See Wednesday, March 15th
for our next Main Event!

UPCOMING EVENTS

In partnership with the Economic Development Program of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, Out Professionals hosts the second in a new series of workshops to help you start, run and grow a community business.

Clear, concise brand messages are at the core of a successful communications plan. Ken Stram gives you the tools you need to develop your brand messages and to target your desired audience. Learn how to generate word of mouth – the most powerful of all business communication channels. Find out how to write brand messages and design a strategic communications plan that gets results.

A marketing and public relations expert, Ken Stram is the founding director of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center’s Economic Development Program, which helps LGBT community members find jobs, start businesses, and get information about financial planning and asset building. Ken heads the Center’s Business Development Program, which served nearly 150 entrepreneurs in its first year of operations. Free, one-on-one counseling is available by appointment.

For details or to pre-register for this valuable workshop, call 415-865-5515 or e-mail Ken Stram, the Center’s Economic Development Director, at kens@sfcenter.org. For information on Out Professionals, the nation’s leading gay and lesbian network, write OP-BayArea@outprofessionals.org or visit www.OutProfessionals.org.

The Center (www.sfcenter.org) is located at 1800 Market Street at Octavia. The Muni Metro Lines J, K, L, M, N, the F streetcar, or Muni Bus Lines 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 21, 26, 47, 49, 66 and 71 stop within five blocks of the Center; many within one block. Or take BART to SF Civic Center and transfer to Muni Metro or F line.

Got a boss who won’t listen? A client who’s never happy? A co-worker who won’t cooperate? Out Professionals and LYNX, the Out Professionals women’s network, present “Enjoying Difficult People -- Including Yourself,” with author Dian Killian, PhD (“Connecting across Differences” and the forthcoming “Urban Empathy”).

According to Killian, the skills and principles of Nonviolent Communication help you navigate the most challenging circumstances. You can work with almost anybody when you know how to analyze what’s really going on between you.
Nonmembers $15
OP/LYNX Members $12

LYNX, The Women’s Network of Out Professionals returns to Starlight for the first of our monthly networking mixers for 2006.

Bora Yoon, award-winning vocalist and songwriter, will be our very special guest performer for the evening. She will be performing her poetic, genre-scrambling blend of jazz, folk and trip hop. She has received awards from the John Lennon Songwriting Contest and Billboard, Arion Music Awards, and her music video has appeared on MTV Networks. She has premiered new music by composers, played benefits for Amnesty International and prepares scores for various artists in the NYC area. Upcoming projects include a site-specific sound installation at the McCarren Park Pool and a film score for the feature film, “Killing Mr. Right” (AprilFilms). (www.borayoon.com)

Arrive early, and bring plenty of business cards!

A walk down any Manhattan street (or a quick study of any fashion magazine) reveals dozens of different looks and trends all co-existing. Is this mix of old and new, classic and avant garde, tailored and slouchy, the “look” of 2006? Or is it a sign that a universal look no longer exists, and men can wear whatever they want, wherever they want?

What is fashionable now? Will it be fashionable tomorrow? And who decides? Aaron Krach (above right), senior editor at Conde Nast’s Cargo magazine, talks with menswear designer John Bartlett (top left); Andrew Goetz (top center), co-founder with his partner Matthew Malin of the unisex skincare line Malin+Goetz; MTV stylist Hitha Prabhakar (top right); Mark Silver (above left), a partner at Factory PR, a public relations, marketing, and image management firm; and Out magazine Fashion Director Gregory Wein (above center).

John Bartlett launched his own label in 1992 with $5,000, winning the C.F.D.A Perry Ellis Award for best new designer -- the first time it was bestowed on a menswear designer. Moving operations to Italy, he teamed up with Byblos, becoming creative director for the $90-million brand and winning his second C.F.D.A Award. At the end of 2002, after 10 years of creative and self-financed design, John announced in a front-page story in the Times that he was shutting his doors and taking time to rediscover his reasons for designing. His current collections offer a younger, more expressive option for dressing for the office as well as for a night out.

Less than two years old, the Malin+Goetz skincare line found almost immediate success in an industry controlled by multinational corporations. As independents, Andrew Goetz and Matthew Malin have expanded their line from seven to 21 products and their retail outlets from two to more than 130 stores on four continents. Goetz is the former marketing director of Vitra, the Swiss furniture and design powerhouse.

Hitha Prabhakar is a Stylist at MTV Networks including MTV, Spike and Nickelodeon (although she does not dress SpongeBob). Her job takes her to all corners of Manhattan, uncovering fashion's best-kept secrets in a quest to clothe on-air and celebrity talent. Earlier, Hitha was style editor of Metro newspaper and host of a local television show called “Cool in Your Code,” covering independent designers and cool store openings in and around the five boroughs. She is getting her masters at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Prior to opening Factory PR in 2000, Mark Silver served as a senior publicist at some of Manhattan's most prestigious public relations firms -- Peggy Siegel, Rogers & Cowen, and Paul Wilmot. His firm’s current and previous projects involve such prestigious brands as Original Penguin, Camper, Eddie Bauer, Tracy Reese, The Art of Shaving, Fornarina and Puma Bodywear.

Fashion Director Gregory Wein joined Out in 1999. Over the last seven years, he has worked with some of the world's foremost fashion luminaries -- Dolce & Gabbana, Jean Paul Gaultier, fellow panelist John Bartlett and Todd Oldham. Gregory has worked with such leading photographers as Matt Albiani, Stewart Shining and Francesco Scavullo on shoots around the world. His personal inspirations include James Dean, for his sense of style; Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana; and the people on the streets wherever he travels.

Aaron Krach is a “creative personality” who lives on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. By day he is a senior editor at Cargo magazine, the premier men’s buyer’s guide from Conde Nast publications. By night he’s a writer and artist. His first novel, “Half-Life,” was published to critical acclaim in 2004. His photographs and installations have been exhibited from Seattle to St. Petersburg, Florida and Sao Paulo, Brazil. His next exhibition is scheduled in New York this summer.
Nonmembers $10
OP Members $7

Join Out Professionals for an after-work networking mixer at XES Lounge, New York's newest and hippest gay lounge. Admission is free, and all drinks are two-for-one -- including everything from soda and bottled water to most mid- and top-shelf liquors.

XES is located at 157 West 24th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues).

The next mixer will be on Tuesday, March 28, and the fourth Tuesday of every month thereafter.

Out Professionals presents Cynthia Strite with "Assessing Your Career Potential," the first of four job-search workshops featuring experienced counselors from the Five O'Clock Club, a national career-development group.

Discover a simple self-assessment technique that adds life to your resume, improves your interviewing skills and increases your self-confidence. With 20 years of management experience in human resources, training and coaching, Strite shows you how rating your past accomplishments can make your job search strategic instead of haphazard.

This new Tuesday series continues on March 14, 21 and 28.
Nonmembers $15
OP Members $12

Out Professionals and LYNX, the women’s network of Out Professionals, presents a sneak preview of “Los Big Names,” a new solo play written and performed by Marga Gomez, directed by David Schweizer.

“ Los Big Names” recounts the Hollywood misadventures of Gomez, a backstage baby born to Willy Chevalier and Margarita, rising stars of New York’s Latino community in the 60s. ("I was the first in my family to get a speaking role in a movie. That meant more to us than graduating from high school," Marga says.)

According to the Variety critic, “Among those she portrays to perfection are Kathleen Turner, presiding over an audition Marga failed, and Queen Latifah, whose death-by-jellyfish in ‘Sphere’ is hysterically re-enacted.”

As to her own professional moniker: “I was thinking about using only one name: Gomez. Then that lame British band Gomez had the nerve to steal my Latina handle. Que mierda! My fans are buying Gomez CDS, expecting to hear me. Here’s how you can tell the difference. Gomez sucks. Marga Gomez rocks.”

On April 1, “Los Big Names” begins a six-week limited engagement at the 47th Street Theatre, 304 West 47th Street, just west of 8th Avenue; Tickets available through Telecharge.com.

Center doors open 6:30 p.m. Performance and audience Q&A at 7 p.m.
Nonmembers $10
OP/LYNX Members $7

Out Professionals presents "Marketing Yourself to Companies You Want to Work For," a job-search workshop with Five O'Clock Club Career Coach Ruth Robbins, M.B.A .

Discover how to package yourself for today's job market. How to decide which companies to target. And how to network for the job interviews you need. And relax: Robbins claims that four out of five job candidates will fail to find out about all the interviews you will!

Other dates in this new Tuesday series: March 7, 21 and 28.
Nonmembers $15
OP Members $12

For a lot of us, tech gadgets such as celllphones, PDAs, and media players have become 24/7 essentials. Problem is, they continue to evolve. So do laptops and flat-screen TVs. How can you plan and purchase wisely?

Out Professionals presents “Tech Gadget Round-Up,” hosted by OP Board Member Carl Pritzkat (right), cofounder of Mediapolis, creators of the GLTB gossip site DataLounge.com and 200 other peak-performance sites. Carl welcomes Conde Nast’s Tom Samiljan (left), technology editor of Cargo, who oversees all of the magazine’s gadget, consumer electronics, video game, and computer coverage. And TekServe’s Brian James (BJ) Murray (center), who provides consumer and corporate service and support for he nation’s leading independent Apple Authorized Reseller and Apple Authorized Service Center.

“ We plan to focus on consumer technology,” says Carl. “Gadgets like the iPod and Blackberry. As well as new features coming up -- music downloads, podcasts, iPhoto, iTunes. But we won’t neglect such key issues as hardware and software integration, the impact of wireless and Bluetooth, and burgeoning functionality.”

As Cargo magazine's Tech Director, Tom Samiljan spends the year checking out hundreds of the latest gadgets and devices from cell phones and MP3 players to laptops and flat-screen TVs. Prior to joining Cargo, Samiljan launched a weekly column called “Byte Me” on gadgets and technology for Time Out NY. He has contributed to Popular Mechanics, Rolling Stone, US Weekly and Popular Science. Tom can also be seen on regular television spots for UPN, WB, Tech TV and WNBC.

As a graduate of the University of Utah, Brian James (BJ) Murray was recruited by Foote Cone & Belding HealthCare, where he served as a Senior Director, Group Vice President and Group Creative Director. He managed advertising design and development for such clients as Pfizer, Merck and Abbott Laboratories while acquiring a Master of Public Health degree at Columbia University. He has produced electronic dance music under his own label, Sugarhouse Music, and as a professional disc jockey, continues to play at nightclubs and events in the New York Metropolitan area.

Carl Pritzkat oversees project management and business development for Mediapolis and helps clients develop online strategies for their Web sites. With nearly two decades of media strategy experience, Pritzkat understands the critical role of the Internet in supporting traditional and non-traditional businesses. Earlier, Carl spent six years at BMG, where he ran the ECM Records label.

Networking mixer, 6:30 p.m.; beverage bargains.
Program, Q&A, 7:30 p.m.
Nonmembers $10
OP Members $7

Out Professionals presents "Secrets of Interviewing Effectively," a job-search workshop with Five O'Clock Club Career Coach Roy Cohen, M.B.A..

Discover how to adopt what Cohen calls the Consultant Mentality. Find out why savvy interviewees score so well with it. And learn how it helps you handle an interviewer's toughest questions.

While serving as in-house career counselor with Goldman Sachs, Roy participated in the 92nd Street Y’s “About Women” series and spoke at the annual “Women on Wall Street” conference. In his private practice, Roy works primarily with senior and mid-level executives.

Other dates in this new Tuesday series: March 7, 14 and 28.
Nonmembers $15
OP Members $12

Out Professionals presents "Negotiation Strategies and High-Impact Follow-up," a job-search workshop with Renee Rosenberg, Staff Counselor with the Five O'Clock Club.

Let Rosenberg show you how a unique, four-step, salary-negotiation method can help you avoid costly interviewing blunders. And discover how to outshine your competition with high-impact follow-up techniques that make the standard thank-you note obsolete.

Other dates in this new Tuesday series: March 7, 14 and 21.
Nonmembers $15
OP Members $12

In partnership with the Economic Development Program of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, Out Professionals hosts the third in a new series of workshops to help you start, run and grow a community business.

Workshop leader Bonnie Carroll, a San Francisco native, is a certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor with more than 10 years of small-business-management experience. Her colleague Mike Doherty, founder of Doherty & Associates, has a long history of business development, strategy and planning. Having launched and managed several ventures personally, he understands the challenges of managing day-to-day operations while remaining focused on growth opportunities and the bottom line. Also having worked as an investor and lender, he understands the demands and expectations these parties bring to the mix.

Their workshop will introduce you to a variety of free Web tools you can use to grow your business. Mike and Bonnie will discuss: Google Competitive Analysis, Census Website, No-cost Press Release Distribution Services, Zoomerang surveys, and VOIP phone service.

For details or to pre-register for this valuable workshop, call 415-865-5515 or e-mail Ken Stram, the Center’s Economic Development Director, at kens@sfcenter.org. For information on Out Professionals, the nation’s leading gay and lesbian network, write OP-BayArea@outprofessionals.org or visit www.OutProfessionals.org.
The Center (www.sfcenter.org) is located at 1800 Market Street at Octavia. The Muni Metro Lines J, K, L, M, N, the F streetcar, or Muni Bus Lines 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 21, 26, 47, 49, 66 and 71 stop within five blocks of the Center; many within one block. Or take BART to SF Civic Center and transfer to Muni Metro or F line.

Out Professionals presents "Great Second Acts," featuring people who have made surprising and successful career transitions. (So why shouldn’t you?)

Meet Out Professionals member and Playboy centerfold Stephanie Adams (top left), creator of the Goddessy collection on astrology and the occult. Arts administrator Ian Archer-Watters (top center), now dancing on point for the internationally acclaimed Ballets Grandiva. Former decorative painter Dave King (top right), whose debut novel “The Ha-Ha,” got reviews other writers only dream about. Former figure-skating coach Keith Lichtman (above left), now the principal of his own residential interior design firm. And marketing manager John Lundberg (above center), who left Silicon Valley and E*TRADE Financial for Madrid, where he obtained certification to teach English as a second language. Moderating is Thomas Cott (above right), a consultant in the field of arts and culture and a past president of Out Professionals.

Stephanie Adams is the first Playboy Centerfold to come out as a lesbian. The author of seven books she categorizes as metaphysical, Stephanie names “Sapphica: Astrology For Lesbians” and “Sapphica: 2004 ALove Readings for Lesbians” among her most popular titles. Visit www.Sapphica.com.

Last year, in his first season with the all-male comedy ballet troupe Grandiva, Ian Archer-Watters performed internationally as Ashley Merrill-Lynch, a reference both to retired NYC Ballet principal Merrill Ashley and to Ian’s former occupation as a fundraiser, generating support for the arts from places like Merrill Lynch. On Monday, April 10, he joins the 20-member Grandiva troupe in a 10th Anniversary Celebration at Symphony Space (Broadway at 95th Street; 212.864.5400).

Dave King left a decorative painting firm he had co-founded (its clients included Barbara Walters and the White House) to acquire an MFA in writing from Columbia University. His novel “The Ha-Ha” was a finalist for a Quill Book Award in the “Best Debut of the Year” category; it has been optioned by Warner Brothers.

After success in Boston as a figure skater -- he was the 1981 United States National Junior Figure Skating Champion – Keith Lichtman won acclaim as a master coach for internationally ranked competitive skating couples. He then graduated from the New York School of Interior Design and worked for two highly respected designers before establishing Keith Lichtman Interior Design. The firm’s residential projects range in style from modern to traditional and in scope from studio apartments to multi-bedroom homes.

Although he was being highly compensated at E*TRADE Financial, John Lundberg maintains “Quitting my job and moving to Madrid was the smartest thing I have ever done.” After teaching English to business managers for a year and a half, he
moved here. Rather than going back into marketing, he obtained his real estate license and loves working in residential sales at Brown Harris Stevens.

As a founding staff member of Lincoln Center Theater, Thomas Cott helped to establish what has become New York’s largest non-profit theater and enjoyed wide-ranging responsibilities from marketing to musical theater development. More recently, he was the Artistic Director of Musical Theatre Works, where he developed a dozen new musicals. Thomas is currently an independent producer and management consultant in the field of arts and culture. His clients include the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Opera Guild and the Theatre Development Fund.

Book signing; book sales by Drama Book Shop.
Nonmembers $10
OP Members $7

Get the latest on Chicago’s Gay Games VII and Montreal’s OutGames at Games Forum ’06. A sports-world first, this event is presented by Out Professionals and LYNX, the women’s network of Out Professionals, in conjunction with Team NY, the local network for LGBT athletes, artists and their organizations.

Meet Kevin Boyer (left), Co-Vice Chair of Gay Games Chicago, which take place from July 15 through July 22. And Olympic champion swimmer Mark Tewksbury (right), representing Canada’s OutGames, which take place in Montreal from July 29 through August 5.

Register on the spot to volunteer or participate in one or both of these exciting, international LGBT sports and cultural festivals. Preview Team NY’s snazzy Opening and Closing Ceremonies uniform. Mingle with local athletes. Find out about their teams. And learn about the role of Team NY and the benefits of TNY membership. For further information, visit www.OutProfessionals.org or write info@outprofessionals.org.

Nonmembers, $10
OP/LYNX or TNY Members, $5
Free admission if you become a member of either organization at the event!
Beverage bargains all night long.

Out Professionals presents an historic reunion of the principals of Theater-in-Limbo, the troupe whose annual outrageous productions (from 1984’s “Vampire Lesbians of Sodom” to 1991’s “Red Scare on Sunset”) forever changed the Off-Off-Broadway scene.

Celebrity columnist Michael Musto (right) welcomes drag diva Charles Busch (left), director Kenneth Elliott, and their zany cohorts in works like “Psycho Beach Party” and “Times Square Angel”: Julie Halston, Arnie Kolodner, Andy Halliday, Teresa Aceves and Katherine Carr.

This reunion roundtable coincides with the theatrical release of “The Lady in Question is Charles Busch,” a new documentary by John Catania and Charles Ignacio, opening March 24 at the Quad, 34 West 13th Street.

Busch’s scandalously sex-charged, cross-dressing classic, “Vampire Lesbians of Sodom” transferred from the gritty Limbo Lounge to the Provincetown Playhouse and ran an unprecedented five years, becoming one of the longest-running shows in Off-Broadway history. The new documentary includes rare clips from Busch’s Theatre-in-Limbo performances.

Book signing; book sales by Drama Book Shop.
Nonmembers $10
OP Members $7

Busch photo: Jim Cox