caring for one another, and
continuing to fight for a future where everyone can live openly and safely.
