Dr. Selma Massey is the Founding Pastor of WHOSOEVER Ministry which began 1996 as a Christian television show for the LGBT Community in Southeast Michigan. In 2003 Dr. Selma, as she is known, opened the first of two churches in Detroit, Michigan and in an area suburb.
Laya Monarez is a transgender bisexual latinx artist, musician and transgender activist. She studied art at the George Washington Corcoran School of Art and Design where she received her BFA in Fine Art focusing on Painting and Sculpture. Laya has had many art shows through the DMV area and has worked on several murals as well. Her artwork is inspired by science, surrealism and social justice movements. Here activism is rooted in her need to uplift transgender people and educate the public on transgender issues.
Laya’s LGBTQ Activism started with her volunteer work with the DC Trans Coalition where she helped to train police on Trans sensitivity. While working with the Human Rights Campaign on their membership and operation teams Laya trained new employees on Transgender issues. Laya has also given presentations at the bisexual Because Conference in Minneapolis, the Capital Building, Princeton University and the White House Among others. One of her proudest moments is helping to introduce a bill to decrminalize sex work in Washington DC. A bill she thinks will especially help keep black and brown transgender sex workers safe and healthy.
Please send her an email if you’d like to invite her to speak at your event or train your team on transgender and gender issues. You can also view her artwork at layamonarez.com
Montrella is on a mission for underrepresented populations to have Prosperity,
Protection, and Peace. She is the CEO of Affinity Health Affairs and CowanLife, a
financial planning and risk advisory company with a special focus on empowering
minority and underrepresented populations with respect to the wealth gap,
including LGBTQ communities and Black communities.
Montrella has been helping the most vulnerable individuals and families for over 18
years as a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) and now a Licensed
Insurance Agent. Her clients truly appreciate her wisdom-from-experience. Not only
did her HIV-positive mother die in 2018, but, just four months later, she lost her
first-born daughter to Lupus. With her holistic approach, Montrella is committed to
helping you and your family have “Peace of Mind and Peace of Money.” Montrella is
passionate about revealing the secrets of wealth so that her clients can start to
break the chains of generational curses of poverty and start creating family legacies
of wealth and protection. Montrella’s talks include topics on Getting Out of Debt in
9 Years or Less; Financial Planning for People with Chronic Health Conditions; Don’t
Wait to Die: Live with the Benefits of Your Insurance Policy Now; Create Your Own
Family Bank and; How to Have a Tax-Free Retirement as a Member of the LGBTQ
Community.
Montrella has served as a mentor to young adults for more than a decade, helping
them to become effective change agents. She is a Field Instructor for several
universities around the country, including Howard University, Morgan State, VCU,
George Mason University, Western New Mexico University, and others.
Montrella is a USA Today bestselling author and renowned thought leader whose
expertise has been featured in Inspired Living TV, The Washington Post, Essence
Magazine, Radio One, Fox, NPR, NBC, ABC, and dozens of other local, regional, and
national media outlets. As a keynote speaker, Montrella has shared the stage with
some of the greatest motivational speakers of all time to include Les Brown and Dr.
George Fraser.
Montrella earned a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies and social Work
from Catholic University of America and a master’s degree in social work from
Howard University. She also has a Nonprofit Management and Executive
Leadership Certificate from Georgetown University. She is a proud mother and a
member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
If YOU are READY to smash your past and co-create your future, book Montrella as
your next guest speaker by calling 202-421-3617 or emailing cmontrella@msn.com
Star Peterson (ze/zir) is a non-binary, pansexual diversity trainer who is multiply neurodivergent. Star is passionate about helping healthcare workers, mental health professionals, and allies be more welcoming to the LGBTQIA+ and neurodivergent communities. Star gives talks on pronouns, gender-neutral language, avoiding microaggressions, and unpacking cishet privilege.
Alexandra is a Policy Advocate at Protect Democracy, where she leads the National Election Advocacy Team and coordinates the activities of the National Task Force on Election Crises, a cross-ideological group of over 50 civil society leaders who worked to ensure free and fair elections in 2020 and 2022, and now seek to prevent election crises in 2024 and beyond. Previously, Alexandra was a career national security professional for 13 years. Inspired by living in NYC as a law student through the 9/11 attacks, Alexandra started her career as an intelligence analyst in 2004. In 2006 she was the first employee ever to complete a gender transition while working at the Office of Naval Intelligence. She ultimately led the Intelligence Community analytic effort to disrupt the proliferation of WMD by sea, and supported many successful U.S. policy initiatives while working at ONI and at the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. After leaving government in 2017, Alexandra was the first openly transgender candidate to run for Congress from Massachusetts.
Alexandra enjoys providing her perspective on leadership and communication as a transgender woman, mentoring younger LGBT and national security audiences, and discussing the stakes of the U.S. and global effort against authoritarianism. She has presented on leadership, career development, LGBT and transgender issues for private corporate clients as well as the Out and Equal Executive Leadership Forum, Leadership Summit For Women in National Security, the Rainbow Families conference, Columbia University SIPA, Rutgers University, Yale University, and Capital Trans Pride.
Alexandra is a board member of GLBTQ Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), a member of the Truman National Security Project Defense Council, and previously served on the board of Whitman Walker Health and the Steering Committee of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition. Alexandra was named by Out in National Security and New America as an Out Leader in 2021, and her writings have been published in the Washington Post, The Hill, the Yale Journal of International Affairs, and the Boston Globe. Alexandra is a graduate of Brown University with an A.B. inInternational Relations, and received her law degree from Brooklyn Law School.
Dr. Sean Robinson is a Graduate Program Director and Professor in the Dept. of Advanced Studies, Leadership & Policy in the School of Education at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. His primary teaching and research areas include leadership and teaching for social justice, youth identity development, leadership development, organizational behavior, leadership in colleges and universities, and research methods. Sean has over 25 years experience in a multitude of educational settings at both the high school and university level. He has published over two dozen articles and book chapters, and presented over 50 presentations (locally, nationally, and internationally) focusing on LGBTQ identity development, media/pop culture’s impact on youth, and mentoring youth and young adults. In addition to his faculty role, Sean maintains a private coaching and consulting practice, which focuses on organizational development, strategic planning, human resource initiatives, and developing leaders. His clients are primarily entrepreneurs, non-profits organizations, and small businesses. Sean received his PhD in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies and his MBA in Management & Human Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition, he holds a Masters of Education in Counseling Psychology from the College of William & Mary. Sean’s BA is in Psychology from the University of Virginia.