I’ve Been Invited to the White House

Sometime back in early June, around the time I was packing up my house to move later that month, I got an email with the subject line:

Invite to the White House.

I remember thinking, that’s weird, I thought I unsubscribed from all the MoveOn.org emails.

But the invitation was real. Maven, an organization that fosters innovative solutions that empower LGBTQ youth to network, organize and educate for social change, have been invited to the summit.

I met Founder & CEO Monica Ann Arrambide, at the Lesbians Who Tech Summit in San Francisco earlier this year, and she was looking for more queer people of color to add to their cohort. I was amazed and flattered that she reached out to me for such an opportunity. I also had the following thoughts, not necessarily in this order:

  • Wow!
  • How the heck am I going to make time for this?
  • When am I going to unpack?
  • How am I going to pay for this?
  • Why me?
  • What if I don’t have any good ideas?
  • Why not me?

In times like these, it’s good to have a decision-making framework to fall back on, and when it comes to people offering me amazing opportunities to do good things that align with my values, my default is ‘just say yes.’

Which is how I find myself headed to Washington D.C. over the 4th of July weekend, to attend the summit on the 7th.

Here’s the description of the event:

This event will bring together individuals who share a desire to tackle the major challenges faced by LGBT communities through new solutions using technology, partnerships, mentorship, media, networks, and creative, market-driven, scalable models. Attendees will engage with Obama Administration officials and national community leaders about current challenges, opportunities, and successful solutions. Attendees will be active participants throughout the day: sharing insights and observations during a group session, and collaborating and brainstorming in off-site workshops.

Here’s how you can help:

Share your ideas!

Back in the olden days, there was this wacky idea of ‘democracy’ where a few people would be chosen to represent a larger group. If you have ideas about how technology can be used to help LGBTQ communities, share them in the comments or email them to me a hello [at] kronda [dot] com and I will share them during the summit.

Donate!

Last minute flights across the country aren’t cheap. Personal circumstances[1] over the last few months means I haven’t been doing as much client work as I would like. If you can spare a few bucks to help with my travel costs, I’d appreciate it. D I’ll be posting a recap of the summit once it’s over.


  1. Selling a house. Buying a house. Moving. Sick cats. $4k vet bill. All the conferences.

This post is part of the thread: Tech Journey – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.

4 Comments


  1. Hey Kronda, I just hung out with Tanya in the neighborhood today, and she alerted me to your blog. So I hopped on. I love reading your thoughts. Did you end up going on this trip? Sounds like an amazing opportunity. Talk soon, T

    Reply

    1. I did! And I still need to do a recap and post the pics, which I hope to do before 2015. 🙂

      Reply

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