Hello Lovelies!
I want to first thank all of you who have been reaching out, sending up prayers, and keeping me in your thoughts the last few days. I know a lot of people have questions, so I figured an update from me here would be best to address as many as possible.
That said, I won’t feed energy into anything negative. What’s done is done. As they say every rain cloud has a silver lining; and no door closes without another opening for you. Trying to dissect negativity into pieces that make sense is like trying to see a puzzle’s picture more clearly by disassembling it into pieces. It wastes time, it lends power to those who seek power over you, and it serves no purpose to your life’s plan.
Our lives are never going to look exactly the same from one moment to the next. No one is meant to be in one place at all times. We are all on a journey, a pilgrimage, an adventure. All of these things require forward motion in the discovery of all we have yet to learn. And learning is fundamental to our personal evolutions, just as our personal evolutions are to the evolution of a better human race.
I have had the distinct honor of spending several years with Pride Houston. In my tenure spanning almost a decade, I have served as the Parade Committee lead, special events lead and the Volunteer Committee Chair for the production team, after that the Vice President, then President & CEO, and lastly, Executive Director of the Board of Directors of Pride Houston, America’s 3rd largest Pride organization:
When I was elected President & CEO, I knew it wouldn’t be easy being the first ever femme-presenting, Black, Queer president of Pride Houston. This would be even more true due to the precarious state of the organization when I assumed my role. However, with an incredible team at my side, we took Pride Houston to a new level beyond what many before us would have ever dreamed possible.
We raised attendance numbers, added new events and resurrected old ones, created safe spaces for transgender, nonbinary, gender queer and the POC community members that were long overdue, expanded and diversified our Board of Directors, and in the process, I even became the very first paid employee of Pride Houston in 42 years of its existence when I assumed the role of Executive Director.
Sadly, my time with Pride Houston has come to an end; but my passion for our community pride will be in everything that I do. Pride is not about one individual person, organization, one specific city’s celebration, or even one letter in the LGBTQIA+ acronym.
It’s about the confluence of colors we all — different as we may be — create when we come together, no matter our letter, color, faith, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, hand capability, or origin.
Now life is carrying me down a different road; and in order to continue doing the good I have devoted my life to doing thus far, I owe it to myself and to all underrepresented communities everywhere to see exactly where this road leads me and whom I can aid as I walk down it.
I won’t lie, I was burning out at Pride Houston. I felt my control over my life slipping away and suddenly my life had control over me instead. I wasn’t just doing one person’s job, because there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’. Consequently I lost sight of my other passions, businesses, and personal goals. Sometimes people forget that I’m a mom of two kids and that I have many causes that I am passionate about helping in many intersecting communities.
My love language, whether when communicating to family, friends, or community members, is acts of service; and I truly believe that I have dedicated my life to providing services to this community that will make it stronger, and many that already have. Now, however, I can see the difference that I have made here, and how capable you all are of carrying these services on without me right at the helm.
Going forward I will have the opportunity to split my service efforts between the Queer community and other pockets of our city that also need the kind of help my team and I provided to the LGBTQIA+ community in my time at Pride. And after ten plus years, I think it’s only fair that I give them a few hours a week to help too.
That’s why I would like to invite you to follow me on my website (www.lovelylo.co) over the next few months as well as on social media to see snippets of what these projects will be as they flourish and grow. Then, if you are so moved to do so, reach out to me on my contact page to join in and help.
Although I am sad to say goodbye to Pride Houston, I have been so blessed to have made some of my best, life-long friends and found family members there. I have memories of laughter, joy, accomplishment, fulfillment, and so much more. And that is all thanks to each and every one of you.
And as we wind down Pride Month, please remember that no matter what the world may tell you in your darkest hours, YOU matter. You have the power to go forth and make a difference. You are beautiful just the way that you are. And you, no matter what anyone tells you, were born this way.
CONTINUE TO BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THIS WORLD!!
I love all of you with my entire being!
With Pride,
Lovely Lo Roberts
