OutBüro - LGBTQ Voices Dennis Velco

In this episode of OutBüro Voices featuring LGBTQ professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders from around the world, host Dennis Velco chats with DJ Doran, a media entrepreneur, LGBTQ community organizer, 23 year US Airforce veteran, and long-time Chicago citizen.   

Chicago News: Breaking DJ Doran announces his candidacy for Mayor of Chicago. (April 6, 2022).  The election is in February 2023.    

Mayoral candidate DJ Doran has never held a public office, his background is well suited to tackle the big issues Chicago faces. In our conversation, Doran lists 7 key issues and the practical high-level steps he'd take toward improving life for everyone in Chicago. As he explains, the first step would be to assess the current situation by meeting with the 50 Alderman, and city key departments, auditing the city finances and auditing the city contracts, policies, processes, and systems. He will empower the great employees of the City of Chicago to work with him to make Chicago a well-run city where all have the opportunity to thrive in a safe environment.    

For many, like myself, as soon as I hear "Chicago Politics" the first word that pops in my mind is "corruption".  I thought that maybe I'd seen too many movies. However, as Doran discussed the issues Chicago faces, that knee-jerk thought seems to unfortunately still be quite real.  Compounding the issues is Mayor Lightfoot who is ineffective at best.     

The system is full of career politicians who generally have little business life experience only appear to have their egos in mind.  It would be nice to be proven wrong on that.  The city has contracts that no reasonable business owner would ever sign such as a 100-year parking meter contract.  WHAT? I'd love to see that agreement to pick it apart. How could any competent person working in good faith for the city do such a thing? It was a political hack job with only the crony politician who forced that through and the parking meter company's bank account benefiting.  DJ states that if he ran his business finances the way the City of Chicago currently does, he'd be in JAIL!  The people of Chicago deserve a city government and leaders that have the community at large best interests in mind.  DJ Doran is the right person for the job.  

Learn more about DJ Doran and the issues Chicago faces at: 

https://doran4mayor.com 

https://www.facebook.com/doran4mayor 

https://twitter.com/doran4mayor

Read more on Windy City Times: https://www.windycitytimes.com/lgbt/POLITICS-Gay-media-owner-to-run-for-Chicago-mayor/72852.html

Learn more about DJ Doran and the issues Chicago faces at https://doran4mayor.com.  

Chicago deserves better than Mayor Lightfoot who said: 'I have the biggest d*** in Chicago'

Mayor Lightfoot is being sued for defamation, accused of profane comments - see news story here -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpIQ2E4gXj0 

Join us on OutBüro, the LGBTQ professional and entrepreneur online community network for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, allies, and our employers who support LGBTQ welcoming workplace equality-focused benefits, policies, and business practices.  https://www.OutBuro.com 

Would you like to be featured like this? Contact the host Dennis Velco via our site's Recommend an Interview Guest form.  https://outburo.com/recommend-a-guest/


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In this episode of OutBüro Voices featuring LGBTQ professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders from around the world, host Dennis Velco chats with Dr. Kelly. Today we are chatting about the need and importance of having wills and other end-of-life planning for LGBTQ persons.  

Don't leave headaches, problems, burdens for others. Estate planning including a will ensures your wishes and desires are carried out as you would like. It can be slightly more complex for persons who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, intersex, transgender or queer in several ways.   First, if estate planning is not done, family members who may not support you for who you are may swoop in and take all your assets away from those you intended to have them if no current will is present.  Also, family members who acted/seemed like they supported you as LGBTQ, can change their tune once you are gone.    Why chance it? 

With a little bit of time and planning, you can legally ensure your wishes are honored. Use a licensed attorney in the state you reside in and have assets in.   

When someone passes away the ugliness and greed in others come out. In many US states having a will may allow your case to bypass probate court. In other states that require all estates to pass through probate court, having a will, will be the guide the judge uses and speeds up the process. Not having a will is a sure way to have all your assets tied up in a probate court where the judge then has no clue about your desires and intentions and then will distribute your assets solely based on blood family relations.   

Estate Planning Tips: Fresh - Keep a current active will that is less than 3 years old. Plan - In planning, make a list of all your current assets, descriptions, location, value, etc. 

No Assets? A will is still needed, consider if there may be a wrongful death lawsuit case awarded to your estate. Your Family as you Define It - As an LGBTQ+ person, you may have a life partner, have a family of choice, and community non-profits you'd like to support and give your assets to.   

Designate Guardian for Minor Children - If you have minor-aged children, having a will is important to ensure the child will be placed in the care of who you choose and again that all decisions you want to make to care for the child after your passing is done.   

Many LGBTQ persons choose to live with a life partner yet are not legally married. Note even if married, a will is smart, but LGBTQ persons who are in a long relationship yet not legally married definitely need to leverage the legal structure of a will.  A will is your last love letter to those you love. It lays out the distribution of your assets in the event of your death.

Join us OutBüro, the LGBTQ professional and entrepreneur online community network for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, allies, and our employers who support LGBTQ welcoming workplace equality-focused benefits, policies, and business practices. https://OutBuro.com

Would you like to be featured like this? Contact the host Dennis Velco via our site's Recommend an Interview Guest form.  https://outburo.com/recommend-a-guest/


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In this episode of OutBüro Voices featuring LGBTQ professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders from around the world, host Dennis Velco chats with Martin Cowart, a spiritual and mindset coach helping clients heal personally and financially. Listen in or watch now or later on the video or audio apps you already use.   

The summary below doesn't fully explain. Be sure to listen or watch the full episode.  

Martin works with gay, bisexual, and transgender business owners. Previously he was a wealth manager at a large firm. He found himself in a toxic work environment which affected his performance.  He came close to bankruptcy and one day came to the point of owning it and surrendering the whole situation to his higher power - God.  At that moment a feeling of love, grace, and power enveloped him. He found a new perspective - that it all doesn't matter. He changed his perception and attachment to money.  Love and gratitude are the foundation of abundance.  Martin does what is called Shadow Work. That is helping others identity, address, and overcome their negative and scarcity mindset at the root cause.  He has a spiritual guide called Joy the Wise Woman. \

No matter how much money someone has if they have a mindset of scarcity and lack in their mind, it will never be enough. They must release their emotional attachments to money to be freed in order to feel their worth, accept themself and live a fulfilled and prosperous life with self-love and gratitude for the moment.  Martin's ideal clients are gay, bisexual, and trans men who are entrepreneurs and professionals who feel they've reached a plateau and want to break through and reach their full potential and earn what they desire and are worthy of. He also works with top corporate leaders who have given up their lives to reach their career goals. He works with them to love themselves enough and regain work-life balance.  

For the LGBTQ+ community, this is amplified by the negativity and rejection unfortunately often still experienced from family and professionally.  Part of self-love is setting boundaries with others to limit the negativity projected from others. You cannot change others. You can only control and change yourself.  In his coaching, Martin takes a spiritual approach using the Wisdom Teachings of Jesus with the Hero's Journey moving from the beliefs in our heads to the love in our hearts.  Martin provides group and one-on-one coaching.    J

oin us OutBüro, the LGBTQ professional and entrepreneur online community network for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, allies, and our employers who support LGBTQ welcoming workplace equality-focused benefits, policies, and business practices.  https://www.OutBuro.com 

Would you like to be featured like this? Contact the host Dennis Velco via our site's Recommend an Interview Guest form.  https://outburo.com/recommend-a-guest/

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In this episode of OutBüro Voices featuring LGBTQ professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders from around the world, host Dennis Velco chats with out gay author Michael Dumlao regarding his new book "The Wisdom of Guncles" (gay uncles).

Michael Dumlao (he/his) is an artist, author, and activist equipped with more than twenty-one years of advancing diversity, equity, and social justice through award-winning brand strategy, digital marketing, and creative storytelling in corporate, federal, academic, and non-profit environments. He led the rebrand of a Fortune 500 company as its first Director of Brand and serves as a senior advisor for leaders in defense and intelligence.

Are you the black sheep in your family who chafes at traditions and seeks examples of how to redefine them?

The Wisdom of Guncles is about queer people and their relationship with family — however, they choose to define it. Featuring a diverse pantheon of gay uncles (“guncles”) and other queer mentors, their stories offer unique perspectives about life, love, and personal empowerment.

In our conversation, Michael shares a bit about a few of the stories. We also chat about his process of writing the book and how his passion for storytelling started as a teenager full of angst and his need to express it through writing.  The stories are human stories where any reader regardless of age, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation may connect with the story and perhaps learn a bit about themselves and/or others.  As a family "black sheep" bunking the expectations of others, we can find our own identity, passions, likes, dislikes, and so forth. With some family dynamics, it can take courage to break out and do your own thing.  Some people are completely rejected by birth families for being different, not the following conformity, and for being LGBTQ+. We can choose to view those past negative situations from a victim's perspective or change our mind's narrative into viewing it as a challenge that we dealt with and now is a superpower.  With those life lessons learned, the book is about sharing such wisdom with others so that we all may rise and be our true authentic selves.

With each chapter, Dumlao examines what various LGBTQ+ experiences teach about disrupting norms, exploring identity, and creating chosen families that affirm one’s truth. Readers will ponder questions such as:

How do I challenge and change traditions that hide those that are different?  

If I choose to never dim my light, will I become a beacon for others lost in the dark? 

How will recovering past stories and unsung heroes help us create a better future?  

How can I leave a space more welcoming than how I found it? 

The Wisdom of Guncles shares ten powerful journeys, each bearing knowledge honed through struggle and triumph, on living with audacious authenticity and compassion. While these narratives are unapologetically queer, they hold universal lessons about the human condition that, like all stories about family, are grounded in love.

Michael was born in Manila, Philippines, raised in Sydney, Australia, schooled in Santa Barbara, California; residing in Washington DC with his Peruvian husband Daniel and their rescue dog, America. He is the proud guncle to more than fifty far-flung niblings and protégés to whom his debut book, The Wisdom of Guncles, is dedicated.  

To learn more and find where to get your copy of the book visit: https://www.thewisdomofguncles.com

Join us OutBüro, the LGBTQ professional and entrepreneur online community network for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, allies, and our employers who support LGBTQ welcoming workplace equality-focused benefits, policies, and business practices.  https://www.OutBuro.com


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In this episode of OutBüro Voices featuring LGBTQ professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders from around the world, host Dennis Velco chats with Jaco Kleynhans is a South African based technology business owner, NijaCo, and founder of the NGO A Community of Humans that provides technology support and training to other LGBTQ NGOs throughout Africa.

In Jaco's early career he was in the South African Air Force where he was assigned a special project to learn web development and create websites for various South African Air Force divisions. He fell in love with web and software development. After his Air Form term, he launched his own technology and software development company NinjaCo. Working professionally in the space he realizes that LGBTQ NGOs in Africa lacked the support and skills they need to be successful.

So, with passion and vigor, he created the NGO A Community of Humans to provide technology support and training for other LGBTQ NGOs throughout all of Africa. One of the most frequently requested support is to create reporting dashboard to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of what the LGBTQ NGOs provide to their served communities. This reporting is critical in obtaining and maintaining grants.  The dashboards might include if the NGO is medically focused such as HIV treatment and prevention, things like, how many patients are seen, treated, followed up with, the efficacy of treatment, and so forth. Grant providers want to be certain that the funds they are providing is being used appropriately and making a real difference.

Jaco and his A Community of Humans NGO have created partnerships with global leading software and hardware companies to provide the LGBTQ NGOs with the tools they need to operate and be effective in their communities.  It's not just enough to provide the tools, the LGBTQ NGO management, and team members also need to know how to use them.  So Jaco, teamed up with those providers to provide training and education.  As if that wasn't enough, Jaco has paid attention to the technology job market and like many reports and studies show, there is a global deficit of trained and certified technology professionals to fill all the talent needs spanning from small businesses, NGOs, and large corporations.  Jaco has expanded the training and education to include providing it to members of the community in where the LGBTQ NGOs he already supports are located. The technology partners provide the hardware and software. The LGBTQ NGOs provide the classroom space. A Community of Humans provides the tables, chairs, and in-person instructors to lead the students through the content providing guidance and the support the students need. Jaco even reached out to an internet provider to provide the students with internet access so that they can access all the training content online and perform their homework out of the classroom.

Jaco also reached out to the school that he attended nearly 20 years ago and formed a partnership in where current students can internship on the A Community of Humans projects to gain real-world practical experience.  This experience will include but is not limited to, reporting dashboard development, website development, custom web, and smartphone application development, technology security, marketing, communications, strategic planning, and so much more.    Jaco is an entrepreneur and community leader who is reaching not only the LGBTQ community in Africa but cross-connecting beyond for true collaboration, community building, mentoring, skills development, and leadership development for LGBTQ NGO and youth in Africa in general.

Join us OutBüro, the LGBTQ professional and entrepreneur online community network for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, allies, and our employers who support LGBTQ welcoming workplace - https://www.OutBuro.com


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In this episode of OutBüro Voices featuring LGBTQ professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders from around the world, host Dennis Velco chats with Sarah Lynn, an IT security professional focusing on LGBTQ+ owned small and midsized businesses and LGBTQ+ community non-profits.

   Lynn has a 30-year career in technology with a significant portion of that career dedicated to information technology security. She is a partner in BPM CPA and leads the IT Security division.  Lynn stated that she started focusing on IT security for small and medium businesses because in that industry they were and still are very underserved. She further explained that LGBTQ+ owned businesses and non-profits are even more underserved and she aims to do her part to correct that.  

Lynn and Dennis both share real-world examples of IT security breaches they have encountered. The threats are many including:

Securing your communications: email, cell phones, chat boxes, and more 

Securing your systems from automatic attacks and ransomware 

Securing your databases: from both external forces and internal employees/contractors - theft mitigation 

Securing your website and backup/recovery strategies 

Securing cloud services you leverage Logging employee activities on company-owned devices or devices used on behalf of the company/organization Improve your 

IT security strategy and monitoring  Lock your systems down and trust very few people.    

Lynn is offering all viewers/listeners a complimentary 1 hours consultation phone call. Reach out to Lynn to set up your time to chat about your organization's technology security. 

Connect with Lynn here:  https://outburo.com/profile/salynn/

Sarah A. Lynn IT Sechttps://www.youtube.com/redirect?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/salynn

https://www.bpmcpa.com/People/Sarah-Lynn

Join us OutBüro, the LGBTQ professional and entrepreneur online community network for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, allies, and our employers who support LGBTQ welcoming workplace equality-focused benefits, policies, and business practices.  https://www.OutBuro.com Would you like to be featured like this? Contact the host Dennis Velco via our site's Recommend an Interview Guest form. https://outburo.com/recommend-a-guest/


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