Meet: V Go
Team member of our LGBTQIA+ Task Force
Pronouns: She/Her
Location: Los Angeles and Mexico City
Job Role: Community Organizer
Years in Industry: 5+
Hey V Go - Happy to have you on the team. Tell us a bit about yourself!
I am a Transfem non-binary artist + activist. Former co-editor of BRUNCH CLUB Magazine, a printed platform exclusively highlighting trans + queer people of color and founder of trans-led collective, Salida based in Mexico City. I have a background in community organizing, with an investment to advocate for the trans + queer community through DEI consulting, public speaking, public policy, education, art + media. I invest in research strategies that center social responsibility and prioritizes under-represented voices.
How did you get into marketing?
Working with start-ups and small businesses in their e-commerce and retail divisions required me to provide insight and research of consumer practices that led me to have unofficial positions in marketing and human resources, which led me to wanting to connect those worlds to make a positive impact for queer people, by including them in all facets of product and business development.
Marketing’s a tough industry, what keeps you in the field?
My fierce passion for creating equitable spaces for queer and trans people to be seen, safe, and get paid like our cis-het counterparts.
Where do you go for inspiration?
I go to the streets, I go to the community gatherings, art space events, and trans spaces to meet emerging creatives.
Have you ever worked on a Pride/LGBTQ+ brand campaign?
I have worked with Grindr, Youth To The People, Barbari Tea, Poketo, and so many other businesses, my favourite being my collaboration with Youth To The People Dream with Pride collection that highlighted multi-disciplanary voices through opinion pieces and podcast interviews of what futures people dream of creating. It allowed folks to dream about possibilities, to name them and there were accompanied graphics and blog posts. I did a podcast episode with YTTP where I spoke about the importance of supporting trans dreams, you can listen here.
Why do you think it’s important for brands to be inclusive?
Beyond the obvious of capturing sales and revenue from all audiences, it validates the vast experiences of intersectional identities to be part of the world we are constructing by including as many people as possible to be intentionally accounted for.
What is a brand you think is doing a good job at being inclusive in their evergreen marketing?
Youth To The People continues to set the bar for inclusivity, always prioritizing voices of change makers and everyday people who are pushing for inclusivity. Queer folks, environmentalists, art-activists, Indgenous and Black folx, and the intersection of all of those are represented well in their blogs, campaigns, marketing, website and internal team.
What do you think brands have gotten wrong when it comes to marketing to the LGBTQ+ Community?
I think brands focus so much on the aesthetic and “visual representation” of the community, they fail to create concrete long-term commitments that can be sustainable. Featuring queer folx once a year and forgetting about them the rest of the year is harmful and performative. This means adopting a better strategy to create campaigns that are more helpful and actually inclusive, not just cash grabs.
Anything else you want to share?
I think more than ever trans and non-binary/gender-expansive need to be centered in lgbtq+ conversations, with our livelihoods and existences being questioned and legislated against, creating a national and global tone that is dangerous and questioning of gender identity. We need to subvert the power dynamics by centering and empowering trans voices to deconstruct the imposed ideas of identity often projected willingly and passively by major brands and corporations worldwide. Capitalism aids in the erasure of trans people and any marginalized community. It is time we reclaim space that has been revoked from us historically, politically, and personally.
Want to work with V Go? Check out our LGBTQIA+ Marketing Services.