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: [email protected].

The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ+ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, gotten an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a new job, let us know so we can share your success.

Congratulations to Sahand Miraminy who has joined the Capital Pride Alliance as its new Director of Operations. While The Capital Pride Alliance is primarily known for the annual Parade and Festival, there’s an impressive array of other events, programs, and advocacy they spearhead throughout the year. Next year will be the 45th anniversary of Capital Pride.

Upon accepting the position Miraminy said, “As a native to the area, the Capital Pride Alliance was integral to my personal journey as a gay man. I vividly remember attending my first Pride event, and the strong sense of community and belonging was overwhelming. I’m so excited to help others experience that in my new role.”

Miraminy has spent the last 10 years managing events and conducting fundraising in D.C. During that time he has planned more than 1,000 special events, festivals, and programs. He has always worked with non-profits having worked for the National Trust for Historic Preservation where he planned up to 120 events, including receptions for major corporations, lectures, races, music festivals, and weddings. Actually Miraminy still is a wedding planner on the side. He has volunteered with the Fairfax County Park Authority, Smithsonian Institution, and George Washington’s Mount Vernon. He calls himself a history nerd. 

Miraminy was born in Fairfax and grew up there until moving to D.C. after college, just a few blocks from where his grandmother’s house was when he was growing up. He said he doesn’t have a simple coming out story but “remembers a point where I didn’t really care to keep it secret anymore toward the end of high school. I’m an identical twin, so I was constantly compared to him. Getting to start over and meet new people, especially while I worked at a restaurant to get through college, was a great opportunity to just be myself.” 

He attended George Mason University and has a degree in anthropology and archaeology. He said “I wanted to be Indiana Jones in my past life.”

I hope the readers of this column will share the following information on an exciting opportunity for aspiring LGBTQ+ journalists.

$2,000 Blade Foundation Reporting Fellowship

The Blade Foundation is offering a paid fellowship to an aspiring LGBTQ+ journalist in the D.C. area to begin in early 2020. Applicants must be over 18 and must either be currently enrolled in a college journalism program or have an acceptance letter to a program.

The fellowship will require 15-20 hours a week with a focus on reporting and writing LGBTQ-specific stories in D.C. and Virginia. The fellowship recipient will report directly to a member of the Washington Blade’s editorial staff and will be expected to participate in weekly staff meetings. 

To apply send a letter of interest, resume and links to three published articles to Blade Foundation Executive Director Kevin Naff at [email protected]. The deadline to apply for the fellowship is Dec. 2, and applicants will be notified of a final decision by Dec. 20.

All LGBTQ+ journalism students in the D.C. area are encouraged to apply and we especially encourage LGBTQ people of color, transgender and/or non-binary individuals to take advantage of this opportunity. The Blade Foundation would like to give special thanks to the DC Front Runners for raising money to fund this unique opportunity.