The ‘Comings & Goings’ column chronicles important life changes of Blade readers.

The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at comingsandgoings@washblade.com.

Lucas Schleusener

Congratulations to Lucas Fox Schleusener on joining Fractal Industries as the director of public policy. Schleusener is a veteran of the Obama White House having worked in the Presidential Personnel Office as an associate vetting and recruiting for national security personnel and then worked in the Defense Department.

Before joining Fractal Industries, Schleusener worked for Avicenna Strategy as a speech writer/editor. As a speechwriter for the Secretary of Defense during the Obama administration he worked on a number of issues including enhancing U.S.-Indian security cooperation through drafts of speeches and op-eds for both Indian and American audiences as well as direct bilateral engagements, carefully selecting newspapers in both countries reflecting a range of economic and political preferences. He also worked on a study begun under Secretary Leon Panetta to consider combat roles for women where he analyzed, tested and strengthened the communications strategies for the Women in Service Review.

Schleusener has published “From Blog to Street: The Transformation of the Bahraini Public Sphere,” in Arab Media and Society, in 2007 and is currently working on a piece, “We Have Always Fought: The Lives of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Soldiers in the American Military from the Civil War to the War on Terror.” He was a Penn Kemble Fellow, National Endowment for Democracy; and is founder and director, Washington, D.C., Middle East Round Table. Schleusener serves as vice chair of the Board of No One Left Behind, a non-profit that supports Iraqis and Afghans who’ve received Special Immigration Visas following their work for the U.S. government. He received his bachelor’s in history from Wesleyan University and his master’s in Middle East Studies from the University of Chicago.

Congratulations also to Gregory Cendana now working full-time as president and co-founder of Can’t Stop! Won’t Stop! a consulting firm working with nonprofits, philanthropic organizations and diverse leaders across the globe. Their goal is to ensure that historically marginalized communities feel empowered within campaigns, organizations and the world writ large to excel their power to make social and cultural change, work and live in inclusive and nurturing spaces, and break down systemic barriers to socio-economic and societal freedom.

Prior to this, he was executive director of the Asian Pacific America Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO, D.C. He has also served as president of the United States Student Association & Foundation; and was a Resident Assistant with the UCLA Office of Residential Life.                                                 

Cendana has been an active member of the LGBTQ+ community in D.C. for many years. He has volunteered with 18MillionRising.org; the D.C. Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus; was a co-founder of Inclusv, a diversity hiring initiative; and in 2012 was an elected delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Cendana has been honored by a number of groups, including The Young and the Guest List: Washington’s Most Influential 40-and-under leaders, Washington Life; Washington, D.C.’s Inaugural Power 30 Under 30 Award; and he was inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame, New Leaders Council. He is also the founder and co-captain of SOULcial Justice Dance Team. He earned his bachelor’s in sociology, labor & workplace studies, from the University of California Los Angeles.

Gregory Cendana (Photo by Ron Simms)