Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Smith and Kelsey Gledhill.
Megan and Kelsey, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
We both love, value, and want to foster our queer southern identities, and, after a long series of community conversations, recognized the lack of visibility and media representation for queer millennials in the Deep South.
Both Southern and queer cultures are distinct, resilient identities and we wondered why no one was exploring the space where they converge? Thus, our idea for Spectrum South emerged. Many think queer people get out of the Deep South as soon as they can, but we know better. We are here, thriving in business, the arts, philanthropy, community organizing, and so much more. With Spectrum South, we try to be unapologetically inclusive and share these stories through carefully curated editorial content.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Our journey thus far has been relatively smooth. We are very grateful that the southern LGBTQ community has readily embraced Spectrum South and our mission. Receiving positive feedback from queer folks from all walks of life has been an incredible experience and only reaffirms the community we seek to build. However, like for most small business owners, the job is 24/7. We’re no strangers to late night editing, weekend meetings, and the need to be everywhere at once. Our enthusiastic and supportive team works diligently to meet deadlines and produce well-curated, inclusive content on a weekly basis. We couldn’t do this work without them.
Please tell us about Spectrum South.
Spectrum South is a Houston-based digital publication focused on LGBTQ identity and culture across the South that was founded by Megan Smith (editor-in-chief) and Kelsey Gledhill (chief creative officer). The site, spectrumsouth.com, launched in June 2017 (just in time for LGBTQ Pride month) and we’ve been thrilled with its growth and community support over the past six months.
Kelsey and I are both Texas natives and identify as queer women. We first met during our time at the University of Texas at Austin when I was a journalism undergraduate and she was pursuing her master’s in creative advertising (her undergraduate degree is in business from Texas A&M University). Post-graduation, we both accepted jobs working in LGBTQ media here in Houston. However, as we progressed in our careers and further embedded ourselves into the LGBTQ community, we noticed a significant gap in representation. Available LGBTQ media sources focused heavily on gay and lesbian identity and catered more to the Baby Boomer generation. As a result, LGBTQ millennials, queer people of color, and transgender individuals were lacking an accessible platform to share their stories. Taking a leap of faith, we decided to follow our entrepreneurial spirits and create such a platform with Spectrum South.
Spectrum South is a Texas-based online publication focused on queer Southern identity and culture. Our mission is to bring visibility to the diverse and resilient individuals, groups, and personalities of the ever-growing queer South.
Through inclusive, well-curated interviews, commentaries, and personal narratives, we share the stories of the South’s thriving LGBTQ innovators, taco truck junkies, hip-hop lovers, dreamers, sweet tea drinkers, techies, and more. Wherever you fall on the spectrum—gay or trans, big city born or small town grown—Spectrum South happily celebrates you and your authenticity.
The platform now has over a dozen millennial freelance writers of diverse backgrounds and identities, and we’re proud to say that our stories have resonated with readers in ways we never anticipated. A high school classmate of writer Yvonne Marquez thanked her for her writing, sharing that his father just came out to him last year. As a result of Spectrum South’s article on queer podcast Jotxs y Recuerdos, creator Alexandra Nichole Salazar Vasquez’s dad officially came out to her as a trans man. University of Houston Professor Trevor Boffone even used Spectrum South’s personal narrative series in his Introduction to LGBT Studies course to help students explore their own intersecting identities.
In September, we held our official launch party at the Sharespace Warehouse in Houston’s East Downtown. Over 250 guests came together to learn more about Spectrum South’s vision, enjoy amazing performances by The T.R.U.T.H. Project, and to treat themselves to our taco and donut bars. Seeing so many queer folks from all walks of life gather together in one space was an incredible experience and only reaffirmed the community we seek to build.
Spectrum South continues to grow as we move into 2018—we’re transforming our LGBTQ love and sex advice column, “Asking for a Friend,” into an interactive video blog, launching a series on the girls of Houston Roller Derby, and continuing our “Transouthern Youth” series, which highlights transgender youth across the South.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Throughout both of our careers, we have worked diligently to surround ourselves with a network of diverse and talented individuals. This network was critical during our startup process. We had a wonderfully creative art director design Spectrum South’s logo, a social media director friend advise us on launching our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts, a web developer help with website logistics, and a team of freelance writers and photographers ready to jump on board. These folks have been invaluable to us over the past six months and have brought stability to the publication. However, we are a very new company and, as we grow, we know we will encounter unexpected hurdles where we wish we could go back and make different decisions. That’s just the risk of running your own business!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.spectrumsouth.com
- Email: info@spectrumsouth.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/spectrumsouth
- Facebook: facebook.com/spectrumsouth
- Twitter: twitter.com/spectrum_south
- Other: youtube.com/channel/UCwZlxYtfabYoQuQ1sRPdk5Q
Image Credit:
Hannah Olson
Danielle Benoit
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
