Welcome
As a business owner and entrepreneur, I understand the importance of customer loyalty and business referrals. In product sales, I can sell in one of two ways. I can rely on the one, quick ‘make as much as possible’ sale, or I can help my customers with honesty and integrity and give them the most efficient and economical option possible. This approach will keep them coming back week after week, year after year, and create a loyal customer. People do business with people they know, they like and they trust.
However, trust in personal business also comes with the knowledge of someone’s life. People like to talk, and I like to be able to talk honestly. If you’re LGBT, I know you can think of at least one experience when a customer has asked you something about being married, or your assumed relationship, and something inside of you knew that telling them the truth could very well lose you the business. What do you do? How do you continue to work with integrity if you have to start lying?
This is where our LGBT chambers of commerce on both a local and national level come in to make a real difference. As a member of the Chamber you know that coming out to another member is not even necessary. This knowledge relieves so much pressure, that you can just focus on being good at your business. Additionally, when you know someone and they are part of your community, or you see them on a regular basis, you do business with them like a trusted friend and loyal customer.
Many of us have ended up in cities like Los Angeles where we fled to be openly LGBT. Once away from our biological families, we have had to build our own network of support. Like all cultural and religious groups have done throughout history, it is about finding your people and sticking together for everyone’s benefit. This is YOUR community; support it by selling to it and more importantly by buying from it. It is up to us to take care of ourselves; working to build a successful community that can, with our economic stability, gain social and political equality.
The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (LAGLCC), is here to - "Connect our Community and Unite us for Success"
With Pride,
Dawn R. Ackerman
President
Our Mission
The LAGLCC promotes business networking among our members and within our community at large. This network fosters a sharing of information, ideas, contacts and product and services, and so strengthens and expands our businesses, careers and our community.
In a city characterized by congested freeways and increasing “disconnect,” LAGLCC members are committed to supporting one another and building trusting relationships. With evening mixers, networking breakfasts, educational workshops, dinners, joint activities with other organizations, and community involvement, the LAGLCC strives to connect members of our community and unite them for success both personally and professionally.
Since our founding in 1979 as the Valley Business Alliance, we have become and remain a potent voice in the GLBT community, and our contributions back to the community remain a source of pride for our members. There are few other organizations with the breadth of experience in the GLBT market, than that found in the membership of the LAGLCC.
LAGLCC members live and work throughout the greater Los Angeles area - The San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys, West Hollywood, the Westside and Santa Monica, Glendale, Pasadena, Silverlake, Downtown, and many other neighborhoods. We also maintain close working relationships with sister organizations in Long Beach and other nearby communities, as well as with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) in Washington, D.C.
The LAGLCC is managed by a Board of Directors, elected annually by our membership. We are non-partisan, but will always remain politically concerned, especially in regard to health, equality, justice, fairness, and the many civil rights issues that impact the GLBT community.
We will continue to grow to meet the changing needs of our membership, and to showcase bright successful GLBT professionals as exemplary citizens and role models for a budding generation. Join us today as the LAGLCC connects you with your community.
