Local
Comings & Goings
Sherise Bright takes over communications at HRC
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].
Congratulations to Sherise Bright, named Senior Vice President for Communications and Marketing at the Human Rights Campaign. Bright will lead HRC’s multi-faceted communications and marketing efforts that highlight the ongoing work of the organization to build a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society.
Interim HRC President Joni Madison said, “I could not be more thrilled to bring Sherise Bright on board as the new leader of the Human Rights Campaign’s communications and marketing work. Sherise brings a wealth of experience from the worlds of LGBTQ+ advocacy, education, law, impact litigation, public policy and entertainment, and comes prepared to roll up her sleeves to join our fight. She joins a group of incredibly talented and dynamic communications and marketing professionals whose impact, under her leadership, can only grow. With the LGBTQ+ community – particularly transgender youth – facing an onslaught of attacks in states across the country, Sherise’s talents will be put to good use communicating and advocating for the most marginalized among us.” Upon accepting the position Sherise said “I am thrilled to join the Human Rights Campaign at a pivotal time in our movement. With the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, attacks on trans youth, and the disproportionate deaths of Black trans women–there’s so much work to do. I’m honored and ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work with my brilliant colleagues at HRC.”
Bright most recently served as chief communications officer at Lambda Legal. Prior to that, she was chief communications and brand strategist with SB Communications.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in communications/ ethnic studies from California State University in Fullerton.
Congratulations also to Andres Bonell on being a Five Star award winner and appearing in a Wealth Managers Under 40 special section in the February/March 2022 issue of Fortune magazine. Bonell is a Senior Investment Advisor, Bell Rock Capital, LLC, in Rehoboth Beach, Del. The Five Star Wealth Manager award is based on objective research criteria. Five Star Professional’s research team evaluates candidates from across major markets annually. Upon receiving the award, Bonell said, “I am grateful to my peers in the financial industry who nominated me for this award, and for my clients, who are the core of my professional success and satisfaction. As a proud member of a firm founded by LGBTQ women, I am honored to serve clients from a diverse cross-section of our community to help them achieve their financial goals and aspirations. Likewise, I am personally fulfilled by being able to mentor up-and-coming LGBTQ peers and allies in my industry.”
Bonell has owned or co-owned a number of businesses, including Aqua Grill in Rehoboth Beach, and was a franchisee of a Banna Strow’s in Miami. He is actively involved with a number of organizations impacting the daily lives and future of members of the local and global community, including Help2Haiti, Global Dreams USA, and NSU Art Museum.
Bonell earned his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Florida.
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 great job, let us know so we can share your success.
Congratulations to Yadiel Meléndez, on their new role as Community Associate, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Meléndez is piloting a new role as a Community Associate at the Wanda Alston Foundation, where they support queer and trans young people in finding their footing, building independence, and experiencing a housing community where they are seen, valued, and affirmed. They are coming into this role with more than a decade of experience as a community organizer and operations specialist, supporting diverse communities through service, advocacy, and program coordination.
Previously they worked for Right Proper Brewing Shaw as a server and bartender and at Sephora, Washington, DC, and at FreshFarm, DC, in bilingual food access. They also worked freelance to build foundational structures for local queer BIPOC performance art coalitions, producing variety shows to curate space for marginalized performance artists in the community. They were a production manager for Haus of Hart Productions, a BIPOC centric performance art production. They also worked as field staff with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in Stafford, Va.
Meléndez is bilingual, Spanish and English. Their work is guided by a commitment to dignity, safety, and trauma-informed engagement, particularly within LGBTQ and BIPOC communities.
Congratulations also to Ben Rosen LICSW, on his new role as program director, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Rosen previously worked with Fountain House’s OnRamps program, helping to build a new, innovative outreach program for individuals considered chronically homeless, and living with serious mental illness, in the Times Square area of New York. Rosen is a Psychotherapist, having worked with SG Psychotherapy, and as the psychotherapist with the Nest Community Health Center (URAM).
Rosen has a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts: Musical Theatre, Minor in Psychology (Cum Laude) from Malloy University Conservatory; and his M.S.W. in Clinical Practice with Individuals, Families, and Groups, from The Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, N.Y. He is independently licensed in New York and Washington, D.C.
Rehoboth Beach
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Attendees encouraged to wear appropriate gear
Diego’s in Rehoboth Beach hosts a monthly leather happy hour. April’s edition is scheduled for Friday, April 10, 5-7 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to wear appropriate gear. The event is billed as an official event of BLUF, the free community group for men interested in leather. After happy hour, the attendees are encouraged to reconvene at Local Bootlegging Company for dinner, which allows cigar smoking. There’s no cover charge for either event.
District of Columbia
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
Two memorial events scheduled in D.C.
Two celebrations of life are planned for Sean Christopher Bartel, 48, who was found deceased on a hiking trail in Argentina on or around March 15. Bartel began his career as a television news reporter and news anchor at stations in Louisville, Ky., and Evansville, Ind., before serving as Senior Video Producer for the D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union from 2013 to 2024.
A memorial gathering is planned for Friday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the IBEW International Office (900 7th St., N.W.), according to a statement by the DC Gay Flag Football League, where Bartel was a longtime member. A celebration of life is planned that same evening, 6-8 p.m. at Trade (1410 14th St., N.W.).
Minimal version of ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ heading to Dupont Underground
Comings & Goings
An effort to increase the number of psychiatrists of color
Calendar: April 10-16
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Cuba under pressure and without answers
Tenn. lawmakers pass transgender “watch list” bill
Vance speaks at Orbán rally in Hungary
Amendments to India’s transgender rights law criticized
