Local
Comings & Goings
JEL Creative becomes Brunch Digital
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 [email protected].
Josh Levie (Photo courtesy Levie)
Congratulations to Josh Levie who has just rebranded his business formerly JEL Creative and re-launched it as Brunch Digital. Levie has built the company over the last 10 years and currently has six full-time employees and three interns working for him.
He said, “I launched Brunch Digital as an open invitation for a truly inclusive experience for both my employees and client partners. Brunch is about a team, really a community, coming together to work on projects with people we would want to have over for brunch. I see everything I do as an adventure, and it’s one I want to take with my friends, colleagues, and client partners.”
One of Brunch Digital’s first projects was the development of all of the brand identity (including the mural on the bar’s patio) and website for the new LGBT sports bar, Pitchers DC. Other area nonprofits and businesses Levie has developed branding and web design for include: Pride Fund to End Gun Violence, Duplex Diner, Hummingbird Inn (LGBT-owned BnB in Easton, Md.), George Washington University’s Annual LGBT Health Forum, and LUNA+EISENLA media. Brunch Digital has developed a strategic partnership with RJ Whyte Event Production, another LGBT-owned business offering event experiences for high-profile events in the area including the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s annual RAMMY Awards Gala, and Wooly Mammoth Theatre among others. Levie grew up the D.C. area and only left when he went to college earning his bachelor’s in psychology from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa.
Congratulations also to Nick Martin who began his new position as director on the Public Affairs team at Forbes Tate Partners (FTP). He brings to them nearly a decade of experience combining policy, politics, and grassroots advocacy, specializing in healthcare issues. The FTP team has a history of working with government officials, C-Suite executives from Fortune 100 companies, and leaders of some of America’s most dynamic organizations. According to its website, “Our knowledge of the complex anatomy of government decision-making processes opens doors to our clients across the nation’s capital and around the country. We have developed and continue to maintain productive working relationships with local, state, national, and international policymakers that allow us to provide successful, integrated solutions for our clients.”
Martin’s experience includes having worked at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs, focused on implementation of the Affordable Care Act and MACRA. Working with a variety of different stakeholder groups, he also developed engagement strategies around open enrollment, delivery system reform, and public health crises. Additionally, he advised the Secretary of Health and Human Services and senior HHS officials on the priorities of industry and advocacy organizations before the department. He has also worked as a member of the grassroots field team at the Human Rights Campaign. Most recently he led communications and outreach efforts for the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care. He is a graduate of Northeastern University, where he received a degree in international affairs. He is a native of upstate New York and has called Washington, D.C. home for many years.
Nick Martin (Photo courtesy of Martin)
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.).
District of Columbia
D.C. Council member honored by LGBTQ homeless youth group
Doni Crawford receives inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award
About 100 people turned out Tuesday evening, April 7, for a presentation by D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation of its inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award to D.C. Council member Doni Crawford (I-At-Large) for her support for the foundation’s mission to support homeless LGBTQ youth.
Among those who attended the event was Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, who delivered an official proclamation issued by Bowser declaring April 7, 2026 “A Day of Remembrance for Wanda Alston.”
Alston, a beloved women’s and LGBTQ rights activist, served as the city’s first director of the then newly created Office of LGBTQ Affairs under then-Mayor Anthony Williams from 2004 until her death by murder on March 16, 2005.
To the shock and dismay of fellow LGBTQ rights advocates, police and court records reported Alston, 45, was stabbed to death inside her Northeast D.C. house by a man high on crack cocaine who lived nearby and who stole her credit cards and car. The perpetrator, William Martin Parrott, 38, was arrested by D.C. police the next day and later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced in July 2005 to 24 years in prison.
Crawford was among those attending the award event who reflected on Alston’s legacy and outspoken advocacy for LGBTQ and feminist causes.
“I am deeply humbled and honored to receive this inaugural award,” Crawford told the Washington Blade at the conclusion of the event. “I think the world of Wanda Alston. She has set such a great foundation for me and other Council members to build on,” she said.
“Her focus on inclusivity and intersectionality is really important as we approach this work,” Crawford added. “And it’s going to guide my work at the Council every day.”
Crawford was appointed to the D.C. Council in January of this year to replace then Council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-At-Large), who resigned to run for D.C. mayor as a Democrat. She is being challenged by four other independent candidates in a June 16 special election for the Council seat.
Under the city’s Home Rule Charter written and approved by Congress, the seat is one of two D.C. Council at-large seats that cannot be held by a “majority party” candidate, meaning a Democrat.
A statement released by the Alston Foundation last month announcing Crawford’s selection for the Wanda Alston Legacy Award praised Crawford’s record of support for its work on behalf of LGBTQ youth.
“From behind the scenes to now serving as an At-Large Council member, she has fought fearlessly for affordable housing, LGBTQ+ funding priorities, and racial justice,” the statement says. “Council member Crawford’s leadership reflects the same courage and conviction that defined Wanda’s legacy.”
Organizers of the event noted that it was held on what would have been Wanda Alston’s 67th birthday.
“Today’s legacy reception was a smashing success,” said Cesar Toledo, the Alston Foundation’s executive director. “Not only did we come together to celebrate Wanda Alston on her birthday, but we also were able to raise over $10,000 for our homeless LGBTQ youth here in D.C.,” Toledo told the Blade.
“In addition to that, we celebrated and we acknowledged a rising star in our community,” he said. “And that is At-Large Council member Doni Crawford, who we named the inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award recipient.”
At the request of D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) the Council voted unanimously on Jan. 20, 2026, to appoint Crawford to the Council seat being vacated by McDuffie.
Council records show she joined McDuffie’s Council staff in 2022 as a policy adviser and later became his legislative director before McDuffie appointed her as staff director for the Council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development for which McDuffie served as chair.
Calendar: April 10-16
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Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
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