As we step into Pride Month and the city starts buzzing with rainbow energy, we wanted to pause and share what this time actually means to us as a queer woman-owned practice. Because honestly, existing as our authentic selves in professional spaces in New York in 2025 feels like both an act of resistance and a quiet revolution.
Beyond the Celebration
Don’t get us wrong, we’re absolutely here for the celebration. We’ll be at Harlem Pride on June 28th, probably crying happy tears and definitely eating way too much street food. But Pride for us runs deeper than the festivals and the flags (though we do love both).
It’s about the moment when a client in rural upstate realizes they don’t have to drive three hours to find someone who understands their pronouns. It’s about the teenager in Queens who finally has a therapist who gets why coming out feels like stepping off a cliff every single time. It’s about creating spaces where people don’t have to perform “normal” to receive care.
In a world that’s increasingly digital, we’ve learned that authentic connection can happen through a screen just as powerfully as it can in person. Maybe more so, because people get to be in their own spaces, surrounded by their own things, wearing whatever makes them feel most themselves.
The Weight of Now
Let’s sit with something for a moment: being openly queer in business right now carries a different weight than it did even five years ago. We’re watching our community’s rights get debated like abstract concepts instead of real people’s lives. We’re seeing young people face legislation that questions their very existence. We’re witnessing the exhausting reality that progress isn’t linear.
But here’s what we’ve learned about resilience from our community: when the world tries to make you smaller, you find ways to take up exactly the space you deserve. Every time someone tries to legislate our humanity away, we respond by being more human, more present, more committed to the work that matters.
Being queer-owned in this climate isn’t just business strategy, it’s a statement: your identity isn’t a political talking point, it’s a lived reality that deserves respect, care, and professional excellence.
What Queer Leadership Actually Looks Like in Therapy
Our CEO being queer doesn’t automatically make us better at therapy (we still have to show up, do the work, and yes, sometimes Google whether that thing our client mentioned is actually a TikTok trend or something more serious). But it does mean that the foundation of our practice is built on understanding what it feels like to navigate the world as someone who doesn’t fit neatly into prescribed boxes.
This lived experience shapes everything. How we design our intake process. How we train our clinicians. How we think about safety, not just as an abstract concept, but as something that has to be earned and maintained in every interaction. It means we understand that for many of our clients, finding a therapist isn’t just about addressing symptoms, it’s about finding someone who sees their full humanity.
When our clients talk about the exhaustion of code-switching between different versions of themselves, we don’t just understand it professionally, we feel it in our bones. When someone describes the hypervigilance that comes with existing in spaces that weren’t built for you, we’re already thinking about how to help them find moments of rest.
The Sacred Ordinary of Safe Spaces
Creating truly affirming care isn’t about grand gestures. It’s about a thousand small choices that add up to something larger. It’s making sure our technology platform doesn’t force people into binary gender options. It’s training our entire team to use inclusive language naturally, not performatively. It’s understanding that “safe” isn’t something we can promise, but something we commit to building together, session by session.
The beauty of telehealth is that people get to define safety on their own terms. They can therapy from their bedroom, their car, wherever they feel most grounded. They don’t have to navigate waiting rooms or worry about who might see them walking into a mental health clinic. For many in our community, that removal of barriers is revolutionary.
Ripple Effects in Digital Spaces
Here’s something beautiful we’ve discovered: when you show up authentically in digital spaces, it creates permission for authenticity that reaches far beyond your immediate circle. We’ve had clients tell us that seeing a queer-owned practice gave them courage to be more open in their workplaces. We’ve watched young people realize that being LGBTQIA+ and professionally successful aren’t mutually exclusive.
In a state as diverse as New York, we serve everyone from the teenager in Manhattan whose biggest worry is which college to choose, to the adult in a rural county who’s never met another openly gay person. Each story reminds us that visibility isn’t just about representation, it’s about expanding what people believe is possible for their own lives.
Pride as Revolution and Evolution
Pride Month feels particularly potent this year because it’s happening against a backdrop of both tremendous visibility and targeted hostility. We’re living in a time when a rainbow flag can feel like both celebration and defiance, sometimes in the same moment.
But here’s what our community has always known: revolution happens in the everyday moments as much as it does in the streets. It happens when someone feels safe enough to be honest about their relationship for the first time. It happens when a parent learns how to affirm their child’s identity. It happens when someone realizes that their mental health matters just as much when they’re dealing with work stress as when they’re processing identity stuff.
To Our People (And Everyone Else Who Needs to Hear This)
If you’re LGBTQIA+ and reading this: your existence is not a debate. Your mental health matters. You don’t need to earn your right to affirming care by being the “right” kind of queer or having your life perfectly together. You deserve support that celebrates all of who you are, messy parts included.
If you’re an ally: thank you for creating space for authenticity in your corner of the world. Keep showing up, keep learning, keep making room.
If you’re still figuring things out: there’s no timeline for understanding yourself. Identity isn’t a test you pass or fail, it’s a conversation you get to have with yourself for your whole life. You belong in that conversation, whatever it looks like.
The Long Game
As we head toward Harlem Pride and deeper into this month of celebration and reflection, we’re thinking about the long game. Pride Month will end, but our commitment to showing up authentically, creating affirming spaces, and providing excellent care to our community continues every single day.
In a world that seems determined to make everything political, we’re choosing to make everything personal instead. Your story matters. Your identity matters. Your mental health matters. And you don’t have to navigate any of it alone.
See you at the parade.