By coinnews 
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Welcome to living not so fabulously. So David, did you know that Mary on the Mary Tyler Moore Show didn’t have a job when she got to Minneapolis?
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No, she didn’t.
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No, the first episode was her interview with Lou Grant.
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OK, and how is that relevant?
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Because Mary made it look so easy, and today’s guest is here to share that TV isn’t exactly like real life. Barton Jackson is the powerhouse executive director of the New York LGBTQ plus Chamber of Commerce, where he’s turning queer ambition into economic impact.
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After maxing out credit cards chasing opportunity in Seattle, Barton learned that building community equity is just as crucial as financial equity. Now he’s helping LGBTQ businesses across the Big Apple cash in on their own worth.And he’s got the receipts.
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I find the first part of uh Barton’s interview so interesting because it parallels my story of when I moved to Denver. Shortly after college, I also moved to a new city with $5000 in my pocket just like Barton. Uh, and it wasn’t nearly enough, even in 1999. Yes, the late 1900s.
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Right, and you did amass a bunch of credit card debt trying to fit in with the in crowd. Yeah, but I
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think Barton had his act together a little bit more quickly than I did.
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I think so too. Let’s hear what he has to say.
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Welcome to the show, Marton.
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Good morning. Thank you for having me.
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So, welcome to the show. We appreciate you coming on. A lot of queer kids growing up in small towns across America, dream of the day when they can finally flee off to a better city with safety and acceptance. You did that, but you weren’t quite prepared for that. Would you mind elaborating on that story a little bit?
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Sure, so, um, you know, quick synopsis, uh, born in California, raised in Idaho, moved to Seattle, Washington after college, and then came to to to to New York. So, uh, in the process of growing up in Idaho, um, as you might imagine, not a lot of um LGBTQ plus connectivity or support um from city and state at the time.Uh, and, you know, it was really a matter of do your work, kind of keep to yourself. There wasn’t really the ability to have mentors or a lot of feedback, um, from people who were going through the same life experiences unless you were, you know, enjoying the nightlife. Uh, so, uh, when I moved to Seattle, Washington, that was during the subprime mortgage crisis, so everything was shutting down, uh, in terms of job opportunities.And, you know, my sister had sold me on it, uh, you know, telling me that there were opportunities to do uh career advancement, find my way further up, um, the corporate ladder. I was already working in banking at the time, and, uh, moved to Seattle, Washington without a job, uh, thinking that I had enough savings to kind of get by and uh a friend to let me couch surf, uh, and then very quickly found out that Seattle’s expensive, uh.And, uh, you know, racked up a decent amount of credit card debt. I think it was about 10,000 at the time. Uh, you know, while I found stable work, I was a contract employer after finally finding an opportunity after three months of living there, um, but then, you know, had to find an apartment, had to furnish the apartment, um, had to keep myself well fed, you know, all that good stuff. Uh, so, you know, quickly realizing that, you know,Relocating without a job uh was was not uh in my best interest, uh, but, you know, that kind of accelerated my desire to to save up and and and eliminate that credit card debt, cause you could see it eating away at your paycheck, um, when you wanted to have other life events like travel or visiting family. Most of my family at the time was still living in Idaho. I wasn’t certainly doing any major travels myself.Um, and, and kind of saw that I needed to save up and and bring that debt down if I was going to live a better qualityof life.
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You mind sharing with us how you felt emotionally during that time period of this kind of financial insecurity? Were you scared? Were you ashamed? We did, were you more even more determined?
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I was probably more determined, um, you know, for me, money, credit, you know, uh, all that are tools, right? It’s, it’s, it’s, if you’re using it responsibly, it’s an investment. Was I using it responsibly? Yeah, probably not. But uh the thing that was different for me is I saw a different investment when I moved to Seattle, Washington, becauseYou know, where I went from a place where, you know, you could be fired by the wrong boss if they didn’t like that you were gay, um, and, you know, uh, an HIV AIDS prevention education treatment center that was like the size of a shoebox and a strip mall that was regularly protested and, and really no support for the community outside of the bars and, um, you know, the, the a nonprofit that was run by uh our our drag queen population. There was nothing.Uh, in terms of, of sport, and so here I come to this city.When I finally landed a job, uh, it was for Credit Union. It wasn’t a glamorous job. I was essentially a teller, but I loved it, um, because, you know, I met the CFO who was a gay man, married, had two adopted children. I didn’t even know that was like a viable future, uh, I guess I ceremonial be married at the time, uh, and then, you know, he invited me to the Greater Seattle Business Association, which is the LGBTQ plus Chamber of Commerce in Seattle.And, uh, you know, here I am getting on a boat cruising, uh, the, the, the sound, and on it are the Sisters of Perpetual indulgence to executives of Fortune, you know, 500 companies, you know, foreign dignitaries, uh, small business owners that, you know, might make ice cream on, on Capitol Hill, right? And it was just so cool to see a community thatA was had empowered itself over years, um, but B was well organized and, you know, wanted to invest in community for its own betterment.
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Hold that thought button, we’ll be right back after this quick break.
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So welcome back. If you’re just joining us on Living Not So fabulously, we’re talking to LGBTQ advocate Martin Jackson, who overcame his own financial struggles and is revealing what we can do to build a more inclusive and financially stable future.
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So Barton, you were just telling us before the break about how you were being exposed to this whole different kind of lifestyle, all these opportunities that you didn’t know you necessarily had coming from a small town.How did you get focused on creating the life that you wanted and not get sucked into trying to keep up with the Joneses, so to speak, and then not be able to have other opportunities downthe road?
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Sure, so, um, I think it’s really important when you’re looking at your life, you know, recognizing it’s yours, right? It’s nobody else’s, and, you know, kind of thinking about your values and and what’s important to you. Uh, so for me, you know, uh, when I came out, you know, I was already, you know, I think within the first year, you know, my first friend decided to, um, unfortunately take their life and, you know, throughout a decade.Um, you know, I would lose 1 or 2 friends a year, whether it was from, you know, suicide, drug addiction, uh,You know, violence bias, um, you know, HIV AIDS complications, you name it, and what I ultimately saw, um, was that it was lack of resources, lack of investment, and, um, you know, lack of support, and so that was also part of that night and day coming from Iowa to Seattle. So, you know, I started to think, what can I do?You know, kind of off the side of the desk or as my, my whole self, uh, both in profession and in my, my, my personal life, uh, and, you know, I decided to start marrying those things together and finding where I could balance them. So for me, uh, you know, I was still in the financial industry. I stayed in banking from the time I left Idaho to the time I was in Seattle, and then, you know, um, when I came to New York, and for me,Finding out how to kind of get where I wanted to go was finding the employer that found value in letting me bring my whole self to work, um, but also, uh, bringing that into community. And so uh when I came to New York, I was employed, um, you know, right off the bat, I think a month later, uh, andI, my first role, I was a personal banker. I was in that role for about a year and a half. Then I was a store supervisor for a brand new location in Columbus Circle. I was that for about a year and a half, uh, and then I was the assistant store manager for uh a new location up in Inwood forJust about a year and a half, uh, and then I was a small business banker for about 3 years and then I was a commercial banker or commercial lender for the remainder of the time before becoming the executive director here and the the the the secret to all that was I represented my community.But I also represented it myself as a banker, always at the same time, always wanting to help people, whether it was during professional hours or after hours, leveraging my education, my experiences, you know, uh, my background, you know, you know, wherever it was applicable.
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Yeah.Thank you for sharing that. I, I think it’s, it’s great to see how you transitioned from your early life in Idaho through uh to what you are doing today. You are very connected to the LGBT community and to the business community in the Big Apple. And so we know that you have kind of your, your thumb on the pulse of what is going on with small businesses.Uh, especially right now between Trump’s attacks on DEI and the manufactured trade war that we have going on right now, how is this, um, impacting, um, the small businesses that you’re working with? How are they struggling? Is it especially a hard time for them? Can you provide us with maybe some numbers or some idea of what you’re seeing happen right now under Trump 2.0?
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You know, that’s an excellent question, and it’s probably one that’s answered, um.Similar to to anywhere you go, which is that um uncertainty is is is is is a challenge for business at any level.Um, but it certainly is for, um, you know, businesses that come to a chamber of commerce, right? Like our responsibilities is to build an ecosystem. Um, we are here to provide visibility, advancement, connectivity, uh, and we’re also there to provide education and and insight, right? So our whole part purpose as a chamber is to be some sort of economic engine. Um, and so, you know, there are things about, um,You know, DEI and I’ll talk about it from um a chamber’s perspective, which is more about strategic sourcing, right? Many of our businesses look to do business with other businesses or corporations or governments, so, um.You know, whether you have a certification as part of your strategic sourcing, um, and some examples are, you know, if you are a veteran of military service, you and you own at least 51% of your company and operate your company, uh, there are certifications to recognize you formally as a veteran owned and operated company. Same thing is true for uh minority women, uh, and then, uh.LGBT, um, and, you know, the difference is that most of the programs are recognized by some level of government, um, you know, wherever you go in in the US there there’s some level of of density for um interest in making sure those businesses are visible.Uh, LGBT is one of the ones that has a challenge with with government recognition. So, you know, when we talk about the DEI landscape from a strategic sourcing lens, Part of me, the, the, the, the, the, I’m trying not to get bitter yet. I know I turned 40 but and and we’re on the cusp, butUh, part of me just wants to shrug and say what’s changed, right? Um, you know, the other part of me says that, you know, visibility matters. Um, our population was, was heavily decimated, um, you know, AIDS uh endemic, uh during the, the, the, the 80s, all the way through till mid 2000, I think 09.was when we started to see uh AIDS mortalities decline, right? So we went from the 80s all the way till when, like, you know, Taylor Swift started making music, right? Uh and so you have intergenerational losses of entrepreneurial uh drive, capital, estates, knowledge, right, uh especially in metropolitan areas like New York. So I would argue.Um, anecdotally, uh, and a little bit statistically that, you know, our economy is probably as LGBTQ plus economy has a lot of opportunity for investment, you know, uh, of the sample size that I can go to of the chamber, you know, we’re probably most businesses on average are grossing an annual revenue of about 1.1 million in the metro New York City area.And you know, high concentration of professional services, uh, you know, so what you’re seeing is an opportunity for other industries, um, but also to map out where those are, you know, uh, so the uncertainty part of it is, you know, if this is a national headwind, what’s going to happen city or state wise? Will there be discussions of, of, ofAdding in LGBTQ plus recognition for uh for businesses. And you know, part of that comes with the opportunity for doing business with government, um, but the other bigger opportunity is the generational development of new entrepreneurial pools, uh, for New York City and New York State, right? So that could potentially mean.You know, we’re about 19.5 million New Yorkers, I believe. Um, you know, I won’t use the new Gallup poll for the 9.3%. I, I’m gonna stick to, uh, you know, Williams Institutes, um, statistics on, on our ratio against, uh, the general population, but you know, if you apply that and you apply the entrepreneurial ratio and you just tended like everything was equal in New York City and New York State.You’re probably talking about 58,000 businesses, give or take, that are either partially or or majority owned by LGBTQ plus New New Yorkers. Um, and then if you go statewide, you’re probably talking somewhere close to 109,000 businesses. So, you know, if thatWe equivalent to the small business contributions towards GDP from the general population, then you’re talking about probably like 58 billion being supported by LGBTQ plus businesses. So visibility versus uncertainty, kind of a constant theme for us, um, regardless of, of where we are, uh, in our history. Uh, and then the other part you mentioned was tariffs. Tariffs is also currently a level of, of uncertainty, right?You know, we’re we’re going back and forth, we’re we’re seeing this used as a negotiation tactic, um, but you know, what’s that going to mean largely to our small businesses, right? Many of which you know, kind of require from an access to capital standpoint or an operational spend standpoint, the use of overseas vendors, right? Uh, so you’ve got to, you know, have to now look very diligently at their supply chain, you know, especially if they are themselves are a supplier to.Like a big big box retailer, uh, or someone with a large contract, um, to, you know, an industry that’s gonna be very sensitive to any sort of increase in the cost of goods soldto them.
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Martin, do you mind sharing with us what is one piece of financial advice with your experiences and your inner experience working with small businesses that you would give to the LGBT community today?
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Uh, it’s, it’s, it’s all math, uh, you know, don’t, don’t overthink it, uh, you know.Budgets seem scary, but you can forecast pretty easily what you can and can’t afford, and you can decide.What is and isn’t worth it, right? Um, so whether it’s your personal household or your business, um, you know, it’s important to kind of do a risk assessment of things that you want to do. Uh, you know, I mentioned moving to New York years ago, I think 1213 years now, um, and I learned my lesson from when I moved from Idaho to Seattle, Washington. I looked at the cost of goods comparables between Seattle and New York. My eyes shot out of my head when I saw the rent.Um, but then I figured out what kind of job, uh, when I moved here would be sustainable, you know, I didn’t look for the fanciest neighborhood to live in, the best apartment. I looked for what was going to be adequate to meet my needs, and what would allow me to save up and kind of scale up my, my, my, my lifestyle. Um, and when I say my lifestyle, I’m, I don’t do a lot. I mean, if I’m not working, I’m probably at home painting or or drawing, uh, butYou know, for me it was like, how do I acquire a home, um, how do I make sure that I can control my cost of living, which is my biggest expense, you know, what’s it gonna take for me to save? So, you know, what are my expenses now? What kind of income do I need? What kind of savings plan do I need to have to get where I wanna go? And, you know, I’ll I’ll be honest, uh, I, I did.Pretty OK, uh, but I certainly had some setbacks, uh, and so, you know, I would say I’m, I’m probably a couple years behind where I wanted to be on, on homeowner acquisition, uh, but I’m I’m very happy with, with, with, you know, the fact that I’m in in my maybe forever home, uh, my, at least it’s appreciating, uh, which is always great, and uh that’s, that’s my biggest thing is it’s don’t freak out about, um,You know, making a decision, just do the math, make it informed, assess your risks, what’s it gonna cost, what are you gonna make, um, and, and keep that simple. And if you feel overwhelmed,Reach out to people and ask questions, like you’re not an island unto yourself. Um, if you’re a business owner, right, you’ve got a banker and attorney and an accountant. I guarantee it, right? If your personal household, whether you have um a chosen family or, you know, your, your, your, your, your biological family, uh, they’ve lived there, right? They’ve been there, they’ve done that, they got the t-shirt, but also, you still have a banker, you probably have a tax advisor or uh at least you can kind ofUh, pick someone’s brain that’s that’s in that industry, right? There are people to ask, there are communities around you cannot forget the value and the impact that your community can have when you’re making critical decisions. Um, I did that when I bought this place. So even though I, I did the math and I knew I could afford it and I would be OK, my, uh, real estate agent was, uh, you know.Uh, a good friend and, um, that has been doing it for 10 years, so I could trust her, her, her knowledge and expertise. Well, I was doing it longer. I knew her for 10 years, excuse me. Uh, my real estate, uh, attorney came from the chamber. I’d known him for years. Uh, and then, uh, my, cause I needed to do some renovations, uh, my contractor, I’d known for years through.Another networking group. And so I could ask all these people figure out my budget, figure out what my risks were, um, of going under, at or over budget, uh, to make sure that I, I didn’t go crazy when I, when I purchased my, my, my firsthome.
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Thank you for sharing that and thank you for all the work that you do at the chamber in New York. It’s, it’s critically important and we appreciate you sharing your personal story. It was great having you.
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Oh, thank you, it was a pleasure. I really appreciate it.
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Man, interviews like that just really inspired me because it really shows that the community is there for each other, especially in hard times, like we’re all dealing with rightnow,
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right? I agree with that. I also appreciate how he talked about this idea of strategically blending his social life with his professional life. You know, we call that building your power tribe. That’s when you haveA group that is both the combination of the people you love to hang out with and have fun with, as well as the people that you are focused on building something with. So what is in the middle of that Venn diagram is your power truck. Yeah,
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and wecan attest, it can be all too easy to just focus on aHanging out with their fun friends, and that can have sometimes dire consequences to your financialsituation,
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right? So our assignment for you this week is to think of those 3 to 5 friends that you have that could also be in your power tribe. They’re your colleagues as well, or at least trying to build something.
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So thanks for tuning into another episode. Like what you see, scan the QR code to follow Yahoo Finance, podcasts, or for more videos and expert insights. When you do, another tariff gets itemized on Amazon.com. Thank you. And until next time, stay fabulous.
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This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services.