Sean Bugg is co-publisher and editorial director of Metro Weekly, Washington, D.C.’s gay and lesbian news magazine. A founding writer for the 14-year-old publication, Bugg took the editorial helm in 2000. During his tenure, Metro Weekly has grown into a major voice for the LGBT community, winning numerous awards for writing, design and community service. In addition to his journalism career, Bugg has worked in social marketing and HIV prevention programs for the Whitman-Walker Clinic and the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors. A member of the D.C. chapter of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, Bugg received his journalism degree in 1989 from Washington & Lee University in Virginia.
My main focus is on issues regarding race, class, gender, feminist issues, conflict and negotiation in relationships.
Cornelius Baker has been a committed advocate at the local and national level for nearly two decades. He is currently a senior communications advisor and project director for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease?s National HIV Vaccine Research Education Initiative at AED. He also serves as the National Policy Advisor for the National Black Gay Men?s Advocacy Coalition which is dedicated to addressing the exceptionally and unacceptably high rates of HIV infection among black gay men. From January 2000 through December 20004), Cornelius served as the Executive Director of Whitman-Walker Clinic. Previously, Cornelius served as the Executive Director of the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA), an appointee at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under President George H.W. Bush and as an aide to Washington, DC City Councilmember Carol Schwartz. He is currently a member of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services? Panel on Clinical Practices in the Treatment of HIV and serves on the boards of the Black AIDS Institute, Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the Center for Nonprofit Advancement. In January 2006, he was nominated to serve on the Washington, DC Taxicab Commission by Mayor Anthony Williams and confirmed by the city council to a three-year term.
Patrick Wojahn is a lawyer and advocate for civil rights. Patrick has years of experience in management and leadership and has served since December 2007 on the City Council of College Park, MD. Patrick has served on the Boards of Directors and as staff of various organizations advocating for people with disabilities and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and for protection of the environment. From 2005-2010, Patrick worked in Washington, DC, with University Legal Services, a disability rights organization, investigating complaints of abuse and neglect against people with mental illness and ensuring District officials provide appropriate services for some of the District?s most disadvantaged residents. Since 2010, Patrick works as a Public Policy Analyst with the National Disability Rights Network, a national advocacy organization for people with disabilities.
Wesley Combs is a senior manager and Global Co-Lead for the Inclusion & Diversity Competency offering within the Accenture Talent & Organization management consulting practice. Wes has more than twenty-four years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies to understand how diverse segments of the population impact their organizations, helping them to holistically integrate cultural competency into their DNA. The results have helped differentiate his clients from their competitive set.
Prior to joining Accenture, for the past 18 years Wes had been the President and Co-Founder of Witeck-Combs Communications, the nation’s premier public relations and marketing communications consulting firm specializing in how inclusion and diversity is an accelerator when integrated into business strategies.
Wes is one of the nation?s leading subject matter experts on LGBT issues facing corporations, non-profits and government agencies. He pioneered development of market research tools with the global firm Harris Interactive that have become the leading source of LGBT segment data. Together with his business partner Bob Witeck, Combs wrote the first business book on marketing to the LGBT market entitled
Ed Andrews is a psychotherapist, lecturer, and writer with extensive experience working with the LGBT Community with issues of mental health and addictions, aging and development, illness and loss. He specializes in working with the mental health and recovery issues of gay men across the lifespan usign both CBT and DBT techniques
Clarence J. Fluker is a renaissance man who weaves his words and actions into the discourse on social justice, art & culture and civic engagement in the 21st Century. For several years he served in the Mayor?s Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Affairs in Washington, DC. He worked among community organizations, government agencies and constituents to improve, transform, and ensure the delivery of culturally competent services to thousands of GLBT District residents and employees. Clarence uses his dynamic voice as a tool to advance the dialogue about issues of GLBT people of color. An accomplished writer, he served as a contributing writer to SWERV magazine and has been published in ARISE, and The Life magazines, the acclaimed anthology Spirited: Affirming the Soul and Black Lesbian/Gay Identity from Redbone Press, and the Journal of Intergroup Relations. Online, he has contributed to TheRootDC.com, a subsidiary of The Washington Post and the Gay Life section of About.com. On the topic of race and sexual orientation, he has been an invited speaker to several universities across the United States including Columbia University, George Washington University, Howard University and Ohio University. In September 2010 and 2011 he was as a panelist for the 105 Voices of History Diversity and Inclusion Forum addressing students from each of the 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States. He has served as a panelist at the national conference for the National Black Justice Coalition and True Colors, the statewide conference for GLBT young people in Connecticut.
A 30-year community, human rights and HIV/AIDS activist/advocate in the metropolitan DC area, certified as an HIV/AIDS Peer Counselor & Educator and HIV Treatment Education Specialist; an award-winning writer and performance artist and a highly sought after lecturer and program facilitator for cultural diversity issues and concerns. Native of
Aaron Anson is an inspirational writer and new thought coach who is married and lives in Washington, DC with his partner Oliver. He has appeared on several radio shows and spoken at a number of literary events around the country. Raised a black devout christian in the south and endeavoring to uphold instilled beliefs, he married and fathered two children before accepting that he was inherently a gay man. His fascination with the arts, world cultures, and all of humanity has led him to travel six continents. He has participated in relief efforts around the world and several missions that address homelessness.
Antonio Pineda is a case manager at Andromeda Health Clinic in northwestern Washington, D.C., where he specializes in helping clients who are living with HIV/AIDS. He is originally from El Salvador and has lived in Washington since 2001. In 2007, he was named the LGBT activist of the year by the Embassy of El Salvador.