Queercents

Paolo Andino is that good looking guy from the Big Gay Sketch Show on Logo. Actually, he’s the extremely good looking guy. Oh yeah, he happens to be funny too. Nice combo! This first generation Cuban American from Miami is a rising star amongst his troupe members but off set he’s a solo entrepreneur making dough with his mixing bowls. Read on to learn about his whole wheat and high fiber cookies. In between batches, I got personal with him about acting, baking and making a living doing the things he loves.

1. How did growing up as a first generation Cuban American influence your views about money?
We grew up very mindful of the value of what we had, and not to waste anything. Eat all your food, there are people starving in other countries, that sort of thing. Both my mother and father started from nothing when they came to this country as teens. Castro only allowed women to take two dresses and a pair of shoes out of the country. My parents didn’t believe in an allowance, I mowed lawns from the age of 10 to earn some spending cash. My favorite thing to buy was a half-gallon of Heavenly Hash Ice Cream for the family — I always liked to splurge!

2. Has being openly gay helped or hurt your career?
Right now it’s definitely helping. I wouldn’t have this dream job on the Big Gay Sketch Show were it not for being gay. I have never felt like it has pigeon holed me in any way. I have an audition Monday for a pilot and the character is in love with a female co-worker. My agent sends me out for everything I’m right for, gay or not. Read the rest of this entry »

Andrew Tobias lives and breathes money. He’s the author of The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need, the well-known manual that puts in plain words how to hold on to money and make more of it. As treasurer of the Democratic National Committee, he’s the DNC’s highest-ranking openly gay official. These days, he’s one busy guy and yet, he took precious time to talk money with us. Of course, we think that makes him The Best Little Boy in the World. Read on and learn more about this personal finance rock star.

1. You turned sixty not too long ago. How will you define retirement?
It will be synonymous with either senility or cremation, both of which I hope to avoid.

2. If you had to boil down how to build a “vast fortune” into a few simple tips, what would they be?
Start with the tongue-in-cheek quotation marks around “vast fortune,” so it’s actually within grasp, and then: (a) always live beneath your means, saving/investing as much as you can; (b) keep your transaction costs low; (c) read my book. (To save money, get it at the library.)

3. What money lessons did you learn from your parents, both directly and indirectly?
Waste not, want not. Give to those less fortunate than you. Putting kids through college is very, very expensive. Read the rest of this entry »

Monica Nation is the co-owner and general manager of Kate’s Lazy Meadow Motel in Mount Tremper, New York (that’s in the Catskills Mountains, not too far from famous Woodstock). The Kate part happens to be Kate Pierson of the B-52’s. They’re partners in life and partners in business. While Kate is away on tour and promoting the new album, Funplex, Monica offered to get hospitable with us about money, their “love shack” and how they divvy up the cash receipts.

1. What prompted the two of you to buy a motel?
Kate actually purchased the property before we were together - it was an investment. The property itself is gorgeous – right on the Esopus Creek. She thought it would be really fun to have an authentic “roadside motel” and I helped bring that dream into a viable business.

2. What will a weekend at the Lazy Meadow cost me? Do I get to take the toiletries?
If you were to stay in a single queen suite at the motel or one of our fabulous Airstreams it would be about $400 total including tax etc… You can absolutely take the toiletries! Kate already grabbed them from another hotel!! But that’s our little secret…

3. Has Kate ever told you any “starving artist” stories from early in her career?
Yes of course! She lived in a $15 a month share cropper’s shack in Athens - when the band started - she lived on the land, with goats and collards and rode her bicycle into town five miles every day to work at the town paper. We have our own garden and grow most of our own food during the summer and then can it all in the fall - we both love to garden! Read the rest of this entry »

Jennifer Corday is worthy of her one-name moniker. Known to many as merely Corday, she’s a Southern Cal rocker with nationwide appeal. Her recently released record, Superhero, is a colorful collection of pop rock that captures her red-hot intensity noted both onstage and off. Corday rocks and you’ll recognize her as a regular at Pride festivals and other venues around the country. Her music is also heard on film and TV, and is currently featured on the ABC prime time series “Samantha Who” starring Christina Applegate.

Corday works hard at her craft and understands the business side to all this music making. So while she has cash flow on her mind when waking up in the morning, she’s all about rock and roll when hitting the stage at night. Read on to learn how money intersects with music and I bet you’ll be buying her latest CD by the tenth question!

1. Your schooling is in classical music. Is it easier to make a living as a cellist or rocker?
A rocker for sure! I think I could make a living as a cellist, if I were to promote myself more in the classical world. I think there is a lot of money to be made there, especially if you form a string quartet and work weddings. It’s just not as exciting for me to do that – I am a rocker at heart!

2. Did your dad ever pressure you to join the family business?
My grandfather was an electrician and he opened a huge lighting showroom on Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach called Corday Lighting. I worked there summers with all my cousins while we were going to school. It was a great experience to learn the business and do sales, but it was tough to work for my grandfather – he was a bear and would yell at everyone! I got very close to my aunt however, Aunt Dee Dee, who was always my favorite aunt and was a role model for me my whole life – she eventually took over the business when my grandfather died. She was a strong lady, very smart and independent.

It’s funny because the store is right across the street from one of the most popular lesbian bars in Long Beach, The Executive Suite, and the girls that owned it used to come in and buy light bulbs. That was my first introduction to lesbians! I didn’t know I was gay at the time, but I guess you could say I was curious about what went on in that bar there across the street… Read the rest of this entry »

Jennifer Boylan is a best-selling author and professor at Colby College in Maine. Her new memoir is I’m Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted, which is about growing up in a haunted house, and about what it means to be “haunted.”

Until 2001, Jennifer published under the name James Boylan and while she now has a perspective on “a life in two genders,” she also provides an interesting view about the financial realities of transitioning. Skip to Question 6! Or start from the top as Jennifer gets personal with all things money.

1. What are some preconceived notions about money that typically get associated with gender?
In my family, you’d go to my mother for small amounts of money, and she’d say no. Like, you needed five dollars for the school trip. She’d ask you why you needed five dollars, grill you about the whole thing. Then maybe, if you were lucky, you’d get two. You’d go to my father if you need a lot of money, like a hundred dollars for a new amplifier. And he’d always say yes.

2. Are there any money lessons in I’m Looking Through You?
Well, there’s a chapter where I’m the world’s worst bank teller. I was so dreamy then. I’d give people six thousand dollars when their check was for six hundred. Or I’d just lose tens of thousands of dollars in my drawer because I hadn’t counted it right, or left a wad of thousands by the coffee machine. Eventually they put me on “probation”, and my supervisor, Mrs. Muhammed, had to watch me like a hawk. That helped, but not much. Nothing they could do would make me less dreamy. Read the rest of this entry »

Armed with a well-known name, Candace Gingrich, made her own mark as an activist for the GLBT community over a decade ago. She first served as Human Rights Campaign’s National Coming Out Project Spokesperson in1995 and is currently HRC’s Senior Youth Outreach Manager where she works with and inspires queer youth around the country.

In anticipation of today’s webchat taking place at HRC (part of the “7 Days to a Better Financial You” campaign), we invited Candace to take her turn at our ten money questions. Read on as she puts the personal into personal finance. Enjoy!

1. As an activist, what does money mean to you?
In many ways it is the invisible discriminator when it comes to GLBT equality. When I am asked whether or not I’ve ever been discriminated against, my answer includes the often unnoticed ways that we are affected financially: paying federal taxes on domestic partner benefits; the income gap between queer and straight people; paying for lawyers and documents to protect our families; etc. There is also the damage that the myth of GLBT affluence does to efforts to secure GLBT equality.

2. What is your most significant memory about money?
The cast-iron mechanical bank collection I had growing up! One of my favorites was Uncle Sam - you’d put the coin in his hand and he would drop it into a satchel labeled “taxes”. Read the rest of this entry »

Andrew Makay is the owner and designer of N2N Bodywear, a line of sensual underwear, swimwear, and bodywear for men. While the majority of new businesses shut down within the first few years of operation, Andrew has been successfully playing with spandex for over a decade. He’s a maverick and risk-taker making threads in Los Angeles. Read on to learn how fashion and finances intersect below.

1. What sort of financial risks did you take when you first started your business?
Text book mistakes. Invested everything I owned, investments, savings, credit cards etc… without knowing anything about anything! Actor turned designer/businessman… you do the math!

2. How does money play into style and personal expression?
I’d like to say money buys taste but all you have to do is look around this town to know it ain’t so. Money allows you to do whatever you didn’t do when you had no money! Buy what you want when you want it or spend it on whoever you want. Read the rest of this entry »

Is pink the new green? You betcha! And at the forefront of this movement is Matthew Linden, the gay Co-founder of ConsciousBuild, a California creator of custom environmentally-friendly luxury homes. His high-end projects are constructed using reusable, renewable and recyclable products with minimal impact on the environment. Of course, these days we can’t mention housing without talking money and Matthew dishes below about all things green.

1. Has the economy and mortgage crisis had an effect on your business?
Yes, but not in the way one might think. I build very high-end “green” luxury homes, the buyers of which are not as easily effected by swings in the economy, nor the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

However, there are a lot of people in my industry out of work with a lot fewer homes being built. I have never had so many subcontractors coming to my construction sites looking for work - and their prices are getting more competitive.

2. What amount does building green add on to the final price of a home?
“Building green” is building responsibly. A home built “green” is a better quality home that is healthier to live in and will last longer. I am finding that “going green” is adding approximately 3%-5% to the bottom line of my luxury home product. Read the rest of this entry »